Outing with Joffrey

Sometimes the language barrier is not an issue, case in point our outing with Joffrey. He is very gracious and kind with our limited spanish, we say we are learning "poco y poco" little by little, and one day he laughed and said "Rapido", and we all laughed because we weren't learning it fast enough. Thru Joffrey we have realized that we read more spanish than we understand verbally, so we do a lot of writing things down, plus with our pocket translator we did really well the other day.

We met Joffrey at his hardware store in San Jacinto at noon, he closed up and we waited for the bus. He had just taken a tumble, and was doing medico on his wound while we waited. The bus came and we headed towards RocaFuerte. We thought the invitation was to then get on a boat, but that never happened, we instead got a ride someways out into the farmland to a large restaurant. 

We realized we were not going to a Ceviche festival, just out to lunch for authentic Ecuadorean fare. Our first course was Gallina Criolla, this may be slightly seasonal, because I'd never seen the word Criolla until recently, then I started seeing it everywhere, I'd figured out is was cheese, but wasn't prepared for how one ate it.

It came in a bowl, very wet cheese, after mashing it a bit, it was a mix of ricotta and cottage cheese in taste and texture. It also came with what I believe to be roasted bananas (plantains), they were peeled, and cooked to a very overdone, almost chalky consistency that you then crumbled into the cheese. It was interesting, tasty, but nothing I'm going to loose sleep craving. The next item was more of a dessert item, but remember the Ecuadoreans are not huge sweet eaters.

Joffrey couldn't partake in this, because he is allergic to peanuts. (I'd wondered about that, since peanuts are so big in Ecuador cooking) these plantains are more what we get with most meals, they are grilled to bring out the natural sweetness, and are soft and mushy. The powder is mani, pulverized peanuts with some seasoning, it's sometimes sold with cheese. We were told to dip the plantain bite into the mani powder and it tasted like a peanut butter banana sandwich. Again, tasty, but I probably won't add it to my daily diet. 

This is Chicha, pronounced chee-cha, we had it once (again with Joffrey) in Charapoto, but it was very different then. Let me explain, Chicha is made with corn kernels soaked in water until they germinate. Then boiled and fermented for several days, resulting in a milky yellow liquid, sweet at the beginning of the fermentation process, becoming sour and raising in alcohol content as it progresses. It is used as a holy water of sorts at festivals, but it never gets stronger than beer, and in some areas beer is becoming more common. When we had it in Charapoto, it was room temperature, and sour, my body would only allow one sip to pass my lips, but this version was sweet, and served over ice, I drank plenty. Joffrey said the stuff we got in Charapoto was commercialized, and this was home made, hence the difference.

We paid our bill, $3.50 and walked down the road to the next stop. Had to stop for a little more medical attention, and saw some Falcons, and pretty water hyacinth.

We arrived at the next restaurant this one serving Viche, which is a peanut based soup, so again Joffrey couldn't have any. We got a bowl of Mixto to share and it was yummy, guess no pictures of that one, oops. It had shrimp,  a couple different fish and veggies. Big glasses of fresh orange juice and we were stuffed, no mas por favor! Good thing we had a bit of a walk, that Viche is filling.

Ladies in the outdoor kitchen. We walked back towards downtown Rocafuerte, talking about this and that. Found out Joffrey is one of 10 children, and his papa had another family that had 5 children. It is very common for Ecuadorean men to have more than one wife ( not in the same house) and Joffrey himself has 4 kids, but is no longer married. We walked by this rice distribution center for lack of a better word, and couldn't pass up the picture of the dogs.

Was the one in the chair recently drinking from that bottle on the table? Don't drink so much you can't guard those bags of rice, haha. Malo perro (bad dog). The first picture of the three of us is in Rocafuerte in front of the church in the main square, it was getting late in the afternoon, so much of the town was closed for Sunday siesta, so we caught the bus back to San Jacinto. 

We had a wonderful day, and enjoyed learning some spanish, and getting to spend time with Joffrey. He recently found us a little house to rent for $250 per month, and when we get settled, we will invite him over for dinner. I'm more determined to learn spanish, and will start a new online lesson today. But first, a walk on the beach is calling, the marine layer hasn't burned off yet, so it's very pleasant. A bag for shells, and our pups on the beach, perfecto! So, stay tuned, the adventure continues, one outing at a time!

Government office closed

So yesterday our lesson in being flexible just kept playing over and over...when we got back from the beach we lazed around a bit til it was time to make something to eat. I went to wash something, and there was no water, what the heck?! 

We called Wolf and he said he'd be over soon, when he got here, he looked around and said "here's your problem, the valve is turned off, who did that?" And we said, "what valve? Nobody turned it off!" We are on city water, we have a cistern (like a well) that gets water supplied to it sometimes twice a week, since this valve was turned off, closed, no water was able to be filled into the cistern. Before we got here they cleaned the cistern, they closed the valve to do that, just in case the city tried to supply water while they were in it cleaning. They then filled it with a water truck, and somebody forgot to turn the valve back on. This is the only scenario that could have happened, unless we have some jokester that scaled our 10 foot spiked walls to turn the valve off...hmmm.

Wolf got the cistern cleaners to come again, husband and wife team that showed up with their tools...a 5gallon bucket, and for $10 he climbed down into the cistern scooped out the remaining water and handed the bucket to her up the stairs, she emptied it, and the process continued. They swept out the mud and sediment and made the tile sparkle. After they were done, we turned the valve to open, but the city did not resupply last night so this morning we got a water truck to deliver and fill us up.

So while this was all going on yesterday afternoon, we asked Wolf about a taxi into Manta for our new Visa appointment, and he informed us that the office would be closed due to the holiday...the same reason for the parade, I called Fernando to confirm this, and after he checked with the website, said yes that the government offices in Manabi province would be closed. Good to know! Geez!!

We decided to make the best of our "free day" and went to lunch and the beach, and now I write this from the hammock. So we had the water delivery this morning, checked email and such and tried a new place for lunch. It was a $3 al muerzo (lunch special) and will certainly tide us over til late evening, 

  The soup is Viche, a peanut based broth, with a plantain dumpling, like a meatball, these were filled with cheese, very good,  then the second course is rice, beans, these were like split peas, ( the other day we had lentils) and a pan fried fish. So tasty, nothing needed salt, too much food, but the fish was so good I was sad when I was at the last bite. The fried plantain still has a little sweetness to it, so I save it for last and it suffices as dessert (would be great with vanilla Ice cream). Today it came with a small soda, I would prefer water, but it was cute.

We then walked some of it off, went to the beach, Mike went swimming, while I sunbathed on the sand. Since it's a holiday, there were more families today than on a usual Wednesday, but it was not too busy. The tents were up and it looked festive,  the marine layer was still hanging on, so it wasn't blazing sun and the breeze was great. We thought about sharing an ice cream on the walk home, but it was siesta and all the tiendas were closed for their naps. Sometimes we think we need a watch, and then we smile and think, no...be flexible!

Our reward for being flexible yesterday was this amazing sunset. We'll catch the bus into Manta in the morning, meet with Fernando and have another adventure, stay tuned. Buenos tardes.

Year lease

Yesterday was a new bus adventure, and an all around big day. We were headed up to San Clemente to meet with Dave and talk about renting his house across from the ocean in San Alejo.

We had gone to lunch at the expat restaurant on Friday, and spoke with her about the apartment, and decided it wasn't for us. Dave's was the one, if he'd have us, and as it turns out he's pretty sure it's a perfect match. So we committed to a year at $450 plus utilities. But let me start from the beginning, the bus.

We had to get on the bus that said Manta/Rocafuerte, and it turned out to be the  second bus that came by, so far so good. Finally got a picture, looks a lot like a Greyhound, some are more decorated than this one. We had to transfer at Rocafuerte to the San Clemente/Bahia bus, and that turned out to be a piece of cake, because as soon as we got off, (looking stunned, I guess), multiple people (vendors) asked where we were going, and were quick to point to the other side of the street where we were to wait. The bus came soon enough, except it said San Clemente/PortoViejo, and it was full, standing room only. It was cooler while standing, so that was a plus, and it all added to the adventure. The ticket guy came around, and told a man that was dozing with his toddler to move over and put the child on his lap so I could sit. Not sure if that was because of my boot, or because I'm a woman, but it was nice. We kept driving, and I couldn't be sure that we weren't going to Porto Viejo first, but it didn't matter, we were being flexible. Finally (20 minutes maybe) I felt the air thru the windows turn cooler, and I figured we were headed back to the coast, we passed a really bustling little town called Charapoto, and saw a huge outdoor market (good to know, sat and sun only) and we recognized that we had driven by there the other day with Richard, so we knew we were close. Soon it all became really familiar and we knew we were to be there any minute. We called Dave, and he had a mototaxi pick us up at the town square. We met Dave and his girlfriend Aida at the house and started talking business.

To make a long story short, we've got a list of items Dave will complete before we move in, stuff we are allowed to do, and free storage for our container if it arrives as expected sometime after June 25th. Rent starts on Aug 1st. Super excited, we'll post pictures as things progress, and a video is coming a little bit later today. The pictures and vidzwe have don't really show the potential. We have vision, and that's Muy importante! Very excited for our upcoming year at the beach! 

We had a great lunch with Dave and Aida too, right down the Malecon from the house. Al muerzo, lunch special was peanut based soup, with shrimp, yucca (thought it was potato) and corn, very yummy and then a plate of fish, rice and lentils, and came with a drink. WAY too much food, and each person was $3! The soup is called Viche, and the fish was seasoned to perfection, pan fried, I couldn't eat it all, maybe next time we'll share. Mike says we could eat there twice a week for sure, within walking distance, and at $3 we probably will.

We will bus into PortoViejo this morning, Dave told us about a new grocery store, so we'll check it out. And we need fruit, so we may stop at Cruz a Verde to see Jaime. The buses are already running, but I'm sure the store doesn't open til 10am. It'll be another great day in Ecuador!

Sunrise from the porch. Buenos Dias!