Vegetarian lasagne | Lasaña vegetariana

Ingredients – makes 6 servings
5 cloves of garlic
2 onions
1 red pepper
Salt
250gr mushrooms
2-3 laurel leaves
1,5 teaspoon (tsp) thyme
400gr carrots
3 tomatoes
2 celery stalks
3 tsp Italian herbs (basel, oregano)
200mL red wine
2 spoons starch / arrowroot

100gr butter
50gr flour
Water / milk
Optional: bouillon, nutmeg, paprika powder

500gr Lasagne leaves
2 zucchinis medium size
200gr mozzarella style cheese
400gr white cheese
100gr parmesan cheese

Red sauce
Mash the garlic with the pepper in (olive)oil and fry together with the chopped onions, add a little salt to improve caramelisation.
Add sliced mushrooms together with thyme and laurel.
Dice the tomato and add to the pan when the mushrooms are baked well enough. Also add some extra water and tomato paste.
Add the carrots – grated. Add a little of the zucchini and the selery – diced
Boil for about 10 minutes.
Add Italian herbs (Basel, Oregano) and red wine, plus something to bind the whole (corn starch / arrowroot) Stir well and boil for just a few minutes. The red sauce is done!
If you can, remove the laurel leaves before putting the sauce in the lasagne.

White sauce
It’s your basic béchamel sauce, so melt butter until it starts to turn brown. Add flour and stir well, don’t let it burn. Add water or milk until the sauce is at the right thickness. Than spice it up with pepper and salt, bouillon, nutmeg and/or paprika powder.

Building the lasagne
You can do it any way you like it, but here’s how I did it.
--- layer of lasagne
*** red sauce
--- layer of lasagne
### sliced white (mozzarella style) cheese
=== sliced zucchini
--- layer of lasagne
*** red sauce
--- layer of lasagne
*w* white sauce
### more cheese – i.e. parmesan


Ingredientes - hace 6 porciones
5 dientes de ajo
2 cebollas
1 pimiento rojo
Sal
250gr champiñones
2-3 hojas de laurel
1,5 cucharadita de tomillo
400gr zanahorias
3 tomates
2 tallos de apio
3 cucharadita de hierbas italianas (Basilea, orégano)
200 ml de vino tinto
2 cucharas de almidón / arrurruz

100gr de mantequilla
50 gr harina
Agua / leche
Opcional: caldo, nuez moscada, pimentón

500 gr hojas de lasaña
2 calabacines medianos
200 g de queso estilo mozzarella
400gr queso blanco
100gr queso parmesano

Salsa roja
Machaque el ajo con la pimienta en aceite (de oliva) y freilo junto con la cebolla picada, añade un poco de sal para mejorar la caramelización.
Agregue los champiñones en rodajas, junto con el tomillo y el laurel.
Corta el tomate en cubitos y añade a la sartén cuando las setas se cuecen bien. También agregue un poco de agua extra y pasta de tomate.
Agrega las zanahorias - rallado. Añade un poco de la calabaza y el apio – en cubitos
Hierve durante unos 10 minutos.
Añade las hierbas italianas (Basilea, orégano) y el vino tinto, más algo para enlacer a la salsa (almidón de maíz o arrurruz) Revuelva todo bien y hierve durante unos pocos minutos. La salsa roja está lista!
Si es posible, elimina las hojas de laurel antes de poner la salsa en la lasaña.

Salsa blanca
Básicamente es una salsa de bechamel, entonces derrita la mantequilla hasta que empiece a tomar color. Agregue la harina y revuelva bien, no dejar que se queme. Añade agua o leche hasta que la salsa se encuentra en el espesor adecuado. Después condiméntalo con sal y pimienta, el caldo, la nuez moscada y / o polvo de pimentón.

La construcción de la lasaña
Puede hacerlo de la forma que le gusta, pero aquí está cómo lo hice.
--- Estrato de lasaña
*** Salsa roja
--- Estrato de lasaña
# # # Blanco queso, cortado en rebanadas (estilo mozzarella)
=== Calabacín en rodajas
--- Estrato de lasaña
*** Salsa roja
--- Estrato de lasaña
* W * salsa blanca
# # # Más queso – por ejemplo, parmesano

Day 119 Thursday 19 August – Madrid airport

After getting a new plane ticket in Madrid - I get to fly together with D. after all - we went through the whole tour of passport control and luggage check again, but this time we didn't get through. I had bought 3 bottles of aguardiente at the Quito airport. Because of some undercover jerk reporter, even liquids above 100ml that you bought in airports outside of Europe are not allowed under hand luggage. We tried going back, but sending it in freight luggage would cost triple the value of the bottles. The second time we got through baggage check, they threw my liquor in a container. I got angry, though mostly to show these stupid rules are unacceptable. Not that it helps - Europe is crazy and paranoid.

We land at 22.15, but don't see our parents waiting until 23.00. After that we sit together and talk and eat for a while and then it is time to drive home... We arrive at the house around 2am.

Day 118 Wednesday 18 August – Day of return

Before going home, I needed to pick up the last boxes of chocolate: the 85%. So I took another bus again back and forth. After that I quickly packed my bag and spent my last quality time with Mariela.

At 14.30 D. Came by to pick us up with a taxi that brought us straight to the airport. While we went in to check in our luggage, Mari waited outside. It took almost an hour to get checked in. And my luggage was too heavy. 19 and 29 kg... Fortunately I was able to move some things around, and I was allowed 2 pieces of hand luggage, which made it into something like 20 and 23 kg.

When we got back outside, Mariela had almost left. We sat outside for about an hour, until it was really time to say goodbye. We spent some last minutes together and then we walked in opposite directions...

D. and I had some dinner in the airport - for free because there was a delay of 3 hours. And we went to the gate. We didn't sit for long until they called out my name along with several others. Apparently, they had singled out one of my bags for a random drug control. The whole group had to go down to their bags and stand around while the police searched it. They singled out exactly the bag with the chocolate. The policeman wondered about it, broke one bar, but left the rest intact, luckily. Though I was mostly worried about my wuayusa tea.

We were late, but the flight went mostly smoothly. Until we got to Madrid...

Day 117 Tuesday 17 August

In the morning I went to my old apartment to get my things ready and post my latest blogs. Then at around 11, Mari was finished with her classes and we went down south to do some shopping. That reminded me again that shopping with a girl can be very tiring... But we also found a bag for me to put all the chocolate in, because the one I bought in Otavalo was way too small.

In the afternoon, after lunch, I went back to the apartment and got my stuff. Now I was ready to pack one of my bags already. The return is coming way too soon.

Day 116 Monday 16 August – At the chocolate factory again

At noon I met with D. again to go to the chocolate factory. We took a bus and miraculously I remembered the whole trip from last time. Once there, we got another tour around the factory and we got part of our chocolate. Unfortunately they were out of the 85%, but hopefully they will make it on Tuesday again. I did one more interview, while D. was writing down all that he saw during the tour and then we left for the centre with about 9kg of chocolate.

In the evening, we had a small farewell / thank you dinner at the Indian restaurant with just the 4 of us.

Day 114 Saturday 14 August – Meeting the family

Up early, to do an interview with Carlos. Only to find out later that I didn’t record the conversation. My little machine did that before with a less important interview. I have no idea how I could have made such a mistake. After the interview, and my breakfast, I paid the chocolates which I will pick up fresh from the factory in Quito on Monday.

After all that, I thought I would go to Archidona with Mariela. Instead, I found her in a shoe store with her sisters and brother. We went to buy cement to construct a toilet and after that we all went to their house, where I also met Mari’s father. It’s a nice little place, it only misses a bathroom.

In the afternoon I walked around the centre with her and her brother to look for artesania. About the last souvenirs I needed.

2008 – 22 juli - Jaipur

(Omdat niet alle berichten uit India online geplaatst zijn 2jaar geleden, volgen er nu nog wat oude berichten)

Deze dag hebben we een tour gemaakt met een busje. Eerste stop was een tempel gemaakt van marmer. Prachtig gebouw, maar nog onder constructie. Het wordt net als de Lotus tempel een plaats voor alle religies. Iconen van elke religie zijn verwerkt in de marmeren sculpturen.

Daarna reden we langs Albert Hall naar het observatory en de city palace. Het eerste is een plaats met allerlei stenen / marmeren constructies om tijd. Plaats en astrologie te bepalen. Het tweede is een groot gebouw en museum van de maharaja.

Daarna via de water palace, een paleis midden in een stuwmeer –waar we alleen van ver wat foto’s maken - naar het amber fort, waar we ook veel gezien hebben, maar wat beter met foto’s te beschrijven is.

Uiteindelijk bleek de tour guide ons toch nog langs een shop te leiden en bleek dat een toer naar de monkey temple (Galta) nog INR 400,- extra zou kosten. Tegen afspraak in. Dus toen zijn we maar terug gegaan naar het hostel.

Cor was bij terugkomst van de koorts af en het ging ook al wat beter. Maar ook Arianne begint nu een beetje ziek te worden. Loek voorspelt dat het door de drukte deze week daar niet bij zal blijven.

2008 – 21 juli

We hebben een wandeltocht gemaakt door de ‘Pink City’ oftewel vooral de straten, bedelaars en winkels, etc. Gezien. Dus het echte leven van Jaipur. Daarnaast een ‘kurta’ gekocht bij een khadi winkel, net buiten de pink city. Aan het eind van de tocht was er geen tijd meer voor de city palace, en gingen we met een auto-riksha terug: 9 mensen in 2 autos.

Vorige nacht was Cor ziek geworden en die was vandaag met Anil naar de dokter. Hij had wat pillen gekregen voor de koorts, maar verder zou het niets ernstigs zijn. Dus ging Cor deze avond mee naar Choki Dhani: een prachtig festival net buiten Jaipur. Bij binnenkomst kregen we allemaal een rode stip op ons voorhoofd en bloemen in ons har. Daarna zijn we gaan eten in de buitenlucht. We werden gastvrij ontvangen door mannen met een tulband en donkerrode shirts. We moesten onze schoenen juit doen en onze handen wassen en toen werden we naar onze plek gewezen. Aan de lage tafeltjes kregen we ons eten langzaam opgediend. Roti, rijst, saus, zoete krakelingen, karnemelk en meer. Ondertussen kregen we nog een tulband opgezet door de mannen.

Na het eten weer onze handen wassen een een handje suiker-anijs. Daarna zijn we vrij rond gaan lopen. Dans, massages, ‘jungle-tour’, draaimolen, theater: er was vanalles te beleven.

2008 - 20 juli - Apendieven en naar Jaipur

(Omdat niet alle berichten uit India online geplaatst zijn 2jaar geleden, volgen er nu nog wat oude berichten)
Ik had natuurlijk al wat suspense gebracht in mijn vorige post. Er gebeurt hier nu zoveel dat het bijna onmogelijk is om mijn hele logboek op het web te plaatsen. Maar ik ga nu een poging doen om zo ver mogelijk te komen. Laat ik eerst de spanning wat wegnemen over mijn vorige post. Mijn beroving klinkt natuurlijk erg spannend, maar was het eigenlijk helemaal niet:
Toen we vanmorgen de trein uitstapten en naar een wachtruimte zochten, kwamen we langs een troep apen. Op dat moment viel het me al op dat ze dichtbij zaten, maar dat het vasthouden van een plastic tas met fruit geen goed idee was, drong nog niet tot mij door. Dus toen ik een dier (dacht eerst een hond) op me af zag komen schrok ik wel even. Na de eerste greep trok ik het zakje wel omhoog, maar niet genoeg en bij de tweede greep was het zakje kapot en lag alles op de grond. De troep apen was er razendsnel bij en alles wat we konden redden was een sweet lime en de zoutjes. Bananen, mango’s, allemaal weg. Hadden we toch beter wat fruit aan de bedelende kinderen kunnen geven.
Als we in Jaipur aankomen is het al laat, etenstijd, en hebben we geen tijd meer om naar het festival – Choki Dhani – te gaan. In de trein naar Jaipur is het erg druk, het is deze keer ook 2e klas non-AC. Een tijdje hebben we het spelletje ‘uno’ gespeeld. Het spelen van een spelletje trekt wel veel aandacht. Iedereen wil zien wat er aan de hand is en probeert te ontcijferen hoe het werkt.

2008 – 19 juli - Musoori hill station

Aline is de eerste zieke, ze heeft wat griepachtige symptomen en Anil brengt haar naar een dokter als wij naar Musoori gaan. Als we terugkomen blijkt ze een virus te hebben, waarvan ik de naam niet ken en heeft ze medicijnen gekregen. Het is wel besmettelijk, maar niemand van ons heeft nog ergens last van.
Musoori is een stadje in de bergen. Erg toeristisch, er zijn veel hotels en gift-shops, maar de toeristen zijn vooral Indiërs. Op straat wordt ik door een jonge Indiër aangesproken die met mij en de groep op de foto wilde. Dat gebeurt wel vaker. Behalve hier op Navdanya en in de trein komen we nauwelijks blanken tegen.
In het bergdorpje hebben we een wandeling gemaakt, welke mooie foto’s heeft opgeleverd. We hebben daar nog wat geld gepind, wat ook weer een heel avontuur op zich was, omdat niemand precies wist hoe het werkte en iedereen bang was om zijn pasje te verliezen. Gelukkig was dat laatste niet mogelijk en bleek na veel proberen dat er een maximum van INR 4.000,- was. Onze zekker zijn weer goed gevuld om souvenirs te kopen. Op de weg terug werd Justine ook nog wagenziek, maar dat kwam vooral door benauwdheid en de Indische rijstijl.

Day 113 Friday 13 August

This morning there is no water again. It happened before at the beginning of the week, and it is something central. But nobody knows why this keeps happening. No notice from the water company, no nothing. No complaining either, so probably people are used to the fact that there is sometimes no water.

D. picked me up at my place just before 11 and we took the pie to the office. Almost everyone asked for the recipe. I did a long interview with one of the board members and then it was already lunch time.

This is the last day at the office. Tomorrow I’ll probably go hunt for the last souvenirs and Sunday I go back to Quito. It is almost time to go back and I already know I will miss it here. These last days I am not sure what to expect internet-wise. Don’t expect me to post much before my return. See you soon, friends.

Day 112 Thursday 12 August – And the bed shook

At a little before 7, my bed started shaking. I first wondered whether it was my neighbours being rough, but later I realized I had just experienced my first earthquake. A small one, probably further away, I thought. However:

“Ecuador was struck by a strong 7.1-magnitude earthquake on Thursday but no major damage was recorded, the US Geological Survey said. The epicentre of the quake was in the central part of the South American OPEC nation underneath swath of Amazonian rain forest.

The quake was felt as far as the country's capital, Quito, located about 110 miles southeast of the epicentre. However, the depth of the earthquake was about 131 miles below the surface, which is quite deep. "Had it been less deep, it would have caused quite a lot of damage," Sandra Vaco, of Ecuador's geophysics institute.” Says the Epoch Times.

Following this experience was a more fruitful day than usual. Though the board members hadn’t come back yet, I did do two interviews and made another two appointments for more interviews. I decided to skip the surveys, because there was no time, but maybe I will make it with the interviews after all. For a second I was afraid I wouldn’t.

In the evening D. came over to bake some apple pies in the kitchen of Vilma. He had his mom’s recipe and, even though we didn’t have a scale, we did a pretty good job. At least the first tastings went well. Tomorrow we’ll bring some pie to the Kallari office. Even though there won’t be many people there, because it’s a national holiday.

Day 111 Wednesday 11 August – At the animal shelter

Because the board members were not available today at the office, I decided to go to the animal shelter ‘Centro Fatima’. I asked D. to come with me, because while I was going for business, I expected to see some animals.

After a detour to the laundry, me and Mr. Been took a bus in the direction of Puyo and we went off at the small village of Fatima. That was not the place we wanted to be, however. I asked the closest store owner where we had to go. She said it was 1km back from where we came, but she thought it was closed now. Before we started our walk, we first went to get a recharge of our cell phones, where the lady behind the counter knew nothing of the centre being closed or not.

We walked down the road for that 1km and indeed found the place. A sign outside said that the place is closed for 2 months because of renovations and whishing us a good return… We decided to take a look anyway. I explained who we were and what we wanted and someone went to see the person in charge. We talked for a while and then he showed us the complex. A lot of empty cages, but we did see turtles and some monkeys. The engineer gave me his card, and some tips on another animal shelter further down the road.

We took a look at the time and decided to go to the animal shelter further down the road. Because it took some time for the bus to come, we hailed the cars to stop. Pretty soon one of them stopped and brought us further to ‘yana cocha’. A complex with a winding path going by numerous monkeys, birds and felines. Near the end, two free capuchin monkeys were very interested in my camera. They grabbed it and tried to look inside.

Day 110 Tuesday 10 August – Nothing to do

It’s a quiet day today. The board members have all gone to Quito for today and they won’t be back until tomorrow afternoon. I have 4 days left to do my interviews here and there is no-one to interview at the moment. I do have some more literature sources on Kallari, but I’m a bit in a tight spot with the interviews. The board members are hard to reach, even if they are in town, and my most important informant has gone already and is leaving to the US tomorrow. I really need to push some buttons tomorrow to get all my information.

I spent the day mostly looking through my e-mail, working a little on the project I’m doing as a volunteer and reading articles. It is so hot today that by the end of it, I’m exhausted. I go back to the house at 5pm already and watch some series on my laptop. D. told me he may pick me up for a game of basketball, but his friends hadn’t shown up yet by 8pm, so I take a shower and sit down in the hammock to write my blog posts.

Day 108 Saturday 7 August – Otavalo market

The alarm goes off at 6.30 in the morning and we wake up with a little bit of a hangover. Or a lack of sleep at the least. We came back from the party at 2am the night before. In the end however, we leave the house at 8. A few busses and 3 hours later we find ourselves in Otavalo. A small town North of Quito, with one of the biggest artesania markets. Even bigger on Saturdays. We start strolling around the market for a while looking at the clothing, jewellery and bags. I decide I need more money and get some at the bank. Not long after that, Mariela sees a beautiful dress and drags me into a store. She tries it on and looks really beautiful in it. She asks me to lend her the money for it, but I may decide later to just give it to her. Especially since the store gave us a deal, because I bought a second one to take home as a souvenir.

Then we bought a lot of other stuff at the market, including an extra bag to take the chocolates home. I hope I’m not overloaded with stuff now…

Day 107 Friday 6 August - Canelazos

This evening we said goodbye to Sarah, Maguy and Mattieu. They threw a little party and we brought some ingredients to make canelazos, the local warm alcoholic drink. In the morning I walked down from Mariela’s house, where I’m staying my last days in Quito. I walked by the Santa Clara market before, but I never entered. First thing I started looking for the naranjillas that are needed to make the drinks. These fruits are from the tomato family and have a distinct taste that I can’t describe. They are very tasty though and I hope to be able to bring some seeds with me and grown them in my garden.

An old lady asks me what I want, so I tell her I need naranjillas to make canelazos. I ask her how much I need to make the drink with one bottle of liquor. Either she doesn’t understand me, or her hearing is bad, but she just goes on about prices and numbers. In the end, some other fruit vendors help me out with the number of fruits I need. I leave with 12 naranjillas for $2,-. In the afternoon I buy the bottle of aguardiente that I need at a small liquor store.

A lot of people came to the party, and many tried our canelazos, which was pretty good. Though Mari did most of the real cooking (that’s why I’m also not entirely sure of the amounts in the ingredients). Tomorrow Sarah will go back to France. The other two will follow in a few more days. Leaving me to wonder who I’m going to throw a goodbye party for…

Ingredients (makes about 2 jars):

Aprox. 3 L Water

12 Naranjillas

5 Cinnamon sticks (or leaves)

7 Straws of lemon grass

½ kg Raw cane sugar (or panela)

Aguardiente

Wash the naranjillas well, remove the fuzzy stuff and cut out any soft spots. Boil the cinnamon, lemon grass and naranjillas in a big pan of water for about 15 minutes. Then take out the fruits and liquefy them with a little water. Pull through a sieve to get the chunks out, and then keep the juice apart. Boil the water and spices about 10 minutes longer with the sugar. Then blend the spiced water and the juice. It should be the right amount, but don’t make the juice too watery. Bring it to boil again and add the liquor right before serving.

Naranjillas may be replaced by oranges or blackberries. In the case of oranges: peel them and boil them whole first. Then follow the recipe like it is. Aguardiente is a typical sugarcane liquor. It may be replaced by rum.

Day 103 Monday 2 August - Birly eards

We started very early this day. We put the alarm at 5.30 am and left for bird watching 15 minutes later. Even the monkeys were still asleep at that time. It was cold and still quite dark, and even though we did see enough birds, the light wasn’t good enough to make any worthwhile pictures.

After breakfast, we went for a canoe ride by hand. We were brought to a smaller stream, where we had to peddle onwards. From there we came to a big lake, which was kind of frightening. You could look about half a meter in the water, but all you saw were plants growing there. According to the guide, underneath this growth, you can find all kind of dangerous wildlife: anacondas, caimans, electric eels and many piranhas. But other than the lake itself, we didn’t see much else.

In the evening, after lunch, we went to meet with a shaman. We had to wait for a little while, and while we waited we had fun with a tiny canoe. We bet for a beer that I could take it for a round and I did. Unfortunately the shaman wasn’t there, but his son (who is also shaman) was. He explained to us a couple of things about becoming a shaman, for which they use (among other things) the hallucinogenic ayahuasca or ‘yagé’ as they call it here. He did a couple of rituals, like cleansing one of our travel mates. And treating his back with a kind of nettle. The next day we took it easy and took a number of busses back, all the way to Quito, where we arrived at 11pm.

Day 102 Sunday 1 August - Community visit

The 3rd day in the jungle, we visited the Siona community near the lodge. While the men of the village are enjoying their Sunday soccer match, a woman shows us how to make their typical yuca bread. A flat bread, that looks somewhat like dosa. We go with her to harvest some of the yuca. We all try to pull it out of the soil, but it is hard. Only with the second plant, I am able to do it. We peal the tubers there and take it to the house, where the cooking fire is already burning.

The yuca is washed and then rasped. Taking care of the fingers, three of us are rasping the big roots of yuca. Then the lady puts the pulp in a sort of hammock, which is then twisted to push out the sap. We are very surprised to see that the yuca comes out as a dry powder. She sieves the yuca flour and then put it in a pot. From the pot, it goes on to a hot clay plate on the fire, where she turns it into a flat bread.

We have lunch there and afterwards play a little with a blow dart. When we are done with that, we get to walk around a little, but Mari and I decide to take a swim in the river. On the way back to the lodge, we spot some pink dolphins again. This time I take a picture of a fin. They are so fast, it is impossible to shoot photos of them.

Later in the afternoon we hear about another anaconda and rush out to see it. A little bigger than the one we saw before, but still a very young one. The rest of the evening we go for another swim in the lake and look for caimans again. We see another small one (probably the same).

Later at night, we get quite a scare, when Mari thinks she sees a tarantula in our room. We don’t find it, but when we later go to bed, she feels something big creeping up her leg. We rush for the flash light, only to discover it’s a giant cricket.

Day 101 Saturday 31 July – Hiking day and night

At the breakfast table at 8 am, we start spotting animals early. Someone found a black scorpion and starts passing it around the tables. In the roof we can still see a leg of a tarantula. Later after breakfast we take the canoe to a place where we will take a hike.

During the hike, the guide tells us about different plants and trees that are to be found. He asks us to do whatever he asks, to eat what he asks, and so on. The first thing he gives us is a piece of tree bark, which contains the anti-malaria medicine. He shows us a tree of which the white sap cures problems with the stomach. There’s a plant of which the dry twigs you can smoke, without addiction. And a palm tree that ‘walks’. We didn’t see many animals. Mostly insects, like cycads, poisonous caterpillars the size of a finger and ants and termites. One ant species was useful for stitching up a wound. He showed us how to do it too. Another ant species, inside a hollow tree, was good to eat (I passed this one though).

The hike wasn’t so hard, though some of us had some problems in the swamp and came back to the lodge with wet feet. But the temperature under the canopy is like a sauna, so we went for another swim in the lake afterwards.

The evening was reserved for piranha fishing, but only two of the guys caught some. After that, we went on a night hike, with our flash lights on. We saw giant crickets, scorpions, a scorpion spider, a small tree frog and 2 snakes, of which one was quite venomous. The guide showed us a fungus that lights up in the dark, which even then was hard to see in the darkness of the woods.

Day 100 Friday 30 July – To Cuyabeno

At a quarter to 6, I’m woken up by my cell phone. Not realising where I am, or that it’s not the alarm that’s going off, I try to turn the alarm off. Luckily I notice that it’s Mari calling and I pick up the phone: she’s already standing in front of the hotel. I go down and take her up to my room, the doorman doesn’t say anything about it, so I think it’s okay.

When we go down for breakfast however, the lady at the desk tells us I shouldn’t have done that and that I now have to pay $10,- extra. We argue about it, but she wouldn’t let go. It’s a lot of money for a 3-hour-stay in this hotel. We take our breakfast in silence, because we are both angry with the hotel, and wait for the guys from Samona lodge to pick us up. Only 15 minutes later than planned, the minibus leaves to Cuyabeno with us and 13 other tourists in it.

The bus ride takes about 3 hours, with a stop in between where we buy some ice cream. We end up on the edge of the park at a bridge, where the guides direct us to lunch and to the office where we pay our entrance fee for the park. The guides have no idea who’s vegetarian and who is not, but later on this won’t be a problem anymore.

At the bridge we leave our bags, which are going to be brought in a different canoe, while 11 of us take a canoe with the guide to the lodge. He says it normally takes 1 and a half hour to get there, but we are taking a longer route to see as many as possible. We get ponchos, which we hardly need to use in the entire trip, and life vests.

During the boat ride, we get very lucky. We see a number of species of monkeys, two types of boa, bats, a sloth and a few birds. The guide tells us it is about all we will see during the entire trip. Though we have yet to see the famous anaconda. When we arrive at the lodge, we get our backpacks back and we are shown our rooms. A nice double room with a private shower serves us well.

A little while later, we take the canoe out again to the big ‘laguna grande’, where we spot our first pink river dolphin along the way. At the lake we take a swim and watch the sunset. When it is almost dark, we sail to the shore, where we look for caimans. A small one approaches the boat, while the guide splashes a piece of chicken in the water and yells ‘aung’ all the time.

When we get back to the lodge, dinner is served and a tarantula appears on the scene. And besides the cockroaches in the room, that was the last animal we saw that day.

Day 99 Thursday 30 July – To Lago Agrio

At 10 in the morning, the bus left for Coca, a dirty oil town further east of Tena. I could take a direct route to Lago Agrio, but there are only 3 busses from here and they either leave very early or arrive very late. Lago is – just like Coca – an oil town and neither of these cities is very safe in the middle of the night, according to my guide and the people in Tena.

About half way to Coca, while I’m almost falling asleep, there is a loud bang. The rear tire on the right just exploded. We stop at the side of the road and the bus driver and his assistant (they always drive in pairs) team up to replace the tire. Everybody else gets out of the bus to get fresh air, sun or to take a piss. With a small group we stand around, watching the changing of the tires, which takes about 20 minutes.

Somehow, we still arrive in time in Coca for me to take my connection. I wish my travel mate from Germany a nice time in Yasuní – the other big reserve – and get on my next bus. When we drive off, the assistant puts a DVD on and… shit, it’s Jean Claude van Damme again. And the same one they showed in the bus from Quito to Tena. They really have a bad taste in films in the busses around here!

I arrive in Lago Agrio early: at 5:30 pm. We don’t stop at the bus station but a few blocks away, but some nice people tell me to take a taxi and they let me know the normal price. For a dollar I get to the hotel. Hotel Lago Imperial is the meeting place for tomorrow, so I figured it would be smart to sleep here as well. There are probably cheaper hotels, but my guide wasn’t really complete with those. For 15 dollars I have a room with a ventilator (AC is 5 more), but I also have my own bathroom, TV and a double bed. Breakfast is included; though I also have a ticket for free breakfast here. Mari will leave this night and will join me at the breakfast table in the morning. From there we will be picked up and brought to the Samona lodge in the Cuyabeno reserve.

2008 – 18 juli - Gandhi lezing @ Bidja Bidyapeeth

Nadat ik mijn posts uit India heb nagelezen, merk ik dat een aantal verhalen nooit gepubliceerd zijn. Hier zijn er alvast een paar, maar er volgen er zeker nog meer:

Vanmorgen werden we gevraagd om wat werk te doen. Samen met Sanne, Arianne en Loek gingen we ‘fieldwork’ doen, wat uiteindelijk niets meer was dan onkruid wieden in het gras. Daarna was een lezing over Gandhi en globalisatie, maar ging eigenlijk over één van zijn lessen: dat van ‘khadi’, het zelf spinnen en weven van kleding. Dit is goed voor de lokale economie en werkgelegenheid. Nog een stukje zelf gesponnen, wat verrassend genoeg meteen best goed ging. Reetha Christi vertelde dat het spinnen je vooral goed af gaat als je goed in je vel zit, maar nog mooier dan dat vond ik de verhalen over Gandhi zelf. Bijvoorbeeld dat hij zich niet druk maakte, dat hij graag een grapje maakte en dat hij niet oordeelde over anderen.
Het eten hier op Bija Bidyapeeth is trouwens erg goed. Afgezien van af en toe yoghurt bijna volledig veganistisch en altijd erg lekker. Hier in het noorden is niets erg ‘spicy’. Volgens Anil wordt dat meer hoe verder je naar het zuiden gaat. Wel oppassen voor hele pepertjes!

2008 – 17 juli

De nacht in de trein ging vrij snel voorbij. We zaten niet allemaal bij elkaar, maar dat maakte niet zoveel uit. We hadden allemaal nog redelijk geslapen en om 8:30 uur kwamen we aan in Dehradun. We werden door 2 jeeps van Navdanya opgehaald en daar verblijven we nu 2 nachten. Het is een mooie oerderij, gericht op het conserveren van zaadgoed. Het is leuk om allemaal bijzondere gewassen te zien en de manier waarop ze verbouwd worden.

2008 – 16 juli

Een bezoek gebracht met een touringcar (genaamd ‘tourist’) aan de Qtub Minar, en grote toren, gebouwd door moslims ter ere van de overwinning op de hindoes. Na de lunch naar de Lotus tempel geweest, een prachtige tempel in de vorm van een lotusbloem, gebouwd voor alle religies van de wereld, door de zogenaamde Bahaïs.
Later met de taxi naar het treinstation, toen zagen we pas het echte Delhi, met de bedelaars, de krotten en de vele kleine winkeltjes. Op het station zelf waren we in een kring om onze tassen gaan zitten, om diefstal te voorkomen. We trokken al veel bekijks, vooral toen enkele van ons het spelletje ‘uno’ gingen spelen. Later een schatting moment toen een moeder met kindje naar ons toe kwam en het kindje ons een hand wilde geven.

2008 – 15 juli - 's Nachts

Na meer dan een uur gelopen te hebben– waar we onderweg nog vuistgrote slakken tegenkomen - komen we aan bij de India gate, een grote poort waar je eigenlijk niet te dichtbij mag komen, zoals de Champs Elysees. Bij deze toeristische trekpleister lopen om 23 uur nog tientallen mensen, vooral kinderen, die je vanalles aan proberen te smeren. Schrijnend om te zien, en moeilijk om nee te zeggen, vooral ook omdat ze zo aanhoudend zijn.
De terugweg in de riksha was veel sneller, de taxi-driewielers waren snel gevonden, en voor INR 90,- per stuk brachte ze ons ruim op tijd terug naar het hotel.

Day 97 Tuesday 28 July – … and the chocolate factory

Like always, things do not go as smooth here in Ecuador as I am used to. I was hoping to go to the chocolate factory with Judy in the morning, but when I called her the night before, she didn’t answer. This morning I called again and I got a whole story from her, which I didn’t totally hear, because I was walking down the busy Colón.

It turns out, there were some bus problems in Tena, forcing Judy to take the bus via Ambato, which is quite a detour. She arrived only at 11 in the centre of Quito. I met her at her house, the place that R. called his house before, when I first was there. Then we took three buses down North to the chocolate factory of Ecuatoriana de Chocolates. The factory that makes the Cacaoyere chocolate. I don’t know if it is known anywhere, but I hear they have contacts in Germany for selling the chocolate. All the way to the factory, Judy talks a lot. I think I’m quite up to date about the current things that are going on. I just need to get a hold of her to talk about the history of Kallari.

At the factory, we first sit down and Judy talks with the manager, and a chocolate maestro. Some things about the new batch of chocolate, which is quite good, though a bit acidic (which will go away within 3 months); and about packaging designs. Then they offer me a tour through the factory. I’m not allowed to make pictures, because they may be a bit careful: Kallari is going to build its own factory the coming year.

The cacao is first roasted for 45 to 48 minutes, after which it is rapidly cooled down and the skin gets removed. The beans are then ground into small bits. In the Kallari cacao we see some lighter pieces of cacao. These might be mutants or criollo varieties. The ‘contamination’ of the cacao with a small percentage of other varieties than Cacao Nacional is giving it a more nutty and floral taste, which is only a good thing.

The ground cacao beans are turned into a thing called cacao mass, going into cacao liquor. The exact process is not explained to me. In the next room they add the vanilla and the sugar, and they roll it into small pieces. Then it is mixed with cacao butter – which is at the moment bought from outside, a machine to make this is a million dollar – and ‘conched’. Meaning it is turned around and getting to the right taste. Some flavours will disappear while conching.

Now it is ready to pour it into bars. A machine turns the chocolate in different temperatures, preventing the fats to shift and thus preventing the formation of a white finish. It needs to be shiny and brown. It is poured into moulds and then goes through the cooling tunnel. At the end of the tunnel is light, but then it soon turns into darkness again, when the bars are packed into plastic and pushed into cramped boxes. Only at the consumer end will the chocolate ever see light again.

After the tour, I ask whether I could come back much later to do some interviews and that’s alright, they “love interviews”. After that it is time to take the bus back to the centre. Judy accompanies me for a while once more. When I get off, I pass by the café to say goodbye to Mari again; I pick up my stuff from the apartment, which I’m kind of using as a storage now, sorry; and I take a bus to Cumbaya. From there I pick the first bus to Tena, where I’m lucky to get a seat on the first row to watch… oh no… Jean Claude van Damme films. Luckily there’s a guy standing with his arms in front of my view.

Day 95 Sunday 25 July – Twilight: Eclipse

We planned to finally go to the TeleferiQo today, but the sky turned very cloudy. Even if it wasn’t going to rain, we wouldn’t have been able to make any good pictures. Instead, we decided to go to the cinema. Aunt Trina called me while walking down the hill, which was a pleasant surprise. At the cinema, we had the choice between the mage’s apprenticeship (el aprenizaje del brujo) and Twilight: Eclipse. I didn’t know either of them, so I let Mari choose.

Eclipse it was: a film about vampires and werewolves, but not even considering the amount of girls in the room, it was more of a teen romance film. Girl likes two guys, one of them a werewolf, the other a vampire. And of course these two species hate each other. Nevertheless, they work together to help the girl when she is in danger. It was a pretty straight forward film and, if I am correct, based on a series of books of which one of my friends is a big fan. It wasn’t that bad, but come-on, a vampire-slash-werewolf film that isn’t scary or funny? And a stupid girl that chooses an ice-cold vampire over a werewolf…

Day 94 Saturday 24 July – Holiday in Quito

No hangover, but almost overslept myself for breakfast. Vilma made a nice local dish with ground plantain (couscous like) and a piece of fresh papaya. The rest of the morning I hung around in the hammock a little, writing some more postcards. The office is closed today and I haven’t any idea what to do. Perhaps tour a little in town. For the rest I should wait for Judy to come back from Quito this evening. I need to interview her.

Too bad that Judy isn’t coming until midnight, and it’s raining very hard. I decide to go to see Mari this weekend in Quito. I take my laptop to be able to work on Monday. Perhaps it’s possible to visit the chocolate factory again on Tuesday, but we’ll need to see about that.

I pack my stuff in the small backpack and walk to the bus terminal. I only have to wait fifteen minutes until the bus arrives, but eventually the bus takes 5 and a half hours to get to the station. Then the trole-bus isn’t driving on schedule and I don’t arrive at Mari’s house until midnight. What a ride.

Day 93 Friday 23 July – BBQ by candle light

The day wasn’t really interesting. It was a hot day, too hot to work in the office on the computer all day. But that’s what we did anyway. I’ve now also involved myself into how we can improve the café in Quito. Two other volunteers had already made up a pretty extensive list, but since I’ve spent so much time there, I added another page to it.

In the evening two of the volunteers invited the people from the office for a barbeque. I decided to bring a bottle of aguardiente and sprite. D. brought ingredients for a salad. But when we got there, there were no lights. We crossed the little bridge and entered the main hall, where they were already preparing the food. With just one back-up light and some candles we all helped prepare the rest of the food. When the back-up light was empty, Carlos went back to his house to get another light. This way we spent the whole night eating and drinking. And making jokes about the ass-meat that Ben brought. It’s something they eat around Loja, but not in this region.

Day 92 Thursday 22 July – New project with Kallari

I talked to Carlos about the working possibilities, but besides helping out with one of the other volunteers, he couldn’t think of anything. Elias knew something else, a project to provide alternatives to hunting and fishing. The indigenous people are hunting and fishing a little too much, so that the population of wild life and fishes are declining slowly. Kallari wishes to offer alternatives, like other livestock and fish ponds. The problem is that the fish ponds that have been made in the past are for the largest part with tilapia fish, but these are African species. Kallari wishes to make ponds with local species of fishes. And add livestock of local animals. So the question to me was: How do we do this, which species, what will it cost, etc.?

But when it comes down to changing, I also wonder how they will convince the men of the communities to switch to animal farming, because in the majority of communities, hunting is also a social act.

At dinner, when I tell Vilma about the mosquito bites, she makes me a concoction of lemon and the leaves of a plant which is supposed to be antiseptic. Then she washes my arms and legs with it and tells me to let it dry in the air. For the most part of that evening, I didn’t have any itches from the mosquitos, so it really worked.

Day 91 Wednesday 21 July – Cutting down ‘rainforest’

When I get up, I roll up the mosquito net and head in to the main room. It’s a wooden house on poles, with basically 3 rooms: Two very small ones to sleep in, and one big one, which is used as a kitchen and everything else. My guest-mom is already cooking breakfast. For me there are some sort of cakes, but I can’t really tell what they are made of; and yuca.

After breakfast, we all go out to mow weed with machetes. But this isn’t the kind of weed that we are used to: everything grows so much faster here, the weed is trees of up to 2,5 metre high and several centimetres thick. We work all morning and somewhere near the end, one of us finds a snake. A strangling type, so not harmful. The son of the family picks it up. Again, I regret not having my camera with me now. But at least I have the memory of seeing and touching it.

When we get back to the house, the father shows me the cabin with all the liquor, he offers me a bit of the strong stuff he calls: “veinticinco” (25), but it’s in a plastic bottle, so I ask him if he brew it himself. No, he buys it in Tena. It tastes good, but one shot is enough if I want to stay sober the rest of the day.

After that, the son takes me to the river again to go for a swim. While I’m relaxing, he hunts fishes underwater, armed with a spear: two sharp spikes, welded onto a steel construction wire. When we go back to the house after a while, he lets me manage the canoe by myself. But it’s hard to manage, to stay in balance and to push the thing in the direction you want to go. But perhaps I was just doing it wrong.

Lunch was a soup of palm heart, some palm heart cooked in a leaf, yuca and a boiled egg. After we finish, the dad takes me on a little tour to the cocoa field and then it is almost time to go. I tell them ‘ashca pagrachu’ and ‘shuk punchakama’ and the son takes me back to the road where the bus will stop. At the river, the canoe is missing, so we have to cross walking. I take off my boots and roll up my pants, but still the water is deeper than I thought. The part that I rolled up gets all wet.

At the house where we are supposed to wait, the son remembers me I’m supposed to pay (though it is very difficult for him to ask me). I don’t have the change, so we head down the road to meet D., who is waiting a little further down. When we get there, he has just crossed the river with his guest parents himself. Then we walk back up and one of us notices a fish in a pond. The get another villager with a machete and they start to hunt the fish. While they may have hurt it, they didn’t catch it.

After this D. and I take the bus, a 45 minute drive back to Tena. Tired, full of bug bites, but content.

Day 90 Tuesday 20 July – To the community Rumi Yaku

A little over 8 Judy picked D. and me up from the place where I’m staying. She is going to a community with two American women and asked us to come with her the night before. Before taking off, she shows a tree which is just across the road, called guava (pakay in kichwa). It’s a leguminous tree, which fixes nitrogen. It comes up like weed and it grows really fast, but that makes the tree very suitable for firewood. And because the fruit is partly edible, people spit the seeds on the ground, making the tree come up everywhere. This is good for the soil nutrients, though.

The group left without taking a guy with them, so they had to go back to the hotel. He didn’t show up however, so we went to buy some rubber boots for everyone. Judy asked us: “neither of you has rubber boots? You really need them at the farm.” But she doesn’t have any, she just does it all barefoot, like the inhabitants.

On the way back we pass by the hotel again, but the guy is still not there, so we go. D. and me in the back of the pickup-truck, enjoying the scenery and the wind in our hair. After a pretty new road, we take a gravel road (which is less comfortable in the back), and then we arrive at the outskirts of the community. While walking to the river, Judy amazes me with the knowledge she has on the local flora. A little boy brings us across the river with a canoe. He pushes the canoe hard with a stick, making it rock pretty much, and while making motor noises. We cross one by one. Probably because the canoe is a bit leaky and fills up with water slowly.

We are right on time at the community ‘house’, but the community is a little later. Judy says this could be because the group yesterday was late. While the women prepare a meal for us, one of the children wants to show us the school, so we go with him. Meanwhile, he borrowed the camera from one of the American women and keeps making pictures, some of them very good.

The first thing we get to eat is fruit. Three plates with banana, papaya and pineapple are presented, and everything is so fresh, it all tastes better than I’ve ever tasted. You can buy bananas in the city, but here they are picked ripe and they are so much tastier. After that follow a number of other dishes, among which frogs’ legs, fish and gusano’s (caterpillars) for the non-vegetarians. The things I did eat were wild potatoes (papa china), palm heart (palmito), a cacao relative (cacao blanco), yuca and frutipan (paparawa, a nut that resembles chestnut by taste). And I repent that I didn’t take any pictures of all this.

After dinner, D and I played with the kids. Some of them really loved being swung around, but then we had to play some soccer. It was the middle of the day and the sun was out, so it was pretty hard playing. We won though. But after that we had to play another game with everyone. I played with my rubber boots on at first, but tried it with bare feet this time. That didn’t stop us from winning again, even though Judy was playing pretty fanatically.

After the games, Judy and the other two women left us. We were divided over two families and went for a swim in the river. The water was perfect. The kids brought each of us to our respective guest houses. Mine was a 5 minute walk along the river, although the river used to run a little further away. There was a flood this year.

My family is not very talkative, just one of the sons asks a lot, and jokes a lot. That we’re going to harvest a quintal of coffee each the next morning for example. The coffee is still quit green. But they serve me a nice dinner with rice and an egg and I watch the woman of the house prepare chicha, the local ‘beer’. Though they don’t let it ferment it so much and she doesn’t chew on the yuca first either. This makes it more like a kombucha brew. It tastes nice, though, a bit like milk. And they show me the cute little house monkey ‘chichi’. When it gets dark we stay up for a little while longer, but before 9pm we went to bed.

It was a difficult sleep, the bed was pretty hard, but mostly it was because we went to bed so early and there was a rooster crowing all night. I did my best though and I slept until the sun had risen and the others were all up already.

Day 89 Monday 19 July – 1st day at the office

In the morning, D. came to pick me up at my place. Together we walked to the office. Inside, we said hello to everyone, and I turned on a computer. It asked for a password and I asked the others if they could give it to me. They asked someone else, but in the end it took too long and I got my laptop. After going through all the new mail I had gotten, I took a look at the FairTrade papers I was going to work with. D. had already made a nice list of famers and in the end it seemed that the application form was also already filled in for the most part. All they need is someone from the directive to help out with the remaining things. I’m not sure what else I can do to help.

Later in the morning, D. took me out to the Centro de Acopio, the place where they bring the cocoa, dry it, ferment it and separate it in different sizes. From here, the cocoa goes to the factory to get roasted and made into chocolate. There was not much to see at the moment. Only one drying platform had cocoa at the time.

I didn’t have much else to do in the afternoon and the office closed early, at 5.30 already. I guess it is much more relaxed here than it is in Guayaquil. Then again, coffee is a different type of product, especially if you sell it with coffee machines. So after work, D. shows me the centre a little bit. He took me to a sort of market place with a roof, where a lot of people sell their stuff in small stalls. Then we walked a little past a few stores, I helped him get a present for the birthday of a friend of his and we went back. In the evening, I had dinner with Judy and she told me about Rumi Yaku…

Chocolate cake recipe / Receta de pastel de chocolate

The basis is another version of “death by chocolate brownies” from Sinfully Vegan by Lois Dieterly, given to me by Z. (La base es otro versión de “muerte por brownies de chocolate” de Sinfully Vegan por Lois Dieterly, que me ha dado la Z.):

• 1 3/4 cup sugar [azucar]
• 3/4 cup applesauce [puré de manzana]
• 1/2 cup water [agua]
• 1 tbs lemon juice [1 cuchara jugo de limón]

• 1 tsp cinnamon [1 cucharilla canela]
• 1 tsp lemon zest [ralladura de limón]
• 1 1/3 cup flour [harina]
• 3/4 cup cocoa [cacao]
• 1/2 tsp baking powder [polvo de hornear]
• 1/4 tsp salt [sal]
• 1 70g dark chocolate bar chopped into pieces [barra de chocolate amargo picado en trozos]

I added just a little bit of olive oil (agregé un poco de aceite de olive).

Mix wet with the sugar and mix dry in separate bowl, then mix dry & wet :) bake 40-47 min at 350 F (180 C) (Mezcla húmeda con el azúcar y mezcla seca en un tazón aparte , mezcla seco y húmedo :) hornea 40-47 min a 350 F / 180 C)

Cut the brownie in half, put marmalade on one of the pieces and place the other piece on top. All you need now is the frosting. (Corta el brownie en medio, pon mermelada en una de las piezas y colocar la otra pieza arriba. Todo lo que necesitamos ahora es el azúcar glaceado.):

• 100g butter / margarine [mantequilla / margarina]
• 1/8 cup soy milk [leche de soya]
• 1 bar or min. 70g dark chocolate [- amargo]
• 2 tbs sugar [azucar]

Cook the soy milk with the sugar and butter. When it is hot, add the chocolate and stir until it melts. Then let it cool down until it is thick and divide it over the cake. Then, just before the frosting gets hard, adorn the cake with fruits. (Cocina la leche de soya con el azúcar y la mantequilla. Cuando está bien caliente, agrega el chocolate y revuelva hasta que está fundido. Luego deje que se enfríe hasta que está grueso y divide sobre la torta. Después , justo antes del glaseado se endurece, adorna la torta con las frutas.)

Day 88 Sunday 18 July – A game of basket

At 8am they serve breakfast on Sunday. When I arrived at the breakfast table, Judy and her friend were sitting there already eating. Vilma and Judy were talking mostly, telling stories. After breakfast, we talked a little about Kallari and what I could do. She told me a little about how the market works. A little while later, we go over to Carlos’ house, 200 meters further down the road. The other Dutch guy lives there too, but when we get there, he’s gone to church. So I listen to the conversation that Judy and Carlos have about the markets, US markets and European markets. They are hoping to expand, but Judy is sceptical about the size of the European market.

Then Carlos has to leave and we go back to the hostel. I wash some clothes there (by hand yes) and later the Dutch guy, Darian, comes by. Judy called him from across the street. I think he first didn’t believe me when I said I am from ‘Holanda’, but after that we chatted a bit and he’s going to update me about what he’s doing tomorrow. We’re probably going to work together. While lying in the hammock later, reading, some of the kids wanted to play with me. But the girls wanted to play their way, shoving a dog in my hammock and trying to swing the hammock. I wasn’t that amused, so I told them to stop.

Later that afternoon, I go for a walk around the town, but either my map is wrong, or the place I’m staying at is not on the map. I couldn’t find any streets from the map (from the few street-name-plates that there were) save the main street. We’ll see tomorrow how it is.

When I get back, Darian comes by to ask if we want to play basketball. There is a court nearby with a roof (although it wasn’t raining). We won 2 games, but it was pretty hard. I’m not really made to do this kind of sports. A shower later, I crawl onto bed to write my blog stories.

Day 87 Saturday 17 July – To Tena

We set the alarm clock to 5am and 6am, but eventually we got up at 7. We were just too tired to get out of bed. But once we got up, we were out of the house quickly. We took a cramped trole bus to the Quitumbe station and from there we had a quick connection to Tena. The bus ride was about 5 hours, but we slept through most of it. At 13:30 we arrived and I called Carlos to pick me up. We waited one hour until Mariela really had to go to her parents place, so she left me there for another hour until Carlos picked me up with a taxi, with his wife and kid. There was some sort of car accident, his wife said.

After a short stop at the DIY-store, they dropped me off at the hostel. And he told me we would talk later when Judy arrives. But they wouldn’t come until the next morning, because of a party. I have a simple room, not very clean, but the first night at least there weren’t any mosquitos. There’s no internet, so I won’t be able to update as much as I want to, and I won’t be able to answer any e-mails that much.

I stayed in my room until they called me for dinner, sleeping a bit, because it was raining and because I was still tired from the trip. Vilma prepared a dinner for everyone, which was the two of us and her daughter. They had me a big plate of spaghetti waiting. After that I read a book in my room and went to sleep again, early.

Day 85 Thursday 15 July – Birthday

Quite a busy day today. Even though I had prepared a lot of food the day before, I still spent a lot of time in the kitchen. Luckily the cake and the lasagne sauce were both ready and waiting. I spent the day making the cake’s frosting, finishing the lasagne, preparing salad, snacks and guacamole. And besides I had to buy beer and other things.

But the food was a success. Made the best lasagne I had ever made and I’m hoping that wasn’t because of the cheese I put in. The cake was very heavy, but good. I’ll post the recipe later. And everybody liked the food.

After preparing everything, I had some minutes to myself before the first guests called for me to open the gate. I had practically invited everyone I know in Quito and some of them brought more guests. So people started to drip in slowly. We started out with the snacks, then out came the presents, among which the T-shirt I’m wearing in the pictures, a lot of chocolate, an alpaca scarf and very warm woolly slippers. For sure I won’t be cold this winter. Then we got a box as a drum and everybody sang songs for me. Some in Kichwa, some in Spanish. I put one on my Facebook.

When everybody had finally arrived, we started on the lasagne and cake. In the meantime we kept drinking wine and beer and afterwards we opened the bottle of tequila, which was very much liked by me and Victor. It was a relatively cheap bottle, but it was good stuff. Next morning we didn’t feel a thing, though the people who drank other stuff had a bit of chuchaqui.

They had warned me before, but I didn’t believe them. The birthday-boy (or girl) gets to be ‘beaten’ with a belt the amount of years. Everybody takes turns. I didn’t feel much of it, it was just a bit weird standing there like that, receiving a ‘beating’. We danced some after that and just past midnight, the booze was gone and it was time to let the neighbours sleep. So the end.

Saturday I will go to Tena, the town where Kallari chocolate is. Again, this moving means I don’t know whether I will have internet on a regular basis. I do, however already have a place to stay. Expensive, but including 3 meals a day.

July 30th, I won’t be reachable at all for 5 days, because then I will spend some time with Mariela in the Amazon. The national park of Cuyabeno to be exact.

Day 84 Wednesday 14 July – Meeting Carlos

I finally met with Carlos today. He was in the café for just a while. I can come on Saturday to Tena and I may get to work with chocolate recipes and packaging designs. Very interesting!

On Ecuadorian typical food

Historically, Ecuador is the land of potatoes, maize, quinoa and turkey, just like most other Andean countries. However, nowadays the most popular plate is rice with chicken in any form. There are some specialities to be found around the country though. You have different kinds of soups, like locro, a soup of potatoes, often with maize and avocado. There is caldo de … and there you fill in whichever kind of meat. Other starters include the empanada, a maize or plantain pastry filled with cheese or meat.

Main courses usually consist of meat, with cuy being something special. We usually keep our cuys in the house as pets or we experiment on them: guinea pigs they are. If the dish doesn’t come with rice, there is also mote, a white, peeled maize variety; canguil, which is just popcorn, this usually goes with soups; or potatoes. In the coastal area you have patacones and bolones, which are plantain specialties. Sometimes they are made with cheese, but not always. Another coastal specialty is the ceviche (though there is a vegetarian variant in the highlands), which resembles a soup made with fish or shrimp, where the seafood is usually raw, marinated in lime juice and chilli. In the Amazon you are more likely to find dishes with yuca (cassava), like fried yuca or yuca cheese cakes. Communities there also eat all sorts of wild meats, including gusano, a type of caterpillar.

A number of snacks include humitas, a yummy mix of ground corn, cheese, butter and sugar wrapped in corn leaf and steamed; bolones; empanadas; quimbolitos; and onion rings. While deserts are usually a pudding of some fruit or morocho de leche, which is rice pudding, but I haven’t seen that anywhere yet. Of course you have ice cream from pingüino (the Dutch Ola) or Hagen Dasz, but there is also a special ice cream called helado de paila: made in special wok-like pans, usually made with juices and the like.

Vegetarian food is easy to get in the bigger cities, where ‘health food’ is growing. Most vegetarian restaurants serve almuerzos (lunch) with a soup, rice, salad, vegetables and a small desert. They are a bit hippy-like on the interior, but you’ll see all kinds of people sitting at the tables. Mostly Ecuadorians, though: most tourists go to the Indian restaurant in the center or to one of the many Chinese restaurants.

The best thing about the food here, though is the large variety of fruits. Often made into fresh juices. Just a short list of fruits you may encounter: Maracuyá (passion fruit), granadilla, tomate de árbol (tree tomato), naranjilla, pineapple, orange, guanábana, chirimoya (custardapple, we saw these in India as well), taxo, mora (blackberry), babaco, different kinds of bananas, melons, strawberries, apples (but imported), papaya, avocado, uvillas (gooseberries), etc. And these are just the fruits that are available in the city and in season. I have yet no idea which fruits I will find in the Amazon.

Day 81 Sunday 11 July – NL vs. ES: 0-1

Determined to watch the final match in the World Cup, I set out with my French housemate to the Dutch Pub on the Corner. Being 15 minutes early would secure a good spot I figured. How wrong I was. The small pub was packed with people. It was worse than the bus I had been on much earlier, hell sardines have more space in a can. People were pressed against the windows or standing outside. Some daredevils even ventured inside, squirming themselves in. And even if Sarah had been a foot taller (because of all the tall Dutch), we probably wouldn’t have wanted to get inside.

We decided to look for another place to watch, and in a fleeting moment I saw my Dutch flight companion, pressed against the glass. He’d been in Quito the entire time, but this is the first time we see each other again. He gives me a thumbs up when I ask him how things are going, and Sarah and I walk on. We’re lucky, the next pub is bigger and has 3 video screens. However, nationalities are mixed. Spanish and Dutch are watching the same game together and Americans and Ecuadorians are dressed in orange or red.

But what a terrible game! 9 yellow cards and a red one for the Dutch game. They wanted it so bad, they almost deserved to lose. Ball possession was almost equal, the Spanish team had just a little more chances to score, but still. Only 4 minutes before the end of overtime, Fábregas scores against the Dutch. The Dutch storm the field when the game ends, claiming that Fábregas was offside, but sorry guys, the video clearly shows he wasn’t. A muffled sound of disappointment sounds around me, while from the next room some loud cheering is clearly audible. For the third time in history, the Dutch football team misses the mark in the finals.

Making a link to an e-mail I got from R.: Though Ecuador didn’t qualify for the World Cup, the excitement was definitely felt here. And not just because I find myself in the most touristic location in the country. Until the final South-American country lost, even the Ecuadorians were fanatic about the World Cup. With our heads down, we leave the pub. The craziness is over and we can go on with our normal lives. Or at least, I can go on with my ‘normal’ Ecuadorian life.

Today I got an e-mail from Judy, giving me more assurance of my upcoming work for the Kallari association. It is almost certain that I will leave Quito for a couple of weeks after celebrating my birthday.

Day 77 Wednesday 7 July – Visa extended

Yuhu! I am finally officially allowed to stay in the country until august 18! That’s the day I leave, I know, so I hope I don’t miss my flight or something else bad happens. Good thing is that I saved $170,- on my visa, because it only got extended for less than 30 days. Now my discount is either because of that, or because I said I’m going to do some volunteer work (for Kallari). No matter, I’m happy and I can take extra chocolate home! I can actually take about 23kg of chocolate home, because I also found out I can take 2 bags of 23kg back in the plane. Who wants to buy some real and delicious Ecuadorian chocolate?!

Day 76 Tuesday 6 July – John Travolta the waiter

In the morning, Mari called me to ask if I could fill in for an hour for her at the café today and 3 other days. She’s doing admission exams for her university and can’t quit her job altogether. This shift she asks me to fill in for is right at the moment of the semi-finals between the Netherlands and Uruguay, but hey, what kind of an excuse is that.

Some Zeezicht feelings actually surfaced while doing my job, washing the dishes, cleaning up tables. It felt good to do something practical for a change. Funny thing is that people didn’t even act surprised to see a tall, blond, Dutch guy waitering.

But I won’t miss the finals on Sunday! In the evening I encountered some people with the Dutch flags painted on their cheeks in a restaurant, so I went ahead and asked them where the Dutchies are watching the game. So Sunday, in the Corner Pub (Amazonas) I’ll be!

On traffic in Ecuador

While I was in Guayaquil (Day 44), I wrote a little bit about the traffic in Ecuador and that it is so terrible.  I promised to write some more about it. But at that moment I was just mostly fed up with the traffic in Guayaquil. 2 Years ago, I wrote a small piece on the traffic in India (in Dutch), which didn’t seem to have any rules but “horn please”. Sure enough, the traffic isn’t as bad here. At least they drive on the right side and the horn isn’t used as much. Mostly just by taxi drivers who pass by, hoping to pick you up, while you are just waiting for a chance to cross the road. There was one particular street in Guayaquil which gave me a lot of trouble on this matter. When taking the bus back from the office, I had to cross a broad street, which was almost impossible. Pedestrians are usually left on their own, traffic lights aren’t set so there is a space open for us to cross. Moreover, on these broad (2-3 lane, one-way) roads the cars are nearly racing. With busses and taxis stopping everywhere they like, this makes the traffic in Guayaquil a pain in the ass.

In most of Quito, things are better. Recently there is a new programme in the centre called “Pico y Placa”, which simply states that on certain days you can’t enter the centre during certain hours if your ‘placa’ (plate number) ends with a certain number. In practice, this means that during certain other hours, the streets are busier. Here’s what a friend writes about the traffic in Quito (in French). Some streets are still difficult to cross, but in the busiest streets, like Amazonas, there are at least traffic lights for pedestrians.

In driving, equally when walking, people can be disrespectful towards you, by cutting across or just not moving aside. Though only in driving, this can provide potentially dangerous situations. Luckily, Quito has a very good bus system. There are 3 lines going in North-South direction, including an Arnhem style ‘Trolebus’. And at night you can take one of the 8800 taxis that drive around here.

Day 73 Saturday 3 July – Small update

So little is happening in Quito right now, that I haven’t written anything in 4 days. I’m just doing my thesis work every day, processing the interviews that I held in Guayaquil, watching a little bit of the world cup in between (Finale NL vs. DE will be a tough game). I’ve been down with a light flu (or a heavy cold) since Monday, but recovering quickly thanks to a lot of herbal tea and lemons and fruit juices. I still haven’t heard anything from Carlos, the board member from Kallari. He said he’d be in Quito this week, but I guess I should call him again.

My new visa has been authorized and I probably can pick it up on Wednesday. I only paid $ 30,- so it could be my visa is only extended until my day of leaving. But we’ll see Wednesday. Meanwhile, without my passport I can’t travel to Tena to meet Carlos, because you can’t enter the Amazonia without it.

Day 69 Tuesday 29 June – Visa renewal in progress

I finally managed to apply for my visa extension. It’s really amazing how little people in the administration know about how this works. Last week I was in the ministry of foreign affairs, who sent me to the ‘dirección general de extranjeria’; who sent me to migration office; who sent me back to the ministry of foreign affairs. The same girl that sent me the wrong way, now told me I should be in the other ministry building across the street. She didn’t even apologise, but I was too tired to get angry about it, so I just went across the street. But that one was closed after 12, so the guard said.

So today I tried again and succeeded. I had all the necessary papers ready and I can come back on Friday. With the long line, it did take me over an hour to do everything, but I could watch Japan playing versus Paraguay, not scoring any goals. After that, I went to Camari (the only organic shop in town) and scored some blackberries and made myself a nice juice with them at home.

Day 66 Saturday 26 June – Cinema time

Today I went to the cinema with Mariela. There wasn’t a big choice, because I vetoed “Sex in the City 2”. So the choice fell on Robin Hood. An attempt by Ridley Scott to make a bigger longer story out of the many myths and legends that combine the story. It wasn’t a bad film, really, but I am not particularly a fan of Russel Crow, who is misplaced as an English man in this film with his typical American face. Anyway, without giving out any spoilers. It’s about the period from before Robin Hood starts to battle the sheriff of Nottingham. There is some humour in it, but not much. And there is a lot of violence in it, warranting a remark by Mariela: “your culture is really violent”. I can’t deny that, but at least things have improved.

Day 65 Friday 25 June – The day I almost got robbed

I was walking down Wilson, on my way to the ministry of foreign affairs to renew my visa, when right in front of the café, a man starts talking to me. He has a note with him which he wants me to read, because he’s analphabetic. Then suddenly another man in a suit shows up from behind me, calling himself Jorge, and starts to help out. They explain to me that the man has a winning lottery ticket, but the note says that the bank shouldn’t give all the money to the man, but just a little. This supposedly happens a lot to analphabetic people, Jorge tells me. We walk to a little restaurant where Jorge offers us breakfast (a good way to win confidence) and the other man tells us there he offers us $5000 of his prize money each, if we accompany him, because he can’t read. Meanwhile they just got some drinks, no breakfast.

The man makes clear that in order to trust us, he needs to see that we have money to feed ourselves, so he knows we won’t steal the prize money from him. Jorge pulls a bank receipt from his chest pocket and shows it to me to read it to the man. It says about $ 6.700, which is a lot. Though the fact that he pulls a bank receipt from his chest pocket is strange, because he told me he is a teacher. Why would he have such a thing in his pocket? Anyway, the man goes on and tells us we should actually show him the money in order to believe us. At which point, Jorge writes a check of $ 4.000 and goes out to cash it. He returns with what seems to be a big pack of money rolled in paper (though it may have been just one bank note with other paper on the inside). The man gives Jorge his ‘lucky bag’ to take home the money again.

When Jorge returns again, and after asking me how much money I possess, they ask me to do the same: to get money from the bank and show it to them. It makes me feel uncomfortable, but I proceed just to know where this is going. I’m not in it for the $ 5.000, but if not for helping the guy, for the excitement. This time, Jorge accompanies me to the bank, presumably to make sure I actually withdraw the money, and then I pick up some more money from my house. He waits conveniently out of sight of any cameras.When we walk to my house, it becomes clear to me that Jorge doesn't know his way around, he doesn't know where my house is, though he supposedly lives nearby. When he tells me he's a teacher at la Central, teaching architecture, I tell him my girlfriends studies that. He fails to ask who she is though.

We go back to the little restaurant and I show him the money. This time is different though, he wants to see how much the money is. Jorge takes it from my hands and shows it to the man. They then take the 'lucky bag’ out again and Jorge puts my money in it. While he is sealing the bag well, the other man tries to catch my attention, but I keep my eyes on the money and see Jorge putting it inside his blouse really quickly, changing it for similar bag well rolled up. Handing it to me, I try to open it, but he takes it, quickly changing it for the real bag again and opens it for me. At this point I’m not yet exactly sure of what I saw, so we head for the streets, presumably so I can bring my money back home. There the same trick with the bags repeats itself; I notice it again and the two men realize they are not going to con me. They tell me to return the bag, guard my things and they leave quickly in the opposite direction.

I realize that if I hadn’t been alert, I would have lost a lot of money, so thanks to that. The two men had been very good actors from the start, however their story didn’t check out totally. Instead of me trying to gain the confidence of one of the men, they were going out of their way to win my confidence. Would have paid me a breakfast even (too bad I had a good breakfast already). I think though, that they would be good enough to con other tourists. Though the idea that a tourist should show he’s not going to steal is strange to me. They would have to have a lot of money to enter the country in the first place, with flight tickets of € 1.000.

While they were walking away, I had the idea to follow them, to see where they were going. But the idea of having this amount of money with me and following two thieves led me back to my apartment.

I dropped the whole thing and went back on my way to the ministry of foreign affairs, where they told me I had to go to a different ministry on the other side of town.

Day 63 Wednesday 23 June – Aikido

A very tough lesson of Aikido today, especially the warming up. We did the same rolling exercise as on June 14, but I learned that they are more exercises to practice falling. This may be a good exercise to bring home, to help us fall better. Then followed a number of exercises with walking on the knees, back and forth on the tatami. We did a big number of sit ups. And when we finally began with the techniques, I was already out of breath and tired. The techniques involved yokomenuchi with shiho nage and kote gaeshi. We rounded up with koshi nage. I’m doing a lot of stuff here we didn’t do much at home. The students are not rolling here, almost all of them are falling. Just like me. I’m happy that I get this chance to see a whole new way of Aikido. After the practice, we did the torture of the legs again. My partner was pushing me pretty hard… It’s going to hurt tomorrow.
On Monday as well, we practiced a form of ushiro ryotori attack, which was more like a strangling attack. We never used this attack before. But it is interesting to work with.

Day 62 Tuesday 22 June – Dinner with 2 uncles

While I was helping Mariela today in the café with her English homework. Two uncles of her showed up for a cup of tea. We talked a bit and they explained to me the rules of marriage in the Kichwa culture. The boyfriend has to offer a good drink to the uncles. Then again when you get engaged. And when you get married, there’s a party of 3 days with a lot of alcohol, food, you name it.

When they left, they invited us to have dinner at hotel Embassy, where they were having a dinner and some people weren’t showing up. So we accepted and went to the hotel after closing up the café. The food was alright. Not as luxurious as I expected from the looks of the hotel. Crema de asparago for soup and some rice, yucca and salad. The uncles and Mariela were mostly talking in Kichwa, which made me feel a bit uncomfortable, because I didn’t understand a thing. They taught me some words but it’s hard to remember when you can’t write it down. But I’m definitely going to learn a bit more in Kichwa, it’s an interesting language.

Day 61 Monday 21 June – To the chocolate factory

Today I went to the factory of Ecuatoriana de Chocolates (cacaoyere) with Elsy (of the café) to pick up some boxes of Kallari chocolate. I didn’t see much of the inside, but it was a nice trip and now I know where the chocolate is being made. Just like EScoffee, they hire the factory and the workers to make the products.

Day 60 Sunday 20 June – Sports in Cumbaya

Just like last week, we went to watch the sports in Cumbaya. Just one game of basketball of the girls is worth noting. Sarah played as well, but met with difficulties because of the altitude and a decreasing condition. They won though, by 26-14. The guys won too, but didn’t play: the opposing team didn’t show up.

Day 58 Friday 18 June – Going ahead

Today I talked to Leonore, one of the board members of Kallari. There may be a possibility for me to enter as a volunteer, but I they need to discuss this with all board members. Maybe they will talk about it on Monday, but most likely, it would be best for me to go to Tena myself next weekend. A minimum stay for volunteers is a month. Though I have the time, it is quite much. With the friends I have in the café, I should be able to come to an agreement.
I remain in contact with Alberto, my supervisor. Finishing my thesis before September 1 seems now like an impossible task. Of course there is a lot that can be written in Ecuador, but Alberto will be out of Dutchland much during august. More realistic would be to graduate before November 1. That will cost me a good deal of money, though. Studying one extra period and living without a job is expensive. Perhaps I should start looking for that dream job and start before graduating? Well, for now let's just focus on the task ahead in Ecuador.

Day 57 Thursday 17 June – Another goodbye

This night is a farewell party for Anne-Sylvie, so Sarah and I do some groceries at the supermaxi in the afternoon after having a lunch at the mall. Most of the malls in the big cities look very much the same. The same chains of stores and they all have a floor where a lot of fast-food chains are together. There are no ‘real’ restaurants to be found however. We both choose a different place to get our food and share a table (It’s like a square with tables, surrounded by fast-food companies). Sarah gets a fast salad and I a fast lasagne. We take an ice-cream afterwards.

In the evening, Mariela and I go to A.S.’ house. We want to take a bus, but at 8.30, there are none anymore, because of the centre filling with party-people. We take a taxi instead. Sarah is already there, but besides that, we are one of the first. There’s punch, food on the table and music. What else can we say about the party, besides that it was great.

Day 56 Wednesday 16 June – 2nd aikido in Quito

I’m having aikido practice now on Monday and Wednesday. Friday is a possibility as well, but I feel that 2 days a week is fine. This practice wasn’t entirely special or different. We learned one technique where the hand is locked when uke grabs the arm of tori, but I think we’ve done this before, without stopping and looking at the specific technique. After the training we followed up with stretching of the legs, like we normally do before the training. The stretching resembled a little the way we do it at home in duos.

I do notice that it is different to train at this altitude. I get more quickly out of breath. The positive thing is that we don’t get so sweaty like in Guayaquil.

Day 55 Tuesday 15 June – Helping a friend in need

Yes, I changed it. With some networking here and there, I was able to change the date of return for only $ 200 through my travel agency back home. I will return on August 19th at around 7pm. Not the exact date I hoped for, but the only possibility in August to return for the lowest cost. I hope you guys can go so long without me. About 64 days to go...

I had a little lunch with some left-overs today and was doing a bit of nothing at home. When suddenly R. called me, asking me to come down to talk to me about something. R. is a friend that also works at the Kallari café and is always joking around. But when I saw him downstairs he looked more serious than I’ve ever seen him. He said he needed my help with something. His cousin is in the hospital and she’s pregnant with some complications. He wants to borrow $ 60, which he will pay me back by the end of the month; and he would like me to come with him to the hospital. Though Mary would kill him if she knew that he asked me this, I say it’s okay. I know R. well enough to help, even though money is not my preferred way of helping others.

I get the money from my apartment and we walk to the hospital together, giving us ample time to get to know each other better. Which is easier now, because he’s not joking around so much. At the hospital, though, we find out that the visiting hours are passed and they won’t let us in to bring the money to R.’s cousin. We try the back door, but no luck either. The only option left is to wait a while until the guard at the entrance is relieved, which actually happened really fast. R. Showed me his house, where he picked up a phone charger for his cousin and then we went back. This time he got in, but I had to wait. I was wondering how the hospital would look like from the inside.

We take the bus back to Kallari, where I spend the rest of the day. Hmm, perhaps I’m spending too much time at the café, I gotta work more.