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.

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 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 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 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 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…

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 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 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.