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.