I got a new cat today and named him Taxo. Taxo is a kind of fruit here in Ecuador that is orange. He is 5 weeks old and very playful. He is so cool. I think he is going to keep me up tonight as it is his first night without his 7 brothers and sisters and his mother. I’m just glad I have him.
Progress has been made on the coop. It’s not quite done and we are a couple weeks behind, but soon, I think… hopefully. Andres is going back to the United States for some business and I am not sure if it will be done by then, but soon.
It is still missing the wire around it, a solid ramp, the inside bedding and food/water dispenser but what is there is solid. It has 2 good sized beds inside and a good sign warning the chickens’ predator:
It did not take me long to fill my days. I was offered a job at the local international school very close to my house. I will be teaching 6th and 7th grade social studies and English. I have never taught this level before, but am looking forward to the experience and the challenge. I am thinking about beginning a blog outlining my experiences there. So I guess I will not have too many traveling blog entries for a little while. Hopefully we will still get out of town on the weekends and of course we will enjoy all the days off that I have.
We spent a long weekend at the beach in the province of Esmeraldes. We took the scenic route there and stopped by grandma and grandpa Erazo’s house. On our drive to the beach we found my store, if only my life had been a little different:
We arrived late in the afternoon at the beach and found a great place called Playa Escondito. The site was awesome with electricity, a great fireplace and beach front view. Best of all there were no other people camping. Although it is high season for travelers in Ecuador, camping is not very popular.
We cooked our own food including excellent langostinos, or big shrimp. We cooked them two ways, one with curry and another grilled with pineapple. They were just excellent.
The best part of the long weekend was the relaxing. I finished a good book, took some nice walks and swam in the warm ocean water. We cooked great food, went to bed early and slept in late. It was vacation at is finest. I am getting ready to start a job tomorrow that I did not previously expect to be doing. I will begin teaching 6th and 7th grade social studies and English. I am excited about this and grateful that I got a couple really good vacations in before starting back to official work.
I loved this place.
We are making progress on the coop. Slower than we had hoped, but I can see it getting closer to being a coop. I am finally getting around to posting what we want it to look like.
Andres created this mock using a program called Sketchup. We have cut the walls and posts and are assembling the sides. I still don’t completely get how the floor will work, but Andres seems to have this figured out. We got the wood yesterday from a small store in Tumbaco, not far from where we are living. Sr. Don Nacho helped us keep our plans for this gallinero moving along. Thanks Don!
With every meal here we have a sauce made with hot peppers and a variety of spices. It goes with just about everything. We put it on bread, soups, spaghettis, salads, potatoes, rice and just about every dish with meat you can imagine. I just talked with my dad and he mentioned he has a lot of hot peppers in his garden and isn’t sure what to do with them. This recipe is for him and I hope you will try it too.
Pebre
You really want to chop everything finely so that it mixes well in the sauce. The ingredients listed above are just a suggestion. If you don’t like ginger, don’t put it. If you really like cilantro, make sure to add it. The beauty of Pebre is that it is never the same twice. Your creativity is your only limitation.
Here is the Pebre we had today with lunch and dinner today. We finished the one from yesterday with breakfast.
I wanted to get a more colorful picture of Pebre using red hot peppers, but this is authentic as it is what accompanied almost every dish I ate today.
Thanks to Carly who reminded me I forgot the olive oil and vinegar!
