Ecuador 7/1/2015 - 7/6/2015 |
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Thursday 7/2/2015 - Visiting the Family's New FarmlandWe woke up at 7:30 a.m. but then slept another 30 minutes until 8 o'clock. Yesterday had been a long day of travel. We ventured outside our casita at 8:30 a.m. Rosa was outside and we greeted her for the first time (she had been incapacited with a migraine yesterday). Sisa was at school.We had breakfast: a fried egg on a croissant and papas fritas, coffee, and papaya juice. We learned that they have wireless internet now, and we tried to hook up to it, but they don't know the password. We were able to log in to Facebook via their laptop. Aida now has an account, so we friended her. Aida showed us photos, including a video of Yupanqui dancing at Inti Raymi for four days until he got a foot blister. We watched some of our videos with the kids. Then we were called outside for the killing of the gallina (hen). It was quite large and heavy. Rosa killed it with a knife, and blood splashed on her face. Aida is rather squeamish about these things, and looked away when the actual deed was done. As they cleaned the chicken, they told us that one of the hens had laid an egg in Sisa's bed! Sisa was late coming home from school, so Rosa, Craig, Max the dog, and I went to look for her. We met her on the road to the school, and we could barely see her face because she was carrying an armload of papers. It was the last day of school. She asked for help. Craig took the papers, and she handed me her backpack. It was so heavy, full of books and notebooks. Sisa is such a good student and really enjoys learning. We walked home and ate lunch, courtesy of the hen: chicken soup with breast meat, a drumstick, potatoes, veggies, and naranjilla juice. You don't get much more farm-to-table fresh than that! After lunch we gave the kids new clothes and they changed into them. They fit perfectly, so I was relieved. We walked down to the new property the family had bought in December of last year. It is less than a mile down the road and gives them additional farmland in which to plant and harvest. They own from the road to the river and had planted quinoa and chochos (lupins). At this time of year, the fields were very dry and dusty, but there was such a gorgeous view down to the river. There is a pumping station across the street, but it belongs to the neighboring community. (Luckily, the family told us that they got two days of rain after we had returned home from visiting them). We walked back to the house and Antonio tried calling the company that made my local SIM card, hoping that we could get it to work in my cell phone, but to no avail. We gave the kids some mosaic art projects. There were little squares of self-adhesive foam that formed an animal picture when stuck to a piece of cardboard. I helped Shina Tayanta with hers, and Sisa and Yupanqui, being older, were more independent. We had fun, but Sisa and Yupanqui fought over pieces. It shouldn't have been an issue, sice everyone had their own kit, but brothers and sisters will find something to argue about. We walked up to the small store across from the school with the kids they bought snacks. We bought cola for Antonio. It was a nice little store run by a family in the community, and it was stocked with lots of necessities. We came home and finished the mosaics at the kitchen table. The kids were getting cranky and tired. Dinner was quinoa soup, mora (blackberry) juice, beef and vegetable stew, salad, and rice. We watched videos with the kids, and then went to bed at 10:30. |
 Yupanqui  Sisa at the family's new farmland  Sisa, Shina, and Yupanqui return from the store See all photos from this day |
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