Ecuador 4/23/2016 - 5/15/2016 |
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Friday, 4/29/2016 - Working RemotelyToday was Friday, my last working day of the week. Sisa and Yupanqui went off to school, but Mi Nena (Shina Tayanta) did not have class today.For breakfast, we had fresh strawberry juice, green plantain hash, fried eggs, bologna, croissants, and coffee. The internet went out for a while, so I was unable to work. I decided to do some laundry, taking advantage of the beautiful, hot, equatorial sunshine. I am not used to having to be so cognizant of the weather when washing/drying our clothes! It's amazing how warm the sun is here, especially after days of not seeing it. We soaked up the rays to warm our bones and provide some much-needed vitamin D. Internet access returned, and I went back inside the kitchen to work. Sisa and Yupanqui got home from school at 12:30 p.m. For lunch, we had soup, beans, llapingachos, green beans, beets, and rice. The cooking gas ran out a couple days ago, so they needed to use the tank from our hot water heater for cooking. Cold showers today, it looks like! Antonio went to a minga (community work project) today at the school. He helped with painting classrooms. In this indigenous community, participation in projects for the community and/or neighbors is strongly encouraged (mandatory), and participants are typically rewarded with food and drink. We never cease to be amazed by Antonio's 83-year-old mother (the kids' great-grandmother), known as Abuelita. She still does a lot of manual labor, even at her age. Today, among other chores, she carried part of a log back to her outdoor kitchen and used a machete to strip off the bark. I captured it on video. As of the end of the day, I have successfully completed a full work week here with only minor connectivity interruptions. We are looking forward to being able to spend the weekend with the kids... "no escuela y no trabajo" (no school and no work) has been our mantra. We hope to go to the world-famous Otavalo Saturday market tomorrow. It is just a short bus ride away, and we haven't been there since our first visit to Morochos in 2010. Peluchin the puppy was waiting at the bottom of the driveway for Aida's bus at twilight, but she didn't get home until 7:30 tonight, so he eventually gave up and came inside. The kids tried making paper airplanes, and Craig demonstrated how to make one that would fly. That immediately put him into the paper airplane manufacturing business. He tried to get the kids to conserve their paper supply, but they wanted a whole fleet of planes. We paged through the English Spanish picture dictionary teaching the kids various English words. Yupanqui fell asleep at the table before food was served. For dinner we had soup with popcorn (canguil), salad, papas fritas, rice, and chicken. We had lots of fun after dinner as the girls played with the puppy. Peluchin knocked over Mi Nena and grabbed her by the hair. He then wrestled with Sisa, who struggled to retain modesty in the dress she was wearing. After dinner, Rosa worked on a nice beaded blouse for Sisa for the Morochos festival at the end of May. (She asked if I liked it and said that she would make one for me too!) Aida worked on her own blouse. Once dishes had been cleaned up and the kids started to get tired, we retired to our casita for the night. |
![]() Abuelita Shina and Yupanqui in the wheelbarrow Paper airplane manufacturing See all photos from this day |
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