Wednesday 1/25/17 - Purchasing a Washing Machine This morning we awoke to sad news: one of the piglets had passed away overnight. We don't know what happened, but it was a big blow to the family. One becomes attached to these animals, and they are also a source of income, so it is a double-whammy when something like this happens. We ate breakfast of bread, ham, patacones, coffee, and juice. While I was upstairs working, Craig saw the little green hummingbird on the flowers just a few feet away on other side of the window. He watched it while it ate, and then it flew away. Then not 2 minutes later he was replaced by the little green hummingbird with a much longer (8 inches or so) black tail, also right on the other side of the window. Craig watched it go from flower to flower eating. Then, not another 2 minutes later Craig's little bird buddy came tapping at the window frantically. Then its mate showed up and the two of them frolicked in the windowsill and the little trees right outside the window. They just flew away as Abuelita walked by. Antonio took Shina back to the dentist today, to finish work on her tooth. She was disappointed that she didn't get to go to school today because she likes milk, and she gets milk at school each day. She cracks us up! She has missed many days of school recently because she has had multiple dental appointments. For lunch, we had soup, potatoes, tostado, habas beans, sambo sauce, and a tomato and onion salad. After I finished work for the day, we went with the whole family to Cotacachi to buy a washing machine. Rosa spends so much time at the outdoor sink doing laundry by hand in the cold water. Between school uniforms and playclothes, the kids (especially the two younger ones) generate enormous amounts of dirty clothes. Sisa helps as much as she is able to, but the reality is that very often, Rosa is outside in the cold at 11 p.m. doing laundry in cold water so that the kids have clean clothes to wear to school. She catches headcolds and never has a chance to recover due to all of her responsibilities for the kids. As a thank you to her for all that she always does for us when we visit, and to make her life a bit easier, we asked if she would like a washing machine. She got very excited at the idea. We piled into the back of a camioneta, and enjoyed the wind in our hair on this sunny late afternoon. In Quiroga, we caught the bus to Cotacachi. Before shopping for appliances, we went to "Leather Street", since I wanted to buy a pair of leather gloves. After inquiring in several leather shops, I found one which had ladies' black leather gloves which were big enough to fit my large gringa hands. They were a bargain at only $15. Then we went to 3 appliance shops to price washing machines. Rosa was partial to a nice LG model, and we priced the same model at the three shops. The last shop (near the Cotacachi bus terminal) gave us the best price, and also provided "yapa," a little extra thank you gift for shopping with them. This is something that they used to do in the old days in the U.S. when you made a big purchase, but I think it ended in the 1970's there. Here, they gave the family 6 small juice glasses and a T-shirt for each of the kids. How nice! Craig and I walked down Leather Street to Tia supermarket to purchase laundry detergent. We met the family back at the appliance store and caught a camioneta back to the house. Forget delivery charges...it only cost $6 to transport 3 adults, 3 kids, and a washing machine. I gave the driver a nice tip in exchange for helping us to load and unload the machine, as Antonio has a bad back and Craig has MS. The driver was more than happy to oblige. So the washing machine is here at the house ready to be installed once Antonio can do the necessary plumbing and electrical hookups. Hopefully this will lighten Rosa's load a bit (pun intended!) As we had been out all day, we had an easy and quick to prepare dinner: scrambled eggs with ham, cheese, and bread before heading to bed.

Yupanqui, Sisa, Antonio, and Shina Tayanta Riding in the back of the camioneta to Quiroga The new washing machine See all photos from this day