Ecuador 5/25/2024 |
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Saturday, May 25, 2024 - Car Rally, Home-Made Ice CreamNo work today, so we slept until a whopping 8:15 a.m. My stomach was bothering me this morning. When we came out of the casita, Kuri was waiting for us with open arms to give us big hugs. We went over to the kitchen to eat breakfast with the family. We had a fried egg, a hot dog, French fries, bread, ham, cheese, coffee, and yogurt.The kids' great-great uncle Juan Pedro stopped in. He is Abuelita's brother-in-law, and is unable to speak. He is always cheerful and greeted us with a big smile. He helps the family with chores around the house, and they in turn help him with his laundry and other self care. The kids started to make strawberry ice cream using a technique and recipe that they found on the internet. They had previously filled plastic bags with water and let them harden in the freezer. They filled a large pot with ice, and then put a smaller pot inside. They put the ingredients in the smaller inner pot, and added salt to the ice in the outer pot. They then spun the inner pot while stirring the ingredients. It was starting to freeze up when all kinds of excitement broke loose. Today was a car rally race that takes place anually in the Cotacachi area. But today was the first time ever that it would wind through the dirt roads of Morochos! A car with a siren came through town to clear the roads. People, including Sisa's friend Ruby Natalia, were congregating by the side of the road in front of the house. Soon, a car came through, fishtailing on the corner, getting airborne on a speedbump, and kicking up all kinds of dust in its wake. It was really exciting to hear the roar of the engine and watch as the car sped off. The kids squealed and backed away from the roadside. About 2 minutes later, the next car came through. It was obviously a timed race rather than a head to head race. We all spent a little over an hour outside watching and cheering the drivers on. The kids picked up branches with leaves on them and waved them. Sisa blew kisses to the drivers. It was a lot of fun. At one point, the kids' uncle Miguel had to coax a chicken off of the racecourse. Talk about why did the chicken cross the road! The kids got the hose and wet down the dirt road in front of the house to cut down on the dust. Soon Mother Nature took over, as it started to rain lightly. This helped with the dust but probably made the course much different for the later drivers than it had been for the earlier ones. We stood outside in the rain for a while, but as the rain came down a bit harder, Craig and I retreated into the front room. We could still see the cars, but we had a roof over our heads to stay dry. All told, there were around 40 cars, racing by at approximately 2 minute intervals. We watched until the last car came through. It was so exciting! Not what we had expected on this lazy Saturday. Then we went back to the house and the kids started up the ice cream making process again. Slowly but surely, the ingredients began to congeal and resemble ice cream. We had soup for lunch, by which time the ice cream was finished. We had a small bowl of strawberry ice cream as a palate cleanser, and then the rest of lunch. The ice cream was delicious; the kids did a fantastic job! I don't know what we had expected, but it tasted and had the texture of strawberry ice cream! My stomach still wasn't feeling well, so Aida made some herbal tea for me. The family always uses medicinal plants whenever possible. She went out into the garden to pick a specific herb, and then put it into boiling water. It always helps when I am having stomach issues. After lunch, we took showers. The water was warm, and the drain didn't back up. Bonus! The kids were playing outside. All five of them took an old piece of cardboard and sledded down the grass on the hill across the street. Then the kids wanted to make the Little Mermaid puzzle again, but we told them we had a surprise for them. We gave them a photo puzzle of the family we had made through Shutterfly. Shina, Sisa, Craig, and I made the puzzle. When we were done with that, we made the Little Mermaid puzzle again. Nena was in a mood and stole some of the prime pieces (Ariel's face and Sebastian's body) and hid them in Yupanki's bed. Luckily, Shina was able to find them. We had created plastic dinner plates for each of the little kids with Shutterfly. One was a happy birthday-themed plate for Kuri (whose birthday is June 2), and the other was a mermaid-themed plate for Nena. We figured that they might like to eat off their own custom plate with their photo on it. Aida loved them, and Kuri seemed very interested. But Nena wanted none of it. She wouldn't even look at her plate. This freaked out Aida, who never wants the kids to seem ungracious. But we understand. Nena is 4 years old and goes from sweet and laughing to crying and screaming in the blink of an eye. Dinner was soup, an omelette, rice, and salad. We went outside to look at the just-past-full moon, which looked ghostly shining through the clouds. Antonio wasn't home by the time we went to the room at 9 o'clock because he was at a community meeting about upcoming Inti Raymi celebrations. Rally cars speeding through Morochos |
 Good morning hugs from Kuri  Sisa and Yupanki making ice cream  The kids making ice cream  Kuri Photo Gallery May 25 |
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