where to begin?

So, I know I haven't written in a few days, but I'm gonna try to recap as much as possible. Friday morning I arrived at the cafe to David telling me Carlos had been there already to talk to me (I arrived at 9:15 mind you). I asked if Carlos would be back before leaving for Tena. And of course David said he should be. So, back to the kitchen for me. Helped out with some meals , then David asked if I would go with him to the bus terminal to ick up the food delivery from Tena for the dinner that night. He and I headed out on the trolley (by the way, i am fascinated by the lack of chivalry in a machismo culture like this - David always got on the trolley first, barely checked to make sure I was with him, though he did offer me a seat on the raised hump of floor by a seat in front of us : ) ) We bungled our way through the bus depot, since David had never been there before - a bit odd for a Quiteno to have never been to the bus station. And after three of four attempts found the package pick up place and made our way back on the jam-packed trolley (really an electric bus) that played rudolph the red-nosed raindeer - don't ask, apparently they are all gearing up for x-mas already, who knows).

A couple hours later someone said something about Carlos coming back. Shortly after that David called Eva out of the kitchen - where, I assume, she was meeting Carlos. I walked back out into the dining area and outside and back to the kitchen. Nothing. Went back to sit outside and finally David came out to introduce Carlos.

I actually had a really good conversation with Carlos (from what I could understand and hear that is - it was pretty loud outside and Carlos speaks pretty low and again with the accent that I'm so good at). Anyway, I think we had a pretty decent conversation. We worked out that I would come to Tena on Monday to leave with him and the others from there to Salinas to make chocolate on either Tuesday or Wednesday. (Cesar is also supposed to bring a group, including Eva, to Tena on Monday so am trying to connect with them.) He said they had a lot of chocolate to make and would probably be there for 12-15 days. He also said it's pretty rough up there (it's at 3500 meters above sea level - Quito is about 2850) and most volunteers don't last more than 8 days. He said he had a really hard time the first time he went too. So, I get the sense I may be heading back to Quito on my own after about half the time there. We'll see.

Apparently Salinas is also famous for cheese and salami, (yeah, I know, but Henry and Jazz will appreciate), dried mushrooms, and rough-spun sweaters. Henry has already figured out that if I post pics of the sweaters to my blog he can place an order while I'm there : )

We talked about making different chocolate things. Judy told Carlos that I was a food person (I did tell him I have no training, just home stuff), so he is hoping I can really help with making truffles which they want to be there next big thing. At the end he was really nice and thanked me for coming to help and told me that I was welcome there and Kallari's doors were open to me. It was such a nice response, especially after some of the oddities of my earlier greetings and encounters.

After lunch we closed the cafe to prepare for a special Kichua dinner (the cafe does these pre-arranged three course dinners) for a group of 9 American students. We had a blast cooking (palmito soup - take note allison; fish with a marinade of pepper, cilantro, garlic, and oil and cooked wrapped in leaves with some chopped palmito; fried yuca; salad; aji - the spicy condiment they eat with everything and made from aji peppers, cilantro, onion, and tree tomatoes - which is a fruit here), and then got up to the brownies and, of course, they didn't even have their own brownie recipe!!! they were asking me about proportions of a recipe I'd never seen. Madness!!! Finally Frankie found a recipe book on top of the fridge - but, surprise, that wasn't really the recipe either so he had to call Elsie, who also works in the kitchen, but who was home in Tena, twice to get the right info to make the brownies. Then, he really only had the ingredients and wasn't super enthused to listen to me about the assembly, but finally he got on board.














clowning around in the midst of prep


brownie and aji prep

The students showed up and dinner was served.

It didn't quite go off without a hitch though. Eva finished making the blackberry juice that Frankie had started, but nobody added sugar so Frankie added it and starting stirring the juice with a metal spoon in a glass pitcher and somehow busted through the side of the pitcher. glass and purple juice went everywhere, including all over the bottom of my jeans. i rubbed that crazy blue lava industrial kitchen soap on them though and no signs of purple (only question is if the soap cleaned or re-dyed the material!). Then, taking a two beers out of the fridge, Eva dropped one and more liquid and glass everywhere. Other than that, things were pretty calm. We served the (in)famous brownies with a special strawberry decoration courtesy of, well, me. (there were already strawberries in the presentation, i just changed the form).

After dinner we tried to go out - Eva wanted to go dancing - but since it was two days before the election the ley seca was in effect (dry law - as in, no alcohol sold/served for two days before until noon the day after elections) so nothing was doing. Eventually we just got cabs and went home.

Saturday I woke up in a bit of panic cuz I had a dream remembering I forgot to get the rest of my shots. So, waiting for Henry and Jazz to come back from the friend's house where they'd stayed the night before, I made a call and found out about shots. When Henry got back and we got going we decided it was too late to head to Otavalo (the original plan for the day - the country's biggest indigenous market - we'll go when i'm back from salinas). We headed out for shots. Seemed good and clean, I mean, rubber gloves are overrated anyway, right?? got typhoid and yellow fever probably should have done tetanus, but didn't quite get that far.

We hopped a cab, which took the really cool, super steep, winding back roads to the old city. went to Cafe Model for some typical Ecuadorian snacks for lunch. Got a humitas (like a sweet corn tamale, but a little salty too) and an empanada de verde (like a small quesadilla but the tortilla is made from plantain). Then went into this cool gold leafed church de la Compania (unfortunately couldn't take pics - so this is Henry outside the gate of the church) and then went and wandered to the central plaza/park to sit for a bit.

Okay, so I know you can't see this in motion (I totally forgot that I have video capabilities on my camera), but this is my favorite crossing signal ever. The little green dude is totally booking. His feet move so fast and I thought it was hysterical because it is so apropos of crossing the street here!

There is a whole row of these cool posts and each was designed by a different local artist (hundreds if years ago)

After the park we decided to check out this family owned ice cream shop (operated by the fam since like 1858). Had some tasty tropical fruit ice creams (guanabana, taxo, uvilla) and some popcorn (it's eaten with everything here, but really, probably not ice cream i just saw a cute little kid at the next table eating it so we got some : )

another cab up to this crazy virgin statue on the panecillo hill (virgin de quito). it's kind of creepy looking, with a serpent at her feet and it's this long winding crazy road up there. we got there, walked around, decided we didn't want to pay to climb up in the statue,

the view from Panecillo (quito down below)

saw this crazy humvee on steroids that was on some pan latin america unification tour for hugo chavez and saw the eu election monitor truck and then couldn't find a cab back down. finally one came and we headed home.

met up with jazz to walk down this hill neighborhood called guapalo right near their apt. we were trying to get a present for a friend of jazz and henry. no stores were open, almost got attacked by a crazy dog (it actually came rushing us and then snapped at my ankle, biting my pants, thankfully, i was wearing pants!!) then he went away. the neighborhood is all these winding roads, cool houses and cute little shops I love this road

Who says they're not veggie friendly here?? I love this little pig telling us not to eat him : ) (this was painted on a wall in Guapalo)

Stopped to take a picture of Jazz and Henry and these three cute little boys came running over and lined up to pose for me to take their picture. so here they areheaded back home, stopped at this bizarra casino to see what was up and use the bathroom, but that ley saca just killed the whole town. nada.

went home and finally decided on indian food for dinner. went to this place where jazz knows the owner and we actually got served alcohol - the waitress was like, but you're foreigners, n problem. we're all pretty sure that the law makes no distinction, but. . . food was good. came home stuffed and henry and i watched the human stain. good movie - and i'm not just saying that for wentworth : )

I know this is long, but I wanted to get everything down before i forget, because i'm off to tena tomorrow and then to salinas where i don't know about the internet situation, so it may be a while.

Anyway, today we had some breakfast at the apt. then drove to Papallacta the best and most famous thermal baths in Ecuador. it was about 1 1/2 hour drive on crazy roads, with beautiful scenery. kind of looked like south dakota for part of the ride - weird. the last few km are on unpaved, rutted roads like you wouldn't believe. kim i definitely had flashbacks to the atitlan passage, though jazz is a way calmer driver than any we encountered. but it's nuts, mountain roads, steep drops, big trucks and busses.

got to the baths, which are really cool. all different pools (all tiled, but nicely done) of different temps, and sizes, and depths. there are plung pools too and a river running by that you can go in too (it's freezing) and the temp of the air is pretty damn cold too. Did that for a while and then went to the restaurant for a lunch of grilled trout (that's what they're famous for there) and some awesome fried dough in maple syrup dessert. after lunch we headed to the "steam room" (a hut over some of the steaming water) and then another plunge before a shower - also in the hot waters, though not hot enough - from spigots. Drove back to Quito and have been laying low here since then - had some nice cheese and tomatoes and bread and wine (that jazz ran out to buy illegally ffrom his local bar where they know him and apparently tons of americans were out drinking - remember dry til tomorrow at noon.

Spoke with Eva a couple of times to work out a plan to meet up tomorrow at the bus depot at 7:20 to head for Tena. Cuz, of course, Cesar just told her to meet at the bus terminal. Didn't tell her it was the main one for the city (in fact, seemed to lead her to believe it was small), or that there are actually at least three counters for the bus company line we're to look for. Or that there are tons of people, and vernders, and stall, and little shops, and all kinds of stuff going on there. So, we made a plan to meet up - the two of us - first, outside the station after about 3 back and forth calls to get all the info. Then about an hour and a hald later she called back to say Cesar had just called to tell her that they were now gonna leave on Tuesday cuz someone in the group is tired or something.

So now I am no longer waking up at the crack of dawn to be at the busses so early. I got to try to communicate all of this to Carlos in an email using my brilliant Spanish. Basically I told him that I'd at least be a few hours, if not a day later than originally planned. i told him they were going tuesday and if he was leaving for Salinas on Wed I'd try to go with them cuz it is easier and safer. otherwise, i'll still be heading out tomorrow, just not sure yet when.

Hopefully i can upload some more pics for everyone to see all the cool things of the past few days. I may also add more to these postings when i can think a little more.

sorry for all the rambling . . . .

thursday - just not feeling very clever

Sorry, not feeling super witty at the moment. am just starting to feel back to normal after an afternoon and evening (and, frankly, most of the day) of pretty much feeling like garbage (an expression I taught Frankie (the one on the left in the pic below) this morning. he told me I wasn't garbage (sweet, huh). anyway, not sure if the "vegetarian" soup I ate, only to discover a piece of pork halfway through, or maybe just the altitude threw me for a loop, but I was feeling pretty bad for about 24 hours. Franklin (Frankie); Jorge (Chino); y Cesar bagging Kallari organic coffee.
I was also helping, but someone had to take the picture after all.
Aside from the fabulous lunch yesterday, I walked to work for the first time - always an adventure. I have to say, growing up in NYC is a definite advantage for negotiating the streets of most Latin American countries. The idea of a right of way, or anyone even considering a pedestrian, let alone stopping for one, is completely foreign here. If you are lucky and you make it into the street before a car is completely upon you, the driver may just slow down or even stop. Usually that is paired with an excessive amount of honking though, just so you shouldn't think you were actually in the right or anything. Just imagine all these guys in their business suits, and women in suits or skirts and high heels, scrambling across the street the moment there is a break in traffic of more than two car lengths. Oh, and that old joke that only the stop signs without the white borders are mandatory, is pretty much the rule of thumb here. It's pretty insane.
David, the manager of the coffee shop
So, yesterday was a pretty normal day. Helped in the kitchen for a while, then Eva wanted some help with translating a publicity flier to pass out in the streets. She had done the German and French, and the English, but wanted me to double check it. We spent a while working on the translations (actually rewriting most of the text) on her laptop. Then more helping in the kitchen. Much discussion about how we have to make brownies for a big dinner on Friday night and can I help Frankie make them and that we also have to buy ingredients first. Of course there was no actual move at any point yesterday to buy the ingredients, but . . .
Frankie, Eva (from Slovakia - another volunteer), and Chino
after lunch we got another group in ordering food so we were all in the kitchen and Eva left her laptop in the main room, from where it promptly got stolen. Couldn't have been in that room with none of us in there for more than 5 minutes, but gone nonetheless. Ironically she had just been telling me over lunch that she hears stories, but doesn't feel like it is unsafe here. Though I can kind of relate. They say not to really walk anywhere after dark and it gets totally dark by 7. So I make sure to head out by 6:30 at the latest, but it just seems like a city getting dark, not dangerous. I won't test that theory anyway. The laptop pretty much became the rest of the afternoon's fascination (Eva even reported it), but nobody anywhere had seen anything so I doubt highly anything will come of it. It really sucks for Eva in general, and specifically because she was here volunteering working on the marketing and the website, so it kind of gets in the way of her productivity.
Eva, Cesar, and me

Frankie modeling some of Kallari's products for sale at the coffee shop
(he's actually a really good cook too!)

In the meantime, I coordinated with a friend of Betty Adler's (from my synagogue in DC) to go to Sukkot services and "Sushi in the Sukkah." Seemed like a fun way to meet the Jewish community even though by this point I was feeling even worse. So, Tomy (Rosenberg) came to get me and we rushed through the traffic all the way up to the north side of Quito to the synagogue. It's an extremely impressive building, with beautiful grounds, a playground for the kids, and he told me a sauna, pool, etc. I get the sense the synagogue and the community center are all rolled into one. The community has about 500 families and is pretty much conservative, though it is the only synagogue in Quito, so there is a bit of a mix among the families, and the rabbi is orthodox.

We arrived late and I found a space between two guys all the way in the back. Fortunately we were up to prayers I knew (also helps to be coming off of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur - a little extra familiarity never hurts when you have no idea where the prayer books are!) After the service as everyone was wishing each other Chag Sameach, somehow it came up that I was from NY and the guy next to me said he was also a foreigner. And, catch this folks, when I asked where he was from, he said Brazil. Did I mention he was about 6 feet tall, and, wait for it . . . . a vegetarian (unfortunately we got sidetracked before I could find out how any Brazilian, especially a guy, could wind up a vegetarian). I have to say, considering how exhausted I was and how awful I felt, I couldn't have been happier to have someone to speak with in Portuguese - I find I'm functioning much more between Spanish and Portuguese than English, and actually when I am tired my brain reverts to Portuguese. Interesting huh?

So, I spent the rest of the night talking to Rubens and much of it with his friend Robby, whom he had met in Guayaquil at Yom Kippur, but who had also lived in Sao Paolo. The world just keeps shrinking around me. The funny thing is I had just explained to Tomy on the ride over about running into Liz the other night and how strange it was, but not so strange because things like that happen to me all the time. I even said I am totally curious to see who I run into next. hmmmm.

After not eating sushi in the sukkah (could there have been a worse food to be standing around all queasy??), Tomy took me home (I couldn't even pretend to muster the energy to go anywhere with Rubens and Robby), and I just crashed.

Woke up this morning feeling less queasy, but still like I'd been beaten up pretty good yesterday. Choked down a piece of toast and headed in with the intention of baking brownies, seeing Rubens (who said he'd pass by the cafe in the morning) and then probably coming back to go to sleep. I know you all can already tell that wasn't how my day was gonna go right??

Arrived at the cafe to find that David wouldn't be in until noon and, of course, he's the one who has to authorize a purchase, say of brownie ingredients. And, there wasn't much going on so I helped a bit in the kitchen, sat outside with Eva for a while, and then pretty much went in to take a nap on this dugout swing thing they have hanging in the back of the cafe (you can kind of see it, Frankie and I are sitting on it in this picture.)
So, that was most of my day helping out in the kitchen when things were busier, sleeping when they were quiet. David showed up and I mentioned the brownies and needing to buy ingredients and he was all over it, except, not so much. He also told me Carlos would be coming back today instead of tomorrow, somewhere around 5pm. Needless to say, no ingredients were purchased (not to mention the cafe has been out of its featured dessert since Henry and I tried to order it on Monday, but that doesn't seem to concern anyone).

In the afternoon I went off to experience a uniquely Ecuadorian snack (which seemed about the only thing that wasn't unappealing to put in my stomach), pan de yuca. I figured it had to be good since it is so similar to Brazilian pao de queijo, just without the queijo (cheese). And here they eat it with yogurt. So I headed out to a panaderia to buy some yuca bread and a few other things for us to try back at the house. I must say, I'll take pao de queijo over pan de yuca any day, but it was tasty. And the yogurt thing is pretty good, especially since they have guanabana yogurt - yum!! I also had a nice Kichua tea with lime to help my stomach. Not bad, seems to have worked. Totally can't remember its name.

A new volunteer, Aaron, from Indiana University, also showed up today. Sort of out of nowhere, and nobody introduced us, so I did.

Henry came by to see me on his way to class, during which time Chino asked to borrow my camera and apparently things got a little wacky inside - hence the Frankie in the dug-out canoe picture above (and interestingly a ton of pics with Aaron in them also showed up). I may upload some more for you all later. But, at least we can thank Chino for most of what went up today.

After Henry left a group of guys showed up and hung around for a bit. Nobody told me anything about them or introduced me. After they had left with David, I asked who they were and if they were coming back and was told that one of them was Carlos and they were not coming back. Ahhh, should have known right??? I'm told he should be back tomorrow. Vamos ver . . . .

um pequeno mundo es (it's a small world after all . . .)

Today I reported for my first day of K.P. :) arrived at 9 for helping in the kitchen, but they were actually kind of busy with a bunch of breakfast orders, so I kind of hung around for a bit til David had a minute for me. Met the folks in the kitchen - Franklin and Patricia (pic tomorrow I promise) - and started dicing pineapple. Then, pretty much just helped out as I could as orders came back. Essentially that meant I assembled fruit salads (the one complete thing I learned) and watched toast so it didn't burn. ( "I carried the watermelon" . . .)

of course the real craziness happened on my lunch break. I headed out to finally get some Ecuadorean food and on my way back, who should I run into, but Liz (the woman my brother is dating) and her business partner! So much for Quito being the 2nd largest city in Ecuador!!!
We hung out for a bit and they came back to the cafe (think I ensured at least another handful of Kallari purchases - I really am earning my keep, huh?)

Spent the rest of the afternoon helping out in the kitchen, getting to know Patricia and Franklin; going over slang expressions; talking about recipes. I am looking forward to getting to introducing those guys to some stuff that I like to make. It was actually really cute cuz David wanted to bake tomorrow and Patricia made us promise to wait until Friday cuz she is off for the next two days. Not a bad first day.

Oh yeah, and by the way, I figured out how to make better hot chocolate and have already at least gotten Franklin to change the way he makes it (two full squares of chocolate, plus a little sugar, 100% improvement over yesterday).

all in a day's work . . . .

ICOHTR

So, just cuz you haven't heard enough from me today I have to quickly add some craziness from dinner. The Vietnamese restaurant (Indochine) was really good, we went outside for Hank and Jazz to have a smoke and I wound up chatting with the owner/chef (who was also outside) who sort of confronted me cuz I'd bagged on his dessert idea to our waiter (who apparently ratted me out - he was also from Brooklyn, so the attitude came along I guess).

Anyway, chatting with Octavio (the chef) he introduces me to another group of folks who are leaving and also from NY. I tell them what I'm doing in town, and one of the women in the group says. Oh my god, you're Jessica, I'm dating your brother!!! Hey Al, another ICOHTR moment!! Totally crazy right? But you all know I've been saying that weird stuff keeps happening around me these days. This time, not a product of my witching capabilities, cuz frankly I had not even thought about Liz being in Quito, though, I guess I had thought of her on Sunday.

Anyway, we then spent the rest of the night hanging with Octavio, getting the ins and outs of the food scene in Quito, talking about the local markets and produce, and all of our passion for food.

We ended the night with a few invites from Octavio: he's gonna take me and Henry to the local produce market, he wants to take us all along for a Sunday of food "research" through different restaurants in town, we're all gonna go to a local Chinese place with a special menu for people who speak Chinese (thanks Henry!!!!), and most exciting he wants us to do a guest chef night soon. Stay tuned for details of date & menu & location (Calama y Diego de Amalgro). Plus, as I was walking away he offered to get Kallari chocolate (instead of nutella) into one of his desserts. I'm already earning earning my pay . . . wait . . . they're not paying me . . . damn

lunch at Kallari with Henry

he's actually glad to be there and the food looked great. he was just feeling a little dazed today : )

tasty sandwiches (tuna for henry and guacamole for me), fresh made plantain chips with hot sauce, salad, and jugo de maracuya (passion fruit juice - yum - one of my faves!!)


(does anyone see challah?)

Kallari Cafe

Now I've really arrived. Today was a sleep in kind of day after a very late night catching up with Henry. So, by the time we wandered out of the apartment (around 2:30) we were on a mission (well, a few really). We headed off to get me a color copy of my passport and visa to have notorized before the notary closed (the hour, of course, is anyone's guess). A good idea (I would never have thought of) that I highly recommend. That little adventure - getting two separate pages copied on to one side of a single piece of paper - took quite a bit longer than one would expect and wound up costing extra since the woman in the store just couldn't quite get the idea we were going for. Notary went off without a hitch and we headed off to the Kallari Cafe (seen at the left) for lunch and to connect with the cooperative.

David, the manager, was at lunch and so wasn't there when we arrived (surprise), so we had a nice long leisurely lunch (the picture of which I apparently will have to post separately). The food was good, though I have to say, the hot chocolate and brownie were a bit disappointing. Just getting to try the brownie was another adventure as they had sold the last one while we were still sitting there. So, we asked the nice British girl with the brownie what she thought - she said it "wasn't her cup of tea" - I did mention she was British, right?? Apparently in her universe a brownie equals a "biscuit", she said she probably should know what a brownie is before ordering one. Then, she graciously offered us half her brownie, since she wasn't super keen on it anyway. Seems we had similar reactions for totally different reasons. And, it looks like there is some work to be done in the kitchen.

David showed up before we finished lunch and we spent about 1/2 hour chatting about the cafe and the cooperative and what I can be doing while I am here. I report for work tomorrow at 9 am. Straight to the kitchen. David was told I'd be coming to help so he asked what my kitchen training was and I told him I was a lawyer. Got a good laugh out of him for sure. I told him I was a passionate home cook and baker and he said I'd learn quickly. He was excited that I had brought recipes to try out and told me I'd be learning how to make some local / typical foods because most of the people in the kitchen were from the communities. I am definitely excited about that. He said Carlos would be back from chocolate making in Salinas on Friday so I will talk with him then and we can all figure out the best approach to my work in Tena and in Quito. I have to say, it was a really good day. Granted I didn't understand everything he was saying (his accent is a little hard for me), but I held my own and he seemed to understand me. And, he taught me my new favorite word "chevere" - cool - spelling courtesy of Jon Damm's list of Ecuadorian slang - thanks! Off to dinner with Henry and Jazz in a bit - Vietnamese I believe (I know, but it's supposed to be really good). Then a good night's sleep for my first day in the kitchen - good thing I brought my Danskos!!

(and hank, says.......We need to work on the customer service!) Yeah, I forgot that our waiter forgot a couple of key things we asked for during the meal. whoops.

llegue

I have arrived!! Am safe and sound in Ecuador. Even have a roof over my head. My awesome friend Henry picked me up all smiley at the airport (So nice to see a friendly face after leaving customs). I'll be staying with him and his friend Jazz until I can connect with Kallari. Because, of course Carlos, the Director of Operations, is off to Salinas to make chocolate tomorrow and I'm not actually sure when he'll be back. In the meantime, I'm to report to the cafe tomorrow, where, I've just learned, the kitchen will be in need of some assistance. The woman who was in charge of all the cooking and baking did not have her contract renewed, so I will likely be having a bigger role at the cafe, and much earlier than I anticipated (especially since I no longer have to win over her and her difficult personality). Should be interesting to convert my home cooking/baking passion into my first "professional" attempts. And the adventure begins . . . .

pre-travel travails

so, I wanted to get this up so you'd all know I was serious : ) and here it is. most of you already know that I am scrambling to get everything done before heading out in 3 (YIKES!!) days. today is the run all over town with errands day (all while working on that continuous breathing thing), then back to NY. I will try to post some more before I head out, but if not, you'll all hear from me from Quito at the beginning of next week. In the meantime, don't forget to check out www.kallari.com.

hasta luego,
Jess