I know there aren't many dogs in this picture (and i didn't take any others, but trust me, there were tons of dogs everywhere you looked - lots of really cute puppies too - and all the dogs were pretty small like most of the people : ) )
My Salinas postcard shot
These women are making what's called fritada (not sure if that's how you spell it). A few hours earlier there was an entire pig laying across that table, but i didn't get a chance to take its picture in that form . . .
well, the rest of salinas seems like a blur by now. (sorry, i know, it's been so long and each day here seems like about 3 - i don't mean that in a bad way, just that there is so much going on). so, i will try to recap the best i can.
i think the next thing i went on to do was to make chocolate paste. for this you put those roasted, broken, theoretically casing-free cacao beans into something that looks like a sausage maker.
out comes a semi-wet cacao paste. it's kind of what the consistency of natural peanut butter would be if you didn't mix in the oil. (though one of the presses made a much drier paste, which it hurled around the room until we fixed a plastic wrap contraption over the part where the paste comes from). after the paste emerges we put it into this big machine that heats the paste while two large rollers mix it.
it stays in the machine for a number of hours (it was overnight the two times we used it). the next morning we emptied the machine into plastic-lined boxes to cool and harden.
I asked about using the liquid "paste" to make chocolate since essentially it was a liquid that solidified and then gets melted again. i was told that the solidifying part was just a timing issue and you can use the liquid "paste" as well.
there was also actual chocolate being made throughout the time there. unfortunately, i didn't get to see the whole of that process in order, but i got the main parts of it (though slightly out of order). essentially it goes like this:
they break up the cacao paste,
broken cocoa butter and cacao paste
weigh it
and put it into this machine with a large tub that heats the cacao while its being aggitated by ball bearings and a center rod with a number of smaller rods coming off the center rod (kind of like a very sparse bottle brush maybe?);
break up the cocoa butter, weigh the cocoa butter, melt it, and add it to the machine;
Manuel adding the melted cocoa butter
add the sugar; add the vanilla. of course there are recipes/formulas they follow to make each of the different chocolates (there is a 70%, a 75%, and an 85% percent version).
so, i have no idea where we are, but am pretty sure this gets us to monday. monday, of course, was a real work day for the fabrica (factory). and, as i think i explained before, the way kallari gets to make chocolate is essentially using the fabrica when Salineritos (the company that actually owns it) is not using the equipment. So, we headed down to the fabrica after breakfast to finish packing the rest of the paste in boxes. While that was happening I actually got into a really interesting conversation with Pancho about indigenous issues in Ecuador, the current situation in the US with Indian tribes, eco-tourism and other economic development, land rights, and environmental protection. it was really cool, both substantively and because i was able to have the conversation in spanish!! : ) Carlos also got in on the end of it and i felt really good about that because of the substance as well, but also because apparently Judy had told him i had a lot of experience in that area and he seemed duly impressed with my knowledge (for once i knew what i was talking about here!!)
After that we went up to lunch and then had nothing to do for a while because the factory was in use. We went to the store so i could buy some famous Salinas cheese for Henry and Jazz and for my mom. Then, someone went to buy a soccer ball and a they started up a pick-up soccer game with a bunch of local kids.
It was pretty funny and really fun, until i turned my ankle a bit (i was wearing danskos that day, not the best option for running around a plaza). anyway, after a while the kids got bored and the guys finished out the game on their own. then, we still had more time to kill so we headed back to the rocking disco. was closed, but someone convinced them to open so there were a few hours of karaoke, pool, beer, and cigarettes.
the actual bar at the bar
there was also a lot of rain. we went back to grab some chocolates from the fabrica to wrap and then went to dinner. after dinner we headed back down to finish up. made some more chocolate, wrapped some more, and cleaned some more.
of course the most interesting part of the evening was the constant practical joking, especially since some of the people were falling asleep here and there - that meant you were free game. hell, if you were wide awake and not watching your back you were too. people getting taped to their chairs, signs stuck on people's backs, here carlos is taping a stapler to hiram's back
chino started to fall asleep in this pile up
and they cut his hair (that sort ot sideburn area). so, here they are evening out the other side!
pancho even went to hide back in the storage area to sleep because he was being harrassed so badly.
the "good"? thing was that they started messing around with me too. i caught carlos trying to stick something on my back, someone snuck up and blasted the fan on me. i think i have been accepted : )
then, they all decided we had to go back to the bar for the last night.
By this time i felt like crap - sore throat, headache and only went along, well, because they pressured me since it was the night. so i went for a bit, but i wasn't singing karaoke, wasn't playing pool, two super drunk guys tried to talk to me, and it was really smokey. so after about an hour henrique walked me back. i took a nice hot shower and went to bed.
the next morning we just went to get the rest of the chocolate, which unfortunately (and nobody knew why) had all these crazy white swirls in it. it was really pretty looking (and makes a nice picture),
but not so good if it's what you get when you open your fancy, high-priced chocolate. so, most of that is going to have to go for food prep here in the cafe and taste sampling.
anyway, got the stuff. went back to the apartment to pack up everything. walked back up through the market (tuesday is market day in salinas) in the rain.
those guys got some meat in the street (clever huh?) and then we went for lunch because carlos had special requested from the owner an encebollada. actually we'd gone looking for it for breakfast - really appetizing since it is a fish soup made with tons of onions [cebolla] not quite my idea of breakfast - though neither is the chicken stew they all had every morning with their eggs and rice - however, i guess in reality it's not that different from a bagel with whitefish salad and onion, hmmm, just thought of that. all about perspective, huh? so encebollada for lunch, which was really good, but very rich, lots of fish in it.
then a little more wandering through the market, a trip to the soccerball factory
where apparently carlos buys each of his employees a ball at the end of a salinas stint (there was of course a whole thing about me picking out a ball, and i couldn't figure out if they wanted me to buy one or to buy one for me, so in the end i passed) and a pile up of all the stuff and 3 of the guys in the back of another extended cab pick-up taxi.
me, amanda, carlos, pancho, henrique, and manuel piled in to discover one last practical joke when henrique told manuel to open his backpack and he discovered a little present - the dustpan from the lodging house . . .
chino, cristian, and hiram got to ride in back under the tarp. did i mention it was pouring all morning??
though you can't tell, this is chino, hiram, and cristian
made it about 30 minutes down the hill to get the bus. waited in the rain about 20 minutes to hail a speeding bus, dump our stuff in the luggage compartment, and jump on before it started moving again.
5 1/2 hours later we pulled in to quito and i couldn't have been happier. splitting headache, no bathroom for 6 1/2 hours, lots of people crammed on a bus. told carlos i had to go back to henry's apartment because my head was hurting so bad i couldn't do any more (felt a little bad since he said they were still going back to work that night.)
took a cab back to henry and jazz's and apparently, despite feeling like garbage, i was very proficient in my conversation as i managed to wow my driver so much he wanted to marry me and come back to the states, or, at the very least, show me the night life in quito. got to henry and jazz's and we ordered an awesome pizza full of tons of fresh green veggies and a great salad. it was so nice to be back with them and to eat some truly veggie food! we talked for a while and went to bed. so nice.
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