A Trip to the Quito Zoo

We visited the Quito Zoo with some friends that we have met during our 13 months in Ecuador.  It was a relaxing and enjoyable day checking out plenty of animals like condors, lions, cheetahs, pumas, and a neat house of owls that we were able to walk through and observe them moving their heads in that interesting circular formation as we passed by.  It was also nice to be in a zoo that was far less crowded than the jam packed Philadelphia Zoo.  
 

Eliana told me that her favorite part of the day was seeing the frogs.  Anaiah said her favorite part were the handsome boys, the sons of the family that we were with.  Rachel said hers was the peaceful drive home where she was able to get some much needed sleep.  The most exciting part of the day for me, I would never call it my favorite part of the day – even if it was – was when we took this picture.  

Notice the llama in the background focused on Rachel and ready to spit.  Anaiah is striking her lion pose.

 I wanted to get the perfect picture, so I asked them to move into different poses and snapped picture after picture.  The llama in the background got ticked off at us taunting him with the carrots that we were supposed to be feeding him, and hocked a huge spitball that landed in Rachel’s hair.  That was one nasty llama with some serious Ecuadorian attitude.  

After the llama spitball.  Rachel is checking her shirt, the girls are shocked, and the llamas are laughing.

 Next time, if there is one, we will make sure to feed the llamas first before trying to snap a picture. 

The girls feeding the rabbits, the only animals they were brave enough to feed.

 

Día de los Difuntos "Day of the Dead"

There was no passing out candy or dressing up in costumes for Halloween this year in Ecuador.  Instead, we hung out in the cemetery and celebrated Día de los Difuntos (Day of the Dead), a national holiday where people have off from work to remember loved ones who have died. 

Rachel's family mausoleum where her grandfather is buried, and there are spots reserved for everyone else, including me - I think.  Or maybe that is only if I die while I am living here.

 For weeks leading up to this holiday, which is the same day as All Saint’s Day (November 2), the cemeteries were bustling with families beautifying the grave sites.  They weeded, painted, repaired any damage that had occurred over the past year, and made improvements that they had been saving up for like new tile work to the exterior.  

View of cemetery. 

An example of what most of the graves looked like.  Bodies or ashes are placed in the openings.

On the big day, the cemetery was packed.  Families gathered around grave sites to talk and eat and drink.  They brought chairs to post up next to their represented grave site or sat on the grave stone itself.  It was like an all-day tailgating party for the dead.  Ice cream vendors navigated through the crowded cemetery selling refreshing treats, and the street leading into the cemetery was lined with people selling varieties of food for the belly and flowers for the graves.

Pork was one of the foods sold outside of the cemetery. 

 On Día de los Difuntos it is customary to drink colada morada, a traditional drink made up of mora (berries), pineapple, strawberries, peaches, cinnamon, and a mixture of other fruits and herbs, and to eat guaguas, a donut like bread made in the shape of a little child with guava paste in the middle.  Not sure why either of these items are eaten or drank on this specific day, and amazingly no one that I asked knew either.

One of the many guaguas that we bought.  Yummy.

The day also gave our girls a chance to pay respects to their bisabuelo (great grandfather).

Anaiah and Eliana with their flowers and cards for their bisabuelo. 

The Trusty Aero Press

I know I have it good when getting a quality, hassle free, cup of coffee, is one of the biggest stresses in my life.  
 

Back in Philadelphia I used the Keurig coffee maker for my daily dose of coffee.  I occasionally used the prepackaged k-cups when friends gave them to me (thanks Drew) or if I decided to splurge at the grocery store.  Otherwise, I filled the reusable Keurig coffee pods with Starbucks or La Colombe coffee, hit the start button, and in a minute or two I would be on my way.  

I was never convinced that the Keurig provided a superior tasting cup of coffee.  But it was quick and convenient, so I rarely gave it a second thought.  

Rachel’s parents brought a Keurig coffee maker to Ecuador.  They don’t sell the prepackaged k-cups here, so I filled the reusable Keurig coffee pods with local coffee.  But it has never worked correctly.  The ground coffee sold in stores was of the espresso grind.  This grind was too fine for the machine causing only a few ounces to drip out with each brew cycle.  The quickness and convenience of the Keurig was gone.  Instead of a minute or two for a cup of coffee, it took ten.  The longer I waited the more I became aware of not only the annoyance, but also the mediocre flavor that the machine produced.  I noticed the excessive grit left at the bottom of my coffee cup and the cloudy flavor that overwhelmed each sip.  

I put everything in my life on hold, which wasn’t difficult to do, and went on a search for the perfect coffee machine to replace the Keurig.  I found the Aero Press.  It was affordable, around $30.  It was easy to clean, a cinch to use, produced an excellent cup of coffee, and was light and easy to transport.  This last feature was important because my mom would be bringing it from the U.S., and we had already asked her to bring two fifty pound bags filled with essentials like jars of peanut butter, pistachios, almonds, diapers, and about fifteen pairs of shoes for Teo, verifying Rachel’s shoe fetish.  You’re the best mom.  

The Aero Press arrived, along with the other goodies, and I couldn’t wait to take it out of the box.  It felt like Christmas.  The simple device had six pieces, and some included paper filters.  I was not the technical type, and thought this might be too difficult for me to figure out.  I still needed Rachel’s help to plug the DVD player into the TV.  I was doomed.  I wondered if I made a mistake and should return to the Keurig with my head between my legs, begging for it to have me back.  

I took a deep breath, and read the trusty instructions.  I could do this, I told myself.  There were only seven easy steps.  After a few dry runs I gave it a try.  (See demonstration below.)  And my life would never be the same.  The Aero Press saved me from a near stress induced mental breakdown, and being shipped off to one of those Ecuadorian lunatic asylums.  I would be forever grateful.      

The process was easy.  If I could do it.  Anyone could do it.  There were no special techniques or barista training necessary.  From start to finish, with clean up included, the process took 3 minutes and 35 seconds.  Don’t get me wrong, it was more involved than pressing a button on the Keurig.  But the coffee was far superior, and worth the extra time.  

The basic cup of coffee from the Aero Press resembled an Americano, which happens to be my favorite coffee brew and could also present a bit of a bias on my part.  The coffee was clean and crisp and grit free while presenting the unique natural coffee flavors inherent to the beans.  The Aero Press cup of coffee was better than many of the Americanos that I have had at specialty café’s made with thousands of dollars of equipment and comparable to some of the better Americano’s that I have had at some of the better café’s made with even more expensive equipment.

Now that this stress was solved I could move onto the other pressing stresses in my life like not having graham crackers for the nighttime s’mores by the campfire.

What machine do you use to brew your coffee? 

Below is a Aero Press demonstration with some notes included.  Let me know if you have any questions that weren’t covered.   

The parts including a re-usable filter that I purchased separately. (The included scooper and funnel are not in picture.  I forgot to include the scooper and don't use the funnel.)

Place filter (paper or re-usable) into the filter holder and attach to the main compartment.

Inside view with filter attached.

Put one scoop of coffee with included scooper into the main compartment.

Place compartment onto the coffee cup that you will be using.

Fill with boiling water above line "2."  If you put in too much water it will make the coffee bitter.

Stir coffee with included stirrer for about 10 seconds (maybe a bit more).  If some coffee drips through which will happen if you use regular drip grind, fill it back up to above the "2" line, after finished stirring.  Espresso grind is recommended.

Put plunger on top of main compartment and push down slowly.  It will be more difficult to push with espresso grind.

After all the boiled water is pushed into the coffee cup.  The coffee cup may not be full.  Fill to your liking with boiling water.

Clean up is simple.

Remove filter holder.

Push down the plunger and force the coffee grinds (along with paper filter) into the trash.  Obviously, save the re-usable filter and clean it.

Rinse.  Finished.  Easy.  Enjoy.

Start of School in Ecuador

The girls are attending a local Ecuadorian preschool.  One of our goals for our 13 months in Ecuador was for the girls to learn how to speak fluent Spanish.  The best way to accomplish this, we thought, was through a local Spanish speaking school.

The school they are attending

The school is a couple of blocks from the house, which allows a nice walk there in the morning and when returning before lunch.  It couldn’t be in a better location.  On the days when I walk them to school by myself I greet the welcoming teacher with a “Buenos días” and a smile, and then get out of the way as quickly as possible before someone asks me a question that I hadn’t rehearsed the answer to.  They all know that I am the new gringo in town, but they don’t know how little Spanish I am able to speak.  I don’t want them to confuse my speaking abilities with Rachel’s and initiate an impromptu conversation.  Let’s just say my fluency is a little lacking.  Or as Rachel would put it, “pathetic.”  

The girls are doing great.  When they get home from school they talk about sharing snacks with their new friends, like Maria who shared her rice and José Pinto who gave them some of his patacones, fried slices of plantains. Anaiah likes the toys so much that she has been stuffing them into her book bag to bring home.  She is our little collector.  The girls also have informed us of the important life lessons they have learned so far like “don’t eat soap”, “no standing on the tables”, and “no eating the play-doh.”  Hopefully, the rigor increases. 

Ecuadorian institutions love uniforms, and schools are no different.  The girls have three different uniforms that they wear during the week, along with a smock for arts and crafts.  

Monday's

smock for arts and crafts

Wednesday's

Tuesday and Thursday's

The athletic outfit is worn twice and they can wear what they wish on Fridays.  On top of their love of uniforms, they also have an admiration for embroidering their uniforms.  Each uniform is required to have their names embroidered on the front.  Notice the Ecuadorian spelling of the names; First name, Dad's last name, Mom's last name.  Rachel was all excited to get her maiden name some action.

I am thinking of getting my name embroidered, Matthew Downing Hyatt on all of my white t-shirts which has pretty much become the only thing that I wear, so that I can fit in with the locals.  

Here is a song they sing at school to start each day.