- DSC03611
The family was expecting a tourist today. The guest was scheduled stay in the guest house for two weeks! This length of stay is more or less unheard of. When we visited for 5 nights on our first visit in 2010, that was five times as long as most tourists stay. We were all immediately curious about the guest, whom they had been told was a woman who would be doing some volunteer work in the community. It turned out that pretty much all of that information was incorrect. After lunch, the tourist arrived. His name is Javier, and he is a professor and doctoral student at a University in Quito, and he is writing his thesis on Andean culture. He would be staying Monday through Thursday nights for two weeks, learning about Kichwa traditions. We introduced ourselves to Javier and explained our relationship with the family. Javier speaks English in addition to Spanish, so we found him to be quite helpful when we needed some translation assistance. Here we are at dinner with Javier. - DSC03615
The kids show Javier their favorite locally produced film: El Pastorcito de Otavalo Buscando El Dorado. This film tells the story of an Otavalan shepherd boy and his friends searching for Atahualpa's lost gold in an amusing "Gonnies" style. - DSC03621
Flower in the garden - DSC03630
Abuelita stokes the fire in her outdoor kitchen by blowing into a metal pipe - DSC03631
Picante in Abuelita's outdoor kitchen - DSC03639
Abuelita sweeps in front of her kitchen - DSC03641
Craig loves his hot peppers, and I said that we should start calling him Aji Taita rather than Achi Taita (aji is the Spanish word for chili pepper). We do love our foreign language puns! Here he hugs the peppers that Sonam brought from Bhutan. - DSC03643
Sonam uses his basketball skills to pick a tree tomato. - DSC03644
Achi Mama and Shina - DSC03646
Sonam prepared a lovely surprise for lunch. He brought peppers from Bhutan (a gift from his Apa ) and prepared ezay, a lovely mixture of peppers, onion, and tree tomato. He singed them on the flame from the burner of the stove, cut them up, and then ground them with Rosa's grinding stone. - DSC03652
Sonam singes a pepper on the stove. - DSC03664
Javier peels potatoes - DSC03666
Achi Taita and Shina - DSC03680
Sonam grinds the ezay - DSC03686
Finished ezay! Delicious! But too spicy for the kids; they wouldn't even try it.