Home / 2018 Ecuador with Sonam 511
- DSC03549
Sisa helps Antonio to heat the pipe to make a better seal - DSC03572
Sisa wrote Sonam's name with a stick in the dirt road. The smile on his face was precious, and Sisa was so proud. They gave one another a big hug! - DSC03574
As it wasn't pouring, we decided to go on a little outing to the tienda (store) with Sonam and the kids. - DSC03575
Achi Mama and Yuipanqui As we were preparing to leave the house, Yupanqui fell into a mud puddle and got absolutely soaked. He was obviously frustrated, but he had definitely matured. He didn't lash out at anyone or throw anything; he instead cried and then went to change his clothes. I encouraged him and helped him to get dressed. - DSC03585
Photo in front of the school. It turned out that the tienda was closed, so we walked to the community center to show Sonam around. - 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.