Tag Archives: Ecuador

The First Commercial Order

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Yes I make bread, as if you didn’t know that all ready. It is Sourdough from a starter that is over 100 years old. Of course I wasn’t there when it was started but I can tell you that I have had it since the mid 70’s to make bread and all things sourdough with.

A restaurant in town liked my bread and wanted to use it in the restaurant I said sure I will make some for you. Then they got to thinking and needed some flat bread too. So I made some Naan bread and let them try that – they liked that too. This morning I delivered the first order, two loaves of Sourdough Cinnamon Sugar bread and a whack of Naan Bread. Here is a picture before I delivered it. Yes I do deliveries directly to the door, but not just for anyone.

Did you know that from the beginning of time until about 1875, when commercial yeast was invented, all bread was sourdough. Check out the heath benefits on the Internet.

A quick note on the Naan bread – Sourdough Naan is the way they have always made it, that is until the late 1800’s or so when Commercial Yeast became available. Ok maybe they didn’t make it with Alaskan Sourdough but a sourdough of sorts is what they had. That means for the first time in many peoples memory, at least those that taste my Naan bread, are eating Naan that is really how it was originally made for like ever!

Another Day another Parade…The Horse Parade

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Every week it seems there is a Parade of some sort. Since we are currently right downtown and most activities go right down our street the activities keep us busy with the bands and the like. In fact we just received an email that outlined the celebrations for September and it looks like a very full month of activities. An amazing amount of activities for a town of 8,500. But I digress the purpose of this little post was to talk about the Horse Parade that happened today.

The first information we received about today’s Parade said it would start something like 9:30am; then we were told 10:00am; a couple days ago they changed it to 11:00am. Well… it did start about 11:45. Remember this is Ecuador and they have there own time zone and nothing starts on time. But finally, here they come…

They even have floats too – here are a couple examples…

What parade isn’t complete without dead chickens I ask you…

Of course we had to show you a star of future parades too…


Remember that old Cher song – Bang Bang – remember the words?
I was five and you were six
We rode on horses made of sticks
I wore black, you wore white
You would always win the fight
ok ok here is a link to the song – not the original but still the same
Cher – Bang Bang
It kinda fits to the song don’t you think?

Here is another little cutie from the Parade…

This was a very slow parade but some were ready and expected it to be slow. We happened to capture this couple that were even tied onto their saddle. The look in his face says it all…

Yes there were horses too – I would guess about 150 or so.

All in all, we had a great day watching the Parade.

Vista view

New House Plans

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Vista view

Vista View

We just got these this morning, what do you think?
Its the right size 230 sq meters with 55 sq meters of deck (approx 2400 sq feet, 577 sq feet)

Close up floor pan master wing faces Mt Imbabura, Kitchen faces Mt Cotacachi

Breaking news in Cotacachi!!!!

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Parade of the Horses this Sunday

I was beginning to think that we were going to have a weekend without a Parade – Whew I need not worry about being without a weekend Parade.  We will try to take some pictures and put them up here after the weekend.

Once a year the horse owners in the area parade their horses up Leather Street. Many of the riders are in full regalia, and there are some beautiful Passafino, Arabian and other horses.

The riders gather at Plaza del Sol at 9 AM, and parade up Leather Street around 10:00 to 10:30 [subject to Ecuadorian time!] on their way to the Bull Ring outside of town. It is an interesting spectacle.

The afternoon is filled with amateur bull fighting (they don’t kill the bulls) and other activities.

Produce Delivery Just arrived

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Yes another delivery of Organic Produce, just like last week but I couldn’t resist showing it. Yes this too was $5.00 delivered to our door. This is what we received this week:

1 bunch Italian Parsley (hard to see it is under the Basil in the picture)
1 bunch Carrots
4 each Leeks
1/2 lb Mizuna (look it up, it is on the far right in the picture and is pretty cool stuff)
5 each Green Peppers
1/2 lb Spinach (on the far left in the bag)
2 heads Red Lettuce
1 bunch Basil
2 each Zucchini

We have some Cilantro and a bit of lettuce left over from last week and that is it. Already looking forward to eating this this week. Don’t expect us to put this up every week it is just that it all looks so great I had to share it.

Susan B. Anthony – We know where you are…

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Yes I am talking about the Susan B. Anthony Dollar. Yes that coin that came out 1979 – 1981 and again for some unknown reason in 1999. Wouldn’t you just know it that Jimmy Carter, yes that president is the one responsible for making this coin. In total there where 888,842,452 coins minted for circulation. Now you are thinking ah yes I remember those – whatever happened to them. Well, I am about to tell you what happened to them.

These coins are one of the silliest things ever to be minted. How is this for logic to collect them, “The Susan B. Anthony dollar is probably the least popular coin made in America. This makes collecting a complete set of the dollars quite easy and affordable!”. Now doesn’t that just make you run out and start collecting them?

To me the following is a pretty concise reasoning as to the unpopularity of the coins:

SBA Coin Gets No Respect
The late, great comedian Rodney Dangerfield said it best when he lamented he got no respect. His words probably suit the Susan B. Anthony dollar coin, too.
The poor Susan B. Anthony dollar, struck from 1979-1981 and also in 1999, is one of our nation’s shortest-lived coins. It also could probably qualify for being one of our least-popular coins, too.
Perhaps the biggest complaints about the coin came from those who lost 75 cents each time they confused the Susan B. Anthony dollar coin with the quarter (because they look so similar and are about the same size). However, I’m sure that each of the Susan B. Anthony dollar detractors can think up other reasons why they just don’t like the coin.
It goes without saying that it is an insult to call the Susan B. Anthony dollar coin the Carter Quarter. This is a direct reference to Jimmy Carter’s signing into the law the bill which authorized striking the about-quarter-sized coin.

The only place you see these coins is when you go to the Post Office and buy stamps from a machine and then this truck load of SBA coins comes out for change if you used a bill larger than what you purchased. Then try to get rid of the things. So why am I going on about these coins? Well, I will tell you…

THEY WERE ALL SHIPPED TO ECUADOR!!! That is why you don’t see them in circulation in the US. The above picture is the change I had in my pocket this morning. Notice 6 SBA Dollars in that pile of coins. Notice too that there are a couple of them on each side of a quarter. That is a good reminder as to why they where so disliked in the US. The only good thing I can say about them being here is there isn’t that many Vending machines that you run into. So it doesn’t cause to much of a problem.

Another reason I think you see them all over the place here is that since the money is the US dollar you see some very tired paper money in use here. So tired you would never see it in circulation in the US. Now the Banks here are getting picky so you can be caught with a bill that stores won’t take. I have taken some back to the bank, and that has worked for me. But I think that answers the question why the SBA’s are so popular here – they don’t wear out. In a country where you usually spend $5 or less at a time these are working out better for everyone than the paper dollar.

So now you see, yet another baffling mystery is solved, you now know what happened to the Susan B. Anthony dollars and can rest easy at night know these facts…