Category Archives: South America

Food and Bread for today

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Dave here…

Just so you know we have captured yet again another world record. That record is for the successful baking of Alaska Sourdough on the Equator. As far as we know it has never been done before now. And you know us too – how lucky is that!

All in all it was a quiet day of working so no golly gee stuff to report today.

So to answer one of the most asked question, which is, “what did you have for dinner”?

It was a simple affair:
Mixed green salad with a German Onion Herb dressing
Sauteed potatoes (papas)and leek with smoked paprika and fresh garlic
Fresh Asparagus wrapped in Serrano ham
Grilled bacon wrapped Fillets seasoned with “Dave’s Magic Dust”

See the picture – just remember we are roughing it here.

Just as we sat down for dinner…the power went out. How romantic is that! A candle light dinner for two – how exciting is that
?
After dinner we snuggled up to our laptop with the biggest battery I could find and watched a movie. Well ok just part of a movie – then off to bed

Great sunny day today – I am sure there will be good things to report.

We met the Dentist .. shopping in Ibarra

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Patrice here – filling in for Dave he is working on the 2nd batch of bread as I type this.

We ran errands around town and picked up some items for lunch at the grocery store. We bought ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise, 2 bags of chips (I know bad) for $3.02 (honestly)!! As we already had chicken and bread at the apartment – lunch was great even though the cook did not get a tip.

Ok on to our major event of the day – Super Maxi in Ibarra – grocery store – lots of great things for sure. We have enough for it to feel like home now in the apartment. Just some ideas of costs for groceries – 4 peeled white onions = $.75, 4 red onions = $.77, 15 roses plus a mix of other flowers to make them look nice = $2.50, artichokes = $.75, eggplant = $1 a kilo (2 small for $.50). We were introduced to some Ecuador specific fruits (Julio our van driver and guide extraordinaire) recommended them – we will update you when we try them.

Now for the dentist, thought we would have a quick visit with appts to be made for cleaning and the rest of what is needed WRONG full exam (both), deep cleaning (both), upper and lower impressions (P), xrays (D) office visit (now sit down for the total price) …. $140.00 (both of us)! He also required that we get panoramic xrays which we did for (are you still sitting down?) $9 each. We both really like him – he was trained in NY City and has a degree in cosmetic dentistry. At this point we are considering re working my smile completely – could never have though of doing that state side. Will keep you posted. As an FYI a full porcelain crown here is about $400.

For those of you driving diesel – its $1.03 a gallon.

It was a long day today but we feel like we got lots accomplished. Even with the power out yesterday (from 8am – 1pm) I was able to work a couple before the outage and then after close to 10 hours all together- high speed is really quite good here, our Vonage phone is working great!

Quito – Our first nite in Ecuador

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A picture of one of the courtyards at the hotel we stayed in once we arrived. This hotel was truly amazing … two story room living room and bathroom upstairs, desk bedroom downstairs – such a wonderful night! (oh and a deal as well what else when you travel with us?)

Ecuador here we come ….

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Dave here – your roving on the spot reporter giving you the first quick report from Ecuador…
Flight was great – but how bad can it be in First Class… Hope we get it on the way back – that would be perfect.
Landed last night and went directly to the hotel, BEAUTIFUL HOTEL too. The people that work in the Hotel all wear South American Colonial uniforms from perhaps 1900 type. The room we had was fabulous. We had an upstairs bathroom with like a living room with TV upstairs too. The main floor is where the bedroom was and TV and the usual stuff.
We are sitting in the hotel courtyard having breakfast as I type this. It is kind of nice with the sun shining and music playing while we eat. Our driver should be here in about an hour and then we will take a 1.5 hour drive up to Cotacachi where we will be staying. It should be a scenic drive up there that is why we wanted to wait until the day time to go up there.
We are at about 9,200 ft and we can tell it when we,(or at least I can, being the designated pack mule), move luggage around or walk fast. Cotacachi is only about 8,000 ft – so I am looking forward to that. Yeah like that is going to make a big difference.
Stay tuned… there might be another report with pictures