Correo

This is a new feature I´m going to start on the blog. I have received a bunch of questions in the blog comment section. So I figured I would answer them.

In Spanish, correo means ´post office´ so I figured that would be a fitting name for this section (Although the people of Ecuador might prefer Correa, as in President Rafael Correa.)

I intend on answering all of your questions and encourage you to continue to send them (either on the blog or through the e-mail {ian.jacob.robinson@gmail.com}.

Depending on the question, it might require an entire blog post to provide a comprehensive answer. Others can be addressed in a few paragraphs. Rest assured, I hope to answer all of your questions.

How's the tap water? Is it potable?

I haven’t tried the tap water yet, and I don’t really plan on it. After seeing what some of the local animals do in the local water sources and some of the trash that is chilling in the river, I’m pretty uninterested in ever sampling the untreated water.

Some have suggested the idea of adjusting to the tap water by brushing your teeth with it and then starting to sip a little bit to build up a tolerance. Before you know it, I will forget what it’s like to have water without diarrhea-inducing bacteria.

I don’t think I will try this strategy. Boiling my water isn’t that much of a hassle, and bottled water is really cheap. So that isn’t much of an issue.

Have you had the bizcochos? Is one better than another? Are they good?

For those that don’t recall, the bizcocho is a type of biscuit/bread that Cayambe is very famous for. Every corner has a place claiming to serve the best bizcochos or the freshest bizcochos (I compare it to the Original Famous Ray’s vs. Famous Original Ray’s pizza debate in New York).

I have really only gone to one bizcocho guy so far. If I spend more time in the city of Cayambe, I can foresee the possibility of a city-wide bizcocho sampling. I would only do this if time allowed.

The thing about eating the bizcocho is that it depends what you eat the bizcocho with. I prefer to dip my bizcochos in yogurt, but other belong to the dinning-in-hot-beverage school of bizcocho consumption. I have yet to attempt this method.

How is the cuisine? Have you learned some new recipes?

The food has been pretty good so far. But I am typically horrible judge of food quality. Unlike my brothers, I am, in this case, blessed without a discerning palate. Unless the food is simply horrendous, I can pretty much stomach anything. And my stomach hasn’t suffered any setbacks since I arrived (I don’t think I can go the entire two years like this, but we can pray, right?).

I have enjoyed most of the food my family has served me. In the morning, they will give me eggs, bread, and juice. For dinner, there is usually some combination of vegetable soup, an omelet, rice, minestrone, and cooked vegetables. We are on our own for lunch, and we go to the restaurant in town where, for $1.50, you get vegetable soup, rice, beans, an egg dish, and fruit juice.

My complaints about the food wouldn’t be the food itself but some questions about how it is prepared. It is my opinion that my family uses too much sugar, salt, and oil. This is most evident when they are making tea, or as I like to think about it, hot sugar water with some spices in it. In a little pot of tea, they add an entire cereal bowl of sugar.

Do the locals shower more, or less, than you have been?

I haven’t done a comprehensive survey of neighborhood hygiene habits, but I have observed the practices of my immediate familia.

I would have to put myself just behind my sister in most baths since I have arrived. There are some people in the family who I don’t know whether they have bathed since I arrived. But this might be unfair because I am out of the house most of the day (which is when the water is at its warmest). But let this be clear, I still have my doubts. I will continue to monitor the situation.

It seems that every other family in town has some sort of working shower. Meanwhile, the bucket bath means I need to plan out my bathing schedule a bit more than I would prefer, and you have to pace all your water usage. The bonus about the bucket bath is that the water is warm. I have heard stories from other volunteers of 30 seconds of lukewarm showers giving way to glacially cold experiences.