Serving in Quito North

 One of our favorite pastimes in Ecuador (Guayaquil, too) is to buy bread. I know, it seems silly, but finding the right panadería is a treasure hunt. The best bread we've found is from Ambato. If you find an Ambateño bakery, you pay about $.13 per roll. They have an open crumb and are light and fluffy, kind of the opposite of a Costco roll. Both are delicious, just different. There is no reason why I can't make these regularly as I can find bread flour at my local grocery store. But the locals put cheese in their rolls. I haven't figured out how to do that. Guaguas, in the native Quechua language, mean babies. Guaguas de pan, then, are little baked breads shaped and decorated like dolls. The practice of baking these little human-shaped breads predates the arrival of the Spanish in Ecuador, and has now been incorporated into Día de los Difuntos traditions. They are filled with jam or other fruit jellies. Ecuador, similar to Mexico with its history of Pre-Columbian indigenou...

 We were thrilled to hear the announcement of the new Quito West Mission. This will help us in many ways, mostly due to our large geographic coverage. Here is the map from the mission office. We live in the east in Nueva Loja. On the west coast is Esmeraldas. Although this is the width of Colorado, it is incredibly difficult to drive this in one day. From sea level on the left, you would travel up to 13,300' over Papallacta, and descend into the Amazon rainforest on unmaintained roads.  The new mission will take a third from us and a third from the Quito mission. Right now we have 198 missionaries. That is a challenge for mission leaders. 

I was reading some national news this week and caught the following: Ernesto Varas, director of the ANT, said that in Ecuador, during the year 2022, there were around 850,000 legally registered motorcycles, but it caught their attention that, when reviewing the information provided by the road safety yearbook, they found that there are barely 350,000 type A licenses issued (for motorcycles), a figure that is equivalent to 41%. To give you some perspective, the size of Ecuador is the same as Colorado. The population of Colorado is 5.8m compared to Ecuador's 18.1m. If you look at fatal accidents in Colorado from 2020, the number is 622. But, in Ecuador, where the 3rd leading cause of death for males is road accidents, the number is 3,490. If you calculate the rate per capita, that number should be 1,940. It's dangerous to drive here. Helmets are rare. Flip-flops are common. Children, 50lb bags of rice, weed-whackers, big-screen TVs, and gutters are often carried. We've seen p...

 Ecuador is struggling to keep the electricity on. Although we refer to electricity as "power" Ecuadorians use the term "luz" or lights, which makes sense. In any case, there isn't enough. Without paying attention to local news, we were surprised when the power kept going out. The government started with 4-hour blocks everyday, but on Saturday, it was out for 10 hours. This is no fun when it is 91 degrees with 90% humidity. We just sweat all day. I took two showers just to keep cool (no hot water).  When it started to rain a few days ago, the heat broke and it began to cool off to the 80s. The street in front of our apartment became a river. The news propaganda says there hasn't been enough rain to power hydro-electricity plants. But the answer is what you would expect: government corruption. Years ago there was a government plan to build more electricity plants and to privatize more of the utility. However, only 2 have been built. Consumers aren't payin...

 Paul and I have a friend that walks with us occasionally. It is fun to see her, but since she's a water dog, she's often filthy. Many dogs here are too afraid to look at us. They've been mistreated and unloved. But this little guy wants to be friends. We keep treats in the car for good dogs.

 We had some tiles break due to the recent heat. There is no grout; tiles in our apartment are just butted up together. So as it got hotter and hotter, they began to move, raise, and break. A repairman came and did a terrible repair job. When we returned from Quito, 10 more tiles had lifted and broke. One intersection had even pushed up a big chair that was resting on it. A new worker came to fix the problem. He did a much better job. He trimmed the tiles so there is now room for movement.

 I enjoy having a nicely appointed kitchen. The only thing missing is hot water. Well, I would like a toe kick. The next time you sidle up to your kitchen sink, be grateful for your toe kick. I was roasting a whole chicken this week and noticed that in the bag of extras, I got the head and the feet. I'm such a city girl. I threw it all away. People here would use all of this to make a good broth.