9/2-9/3 The Farm

We visited the Arces’ “farm” this past weekend. It is actually a country home. It is up in the mountains about 30 minutes from the city. It sits on about two hectares of land. A hectare is 10,000 square meters or about 2.47 acres. A small village is a 10 minute walk. The farm is planted with a large variety of fruit trees and seasonal corn crops. The original house is constructed of mud and straw but is now used for storage and the guinea pig pen. There is one bed in the corner that is used sometimes by the housekeeper (Maria). The rest of the house is a series of additions that dwarf the original house. Altogeher, I think there is bed space for about 16. It was a beautiful setting. The only turn off was the garbage that littered the landscape. Maria informed us that there is no garbage pickup in the country so everyone burns their trash. The problem is that much of the garbage never makes it to the fire pit. We picked up garbage around the property and put it next to the driveway. When we woke up on Sunday we found the garbage had been burned right where it sat, plastic bottles and all.

Here we finally got to eat guinea pig! We not only ate it but got to play with them before the slaughter. They look just like the pets we have at home. Just like “Mr. C” whom I kept in the bathtub – remember Mom? Mr. Arce cooked the guinea pig whole (head and ears to tail) over the burning coals outside as we played volleyball. Those of you who know me well are probably wondering if I ate the guinea pig. I did try it and it’s pretty good. It is a bit chewy with an alfalfa taste. Frank and Anne Nelson especially liked it but I’m not sure anyone would go out of their way to find it. We also ate Ecuadorian crab from the Manta region. We carried about 40 of them live in the back of the car. They are larger than blue crabs but smaller than king crabs. They looked just like a cartoon version of crab, very colorful with eyes that extended way outside their heads. Maria’s family boiled them in some sort of concoction and then proceeded to eat everything that wasn’t a shell. It looked like something you’d see on fear factor.

We played lots of volleyball and croquet, drank the Ecuadorian liquor (called Zhumir) and stayed up too late. Cousins cam over on Sunday and Frank grilled Chicken, Sausage and beef for the crowd. Maria had bought fillet of beef and of course Frank cooked it medium rare. Unfortunately, no one in Maria’s family wanted rare beef so they all put their fillets back on the grill. We reluctantly drove back to the city late Sunday. The kids really loved the farm and would have stayed a few more days if we had let them.

We met a memorable young boy named Jose at the “farm”. He is 11 years old and is the son of the housekeeper, Maria. He was so curious about the “gringos”… interested in our books, language, culture. He seemed so bright and enthusiastic. He took some of us on a walk and we were lucky enough to stop at his home. His house is made out of mud and straw and has one room where the guinea pigs take up most of the space. But they had a fire in the house and it was actually quite cozy. I wanted to hang out there for a while. His grandmother whispered something in my ear while I was there. I’m sure it was the meaning of life. Wouldn’t that be just my luck…. I finally find out what I’m here for and God sends it in a different language. He has a sense of humor like that.

So, I’m ready to adopt Jose. I have 8 months to pray on that. I’ll post again soon. We love you! Liz