Are you ready? I am.
One day in a public speaking class at NYU, the professor had students compose an impromptu one-minute speech on this topic: If you were stranded on a desert island, what one item would you like to have? Sherwood Schwartz was a student in that class, and the question so intrigued him that it remained lodged in the back of his mind for many years.
Who is Sherwood Schwartz? Sherwood Schwartz was a famed television producer and Emmy Award winning screenwriter, best known for Gilligan's Island and The Brady Bunch.
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| Bamboo House |
I grew up with both of those shows. With the exception of the "Hawaii Bound" episode, The Brady Bunch has nothing to do with being in Ecuador - nothing that I can think of anyway. On the other hand, Gilligan's Island seems pretty close to home.
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| Ecuador and Jacksonville are on the same Longitude |
We are not stranded on a deserted island. But at times it feels like we are on an island.
As I have mentioned in my previous posts, to the North, East and South of Crucita is a crescent of mountains. The village of Crucita is directly on the Pacific coast, and the adjacent farms are located between the village and the mountains.
The entire area is very tropical, even the farm-land. The coconut trees are endless.
Ecuadorians drink Agua de Coco (in the U.S. we call it coconut milk) directly from coconuts with a straw, then scoop out the coconut with a spoon. Restaurants simply cut off the top of a coconut with the husk on, then in goes the straw. Cold agua de coco is sold by the bag.
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| Watch out for falling coconuts! |
When I was a kid I remember bugging my mom over and over until she finally relented and bought me a coconut from the grocery store.
For those of you who were in Jacksonville during the 1970's, you may remember a store called Pantry Pride.
It had already been shelled from the husk. I had no idea how to open it. This was not going to deter me. I took a hammer and screwdriver from my dad's work bench, and began the task of beating this poor coconut.
My goal was to puncture a hole so I could get the coconut milk first.
This did not go well, for me or the coconut.
Many varieties of Bamboo (Caña de Bambu) are grown here in abundance and used by almost every family, in one way or another. Caña is used to make furniture, fishing rods, fences, and even houses. There are many uses for coconuts in addition to a source of food and beverage. Coconut husk is a fiber that can be used to make rope, rugs and fabric. Coconut shells are a source of charcoal and can be burned as fuel. They can also be used to send messages.
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| JFK used this as a paperweight on his desk in the Oval Office. |
In a dugout canoe, Biuku Gasa and Eroni Kumana of the Solomon Islands, located the U.S. crew of PT-109 on August 5, 1943. The crew had been stranded for three days on an inhabited island of the South Pacific after being hit by an enemy destroyer, and presumed dead. In command of that crew was Lt. John F. Kennedy.
Kumana and Gasa worked with the Coastwatchers, a network of agents based across the Pacific islands during WWII, tasked with keeping an eye on the enemy and reporting back to Allied forces.
Kennedy knew he somehow needed to get a message back to base if a rescue was to be organised, so he wrote a message on a coconut and gave it to Kumana and Gasa to return to a Coastwatchers station 35 miles (55 km) away.
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| Paper Stars |
This is our first Christmas in Ecuador. This means we will not be able to spend the holidays with our family and friends back in the states. I know this is not easy for them. It is not easy for us.
We did our Christmas shopping online for the family, made phone calls through Skype Phone, and plan to video call our family tonight through Skype on our laptop.
Most of our neighbors have decorated artificial Christmas trees. Next to their trees, they set up very beautiful Nativity scenes. We do not have a Christmas tree or a Nativity scene. After two trips to the Hipermarket last week, we still could not find any Christmas lights. I was resolved to have some type of decorations, knowing that I would plan better for next year.
We have paper stars all over the second floor of our house. It looks more like Cinco de Mayo than Christmas, but decorations are decorations.
Two days ago, after I made all those paper stars, we found lights (luces) in the little tienda around the corner from our house. They had decorations too. But those colorful paper stars have started to grow on me.
At least now we know where to buy lights and decorations.
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| Fiesta de Navidad! |
Christmas Eve is when Ecuadorians celebrate Christmas. The families gather all day for festivities, then open their presents at midnight.
I am not sure what will happen on Christmas Day. I will find out tomorrow.
Jason and I were lucky enough to be part of a Christmas party on December 21. Our friend Tamy and her husband Jared have a Fiesta de Navidad at their home for the children of the farmers in her parish - just outside the town of Portoviejo. Tamy raises money and organizes this event every year by herself, and on the day of the fiesta (party) family and friends volunteer to help. There was a lot of work involved.
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| Feliz Navidad! |
There were over 250 children attending the party, along with a very entertaining clown who also acted as the MC (master of ceremonies), Santa Claus, and the very famous well-loved Peppa Pig & his brother George!
Volunteering at this party was probably the best Christmas present we could have received.
Well, it is time for me to bake some cookies.
To all of our friends, family, and to everyone else who reads our blog,
Merry Christmas & Feliz Navidad!
Good Kittie!
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| Kodak gets his Christmas bath! |
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