Tamera's Take: Household Hints - Arroz to Zapatas, Cats and You Thought You Had Problems

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Tamera's Take is about being here.
Are you ready?  I am.

Wood table made by a local carpenter

My name is Tamera.

I am a list-aholic (aka copious note taker).  "Hi Tamera."

I have been keeping a boring-as-dirt list of household type items to talk about in one of my future blogs.  The list is finally so long that it is time.  Otherwise it is never going to go away, and I have too many other fun things to talk about.  I feel like that kid who cannot go outside until the chores are done.

I will do my best to make this as fun AND informational as I can.

Wish me luck.

If you have the kind of disposable income that allows you to hire a housekeeper, then I am happy for you.  That was our intention during the planning stages of our move to Ecuador.  It is an affordable luxury.  But we do not have that much "disposable" income.

Like building a house, plan for at least 10% to 20% in cost overages.  Our overages came in the form of government and attorney fees to extend our tourist visa (from a T-3 to a 12-IX) and application for resident visas. Not to mention that those Ecuadorian Government fees for Immigrant and Non-Immigrant Visas unexpectedly increased in 2016.

Air-tight plastic containers. No ants in these babies!

We are finally starting to recover from those overages.  Just in time for planned visits from friends and family. Maybe next year we can hire some help.  Until then, it is all on us baby!

This has not necessarily been a bad thing.  We have learned a lot about beach living.  I am not talking about the good stuff like going swimming, fishing, laying in the sun, beach-combing, getting tanned, having cocktails and watching sunsets. Yes, we do those things.  I am talking about the aftermath of all that fun; and some normal housekeeping things that you will not read on many blogs or websites about coming to Ecuador.

Backyard. Outdoor shower, sink, laundry room.....

Dirt.

Where the heck is all that dirt coming from?  Let me just tell you now that if you have a house or condo near the beach, be prepared to sweep every day.  Thankfully, carpet is rare around these parts. Floors are either concrete, tile, wood, or a combination of those materials. Our house is completely tiled with the exception of the concrete roof top terrace.

Oh, and one other exception.

More concrete. Part of the courtyard.

We have a large courtyard in the front of the house - made entirely of concrete. There is a reason for that.  The cistern is under the concrete.  The breezeway on the side of the house is concrete.  I suppose that makes sense too because the breezeway is covered.  Nothing would grow there anyway.

The area behind the house is concrete. This also makes sense because the garaje (garage), outdoor after-beach shower, tiled counter with sink, laundry room and the water pump are all located behind the house.

Concrete is your friend.  Until it is not.  Make sense or not, concrete is my enemy right now.  Yes it is easy to sweep.  But concrete dust is constant. Concrete is not the only the little dirt maker around here.

Let me break it down for you like a fraction.

Take off your shoes. Wipe your feet.

You go to the beach.  What is on the beach?   Sand.  What comes back with you from the beach? Sand.

It gets better.  Very few roads are paved in Crucita or any other beach village.  The short walk from our house to the beach is on a dirt alley.

So far we have concrete dust, beach sand and alley dirt.

Wait for it.  There is more.

The mountains all around us get a bit dusty.  The ocean winds carry that dust here and there.  Here and there all over the house.  Remember that the houses here are pretty open.  Not all windows have screens.  Not all windows have glass.  I have not seen a screen door yet.


But hey.  It is beach life. The houses are open to take advantage of the ocean breeze, because most people do not have air conditioners.  Ceiling fans seem to be an "American" thing. More and more houses have them now.  But basically, floor fans are king.

Cinderella and her brooms.

My advice.  Invest in a few brooms, dust pans with tall handles, and a lot of doormats.  Take your shoes off before you come in the house.

Salt and Rice (sal y arroz)

Every Floridian knows that you put grains of rice in your salt shaker to keep the salt from clumping. You can scratch that right off your list of helpful hints.  We have awesome sea salt made right here in Crucita.

You should store it in an airtight plastic container. Do not bother with salt and pepper shakers.  If you decide to get them, make sure they are NOT made of any type of metal; and make sure they have air tight lids.

"Would you like paper or plastic?"

We are all familiar with that phrase from the grocery store.  Take it a step further.  Paper, plastic, wood or metal.

Bamboo floor lamp. Cool wood chair.

Let's talk about metal.

The answer is simple.  No.  Never.  Nunca!  Why?  Corrosion.  Salt air corrosion.  Obviously there has to be some metal in a house.  All that concrete needs rebar.  Wood doors and windows have to be nailed or screwed into place.  Door handles, locks and hinges are metal. All that metal is painted or sealed. And still, in time, some of it rusts away.

Pots and pans are metal.  Try to use enamel coated ones. When you wash dishes, wipe off anything metal.  Do not air dry them.

Let's talk about wood.

If you are going to get outdoor patio furniture, save yourself some aggravation and buy plastic, rattan/wicker or wood.

Artisan in Montecristi making furniture.

Wicker and Rattan furniture are very popular here.  The very best place to buy this furniture is in the town of Montecristi, Ecuador.

The artisans custom make every piece of furniture.

You can show them a picture of what you want and they will make it. If you are not sure, most of them have catalogs of the work they have completed for other customers.

You can browse them and choose something that will work for you.  In a few weeks you will have your own custom furniture.

If you need cushions, there are upholsterers in Montecristi who will make them to fit your new furniture.

I found this huge oyster shell. It is my soap dish.

Trivia Time!!   Panama Hats are not from Panama.  Panama Hats originated in Montecristi.  They are still made in Montecristi.  The price depends on the weave and craftsmanship of the hat.  They are called Panama Hats because they were sent to Panama for the workers building the Panama Canal. The weave of a good Panama Hat is so tight that it will keep your head and face from being sunburned. Yet the material is so light that it breathes.


Back to wood.

If wood is more your style, you are in luck.  There are carpenters in every town.  Much like the furniture makers in Montecristi, you can meet with a carpenter, discuss what you are looking for and they will make it.  Tables, chairs, sofas, shelves, windows, doors....anything made of wood.

A word of warning about outdoor furniture.  As I have said before, the sun is very intense here. Outdoor furniture should be kept under some type of covered area or brought inside when not in use.

No caption required

Let's talk about plastic and paper.

If you do not have a covered patio area, I would suggest buying inexpensive plastic outdoor furniture. If you do not use it often, then bring it in out of the weather.  Just common sense.

I know they are not attractive, but plastic canister sets with tight, screw on plastic lids are the best. You will need a lot of them. Why?  Ants.  Not big fire ants, or medium stingy ants, or little get into everything ants.  I am talking about ants so small that you can barely see them.  So small that if one crawls on you, you cannot feel it.  So fast that if you drop one grain of sugar on your counter, you will have a colony of them on that grain of sugar in one minute.  There are two choices for food storage.  Refrigerator or plastic airtight containers.

The other necessary plastic is trash bags.  I know it is not the most ecological item, but manufacturers are getting better at making them bio-degradable.  So this brings me to the bathroom section of my blog.  When you get trash cans for your bathroom, make sure you get the ones with lids.  The little swinging lids work best.  Use your grocery bags in the bathroom trash cans.  The trash can in your kitchen should have a lid too.

Why lids on the bathroom trash can?  Two reasons - to reduce odor and insects.

Shells, an old mayo jar and wire. Decoration for my driftwood table.

 The septic systems in Ecuador cannot handle paper of ANY kind.  It does not matter how modern your house is, or how nice your condo is.  NO PAPER IN THE TOILETS!  You will find this is the same rule if you go to a mall, hotel, restaurant, etc.  In many public restrooms, you get your allotment of toilet paper before you go into the stall.  There are no rolls of toilet paper in the stalls.  There are plastic trash cans.  Now you know why.

Mess on the Malecon

I know this is a little off topic, but living here has taught me to have a little more respect for the environment.  Some things I have learned...

Conserve water use.  Reduce trash when possible.  Find new uses for things that are normally thrown away without another thought. I think they call that re-purposing.  If you can do it with pallets, you can do it with glass jars, plastic containers, wire, bags - well you get the idea.

The trash has to go somewhere.  And it is going somewhere.

It is going into your oceans, lakes, rivers, and seeping into the aquifer.

That was never more evident than what I saw on the Malecon a few days ago.

Yesterday's driftwood. Today's scratch post.

The tides right now are unusually high.  So high that they wash right over the Malecon (beach road) twice a day.

At first glance, you might just think, wow look at all that stuff washed up on the road from the super high tide.

Then you get a closer look at what it is. Mixed in with the beach sand, driftwood, rocks, shells, fish, buoys and nets, is trash.

Not trash left by people enjoying the beach.

Trash that was probably dumped out to sea from some gigantic barge from who knows where. Trash that flowed down the Portoviejo River because no one is quite sure how to handle it. Or because people think it is someone else's problem.


They are right.  It is someone else's problem.

It is my problem, your problem, his problem, her problem, their problem.  Our problem.

It is happening everywhere.  Fix it or lose it.

Peace.

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Tamera's Take: A Day In The Life, Cats, & What To Bring

Tamera's Take is about being here.
Are you ready?  I am.

Woke up.  Fell out of bed.
Dragged a comb across my head.
Found my way downstairs and drank a cup.
And looking up I noticed...

it was 6:00 am.

The Fish Blanket has traveled a lot.

Maybe it is not this way for everyone who moves to Ecuador (or stays for an extended period of time), but for us, waking up between 5:00 am - 6:00 am was an every day fact.  No way around it.  No matter how hard we tried.  It did not matter that at 5:00 am the sun is not yet up over the horizon.  It did not matter if we went to bed at 9:00 pm or midnight the night before.

Why is this happening?  More importantly, when will it end?  Will it end?

Do not get me wrong.  Part of me enjoyed some of those extra morning hours.  After all, we live in the land of 12/12. Twelve hours of daylight, twelve hours of night. Give or take about five minutes for that ever so slight axis rotation during the winter and summer equinox.  But basically it is 12/12.  Every day, 365 days a year.  Although, this is leap year.

I will not discuss the Mayan and Inca Calendars, except to say that they utilized multiple calendars. The calendars had different purposes.  An extra day was not added to February every four years.  If you want to know more about those ancient calendars of South America, check out the links.

Coffee & Feliz Cumpleanos!

After almost two months in Ecuador, the 5:00 am Time Warp is getting a little better.

I wake up between 6:00 am - 7:00 am now.  I still comb my hair and go downstairs for a cup of coffee. Since we did not bring any of our kitchen items, I had to choose a new favorite coffee cup from the seven mugs that were provided in our new home.  Admit it. You know what I am talking about.  Every coffee drinker has a favorite coffee mug.

If something happens to it, we mourn the loss, then choose a new favorite.  Sometimes that requires a purchase. Sometimes a friend or family member will get you a new mug.  It will be perfect.  How did they know.  I do not know, but they did.  All is right again.




My choices were;
red mug with the word "Nescafe"
white mug with a bank logo
white mug with Christmas tree and the word "Twinkle"
white mug with a green logo "bcM" ??
yellow mug with the word "Riunite"
blue mug with the word "Royal"
white mug with "Feliz Cumpleanos" in bright colors

Right off the bat we can eliminate the red mug, yellow mug and the blue mug.  The mug can be any color on the outside, but the inside of the mug has to be white.  I do not know why.  It just looks funny.  Bank logo mug - out.  No explanation needed.  I do not know what "bcM" means - out goes that mug.  I am left with Twinkle or Feliz.  I did not come all the way to Ecuador to drink out of a coffee cup with the English word Twinkle.  The winner is Feliz Cumpleanos.  Which means Happy Birthday.  Why not?!

This coffee cup ritual only applies to me.  Jason does not care what the mug looks like.

Bus to Portoviejo

After coffee, we decide what our plans are for the day.  It usually revolves around, "do we need anything?" and if so, can we get it at one of the many local tiendas, or do we have to go to town. Going to town requires a bus or taxi ride to Portoviejo.

No chip?  No cash for you.

The one thing we cannot get in Crucita is CASH.

There are no banks in Crucita.  There is only one ATM machine.  If your debit/credit card does not have a security chip in it, then your card will not work at this ATM.  Do not fear.  There are plenty of banks and ATM machines in Portoviejo.  Some require chips, some do not.

If we do not need anything at all, even better.  But weekly grocery shopping does not seem to be the way it is done here.   I do not mind a daily trip to a tienda.  It is a good way for us to meet the store owners and their families. Tiendas are family owned and operated.  In most cases their homes are next to, or above the store. They are starting to get to know us.  We practice our Spanish.  They appreciate the effort.

We are surrounded by farms.

The fruits and vegetables are fresh, plentiful and inexpensive.  Rice and potatoes are grown locally too.  We buy what we want, when we need it, right here in Crucita.  You can go to one of the grocery stores in Portoviejo and the fruits and vegetables are just as fresh and plentiful, but a little more expensive.  Organic is less expensive than non-organic. There are some imported fruits and vegetables in the supermarkets.  Very expensive!

Extra Large Eggs

We live in a fishing village, so it goes without saying where we buy our seafood.

We buy fresh eggs from the tiendas.  Poultry, pork and beef are still sort of a mystery.  Not for me since I do not eat meat but Jason does.  So until we figure out where the local butcher is, we have to go to Portoviejo.

Cat food, cat litter and various cat supplies (flea medication, litter box, toys) are best purchased in town.  There are pet stores.

There is a pet store in El Paseo Shopping Mall.  The Hipermarket has a good selection of cat food and cat litter, but no toys, no litter boxes, no flea medication.





Spices and fresh herbs - right here in Crucita.  Flour, milk, baking powder, butter, raw sugar, refined sugar, confectioners sugar, cooking oil, olive oil, dried fruits, nuts.  All available in the tiendas in Crucita.

But no one can tell me where the heck I can find Arm & Hammer Baking Soda!  Any brand of baking soda will do.  I made Christmas chocolate chip cookies.  The recipe calls for baking soda.  Sorry.  No baking soda.  Not here or there or anywhere.  I substituted baking powder.  It worked but not as well. I am not giving up though.  I WILL find baking soda.  Maybe.

Fresh Herbs

As mentioned in previous posts, we have been introduced to many new and exotic fruits, vegetables and foods.  New to us.

We are not scared to try new things.  Never have been. Never will be.  That does not mean that I will not refuse to try something.  For example, guinea pig. Lucky for me, I do not eat meat.  I have a get out of jail free card.

Not so much on the coast, but in the mountain areas of Ecuador, people eat guinea pig.  I cannot believe I am even writing about it.  But it is a fact and part of some of the cultures, so there you go.

If you want to know more about it, look it up on the internet.



Makeup, shampoos, conditioners, nail polish, deodorant, soaps, cleaners, cleansers and stuff - all available in local tiendas.  However, there is a better selection at the supermarkets in town.  Where is "town"?  Portoviejo. You remembered!

Lockers for your stuff.

Plastic ware is a little more difficult to find in a small village.  You guessed it.  Go to Portoviejo.

Go to El Centro to be exact.  A lot more to choose from.  Better prices.  In El Centro, do not forget to bargain a little on the pricing.  It is expected.  Also, it is a good idea to bring a shopping bag.  The vendors will give you little bags for your purchases most of the time, but after a while you end up with a dozen or so little plastic bags.  Save yourself some aggravation and bring one or two reusable shopping bags.  

We were in El Centro a few days ago and had duplicate sets of keys made for our house.  There are about six street vendors who make keys.  Anyway, the man who made the copies did not give us a bag.  Somehow we managed to lose a couple of the copies.  

Not a big deal.  Just means another trip to El Centro.  

Probably tomorrow since we need to check our post office (Correos) box, which is just around the corner from El Centro.

Here is another little culture tidbit.  If you go into a supermarket or mall store with bags of things you have already bought, you will have to put them in a locker.  The lockers are located in the front of the stores.  There are keys attached to security fobs, hanging out of the locks.  Simply choose a locker (there are various sizes), put in your stuff, lock the door and take the key with you.  This is a free service, and it is MANDATORY.   When you get done shopping, just go to your locker and retrieve your items.  Do not forget to leave the key, otherwise you will set off the alarm when you leave the store.

Keys made in El Centro

Medications must all be purchased at a pharmacy.  All medications.  Over-the-counter (OTC) and obviously prescription medications.  This also includes things like sport cream, anti-bacterial ointment, cortisone cream.  Nothing is on a shelf.

You must ask for the items you need.  The brand names are not always the same.  The common names are not always the same.  Take the time to look up on the internet how to ask for what you need in Spanish, AND the brand name in Ecuador.

If you are buying something that has a quantity (tablets, capsules, packets, etc), the clerk will ask you how many you want.  Whole boxes are rarely sold.  You can buy just one aspirin if that is what you need.

Not all prescription medications are readily available in all pharmacies.  They are all available in hospitals.

If you are on a life dependent medication, bring enough of your prescription with you, along with a letter from your physician.  Translate that letter into Spanish and have it notarized.  This will make it easier should you need to see a physician while you are here.

Pharmacy = Farmacia

Some medications can be ordered from your home country while you are in Ecuador, but the process is sometimes difficult and expensive.

That being said, the health care system is set up to meet the needs of everyone here, regardless of your financial situation. Regardless of whether you are a tourist, a citizen or here on a resident visa.

Many prescription medications do not require a local prescription.  There are prescription drug programs so that everyone has access to medications needed.  They are monitored to ensure the health of the patient and to prevent life threatening reactions from multiple medications.



The people who are very poor pay a few dollars a month (or in some cases nothing) for continuous healthcare.  One thing to keep in mind.  Narcotic pain medications are only used in extreme situations, and dispensed for the most part in hospitals or under strict supervision of a physician. Very few brands of prescription pain (narcotic) medications are available in Ecuador.  Aspirin, Acetaminophen and anti-inflammatory medications are available.

Post Office

On a personal level, I have one prescription medication that must be taken daily.

Prior to arriving here, I met with my surgeon and my physician.  I am not due for check-ups until later this year. I knew I would need time to find comparable specialists here in Ecuador.

I will continue to see my doctors when I am in the U.S. as well.  That one prescription I mentioned cost me almost $100 per month in the U.S. without insurance.

The same prescription costs me $13 per month here - without insurance.

We are planning a trip to the town of Monticristi. From what I hear, it is a beautiful little town.

Comfortable for Kodak

But we have a specific purpose for going there. Furniture.  A wicker and rattan sofa to be exact.

Our house is fully furnished, but the living room furniture is small and not very comfortable.  The hammocks are great, but sometimes you just want to stretch out on the sofa and read a good book. Except that we do not have a sofa.

We have two tiny, straight-back, love seats with small wood arms.

Monticristi is famous for two things, spectacular wicker furniture and Panama Hats. Real Panama Hats did not come from Panama.  They were SENT to Panama from Monticristi.

The wicker furniture is custom made to order.  There are no showrooms.  You choose a weaver, explain (or show a picture of) what you want, then go home and wait for your furniture to be made. It takes about four to eight weeks, depending on the size and complexity of the design.  They will deliver the furniture to you when it is ready or you can go back and pick it up.  In some cases you can get lucky and a shop might have a couple of pieces that were already made and never bought. You could go home that day with a beautiful piece of furniture.  I will let you know how this adventure turns out for us.

From Jacksonville to Miami to Ecuador

What to bring.  

We brought cats.  Four cats, 200 pounds of checked luggage, a laptop, a small carry on suitcase containing our certified, notarized documented life; and us.

There are some personal items I wish we had.  I really miss all my boxes of photos.

I wish I had all of my art supplies and my cameras. Jason wishes he had all his music gear.  But we made the choice to give those things up (not the photos, they are in storage), and start a new life with minimal stuff.

Little by little we will buy those things that are really important to us.

So, what to bring?  That is entirely up to you.

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