October 16 - Learning to make the bread eaten on Día de los Difuntos

After a wonderful two months trip to visit family and friends back home in Canada, we have finally returned to our beloved Salinas. And finally I am writing another Blog.

On Thursday I met a few friends including Suzana ( our president de Cruz Roja) to go to the Museo de Amantes de Sumpa for a demonstration and participation on making the bread eaten on the holiday   Día de los Difuntos, translated as Day of the Deceased, on November 2^nd. It is a holiday meant to honor the life of those who have passed away.

 http://laylita.com/recipes/2012/10/23/dia-de-los-difuntos-or-day-the-deceased-in-ecuador/

We arrived shortly after 9AM and unpacked the cars of the various necessities required- flour, sugar, eggs, etc etc.

 A group of us eager participants anxiously waiting for the start of the show.

A wonderful Ecuadorian cook led the demonstration portion- making the dough -plus  Susana who organized the trip

                        Four pounds of flour, sugar, 5 eggs, water ..........

And then the fun part of kneading it until it was the right consistency. Wish I could have been able to put my hands on this LOL

Once that was complete we had to of course wait until the dough had risen. Our cook had a neat trick though, place a small ball of dough in a glass of water- when it rises to the top of the water, the dough is ready.

Then the fun part began. Once she had divided it up into small balls of dough, we could each take one ( or more) and shape it into a doll. After a quick demonstration, we each tried our hand at creating our unique shapes.

                       Here are our creations waiting for the oven.

                   Bringing the cooked beauties out of the historic brick oven.

By this time we were starving, having been there since 9AM and our babies finally ready nearer to noon.  As well, we got a cup of colada morada, the traditional drink for this holiday made from spices, black berries and various other fruits- delicioso!

And last but not least, a newspaper article was writing in the local paper describing our experience featuring our very own Manuel, husband of Paula, one of the brave men joining the fun.

Aug. 2012 to July 2014- Women's Coffee/cocktail Klatch of Salinas

Almost two years ago, my good friend Connie decided to meet a few of her friends for coffee to chat and enjoy some female companionship. This Coffee Klatch has since grown into a group of +60 women –both expats and Ecuadorians- with new members welcomed every week and old ones dropping out as people move on to other places.

 We now meet every Wednesday- one Wednesday at 10AM for coffee and the next one at 4PM for cocktails. Another good friend, Cathy, sends out a notice to everyone as to where this week’s get together is, usually one of our local restaurants or bars. Needless to say, not everyone on our distribution list attends each and every time but a small core of us do seem to always be there-LOL

                               One of our many Cocktail Klatches at Sin bar

Now the best part of the Coffee/Cocktail Klatches- aside from solving all the world’s problems, the fun chats and the sharing of useful information( names & location of seamstresses, where best to buy what, new restaurants etc) and introducing new members to our existing community- is that we help and organize charitable activities.

For instance, last Christmas we bought presents (and brought  Santa Claus) and served a lunch for an entire school. This was initiated by one of our members Babs. Not only did she organize a fund raiser to raise money for this event, but also did most of the gift shopping and had a fun gift wrapping party that many of us attended.

 We also gave presents and food items to a family of 49 from one of our neighborhoods in Salinas. 
See older Blog post about some of our charitable events. 

http://uwepetrastravelyear.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2013-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&updated-max=2014-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&max-results=30

This spring , two of our members Randy and Susana bought with donated funds by the group and delivered  supply items for another school in a village close to Salinas.

 Last month we bought, cooked and helped serve food along with the Airforce wives at the ‘Happy Wings’ celebration at the poorest school in Salinas.

This winter we also had a wonderful party at the Sin bar along with food, music and a silent auction in order to raise funds to help out one of our expat friends in need of a costly operation.

We also have had two clothing exchanges to raise money for the next charitable activity. These consist of a cocktail hour at one of our member’s homes where anyone can bring gently used clothes they no longer want or that no longer fit and others buy whatever catches their eye for $1-$2 and the proceeds go into a jar for the next need. We all have a good time including the fun of trying on and buying new outfits. I know, I know- it’s a ‘women’ thing.

                        Buying & trying on at our Clothes Exchange Cocktail hour

Our hosts- Cathy & Gwen

Our newest endeavor involves doing volunteer work in many capacities for the local Red Cross ‘Cruz Roja’. One of our members, Susana, has just been voted into the position of president of the Salinas’ Red Cross.

                             Susana's Inauguration in the Role of President

We had a wonderful turnout at one of our 10AM Coffee Klatches held this time at the Cruz Roja building.

Susana explained the Red Cross duties and where she needed help. 

She asked for the names and email addresses of those of us willing to donate some of our time and which projects we would be interested in helping with- youth activities, emergency response, medical aid etc.

We were also given a tour of the office facilities and treated to coffee, empanadas, humidas and cake. She also introduced everyone to the existing volunteers of the Ecuadorian community.

                                  Susana at her desk in the Cruz Roja building

We look forward to our involvement with her group.

July 5- Salinas Cultural Society First Art Exhibition

Last summer a group of artistically minded Salinas/Santa Elena area residents formed the Salinas Cultural Society as a way to share artistic pursuits and interests. Some of us enjoy photography, some paint pictures, some do quilting or crochet, some create beautiful jewelry, -all types of artistic individuals are welcome. Although the majority do their endeavors for purely personal pleasure, we also have some members, who are professional artists, any and all are welcome.

We have also done some group outings. Several of our Photography members have been on sessions to the poorer barrios of Salinas and to the La Libertad Mercado to take interesting photos of local scenes and people. A group of our women also spent an afternoon at Farallon Dillon to paint and sketch. On a previous post, I also wrote about our interesting day trip to Guayaquil to visit many scenic places.

We also hold monthly meetings on the second Saturday of every month at 10:30AM usually at a local restaurant. Feel free to contact me if interested in joining at uwe_petra@msn.com

So now for the reason for this particular post. 

For months we had planned an Art Exhibition to be held at a Salinas’ venue as a means to display our treasures as well as getting the local community involved. We finally decided on July 5^th as the date and one of our members, Larry, received permission from the owners of Sin bar to hold our event there.

Brochures went out to the local bars & restaurants, invitations & notices went up in Facebook and our event was scheduled from 2PM to 6PM on that date. All participants were to be there between 1 and 2PM to set up. We had +20 artists exhibiting paintings, photos, plants, jewelry and items made from recycled material, cakes, chocolates, wall hangings, tee shirts, and many others. A real smorgasbord of artistic talents.

Our friend Anna and friends supplied delicious food to be sold with profits going to the SCS for future events.

Mary donated an enlarged & mounted photo to be silent auctioned to benefit our SCS- she calls it 'Betty Davies' Eyes' very fitting!

Tee shirts and jewelry by our friend Paola – email her at 
pangoraecuador@gmail.com, trademark is pangora  ecuador,  cellphone is 0999775144to order

       Boxes and paintings for children- Woodcrafts and paintings: Cecilia Escobar Fono: 0998158370

Cakes made to order- Pastel Dulce- mlflorencia@hotmail.com  Maria Laura de Andrade: 0994529492

All kinds of items made from recycled material by Beatriz Celi -call her at 277-9204

The wonderful exhibit and sales of jewelry by the local women http://www.mujerescambia.com/

                                      The Chocolate lady
 Nerina de La Vega  fono: 0997198630  home 2777620 e mail: neriveve@yahoo.es

Selling of Bonsai Plants and miniature waterfalls
  Rodrigo Chiriboga  fono: 0998742110/ 2773493  e mail: rodrigochiriboga@yahoo.com
Patty de Sarmiento: the5elements.ec@gmail.com 

                      Woodcrafts and Paintings: Ines Maria Pena: 0993840031

                                                       More Jewelry sales

Giant Photos for sale by Bruce -www.pacificostudios.com     bruce@pacificostudios.com

                     Wonderful Paintings for sale by Chris - Chris.Difraia@yahoo.com

                           And more by Miguel - miguelart@mac.com   www.miguelsuarez.com

 D'Santis, an artist who works on our Malecon, drew portraits for $10-0993899670  notasdeguitarra@yahoo.com

Marcia with her beautiful jewelry and Belly Dancing outfits plus paintings by her Cuban friend

contact her for sales plus dance lessons at : marciasmith40@hotmail.com

                                 And many more treasures by friends not for sale

A clever idea by Elizabeth- take your picture in her frame & donate $1 to SCS

And not to forget our hosts- Kim and Marie of Sin Bar

And lots of people checking out these wonderful artistic works & hopefully buying!

And last but definitely not least is this wonderful video put together by Bruce of this event

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNna1OhS5Ho

We will be sure to advertise our next event which should be even better now that we have experience!

June 1 to 30- June in Salinas

This was my first ever June in Salinas , Ecuador after retiring here almost three years ago. Every other summer, usually starting in May, we have gone home to Canada and Italy to visit our families.

Of course I had heard (and experienced in later months) that in Salinas the months of June to November usually brought cloudy skies and cooler temperatures. Well, OK,  my Canadian friends, by cooler we are talking + or – 25celcius- LOL

This June however, was glorious with sunny skies most days and warm ocean temperatures, perfect for beaching! Woohoo!

We enjoyed beersbee on the beach- a kind of team Frisbee where the idea is the knock the empty beer bottle of the stick of the opposing team with your Frisbee throw! Great fun to watch and yet another excuse for a get-together on our beach.

June also saw the moving of several of our expat friends to our Chipipe beach area of Salinas. For the last 3 years there had only been a handful of us living here on the best beach but now our numbers had at least doubled. Do I hear a Chipipe cocktail party coming up!

As well, three of our good friends, Mary, Chavela & Lacey, had decided to move to Cuenca, leaving the beach to try life in the mountains instead. We had an excellent and fun farewell pub crawl. Starting at ‘Smokin’, 

then to ‘Will’s Hostel Aqui’ and ending at ‘Sin Bar’ partying at all 3 of our favorite expat bars all in one evening.

June is also the start of whale watching up and down the coast of Ecuador. The whales come from the cold waters of Antartica to mate and birth their babies in our warmer waters.

One of our balconies faces the Pacific looking south ( Salinas is on an east-west peninsula). Half way through June we saw our first whales. Even though we are more than ½ mile from that ocean’s edge and the whales are further out, it is pretty easy to see their huge splash when they breech or slap their enormous tails. Then out come the binoculars so that we can get a closer look. Do we love living here or what!

The other awesome occurrence in June is that flocks of the Blue Footed Boobies come to our shores to fish. We saw many flocks diving on our beach fishing.

                                   One even spent the night on our balcony.

Can’t wait to see what July will bring- another new month for me here in Salinas.