Wanted to let you know about the new wallpapers recently posted.  Most pictures were taken on our recent trip to Isla de la Plata located several miles off the coast of Ecuador (across from Puerto Lopez).  Included in the trip was whale watching.  Humpback whales visit the coast of Ecuador during the months of June through September.  The long trip to these waters are made to give birth to the next generation of humpback whales.  The day afforded the opportunity to enjoy only a small part of all that the coast of Ecuador offers.

Isla de la Plata is also known as ‘The Poor Man’s Galapagos’  because it has much of the same fauna that can be found in the Galapagos Islands.   Last month we took a friend to see the whales and take in a  tour of the island.   We had a great time and got a few shots of the beautiful cliffs on Isla de la Plata.  We wanted to share them with you.  Just click on the ‘Free Desktop Wallpaper’  icon to the right.  Hope you enjoy!

Soon, we’ll tell you about our adventure with the whales.  As you can see from the picture, we all got up close and personal with a mother and baby humpback whale!

Whale watching in Puerto Lopez Ecuador

Until next post,

Donna

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1. Hostería Alandaluz: Going Green by the Beach

Have you noticed (or wondered why) almost every major city in Ecuador has a street named Atahualpa? As in other countries, many streets in Ecuador are named after famous personages. The U.S. has it’s Edison and Martin Luther King Streets. England has it’s Tennyson and Jermyn Streets. While Mexico has it’s Axayácatl and Popocatépetl Streets. So, why should Ecuador be any different, right? Well then, who was this Atahualpa?

One of the first things I noticed after doing some research, is that there does not seem to be a lot of agreement as to dates and motives of the individuals involved in this story, so this is my take on the sum of information on our friend Atahualpa.

Public Domain Image of Atahualpa

He was born about 1500 into the royal family of the Tawantinsuyu or Inca (meaning “king”) Empire. After his father, Huayna Capac, died in 1525 or 1527(depending on who you want to believe), most of his realm was given to Atahualpa’s older half-brother, Huascar. While Huascar controlled the much larger southern part of the empire with it’s capital of Cuzco, Peru, Atahualpa ruled over the northern part with his capital being Quito, Ecuador. By the way, today, Quito continues to be the capital of Ecuador.

As is the case with many ruling families, an insatiable quest for land and sovereignty on the part of the two brothers erupted into civil war. Well, as it turns out, Atahualpa had some set backs at first, losing some battles to his brother, Huascar. Then, Tomebamba, Ecuador defected and supported the older brother Huascar. (Tomebamba is the site of the modern city of Cuenca, Ecuador.) Many battles were fought between the two brothers and Inca rulers here in Ecuador. One famous battle that Atahualpa won was the Battle of Chimborazo so named due to its taking place near the volcano of the same name. This battle seems to have been the turning point in the civil war. Now with Huascar on the run back to Cuzco, Atahualpa sent part of his army, commanded by his generals Chalcuchima and Quisquis, after Huascar to take Cuzco. The final battle against Huascar and Atahualpa’s forces was at Quipaipan. (Archeologist feel Quipaipan was located not far from Cuzco.) Atahualpa’s forces proved superior. Huascar was captured and later executed along with his family and children, thereby eliminating any contesting heirs to the throne.

According to one account, as Emperor Atahualpa made his way to Cuzco to claim his newly expanded empire, he stopped off outside the city of Cajamarca at the thermal baths (Oh, there is nothing more relaxing than thermal baths!!!). While there he heard of the arrival of a stranger to his territory. He wanted to find out who this was. As the saying goes, curiosity killed the cat. The stranger turned out to be the Spanish Conquistador Franscisco Pizzaro with his very small but well equipped army. Many feel that Atahualpa did not consider Pizzaro’s small force a threat as he had just defeated the much larger forces of his older brother. Thus, Pizzaro was allowed access to the city. Atahualpa was invited into Cajamarca by Franscisco Pizzaro for a visit. In reality it was an ambush. A battle ensued and ended with thousands of Atahualpa’s fighters dead and Atahualpa’s capture. After his capture, he offered great riches to Pizzaro to spare his life and or his release (there seems to be some controversy as to exactly what the ransom was for.). After several months of holding Atahualpa hostage a rumor began circulating of an imminent attack from one of Atahualpa’s generals, Rumiñahui. After a mock trial, Pizzaro executed Atahualpa in 1533, ending the short reign of Emperor Atahualpa of the Inca Empire.

So, know you see the relationship between Atahualpa and Ecuador. Quito was the capital of his part of the Inca Empire. Quito also was his permanent residence and his mother’s family’s ancestral home. Atahualpa’s wives and children stayed in Quito through all his travels and conquests. After Atahualpa’s death, his general Rumiñahui (who had been stationed in Quito) resisted the Spanish conquistadors. He finally lost to the Spanish and their Cañari allies at the famous Battle of Chimborazo II. Before his death, hoping to keep Atahualpa’s gold out of the hands of the Spanish conquistadors, Rumiñahui hid Atahualpa’s treasures somewhere here in Ecuador. Down to this day that treasure has not been found. (Although many, many, many have searched for this notorious stockpile of gold, silver and emeralds.) Ecuador continues to pay homage to one of it’s most famous personalities by naming stadiums, buildings and yes even streets after the last Inca Emperor, Atahualpa.

So, when you come for a visit to Ecuador and find yourself walking down Calle Atahualpa in town after town, think of this young warrior ruler’s part in molding Western South America into what it is today.

Until next time,

Donna

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A few weeks ago we were visiting friends and were presented with the following delicious treat.  We liked it so much we wanted to share the recipe with you all!

Dulce de Higo y Queso
or
Sweetened Figs with Cheese

Ingredients:

50 green figs (Recipe may be adjusted according to the number of figs used.)
1 bar of Dark Panela* (Ground panela may be substituted, though this will result in longer cooking times to achieve proper consistency.)
2 sticks of Cinnamon
6 cloves of Allspice (Ground Allspice may be substituted.)
Mozzarella cheese or Queso Fresco

1-     Remove the small end of the fig and cut it in the form of a cross. Soak figs in water for at least 12 hours. (This step serves to drain the milk from the figs)

2-     In a separate bowl, dissolve the Panela in water. (This mixture will be used to cook the figs. See step 5. Make sure you use enough water to cover the figs once you begin cooking them.)  This step will also take about 12 hours and can be done at the same time the figs are soaking.

3-     After figs have soaked for 12 hours, drain the old water and replace. Bring figs to boil for 15 minutes. Let stand 12 hours more in the same water they were cooked in.

4-    Pour out the water the figs have been soaking in. Gently squeeze the water out of each fig.  (This step is important, as it allows the figs to soak up the panela during step 5.)

5-    Pass the panela mixture through a strainer. Cook the panela mixture, figs, cinnamon and allspice on low heat.  Stir occasionally until the panela water thickens to a consistency slightly thinner than bottled pancake syrup.

6-    Allow to cool and later refrigerate until the liquid reaches the consistency of honey.

Serve with Mozzarella cheese or queso fresco (fresh cheese).

The sweetened figs and salty cheese make for a tasty combination

The combination of the sweet fig and the salty cheese is delicious!  We hope you will enjoy it as much as we did!

*What you might ask is Panela? Panela is an unrefined food product obtained from boiling down and evaporating sugarcane juice The end product is a solid bar or round cake of fructose and sucrose. It is very common in Central and South America.  It can be found in all the open air markets, “Mom and Pop” tiendas (corner stores), and the typical grocery store.   In the grocery stores it may be obtained in ground form.  In our AKI grocery store here in Riobamba, I bought organic ground panela.  That is what I used in the   preparation of this recipe.  It worked great.  Mike loved it!

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A few of you all have mentioned to me that posts are getting a little sparse around these here parts . . .

Well, you’re right.  Life, as most of you are already quite aware, is a constantly changing thing.  The time I had at one time been able  to set aside for work on “Eyes of a Gringo” has been drastically reduced.

Well, who decided to step in and lend a hand?  None other than my dear wife Donna! She will be contributing her thoughts and experience as a “Gringa” living here in the beautiful land of Ecuador.

Her very first post immediately follows this one.  Don’t miss it!

Until the next post,

Mike

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1. Episode XI: Return of the Gringo

Whew! What a weekend!

As you may have seen in the news, Mt. Tungurahua began erupting once again this past Friday (May 28, 2010) at 8:47 A.M. Wouldn’t you know it, we just happened to be in Baños at the time! (For more info on Baños, click here.)

The explosions rattled windows and doors at the hostal in which we were staying. Keeping an eye on the local newscasts, we found that the authorities had opened refuge areas and were asking for a “voluntary” evacuation of all tourists and residents. Fortunately, we have a friend in Baños who lives in one of the designated safe zones. Just as we were trying to decide what to do, she called and invited us to stay in her home. We were all moved over in less than an hour . . .

We spent a sleepless night that Friday as eruptions from Tungurahua shook windows and doors several times each hour. Saturday morning turned out clear, so Donna and I decided to go and see if we could get a better look at what was going on. We figured the best way to do that would be to take a trip out to one of the Instituto Geofísico’s (Geophysical Institute) observation stations to see what they had to say. The observation station is located on a peak opposite Tungurahua and is at almost the same altitude, giving one a nearly eye-level view on a clear day.

About halfway there we had a crystal clear view of Tungurahua, so we stopped to take a few shots.

Taken at about the halfway point to the Geophysical Institute Observatory.

I’m sure we’ll not soon forget our experience at the station that day. The station lies about 1 ½ miles across from the volcano. At that distance we could clearly observe emissions of gas and ash followed a few seconds later by the sound wave. The ground trembled after each explosion.

Taken from Geophysical Institute Observation Station, about 1 1/2 miles from crater.

(Click the following link for video taken from the observatory. It doesn’t do it justice, but it gives you an idea of what it was like.   Big Cañonazo May 2010 ) While unsettling, the observer on duty offered the opinion that the nearly constant, relatively small eruptions were a good thing. According to him, this process allowed gases inside the volcano to vent, instead of building up pressure and exploding even more violently. Just as we were feeling better about this, he went on to say, “Of course, not everybody shares that opinion . . .”

All in all, our trip to the observatory this past Saturday was an unforgettable experience. Hope you’ve all enjoyed coming along . . .

Until the next post,

Mike

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One of the things I had intended to do on our recent trip to the States was bring back my old computer tower. I wanted to avoid having to buy one here if I could. In Ecuador you’ll find yourself shelling out a bit more cash for a quality machine. “No problem,” I thought, “We’re going to the States anyway. I’ll bring my old tower back with me as a carry-on and buy a monitor here.” (Oddly enough, while computers tend to be more expensive here, almost all the peripherals run about the same or even less than in the States.)

Acer Aspire Revo 1600

It’s funny the tricks your mind will play on you. When I got a look at the tower, it was much bigger than I remembered. There was no way it was going to work as a carry-on and most of our luggage space was spoken for already. So, I went shopping . . . and found the perfect solution to my problem.

I’m sharing this info in case any other ex-pats might find themselves in a similar situation. Or maybe you’re going to visit an ex-pat and have been asked if you can spare some luggage space. In either case, the following just might be of help to you.

I found myself in one of the larger retail computer outlets in the tower aisle when I saw what I thought was an external hard drive or dvd/cdrom drive. On closer inspection I found that it was actually a tower. What I had found was the Acer Aspire Revo 1600. (For complete specs visit Acer.com. Link here.) I was amazed at how small it was and yet the store model seemed to perform very well. It runs Win XP as it’s operating system, which was a plus for me. It sports a 160 gig hard drive and 1 gig ram which seemed a bit skimpy to me at the time. It has plenty of ports (Six USB, one SATA, one VGA, one HDMI, and one Network port). It has a card reader which will read XD memory cards (another plus for me as I use an Olympus camera). Retail was around $200.00 US. Even so, I was yet to be convinced.

My Workstation. Can you find the Revo?

I went home and started researching. I was surprised to see that both product reviews and forum discussions were generally favorable toward this little machine. Considering what my needs were it seemed a good fit. So I decided to buy . . . and found another reason to think that it might be a good product after all. None of the stores that carried them had any. They couldn’t keep them in stock. I finally had to order one online.

As I said before, the size of the thing was a big selling point for me.  I was able

Fits easily into pocket of my laptop bag.

to bring it with me, not as a carry-on as I had planned, but in my carry-on!  In my laptop case to be specific.  With my laptop already in it!

Now that I’ve been using it for awhile, how has it worked for me in the real world? So far, it’s proved to be a competent little machine, given it’s size. It runs Photoshop Elements 7, GIMP, and the Open Office word processor, all with no problems. Surfing the web has been trouble free with both IE8 and Firefox. We don’t have a TV so we watch movies when we can. DVD play back is good (did I mention you’ll have to buy an external drive for that? No? Sorry . . .) All in all, I’m happy with it. Oh, sure, there’s a few things I don’t like about it. Quibbles, mostly. As you can see in the photo, the headphone jack is in the front. If you’re using standard computer speakers, the overall effect is less than aesthetically pleasing. The fit for my XD memory card in the reader is extremely snug. The black finish is a fingerprint magnet. The base is a little wobbly . . . like I said, quibbles.

If you’re in the position I was in, or ever find yourself in it, this little machine might just be the ticket for you as well.

Disclaimer: (You’ve got to have a disclaimer!) As a general rule I try to avoid recommending products as most of the time it just gets you into trouble. I’m passing along this information because the size and capabilities of this machine were a perfect fit for a particular need I had. It might be that it will fit your particular needs as well. But before buying anything . . . research! research! research!  Also, be sure to check customs regulations for the country you might be carrying this into.)

Until the next post,

Mike

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1. Episode XI: Return of the Gringo

Wow!  I can’t believe it’s been over a month since I’ve posted! Taking care of things while we were in the States turned out to be much more time intensive than I had expected.  Of course, given the fact that this is a  blog about life in Ecuador it would have seemed a little funny posting from the U.S. anyway . . . In any case, the Gringo has returned and starting this coming Monday the posting schedule should return to something approaching normalcy.

We thoroughly enjoyed our time in the U.S.  It’s always nice to see family and friends, visit your hometown, gain weight, get sick (well, the last two weren’t so much fun).  Even so, we’re excited to be back home and getting back into our routine.

As happy as we are to be back, the last few days after our return to Ecuador have not been so great.  We carried a “souvenir” back with us from the States.  Donna and I were both exposed to the Norovirus, which was having a field day in the area of Lee County, Florida at the time of our visit.  In strict accordance with Murphy’s Law, the symptoms did not see fit to display themselves until literally moments after we had arrived in the country and had a three and a half hour drive ahead of us.  Since the symptoms include projectile vomiting and explosive diarrhea, you can see why traveling became problematic. (“A picture is worth a thousand words”. The image on this website is the most succinct description of what the Norovirus does to you.  Click here.  Warning: Not for the squeamish.)

Donna was hit first.  In fact, we thought she was the only one infected because I felt great.  Traveling back to Riobamba from Quito, we had to stop by the side of the road about every twenty minutes so she could hang her head out the door.  She’s a trooper, though.  We made it as far as Latacunga before we had to give up and find a hotel.

Good thing we stopped.  It hit me about two hours later.  All I’ll say is that with all the flushing of the toilet we did that night, the hotel probably lost money on us.  We rested as well as we could.  In the morning, Donna felt well enough to go out to the pharmacy.  About ten o’clock that morning, charged with Imodium and anti-nausea medicine, we made our way back to Riobamba.  After unloading the car we crawled into bed and stayed there for the better part of two days.  Yesterday was the first day either of us began to feel somewhat human again.   Welcome back to Ecuador!

With all that in the past, I’m looking forward to getting back on schedule with you all.  This Monday the post topic will cover a neat little discovery I made while in the States.  I had planned on bringing my old computer tower back with me as a carry on but quickly realized that it was both larger and much heavier than I remembered.  What I found was the perfect solution for me.  It may be for other ex-patriots as well.

Until Monday,

Mike

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