Meet my Animalitos!

Hi friends and family, 

As some of you may know, in October Xavi and I moved into our next door neighbor's big house because they moved to Costa Rica. The house is AMAZING.  It has a pool, 3 full bathrooms, 3 bedrooms, an office, big kitchen, living room and dining area.   It is fully furnished and is a peaceful and beautiful place to live. 

We got a great deal on the house but part of the deal is that we take care of they owner's pets until he can move some of them to Costa Rica or find homes in Tena for them. This isn't just a dog or a couple of cats... He has 4 dogs, 5 cats, 30 birds and a pond full of fish!  We also have a dog named Charlie, so he has become part of the pack.

I thought it would be fun to introduce them to you! 

  This is Sacha

 This is Patty

 
This is Pepa

 This is our dog, Charlie

  These are the kitties

 

 

This is the bird cage and the birds below

The other dog, Anibal, refused to be photographed today, but he is also very cute (although grumpy).
 

Every morning at around 6:15 we wake up to feed all of the animals, and then in the evening around 6:00 we feed them again. We take Charlie, Patty and Anibal for a long walk or run almost everyday and recently Sacha started joining us as well, which is good because she is very fat! It is fun taking care of them, they all have different personalities and they keep me company when Xavi is traveling for work.

Hope everyone is doing well! 

Love,

Aliana

I'm a Resident of Ecuador!

Hi friends and family!

I wanted to share very exciting news with you: after 7 months, countless trips back and forth to Quito to two different visa offices and the civil registry, document translation and notarization, stamps from the Ecuadorian consulate in Boston, official documents sent from the States (thank you, Mom for helping me!) and a new passport I am finally a legal resident of Ecuador! 

Here's proof:

It all started back when Xavi and I got married in a civil ceremony back on January 10th to start the paperwork before my volunteer visa expired. We thought that it would take a couple of months but certainly by the time we went to the States in March, I would have my visa and resident ID card... little did we know that it would take until late July!

At every step of the way, we had to scramble to get paperwork together - the civil wedding, the residency visa application, and the application for my resident ID card. The visa application was by far the most complicated and longest part of the process, official documents in English had to be apostilled by the State of MA, translated by an official translator and notarized, we each were interviewed separately to ensure that we were really a couple (and that I wasn't just marrying him for the papers!), and finally when I went to pick up my visa in late June, they decided that I needed a new US passport because mine was going to expire soon. 

Needless to say this process took an enormous amount of patience on both of our parts, which sometimes I did not have. For example, they wanted copies of everything, we would think our paperwork was complete and they would request one more document (notarized, of course), and I was always waiting, sometimes up to 4 hours for my turn to hand in paperwork (only to be told that I was still missing something or needed to make a copy or that it was too late and I had to return the next day!). 

The Ecuadorian bureaucracy was a source of culture shock for me, I couldn't understand the logic behind much of what was asked of me and was often angry and frustrated (for example: why did I have to go outside to a copy shop to make a copy of a document that they had just given me, for their records!!??). In the end, however, everything turned out fine, I got my residency visa and ID card and will never have to do it again. Also, the employees at the different offices were remarkably patient and kind, even if they couldn't bend the rules for me, they always treated me professionally and politely. 

To my friends in Ecuador who are going through the visa process, you can do it!

Mompiche Beach, Esmeraldas

Hi Everyone,

Xavi and I took a weekend trip to a beautiful and quiet beach in February called Mompiche in the province of Esmeraldas. Previously a quiet fishing village, Mompiche has recently gained recognition as a great surfing and tourist spot. It is still very quiet and laid back compared to many of the other party beaches along the Ecuadorian coast.

We stayed in a neat hostel that has camping ares, shared rooms and private rooms.  The hostel is decorated with murals and they have a small outdoor cocktail bar and fire pit.

This was our view from the hotel window.... (breathtaking!)

We went for a bike ride on the beautiful beaches around Mompiche, it was so picturesque!

 

Our friends, Jaime and Gisela joined as well, they lent us the bikes, thanks Caveman Adventures! 

 

 

 

We stopped at a beach-side community and ate delicious fish and ceviche made in the home of a woman in the community. This little girl was curious about the newcomers:

I highly recommend the Ecuadorian coast, hidden treasures like Mompiche are so beautiful and not yet crowded by tourists.

Love,
Aliana

Yerba Mate in Argentina

Hi Everyone,

In December I went on a work trip to Argentina with researchers and technicians from Runa to learn about Yerba Mate production.  Yerba Mate (Ilex paraguariensis) is a relative of Guayusa (Ilex guayusa) and is native to the sub-topical region where Argentina boarders Brazil and Paraguay in the north. We visited the province of Misiones.

In Misiones, almost everywhere you look people are drinking yerba hot or cold  mixed with lemon as "tereré". They put the dry yerba into a container called a "mate" with its metal straw and then they pour the hot water or the cold water with lemon and have a few sips.  Often this is a communal act, people will share their mate with friends or family and always carry a thermos to continue to fill the mate. Below you can see Raul, our host at the Guayakí farm with his thermos and mate for refreshing tereré.

Yerba production is very industrialized, especially compared to the small scale farmers and singular, small guayusa production plant. We visited yerba farms, cooperatives, processing plants and research centers in order to learn from the Argentinian experience and see what lessons we could apply to Guayusa.

By far my favorite visit was to Kraus, a family-run organic and Fair Trade certified guayusa farm and factory. We went out into the fields to see the plants, that are pruned so that they grow like tall bushes rather than trees.

We were shown around the factory where they process the yerba, using a very different procedure than we do for guayusa. Instead processing the leaves like black tea, like we do with guayusa (withering the leaves and then drying them in ovens), they process leaves and small twigs first by exposing them to flame and very high heat for a few seconds, then drying them at a lower heat in ovens, then sizing them and storing them from 6 months to 2 years to allow time for the flavor to mature.

And finally, the mom of the Kraus family (pictured below third from the right) made us homemade pizza and little bread bites for lunch when we came back.

The Kraus family was very open with us and happily shared their knowledge with us. They were eager to embrace us as fellow pioneers in organic and fair trade production of a traditional beverage for export markets.

We also went to the Iguazú waterfalls on our last day in Misiones.  It was an amazing experience to see that amount of water falling with such force!

It was a wonderful trip; we learned a lot that we brought back to share with our teams in Ecuador and were able to see a new place.  I really enjoyed Misiones for its welcoming people, natural beauty and of course, the delicious tereré!

Love,
Aliana

Abdias

Hi everyone!

Happy New Year! I was going through my photos and realized that I had never posted the pictures of my godson's baptism back in August.  My friend, Carmen, and her husband, Carlos, live in Tena and have a laundry service in the neighborhood of Bella Vista Baja. I got to know them because when I was an intern at Runa in the summer of 2011, I always washed my clothes there. They are originally from the coast of Ecuador, but have lived in Tena for several years. They have four children, Moshell, Andrea, Derek, and Adbias.

Here is the whole family with my friend Caro and me on the left (photo credit: Andrew Spurr)

Being a godmother in Ecuador means that every time I go to Carmen's house she feeds me a giant plate of food (even if I'm not hungry!) and I give Abdias Christmas and birthday presents and help out if they need anything. Really, it is a way to be included in a family.

He had a Catholic baptism. Here are a few photos in the church after the service.

The godfather, Carlos, Carmen, Abdias and I. 

 Baby Abdias and I:

The godfather and his family with a few extra kids who jumped in the photo:

Andrea and Abdias:

In Ecuador party favors are an important tradition.  For Abdias' baptism there were two different favors and the little wax paper tag says his name, the date and the names of the godparents.

Recently I took Carmen and the kids out for a "salchipapa" dinner. The fast food of Ecuador - a plate of french fries and pieces of hot dog that you can top with sauces and salads. It was fun!

I hope everyone is well!

Love,
Aliana