December 2, 2016

Out for a brief walk in the park before our study in the morning

Luz sings "Happy Birthday" and blows out the "candle".

All the fluffies are gone.

I was sorry that I missed my opportunity to get a video.  Fortunately, Luz agreed to repeat the song.

Blowing out the candles

Custard for dessert after lunch

They quite surprised me!  

Back at the bach after lunch

So, the story is that the sisters had gotten everything ready for my cake surprise right under my nose without me having the tiniest clue.  They had no candles for a cake, so Karen came and got the decorative candle that was on the table right in front of me.  They had a search for matches, and managed to do it all without even making me suspicious.  The video is not high quality, but it will give you an idea of the good time we had.  Hope you don't get a kink in your neck trying to watch it!  The brothers arrived after all this hilarity was over, so of course they had to sing again, and then we all enjoyed a second dessert together in the bach.  So, my birthday was quite well celebrated!  

Heading to Guayrapungo for a study, supper and the night

Lots of local indigenous people headed home after a day at market

 I was sorry that none of my pictures really turned out from our trip up the mountain. The scenery was spectacular.  

One exciting event of the day that has no accompanying pictures occurred after we arrived at Jaime and Olga's house.  Sra. Olga called us to the table and served us máchica.  Máchica is a type of flour made from ground toasted barley or other toasted grains.  What we were served was barley flour.  So, the flour is in a bowl in front of you, and you are supposed to put some in your water (hot with a little lemongrass in this case) and then eat it.  This was a new experience for me, so I followed Luz's example, dipping my spoon first into the máchica and then into my cup and then kind of sucking off the top layer of the flour that had been made pasty by the water.  Underneath that layer was more flour that was still in its "powdery" form, which I would then dip back into the cup of water.  Repeat process.  It works quite well as long as you don't "bite" down too far on your spoon and get a throat-full of powder.  That's what happened on my third or fourth go-around, and I thought for a short while that my date of birth and date of death would be one and the same.  Fortunately, I was able to resume breathing before too much time passed, though it was quite a while before I could actually talk.  Later, when the lady of the home joined us at the table, I saw that she had a different method for consuming the máchica.  She just dumped a bunch of it into her cup of water and stirred it until it made a paste, which she then ate.  Perhaps that would be a bit safer!  

It's a bit cold up here!  

All ready for bed with four layers on top and three layers on bottom.  (Yes, I'm still wearing my nylons!)