Happy Halloween (a day late)

Bah, humbug--oh wait, that's what the Grinch says at Christmas.

Here are the weekend highlights:

1. All six Harry Potter movies in Spanish.
--We were able to stream them free over the internet, but you can only watch for 60-72 minutes at a time before the website makes you wait 54 minutes to continue watching or pay to become a member.  The waiting made Friday night a late night as we watched the first two films, but we got the system down for Saturday and Sunday and would watch, then clean the kitchen, watch, start dinner, watch, move all the laundry inside.

2. Laundry
--Our first time doing laundry down here.  By hand, outside on our rooftop, leaning over a cement basin to reach the faucet to fill a bucket with water, soaking a small amount of clothes in said bucket, using a bar of soap to start scrubbing stains and armpits, rinsing clothes under short faucet, squeezing dry, hanging them on the line only to have a non-breezy, cloudy day.  Fast forward to Harry Potter break right before dark, "We need to get the clothes."  We go outside.  The clothes are not dry.  We improvise.  We weigh down two chairs in the kitchen (one with a big water jug, one with the remaining dirty laundry we didn't do), Andy makes a circular laundry line.  Not enough space.  Andy strings a line across the foot-posts of our bed for the underwear.  Not enough space.  I open the seven vertical doors of our closet space and throw shirts over the top of them.  Right now, the next morning, everything is still damp.

3. Sugar Update
--Major breakdown Saturday night when the raw cookie dough I was making didn't turn out.  All the ingredients are different.  I don't even have a mixing bowl.  Lots of tears.  But, what are these six months for?  Adaptability, perseverance, apparently finding a new hobby.  Or, maybe just switching to caramel.  1 c. brown sugar (the fact that the grains are enormous compared to the States doesn't matter when they are boiled), 1 can sweetened condensed milk (really expensive but after the Saturday night disaster...), 1 stick butter (of course they don't have sticks of butter, I used a tablespoon and knife to individually pack and level each of the 8 tablespoons), 1/2 c. honey (also quite expensive and what nearly caused another disaster because for whatever reason it is scented florally).  The result.  It'd be amazing if not for the floral hints, but I am accepting it as an Ecuadorian quirk and focusing on tasting the brown sugar instead.  I asked Andy if he thought it better not to eat fruit at all or to eat an apple with 2/3 c. of caramel--he thought not at all.  Oh well.

4. Church
--Pro: conveniently next door is Guillermo's church.  Con: conveniently next door is Guillermo's church.  Although Guillermo is in the States right now with the Ericksons, we were strongly encouraged to go.  In case you're curious, it's affiliated with the Church of God.  They have a bass guitarist, keyboardist, and vocalist.  It was like a rock concert to start, you know, heart palpitations from the acoustics, but the music part was actually pretty fun--following and attempting the Spanish lyrics (on a screen in the front of the church).  It is actually quite similar to the Erickson's home church in Montana.  Of course, unless there's an organ and lots of liturgy, a church doesn't feel like church for Andy and I.  Not that it wasn't fun and moving.  We'll continue to go, but we also hope to supplement it and go to church with Anita and Fabiola.

5. An amazing black bean dish.
--Seriously.  We are looking for cost-effective foods, and I've been researching lentil, bean, pasta, and rice recipes.  It tasted great even though it did not cook fully in three hours and should have taken one.  Have I mentioned the altitude here is 8,500 feet?