Ecuador
I cannot believe it has been an entire month since my last post. It's Ecuador's fault. Every part of my foray into Ecuador was an ordeal. It was
difficult to find the book, the meal didn’t really turn out the way it should have,
and the naranjilla for the cocktail was expensive and had to be ordered
online then shipped from Colombia. Nothing about the country was easy. I’ll try not
to hold it against you, Ecuador. Maybe someday I’ll get to visit, and you can
show me all of your charms.
Novel:
Huasipungo by Jorge
Icaza
Summary:
Written
in 1934, this novel describes the exploitation of Indian and cholo (half-Indian, half-European)
workers on haciendas in Ecuador. It follows the lives of two main characters:
the hacienda owner, Don Alfonso Pereira and the Indian worker Andres
Chiliquinga. As Don Alfonso tries to expand his hacienda and enter into the
thriving lumber industry, he joins forces with the local sheriff and the local
priest to convince the villagers on his land to work for free. As dangerous
working conditions and natural disasters occur, the workers become increasingly
more disgruntled and desperate. They finally incite a revolt which is violently
suppressed by the military.
Response:
Ugh.
I kept telling myself, “This was written in 1934 – give it a break.” It’s a
social protest novel, and it reminded me a lot of Sinclair’s The Jungle. It’s written in a very
realistic style, and the author is trying to communicate the filth and misery
of the workers, so there is a heavy focus on bodily fluids, dirt, and mud. I
think I could deal with that by itself, but it was mixed with a Hemingway-like dialogue
style – very minimalist, and it was difficult to keep track of who was
speaking. Plus, the characters repeated each other A LOT. One character would
say, “Take the dog out of the house. He’s trying to steal the baby’s food.” And
the other character would say, “Yes, the baby’s food.” As a reader, I had no
idea why this repetition was happening, and it was everywhere. While the other
parts of the book were hyper-realistic, the dialogue was just weird and
stilted. If it had been just one thing or the other – hyper-realism OR weird
dialogue – I think I would have liked the book just fine, but both of those
elements combined just made me want to skim, skim, skim. I did not enjoy
reading the book very much at all.
Food:
Llapingachos and Chorizo
Llapingachos are fried potato and cheese pancakes. They did
not come out quite as I hope they would – they were soft and I think I should
have used more cheese. From what I’ve read, they should be crispy on the
outside and soft and cheesy on the inside. Mine were not really like that. Also, I used Mexican-style chorizo
which just kind of turned into a greasy lump of red-stained meat. It tasted
fine, but it was super greasy and looked like a total mess. All in all, this
meal was not one of the better ones I made - incentive to go to Ecuador and try
the real thing!
The finished product:
Cocktail:
Naranjillazo
This cocktail recipe is an adaptation of the “naranjillazo”
recipe I found here: https://www.laylita.com/recipes/canelazo-and-naranjillazo-drinks/
I used 2 oz light rum, 1 tsp of cane sugar, ¼ c naranjilla
pulp, and added water to taste. It was good – slightly bitter, but fruity. The
ingredients separated very quickly and looked pretty, but needed stirring to
get the full flavors.
¡Khali kaq kachun!
