Ecuadorian funerals, induction stove, and encebollado

As you can probably already tell from the heading, this week started with a very sad event. On Tuesday morning, we received the tragic news at the music school that a very good friend and teacher of ours had passed away. Fernando had been working with us volunteers from MoG for the past few years, teaching piano, violin, and singing. This was a great advantage for the students, as they were regularly taught by the same teacher, which we from MoG obviously cannot provide. So Fernando, with his 'viernes cultural', his beloved keyboard with background music, and his relaxed and easygoing way of dealing with people, was a very important part of the music school. Despite frequent illnesses in recent weeks, his death came as a shock to all of us. The previous Friday, he held a concert for his students at the center.

Therefore, I am even more grateful that I had the opportunity to meet this person and I wish his lovely wife lots of strength, love, and support from her children and grandchildren! Peace be with him in his grave!

On Wednesday, the funeral took place in Guayaquil, as most of his family lives there. The ceremony took place in a building right next to the cemetery, which is specially set up for funerals. This allows multiple people to be buried at the same time, as there are multiple rooms that are occupied according to a fixed schedule. The whole celebration was somewhat less personal than in Germany, I would say. Every 5 minutes, a cell phone rang or photos were taken of the musicians. And if you think that the Ecuadorians felt embarrassed and turned off their phones, unfortunately you are mistaken. Instead, they answer the call and exchange the most important news with their hand covering their mouth. Despite many interruptions, the Ecuadorians were very emotional and I also couldn't hold back tears during my intimate hug with his wife (whom I had only seen 3 or 4 times before). It is always a sad and very moving moment when a person leaves our world and no one knows exactly what happens to them now. When the church service was over, we were allowed to take a last look at the coffin (which I gladly refrained from doing), and then the manager of the whole apparatus took the lead to the grave. The following part was similar to what happens in Germany, so I will refrain from further explanations.

Accordingly, the mood at Cacique was a bit subdued throughout the week, although the pain is processed or suppressed fairly quickly.

In Ecuador, it is customary for friends and relatives of the deceased to abstain from alcohol and parties for a certain period of time as a sign of respect. Basically, not a bad idea, as the single person then doesn't immediately resort to alcoholism out of frustration and grief. However, we still went out yesterday, mainly because it's also the first weekend for the new German volunteers here and we wanted to introduce them to the nightlife of Playas.

So far, we have almost always been to a club that mainly plays salsa, reggaeton, and a bit of pop. Most people come around 12 o'clock and at 3 o'clock the police kick everyone out. After that, most people find some house where an afterparty is going on or gather, like we did yesterday, at the last encebollado stand that is still open. Encebollado is one of the national dishes, a kind of fish soup with onions and chifles (plantain chips), and super delicious! I think I could eat it almost every day, haha :D I definitely prove here that you can eat the same thing every day. At lunchtime, there is always soup first and then rice with meat, chicken, or fish. In the evening, to everyone's surprise, there is rice with meat, chicken, or fish. Vegetables are really rare here and fresh ones are hardly to be found. On the other hand, the consumption of fat and sugar is all the higher, which I can feel on my own body by now, haha. Sometimes I eat things and I don't even know exactly what it is, which is probably better that way. But overall, the food here is really delicious. Especially the cooking bananas with which you can do so much. I really don't understand why they are not exported to Germany.

When I came home from work on Thursday evening, my whole family was in the kitchen around a new stove. I just stood there to see what was so interesting about it and then I realized that they were discussing how it works. That was so typical Ecci-style again, buying something without having a clue how it works. So I explained to them that it was an induction stove and that it only works if you use a suitable pot. So we boiled water and watched in amazement how quickly it heated up. As I had suspected, my host mom still doesn't use the stove, because she never fully trusts new technology, haha :D

Otherwise, the waves are pretty good for surfing at the moment, which I took advantage of this weekend, so now I can start the new week with lots of new bruises and wounds :)

Well, I think those were the most important news for now

See you soon!

Greetings, Henriketa