Going to Town

There is a sweet scene in Little House in the Big Woods in the chapter titled "Going to Town" in which Laura and Mary are anticipating their first trip to town by playing pretend, but they have no idea what a town is, and they cannot even imagine what a store might look like. Of course, our kiddos are well acquainted with towns and stores, and yet, shopping for random life necessities in an Ecuadorian town is definitely different than shopping for the same items back home. 

Last week when Paul and I took the 45-minute ride to La Maná, we left our kids behind. This week, we brought them along. Like Laura Ingalls, Brynna donned a favorite dress and asked to have her hair braided just so. My girl. The boys were excited to ride in a camioneta again. 

My memories of La Maná are not exactly glowing. When I was a Peace Corps volunteer, I rode in to La Maná every few weeks to call my mom and buy a few groceries, but I never lingered; there just wasn't much to linger for. It's a pretty dumpy city of ~17K people  straddling a river with not much else to write home about. The buildings are not aesthetically pleasing; there is no tourist attractions or artesenry, as near as I can tell. It is often hot, muggy, and either dusty or muddy, depending on the season. 

Today, however, I felt a kinship with the town; it felt safe and welcoming, and tucked into its little nooks and crannies, there were many hidden gems. At the grocery store, we found jam, honey and mozarella cheese (exciting!). At the ferreteria, we purchased a Frankenstein shower head (more on this later) and other key plumbing parts. In the central market I bought two delicious pineapples, strawberries, and naranjilla, as well as broccoli and and a beautiful cauliflour. Along the way, we even found a clean public toilet (no small feat in Ecuador).

We had a yummy lunch (La Maná is known for a fish soup called encebollado served with lime, chifles and tostada). We had treats (sweet breads that looks deceptively like donuts with sprinkles and glaze). We got keys copied. We found an indoor ball for the boys, cute sandals for Brynna, and managed to actually check off most of our shopping list.

Basic food supplies are readily available in La Josefina -- eggs, flour, milk, tomatoes, cucumbers, garlic, potatoes, onions, bananas-- and with our big jar of Skippy peanut butter, we can pretty much get by on eggs and bread. However, now that we are set up in our house, it is time to cook meals for my kids (and for me). You can only eat so many eggs and so much bread. Cooking for the family can, at times, feel overwhelming; there are no jars of spaghetti sauce or packages of tofu, no cheddar cheese or cans of black beans, no bag of organic spinach. There are raw materials. 

At the last minute back home, I threw my old Peace Corps cookbook into our suitcases, and I'm so glad I did! It has great simple recipes for comfort foods with some Ecuadorian modifications: English muffins, pancakes, flour tortillas (they don't have tortillas here), crepes, banana bread. . .you get the idea. There are also recipes with local produce and locally grown foods (e.g. cebada and quinoa), but those will come later. Food is comfort, after all. And, believe it or not, even without Life cereal, mornings can be delicious. Homemade muffins for the win.

Unlike mine, Paul's shopping list was very house-project-centered: a saw, a valve for the leaky toilet, a toilet seat, a container for toothbrushes, an adapter to heat the shower, wooden planks for shelves, tubing for his water filter plan for our home faucet. 

We are a good team, and while sometimes I am frustrated by the gendered roles we fall into in our unwritten marriage contract, most of the time it all works quite beautifully. I am totally uninterested in rewiring an outlet to plug the fridge in, but perfectly happy to make blackberry muffins. I have no interest in plumbing parts but will happily consume a hot shower. I don't particularly want to dig the hole for the compost, but I am happy to generate a ton as I peel watermelons and pineapples for my fruititarian children.

As I reflect on our day in La Maná, I am moved by the number of folks who went out of their way to help us: from the camioneta driver who took us all the way to the grocery to store to be sure we would not get lost, to the plumbing parts lady who fawned over Brynna, to the sweet woman who cut Dillon's sideburns with a straight razor, to the tapestry guy who, while stuffing our old couch cusion with new foam, told me about living fourteen years in Italy doing automotive upholstery.

La Maná is definitely not a destination city, but it more than served its purpose for today, and I am grateful.

***

If you are curious, here was today's shopping list (it's just mine. Paul keeps his on his phone and it is much more industrial)

1) Jam

2) Nutella (one of the kids we went hiking with had a jar, so we knew we could find it)

3) Butter (absolutely unable to find, only margarine)

4) Powdered sugar (for cinnamon roles)

5) Fruit & Veggies

6) Chocolate chips? (no luck)

7) Raisins

8) Nuts

9) Panela syrup/honey (instead of maple syrup)

10) Granola

11) Lemons

12) Scotch tape

13) Cookie sheet

14) Laundry detergent

15) Spatula

16) Bar of soap

17) Bathroom hand towel

18) Pitcher for water/juice

19) Pepper

20) Rolling pin

21) Indoor ball