Bakeries and Ferias and Cuy - Oh My!

In Which, I Post Later Than Promised

...but really, what else is new?

Anyway. So the week/weekend before last was quite the whirlwind. We had agreed a few weeks ago to help out our friends Beth, Jill and Wayne with some extra baking and bread making. Their bakery was a vendor at a Feria/Expo in a nearby town called Cevallos, . It was a great opportunity for the bakery to get some more exposure and therefore, more clients, but they needed to make a bunch of stuff, so we enlisted in the kitchen.

COOKIES!!!

Ohmygoodness...I've never seen so many wonderful things pass through one oven in my life! We had crisps and cakes and bagels and cakes and granola and did I mention cakes?! They were amazing. And we had a ton of fun "helping" and QC-ing. We really didn't do all that much, but it was fun to hang with Beth and Jill in the afternoon and learn some of the do's and dont's of baking specifically and cooking in general.

Crisp filling - SO GOOD.

I'm not the best or most creative cook around, so John really appreciated all the tips they threw our way.

Proof that I did at least step foot in the kitchen

We went to their house Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday for essentially the entire afternoon. It was pretty exhausting (I don't know how they do it every day!) but it really was a lot of fun.

In addition, I had a lot of my own work that week as well. I'm not sure how many of you know, but I am currently self-employed as a legal proofreader. I proofread transcripts for court reporters all over the States. I read a number of things, from actual court trials and sentencing to just discovery depositions for auto accidents or construction cases. Sometimes it's really dull, depending on the person and topic (which always reminds me to make friends with INTERESTING people) but I really enjoy it most days. 

Anyway, I had a lot of proofreading last week, so I was very busy. Most of my morning would be spent proofing, then I would eat really quickly and John and I would grab the bus to Beth's house. When we came back (usually around 6 or so) I would make some dinner, relax for maybe an hour or so, then hit the iPad again, usually for another 3-4 hours. It finally let up around Thursday and I have never been so happy to go to bed at 10pm.

After a relaxing day on Friday, John spent most of the day studying on Saturday. The previous post is evidence of that ;)

I decided to take myself down to Cevallos to see the Feria/Expo and also check on Beth, Jill and Wayne and see how their booth was doing.

Getting to Cevallos couldn't have been easier. There's a bus at the redondel in Huachi Chico, and you just hop on, pay your $0.40 and enjoy the 40-minute ride. Cevallos itself seems like a sleepy little town. It's well-known for making and selling shoes, they even have a whole expo center dedicated solely to shoes! There are tons of shoe shops on every street so it's literally impossible to get away from them.

The front of the expo, with the trail of trash

Anyway, I hopped off the bus at a promising looking spot and went in search of mis amigos. I found the center park, which had some people dancing, eating and generally making merry. Alas, no friends to be found, so I followed the trash on the street (people here aren't always the most conscientious about putting trash in its correct spot) up to the expo center.

It reminded me a lot of the expo center back home, just smaller.

From the far side. No one in these stalls, but the next aisle over is packed!

The entire setting also reminded me a lot of a fair, because there were tents set up outside that covered some tools and vendors and a lot of animals. People were there to have their cows, chickens, ducks, llamas and even their guinea pigs (cuy) judged and awarded.

Chickens, guinea pigs and wabbits!

Prize winning cow. Very well-taken care of!

Who's ever seen a spotted llama?! Or alpaca,
since I absolutely can't tell the two apart...

Those are all guinea pigs. And they are all HUGE.

Inside, there were various and sundry vendors. A few indigenous were there selling wool and alpaca products, there were several universities displaying their course options, some jewelry makers, and of course - lots of sweets!

Panaderia Canadiense had the best booth (they even won an award for it!) even though there were several other bakers there. There were also several sweet makers and I stayed veeeeeeery far away from them. The last thing I needed was a giant jar of sweetened coconut butter to take home...

The booth. Oh, and the BEST.PICTURE.EVER. of Beth :)

I really didn't stay too long. After walking around the expo several times, getting some food and checking out the native dancing outside, I was back in Ambato around 5pm and we finished out the weekend with some more relaxing.

Lunch - fresh blackberry and coconut juice with pork, a type of corn and a savory salad.

I've told John that I want to make day-trips out to the surrounding towns more often. They're so close and it's a great way to get to know the area! Hopefully we'll have more adventures in the coming weeks.