how to: raise shrimp and de-shell rice

Today I skipped school to go to the beach! And it was definitely worth it. I went with my friend Leslie and her host father to a beach called Bahia, which is about an hour and a half from Portoviejo. If I had gone to school, I would have spent about 75% of the time spacing out, about 15% talking with people, and about 10% being confused. Instead, I spent all day having fun AND I learned how rice is taken out of it’s shells, how shrimp are farmed, and I explored a new city. DEFINITELY worth it.
On the way to Bahia, we stopped at a stand on the side of the road and drank coconut milk and ate some coconut! It was the first time I had done that, so that was cool. We apparently took a really old road to get there so that Leslie’s host father could show us some more of the country, which was really nice. The road was really old, and was REALLY torn up, because in the wintertime (American winter-time/Ecuadorian rainy-season) it often floods there, and a river ends up flowing over the road, which pretty much destroys it. And apparently the government doesn’t want to fix it. It was very cool though- we drove by a lot of places where fruit is grown- we saw HUGE fields of rice, onions, and papaya, and tons of lime and coconut trees. It was cool. The region of Ecuador that I live in is pretty hilly, and in most of the valleys, there are green, well watered sections that are used for growing crops. It is weird because there is such a difference between the valleys, where everything is green, and the rest of the land, where everything is brown and super dry.
We stopped twice more on the way to Bahia- once to learn how rice is de-shelled, and once to see where shrimp are raised. There’s not really a whole lot to say about either of those. Rice goes in the machine in a little yellow shell thingy, and comes out warm and shell-less. And baby shrimp have to be kept in 33 degree Celcius water when they are being raised. And they are tiny- you can only see them with a microscope! Here are some pictures:
this is the machine that de-shells the rice:what goes in, and what comes out!me, leslie's host dad, and leslie, playing with the warm rice :)where the baby shrimp live before they move to the big pond
When we finally got to Bahia, we went to a restaurant to get something to eat. Ceviche is really popular here- I have had it a couple of times, since my host family eats it every Sunday. It’s definitely not my favorite- I usually plan on eating a big breakfast so that I’m not very hungry for lunch. Anyway, I ordered ceviche for lunch, since the only kind I had had until today was the type that my family makes. And I discovered that ceviche actually can be really good.
After eating, Leslie’s dad dropped us off at the beach, which was completely empty (as most beaches probably are on random Wednesday afternoons), and we called another exchange student that we know who is living in Bahia. He ended up coming to the beach and we hung out with him there and walked around the city for a while. It was a lot of fun- Bahia is small, but it is pretty. In 1982, there was a really big earthquake, and a lot of the buildings fell down, so most things are relatively new. And, it also claims to be an eco-friendly city (which I kind of doubt), but still, it’s a whole lot cleaner than all of the other places I’ve been to in Ecuador. It was actually kind of shocking when the streets weren’t filled with trash. And it’s kind of sad that that is shocking to me now…
And so now I am exhausted, as I always am after going to the beach. Buenas noches!
LOVE, Kirsty