A tight knot.
I made it! As promised yesterday, I did not exaggerate and was somewhat good. Didn't sleep well, though. Ellie stayed the night and moved a lot, Lily had a nightmare, so when I got up at 7am I was a little tired. But not hungover, which is great. The jamsession was awesome yesterday. One of the best local musicians came with his keyboard, and we were able to get out a lot of emotions and convert our frustration about the situation into something beautiful. A friend told me this morning: "Thank you for yesterday. I felt invigorated in the morning."
Yes. Exactly. That's it. That's music. That's jam sessions.
Honestly, I was a bit worried about the baking. We had a big order of 40 Brezeln for the local Oktoberfest (a little rebellion during the strikes), but to fill the oven and not waste gas, I reeled in some more, leading to a total of 76 orders - 80 is what fits into the big oven.
Now, what you have to know is that making a pretzel takes a lot of time. You have to roll out the dough very gently, and form a snake that is about 1 meter long. That is the hard part. It has to be rolled out enough so it doesn't retract again and stays in shape. That's not easy. Even when working fully concentrated and with the dough in perfect condition, it takes us at least 90 seconds to complete a pretzel. For 76 Brezeln, that's almost 2h - in that time, the first made Brezeln have already risen too far.
But in order to deliver the best product possible, all three baker threw in a night shift. Not for the money, this wasn't a highly paid job, it was more a marketing gig, and I had offered to do it myself due to that reason. But they came. As a team, for the company, for the business. And boy, did they deliver! Such an awesome outcome! Our clients definitely got the best of us, but in the positive, literal sense.
So, there I was, drinking coffee, dry hangover (that's what "sleep deprivation" is called in Ecuador), packing the some beautiful product, being relieved and plain happy. Went back home, just to find Ellie reading a book to Lily, snuggling. They don't really have a step-mother/step-daughter relation, but Lily is always happy for some feminine energy, and the easiest way to win her over is reading a book to her. We're reading Tatatuk, a typical Waldorf-School-Book, very sunshine out of every pore. I remember that my father had a version of it, and he read it to us, though we always went to public schools.
It's 26 days of strike now. There was a huge clash between military and protesters in Otavalo on Wednesday. Another dead. Many wounded. Everybody is talking about un-proportional violence, but what is that? It's not an eye for an eye anymore. It feels like it's a body for a scratch. An eye for a broken window of an armored car. Feels. Facts are spun like windmills.
Yesterday we "played" MJ. We shouted it. We screamed it. It was a catharsis. Only Ronny was banging the cajón to keep the rhythm straight. But it does seem like nobody cares about Cotacachi these days. We're still cut off. Almost nothing coming in nor going out. There's more and more unrest within the city, and I fear that the outcome will be a deep resentment between center and community. That there will be the point that the citizens themselves will not tolerate that the repression from the government will be handed down to them through the protesters. Although, holding a grudge is somewhat a national sport here, just like gossip and rumors. Activism isn't. Standing up isn't. "Only those who stood up once are allowed to sit down. That's why so many chairs are empty."
But isn't that the case everywhere these days?
Post written for the #saturdayselections by Galenkp inviting us to share music in the Weekend Experiences community on Saturdays.
Please feel free to engage in any original way, including dropping links to your posts on similar topics. I'm happy to read (and curate) any quality content that is not created by LLM/AI.
Do you know about “no king” day here in the US today. As you might know or not know; average Americans are the most complacent type, and not known to protest anything:) At least not in the last 60–70 years :)
So when they come to the streets you know something is not right.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c93xgyp1zv4o
Yes, we even had one person here in Cotacachi doing that. Nobody else came, though, but she was still feeling good about doing something. But is it doing something? Is it standing up?
When we're so far down the line as we are at the moment, gathering for a protest feels a lot like virtue signaling. Standing around, "I was there" - will that bring any change? It reminds me of the 2010s, when people thought that signing online petitions would change the world, finally, into something better.
And then they go home and hate their neighbors. Despise the other side.
And yes, I'm more radical. Change needs a critical mass. It needs to get people on board. Here, the indigenous organizations are failing at that. What they protest against is absolutely legitimate, I could even defend some of the methods - but they're losing, both the war as well as the battles and most importantly, support.
It's a tricky question, with many variables. Maybe something for another evening.
There is a statistical number for that. 30% of the adult population.
That is a big number.
Uh, nice, didn't know that one. Do you know how much it was in India, to make Ghandi's approach work?
Gandhi's approach of non-violent movement? Oh boy! That was a different time and space. Yes, it was certainly more than 30%.
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STOPOktoberfest 💪 I think beer there is way cheaper than in Germany 😂 Oh boy... I really want to try this pretzel! 😂
Sorry to create cravings with those pictures! 😅 You're not the only one it seems... And yes, the beer here is a lot cheaper than over there, and it's a small little brewery that I like a lot :-)
I will never listen to MJ - I just can't - but feeling the happy vibes over the pretzels, even if things are tense there. They look bloody perfect. Now I have a craving. Not easy to come by here - in fact, wouldn't have a clue where to get a fresh pretzel!
They are indeed perfect and sorry for the craving! I was just so proud of the team. It was such a good feeling, after being worried, to come into the bakery and be received by a truckload of perfection.
I do like a few MJ songs, but my favorite is a cover - Smooth Criminal by Alien Ant Farm. I just like punky stuff better than pop.
I've always wondered how the pretzel shape is made, looks effortless as an onlooker but there's definitely skill precision to it. Wish I could find some over here, these ones look perfectly baked :)
The rolling part is the most difficult. The rest is somewhat easy. But in total, it is a very tricky bread to make.
It speaks volumes that you have built such a loyal and willing team around you. In fact, the more I get to know you, the more you seem like an all round jolly good egg!
Excellent. I love it when a plan comes to fruition.
I can be very un-jolly, too, and they experienced that during a few months earlier this year, for good reasons. But they pulled themselves together and are all the better for it now! Which is great, because they're all really good people, despite many differences. Sometimes, it's more like a psych ward than a bakery, as Diego always says. We have better results than most psych wards, though.