Brewing up a side project

Friday, What a Day!
I got the phone number for a man I wanted to speak with in Cuenca. I was scared my poor Spanish would make me sound dumb and there for not useful. I was definitely a little nervous about talking to other people and calling some that I do not know to talk business; this was different. But after a week I manned up and gave Pedro a call yesterday. He owns the only brew pub in Cuenca.
We scheduled the meeting for today at 5pm at the brew pub, of course. I show up a bit early, and ask if they have any of their three microbrews on tap. “no.” This is the third week in a row they have not had their own stuff and one of the questions I had for Pedro.
I was not sure what kind of person Pedro would be like. He is a taller guy, mid thirties maybe, wearing stylish clothes and a taste for Marlboros. He walked in, greeted me and passed a $5 bill to the bartender who ran out of the pub and was back in seconds with a pack of Marlboro Reds. He looked at me and asked me to talk about what my idea. He then had the same bartender get him a beer.
I told him that I wanted to learn to brew beer in large quantities and that I brewed back home. In exchange for that I could help him a little with the business. I told him that I am a PCV living in Baños working with the Padre and Junta. I told him I would be here two years and wanted a place to go to have a good beer.
He took a long drag way past the point that most people smoke on a cigarette and then snubbed it out. He then leaned back from the ashtray on the bar, looked at me and more or less said “ok.” I was dumbfounded. That was too easy. I thought I would have to put up a fight, give more reasons or even beg. Well great that I did not have to beg.
“So why no beer?”
Apparently his malted barley and other grains are from Argentina and apparently they do not rush things and take their time shipping. This did not seem to faze Pedro at all. Then I realized this is probably his side project business, he clearly has money and this place is not making much. He did not seem concerned at all that he has to wait another two weeks for his key ingredients and that there is no rush to make a new batch. He orders his hops from Washington State. He said he is unable to brew beer during their winter because he cannot get hops. There have to be other places to get hops; in fact I know there are. Perhaps I can be useful after all.
After awhile of just hanging out talking about this and that I excused myself to meet up with friends. I asked him when I should give a call about the next batch and we set a rough date to brew. I plan on calling a few days early just in case.
I left feeling pretty good and then realized I do not know any of the brewing terms in Spanish. I need to put together a list of useful words and phrases I thought to myself as I went to meet up with Clint and Mitch for a beer.
A little later we went to meet up with Sonya, another volunteer at her friend’s house. We were told buy some at the bar the place were walking to was only 15 min away. Well it is not, it is like an hour walk. So we got a cab halfway. Have not gotten reliable directions here yet, we must be asking the wrong questions.
We met Sonya and her friend Carlos at his house and then promptly went out to solve his lack of beer problem. Mitch, Clint and I went to grab pizza from a nearby place. As it just so happens it was the pizza we have had here. I was a big fan of the ham, pineapple and peach one especially. After some beers and talking I feel like bed. Then around 11-ish Sonya suggests we go to a dance club. We all agreed, at least if we did not feel like it our hostel is only a block away.
There was a three dollar cover charge at the dance club! No matter we all went in. We stayed for an hour or two in a very overcrowded club. It felt like I was in a small closet with 300 people, we were not really dancing. From above we probably just looked like cells under a microscope bumping into each other.
We pulled the plug around one and we walked to our hostel. It was a nice sleep for me, because the hostel is much warmer than my attic room in Baños. It was a nice change to get out of bed and not be cold.
Saturday
I walked around with Clint for awhile because Mitch had to split off to buy a new cell phone. So we thought about seeing a movie in theatres. Nothing peaked our interest but at least we now know where the movie theatre is. Clint decided to go home and leave me to my shopping. I was in need of hot sauce, instant coffee and some other random stuff for the kitchen. I think I got Rosa hooked on the sauce, she puts it on everything. Luckily she does so sparingly.
My day was made complete when I came home and found Edgar watching WWF dubbed over in Spanish drinking a Budwieser. We said hola and he told me that there is fried chicken in the kitchen and to grad a beer from the fridge. Wow, not what I was expecting but a welcome surprise none the less. After WWF we watched the new Bruce Willis film Cop Out and laughed the whole time. I retired to my room to read Brewing Up a Business by Sam Calagione, the owner of Dogfish Head Craft Brewery. It felt like an appropriate time to start up a book I had been anticipating to read since my friend Tim gave it to me. So far so good! But man it makes me miss a good beer.

Monday September 20th-Thursday September 23rd.

I now go to the Junta Parochial every day to talk to people about the many projects I have in the works. A newer project is designing pamphlets about not littering; a large problem in my community.
My tree planting project has expanded to putting in small stone walls around the trees and benches. It is really nice to see the enthusiasm the project gets from people when I explain it.
I have met with different people about supplies and architects to get all the pricing in order. Everyone is very eager to help because they know this project benefits the whole community. The man who supplies the volcanic rock is willing to donate all the rock we need for free if we get him the permit from the municipality to mine more of it.
Cold calls in Spanish are not something I enjoy doing. Then again, does anyone enjoy cold calling? I was trying to get people to sign up for the marketing class I am going to start teaching next week. I definitely confused a lot of people; luckily Estella from the Junta was there to bail me out when she heard the confusion on the line. Overall, it looks like I will have a class of 15 starting next Wednesday!

Thursday the volunteers in the immediate Cuenca area had a very unique opportunity to have coffee with US Ambassador to Ecuador, Heather Hodges. She was great to talk to and was generally interested in our projects and what our experiences have been thus far. She says she enjoys here work here; however the red tape she has to cut through to get stuff is frustrating at times. I feel very comfortable knowing she is keeping a watchful on the Peace Corps. and its volunteers.