Early the next day, a lovely rooster woke us up before the sun rose. He would continue his crowing until about 9am, I'm guessing on that. It was pretty hard to sleep with that going on. I suppose it isn't as bad as hearing car alarms though.
The lovely rooster and a chicken.
Early that morning, Ariana's Abuelito milked the cow. I've never had fresh cow's milk before.
We made cheese called nudo de queso. While the milk was sitting to thicken, Abuelito poured a capful of Cuajo in it. This kills the bacteria. Then he got another bucket and laid cheesecloth over it. Once the milk thickened, he started to scoop it into the other bucket.
There was still liquid. You have to drain this liquid, suero, to make the cheese. Abuelito invented a way to do this without having to hold it the whole time.
Tie knots at the end of the cheesecloth.
(Ariana received a "lesson" in knot tying)
Then place it on a four prong tack harness hook hung from the ceiling with a bucket underneath.
You can drink the liquid, suero. I tried it and it was... interesting. Apparently it has many nutrients in it though.
While the cheese was draining, Ariana, Olivia and I went on a little hike on their land. It was so nice to walk around without hundreds of people around.
Olivia became obsessed picking these pinkish feathery weeds. They were everywhere and she wanted to pick ALL of them. We made a lot of stops.
The top, looking over part of Ariana's families land.
When we came back to the house, the cheese was ready for the next step, smash it up.
Once it's smashed up pretty good, you form it into a round shape.
It's ready to eat.
(I hope I have all of this right. If not, I will update it.)
Here's some random photos I shot that day.
Chuntara, overall a good dog but there were times I was somewhat skeptical of her.
This little guy was cool. I forget his name though.
Abuelito's hat.
When we came back from our hike, Abuelito was sitting by the front door shucking corn.
The aftermath of corncobs, elotes.
There were pigs. Olivia was fascinated by them. We got to watch them eat a few times. They really chowed down. I explained to Olivia that there is a phrase, "eat like a pig" people use. I think she understood but who knows?
At this point, Olivia decided to do some "cooking" with some random pots laying around.
I took more photos.
Next blog: Life in Romita: Part 3.... Early morning photos, I milk a cow, cow's milk with tequila, churches
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