Passover Seder

So last night was the big seder that I made happen!  I must say that again I am pretty proud of myself.  There were 14 people who came.  Earlier on there were 4 others, who for 1 reason or another were unable to attend.  (And from what I understand there are a significant number of other Jewish people in the area.)  The last person who emailed me just a few days before the seder to see if there was space for him, said he Googled Passover in Cuenca & my email address came up!  That just cracks me up!

The man who had said he would bring matzoh ball soup (sopa de bolas matzah) had contacted his 86 year old mother in the U. S. to send him matzoh and matzoh meal.  It arrived on Thursday, the last day possible before Passover as there was no mail the following day, being Good Friday.  He sent me an email with the subject line milagro de matzoh (miracle of matzoh), which I found to be quite comical.  I never thought that I would be so excited about the arrival of matzoh, but what is Passover without matzoh?  His mother also included a box of macaroons.

We had everything:  Haggadahs, a Seder plate, charoseth, maror, matzoh ball soup, matzoh, great food, good company.  I made the main course:  chicken marbella & was rather taken aback, but shouldn't have been when taking the chicken of its wrapping to clean it and discovering the chicken feet, along with the giblets.  (I did not include the feet in the recipe!)  

I almost teared up sitting with 13 people, most of whom were strangers, in Cuenca, Ecuador, reading the Haggadah as if we did this every year.  Well, we do do this every year, just for me I am not every year in Ecuador.  It was very special.

Several people want to keep this group together and see if it can grow.  I have been asked to gather everyone's email addresses so the group can keep in touch and perhaps develop into some sort of more established community.  Most people have gotten back to me saying, "yes, put me on the email list."  Just waiting to hear back from a few.