You may have noticed that there are not too many Ecuadorian restaurants to be found outside of Ecuador. There´s probably a good reason for this. Take Caldo de platos for example (cow hoof soup). This very unique dish is a local favourite and is available in most markets around the country. Apparently it is very delicious. Given the choice I would probably opt for Yaguarlocro instead. (Potato soup with chunks of barely congealed blood sausage). One Drink slash food we have been getting with our family a bit too regularly is Colada, a warm substance made with fruit juice, oats and sometimes milk. It´s what one might call an acquired taste. We can´t complain though at least they havent served up allullas yet. (dry biscuits made of flour, pork fat and local unpasteurised cheese. One delicasy I have tried was lengua or cows tongue. This was actually done without my knowledge when my previous family tricked me into eating it pretending it was pork. Oh yes we all had a huge laugh, me excepted. Of course there is cuy (guinea pig), very big on Friday nights after work and of course the national dish Cerviche (raw fish served with lemon, popcorn and sliced onions). I havent even touched on delicious snacks like pork ear or shish kebabs of grilled beef hearts.
Not that I´m knocking the food here. Actually I havent been sick once and generally we have had reasonably tasty if somewhat stodgy meals. In fact I´ve even put on a few kilos. Luckily I´m at the equator where you´re weight actually decreases 3 kilos when you step on the scales. Strange but true. mmm time for some fried pig intestines.
Friday, June 10, 2005
Thursday, June 09, 2005
The town of bathrooms
Banos: where we are now, is famous for it´s water. This water comes in all sorts of varieties. There is the hot springs water where one can bathe with the locals and your skin can absorb the minerals in the water, especially the minerals from the little kiddies when they get excited.
Then there is the swimming pool water. For some unknown reason there are hundreds of pools, most complete with water slides which makes absolutely no sense because it rains here every day. Then there are waterfalls which seem to spring from every hole in the wall. In addition, there are the showers in your hotel, which are usually freezing and hence no one uses. I guess what I´m trying to say is that there is a lot of water here. Which is actually a good thing because 4ooo metres above is a god almighty volcano that is smouldering away. But rest assured, with all this water here I am absolutely safe. I´m more worried about the 10 long period earthquakes that according to the University of North Dakota´s web site occur here everyday. (not quite sure what that means but it sounds exciting)
So anyway, We are here to learn some more Spanish. 4 hours a day one on one instruction with my teacher Christina who comes up to my waist. We have also adopted for the live with the family option. This time our family own a hotel, actually a Jewish hotel( even though our hosts are in no way Jewish). We sleep in the hotel room and have all meals, soccer matches, basketball games and religious movies with our family. They have an interesting custom of serving a huge dinner at lunchtime. A small breakfast at dinner and very unusual concoction of hot juice and oats for breakfast. The latter I must admit is absolutley foul and am currently dreaming up ways of secretly disposing of it when my hosts arent looking. We are also sharing our family with a half blind swiss girl who has managed to learn more spanish than me in 3 weeks than I have in 8 weeks of study. In fact I have got to the stage of my Spanish where I am going backwards and most of my lesson is spent daydreaming of murdering my spanish teacher who is torturing me by correcting pretty much every palabra that passes my lips. Whoever said Learning another language was empowering. It just makes me feel like I´m the world´s stupidest man. No comments please.
Then there is the swimming pool water. For some unknown reason there are hundreds of pools, most complete with water slides which makes absolutely no sense because it rains here every day. Then there are waterfalls which seem to spring from every hole in the wall. In addition, there are the showers in your hotel, which are usually freezing and hence no one uses. I guess what I´m trying to say is that there is a lot of water here. Which is actually a good thing because 4ooo metres above is a god almighty volcano that is smouldering away. But rest assured, with all this water here I am absolutely safe. I´m more worried about the 10 long period earthquakes that according to the University of North Dakota´s web site occur here everyday. (not quite sure what that means but it sounds exciting)
So anyway, We are here to learn some more Spanish. 4 hours a day one on one instruction with my teacher Christina who comes up to my waist. We have also adopted for the live with the family option. This time our family own a hotel, actually a Jewish hotel( even though our hosts are in no way Jewish). We sleep in the hotel room and have all meals, soccer matches, basketball games and religious movies with our family. They have an interesting custom of serving a huge dinner at lunchtime. A small breakfast at dinner and very unusual concoction of hot juice and oats for breakfast. The latter I must admit is absolutley foul and am currently dreaming up ways of secretly disposing of it when my hosts arent looking. We are also sharing our family with a half blind swiss girl who has managed to learn more spanish than me in 3 weeks than I have in 8 weeks of study. In fact I have got to the stage of my Spanish where I am going backwards and most of my lesson is spent daydreaming of murdering my spanish teacher who is torturing me by correcting pretty much every palabra that passes my lips. Whoever said Learning another language was empowering. It just makes me feel like I´m the world´s stupidest man. No comments please.
Friday, June 03, 2005
How to climb the world´s highest active volcano...
Well first you drive all the way to the top, then you get out the car and take lots of pictures... It´s quite easy really. So here I am at 4800 metres on MT Cotopaxi, not quite the top but close enough for me considering it´s due to erupt any second ( see ed versus volcano post). Today I decided to do a day tour and found myself in a 4 wheel drive with 4 other aussies. What does this mean... are we all outdoor types? Besides being bitterly cold at the top the day was a great one with the cloud clearing a number of times for us to see the summit. The highlight was passing some silly dutch man trying to cycle all the way to the top with 4 extremely large paniers hanging off the bike. What is it about adventure cyclists that makes them so loco? For me the 40 minute walk to the Glacier was enough.
Thursday, June 02, 2005
How much for the Alpaca?
Thursday is market day in Saquisili, a small town in The Ecuadorian highlands that transforms itself into the country´s largest market for the surrounding indigenous communities. People come from everywhere to buy the usual offering of pigs heads, alpacas, Roasted guinea pig, and blow up Spider man dolls. So I´ve left Kate in Banos and headed off to sample the delights of this famous market. I arrived in the mercado de animales just as a squealing pig is dragged off by it´s new owners. There were literally hundreds of people trying to sell pretty much every animal Ecuador has to offer. I can report the following prices in ascending order
Kittens $1.50, Chickens $3, Rabbits $7, Guinea Pigs $8, Pigs $30, Llamas $70, Alpacas $160, and Cows $600. All delivered with a hefty amount of animal cruelty. The locals were particularly practiced at the kick in the pigs head. I´m fast beginning to understand how Kate became a vegetarian. Other "highlights" included the table of chicken heads, the pile of pigs trotters, and the corner of cow hides. Luckily the market is not all about animals. DVD´s are extremely popular over here, you can even purchase the latest star wars film for $1. (Complete with people walking past the screen). There were also the travelling medicine men, peddling all types of cures that involved strange herbs and bizarre animal parts. The locals love to dress up in their everyday clothes as well. Felt pork pie hats with peacock feathers are very popular with the ladies while the Gentleman prefer the Adidas cap. Yep, it´s adventure tourism at it´s finest. Especially sitting down to a plate of who knows not.Whilst the locals look on as though I´ve just dropped in from planet Zok. With the amounts of laughs I recieved, seems the silly westerners are there to provide the entertainment.
Kittens $1.50, Chickens $3, Rabbits $7, Guinea Pigs $8, Pigs $30, Llamas $70, Alpacas $160, and Cows $600. All delivered with a hefty amount of animal cruelty. The locals were particularly practiced at the kick in the pigs head. I´m fast beginning to understand how Kate became a vegetarian. Other "highlights" included the table of chicken heads, the pile of pigs trotters, and the corner of cow hides. Luckily the market is not all about animals. DVD´s are extremely popular over here, you can even purchase the latest star wars film for $1. (Complete with people walking past the screen). There were also the travelling medicine men, peddling all types of cures that involved strange herbs and bizarre animal parts. The locals love to dress up in their everyday clothes as well. Felt pork pie hats with peacock feathers are very popular with the ladies while the Gentleman prefer the Adidas cap. Yep, it´s adventure tourism at it´s finest. Especially sitting down to a plate of who knows not.Whilst the locals look on as though I´ve just dropped in from planet Zok. With the amounts of laughs I recieved, seems the silly westerners are there to provide the entertainment.
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