Day 3: Travel to Otavalo

Since we spent much of the day on the bus traveling to Otavalo, I will take this opportunity to write about the food we've eaten so far - based on your comments, this seems to be a topic that interests many of you, and it definitely interests me as well. I love to eat - bon appetit!

Snacks
In our travels from place to place, we have to make pit stops so that people can use the restrooms. Each of the gas stations we've stopped at has had many snacks for sale. I have tasted sweet plantain chips, salty plantain chips, fried yucca chips, pork rinds (chicharrones), flour-and-salt-covered peanuts, cookies, chocolate-covered wafers, and crispy empanada filled with guayaba.

These wafers are called "Cua Cua" after the sound a duck makes. They were delicious.	Fresh guayaba fruit. The empanada had guayaba paste inside--similar to a jam.

Drinks

I've already written about chicha. American soda is readily available in Ecuador. We have to drink bottled water, but are often offered fresh-squeezed juice. I had a delicious strawberry juice one morning; that was probably my favorite so far. The tree tomato juice was pretty tasty as well. I did find the delicious lemonade above at a gas station. I thought it was Fresca but was pleasantly surprised to find it was lemonade!

Breakfast
Breakfasts have consisted of fresh breads, cereal, eggs, fresh juice, pancake, juice, and fruit, in various combinations. This is probably the least exciting meal we've eaten!

Soups
Lunch and dinner in Ecuador always begin with a soup. Sometimes the soup is delicious; other times it is a little boring. The soup may be chicken, potato, plantain, or something else. We had two fantastic soups on Saturday: a chicken soup for lunch and a tasty potato soup with perfectly fresh avocado in Otavalo.

Chicken soup with fried plantain (YUM)

Potato soup with large chunks of potato and a slice of
fresh avocado on top.

Entrees
We've eaten beef, chicken, and fish thus far. In the jungle community, we ate rice with meat that was served inside a banana leaf. The food was delicious and the presentation was beautiful. Note that the tablecloth is a large leaf!

Desserts
Desserts are less sweet here than they are in the U.S. There was one really pretty dessert that we ate on Saturday night, the night we spent in Otavalo. It looks a little better than it tasted.

My favorite meal overall so far
The group dinner was the best meal we’ve had so far, in my opinion. Of note were the plantain soup with popcorn; the tortilla de yucca; and the tomato tree fruit. The plantain soup was a little boring but the popcorn made it delicious. The yucca tortilla was almost like a mound of mashed potatoes. I cut mine up and used the sauce from our beef to add some flavor. The tree tomato was, in my opinion, absolutely delicious. The juice in particular was really sweet. It was tomato-like in terms of seeds and texture but not in terms of flavor. Incidentally, I’m having a hard time describing the tastes of all of these foods and drinks for you… stay tuned, students: a writing assignment is coming!

Plantain soup with popcorn

Clockwise from bottom left: beef, broccoli/cauliflower/cabbage,
tortilla de yucca on top of rice, vegetables.

Tree tomato fruit & juice