When in Ecuador… Salsa! And that, ladies and gentlemen, is
exactly what I have been doing. Every Wednesday evening in Cuenca is salsa
night, and the whole city goes out to dance! (yes I mean the dance and not the
food) So, in preparation, mis amigos y yo have been practicing day and night
and taking lessons (by this I mean we had a 1 hour salsa lesson and I went home
and practiced with my 5 year old homestay brother Emilio). Let me tell you
though, for all of you that think knowing how to “wobble” (*hint hint Mom that
is you) will help you with salsa… you are wrong. Unlike Shakira all of our hips
definitely lie…
Just try to imagine 14 awkward 20 year old Americans trying
to learn salsa from a very suave Ecuadorian man named Francisco and you will be
able to see why we are having so much fun. We are definitely all very bad
dancers and I guarantee that if we go to Salsa night on Wednesday you will only
hear 14 gringos (that is what they call foreigners here) counting to 8 over and
over again.
Speaking of gringos, I was able to meet up with an old
skating friend for lunch on Monday and have a little wonderful taste of Kansas
City here in Ecuador. As she showed me around all her favorite spots in Cuenca
it was so obvious how happy she was to be living in Ecuador. There are so many
gringos here in Cuenca and initially I could not understand what attracted them
to this random city is South America, but as Katie spoke of all the time she
had to really enjoy her life and family, and the ability to set their own pace,
it became very clear and honestly, very rational.
It was even clearer when we were eating a three course lunch
for two dollars that living in Ecuador was not a bad gig. I now realize that I haven’t
talked about the food much… By now you all know that I eat guinea pig, but
believe me that was a onetime deal. The fruit here has been incredible! There
are about 5 different kinds of bananas, a different citrus fruit for each day
of the week, and passion fruit is in everything you find! My new favorite fruit
though is called granadia, it’s very
similar to the texture of a passion fruit but incredibly sweet and rico (as my host mom says). I don’t know
how to get granadia in the US, but I am going to do everything in my power to
make it happen.
Besides the great fruit, the cuisine in Ecuador consists of
A LOT of rice and carbs (which for my protein loving self is a little
difficult). My typical breakfast consists of a little bit of yogurt with fruit
and eggs. Snacks are typically always breads or crackers with jam. Lunch though,
is the big meal, with multiple courses of rice, meat, and always some sort of
soup. It’s kind of bizarre if you think about it, but I’ve never been to a
country that eats so much hot soup…and it’s on the equator…hmm…. Finally dinner
is very late and consists again of rice, vegetables, and some sort of meat. My
host mother is a great cook and with three home-cooked meals each day who wouldn’t
love the food. One surprising aspect was that the food is not spicy at all. I
have not had anything with any heat (spice not temperature) throughout my
entire stay here… but I have had more juice in my time here than I have in my
whole life. It’s absolutely essential here to own a blender and make your own
juice. From tomate del arbol, to strawberry, to orange, believe me I am becoming
quite the connoisseur of juices.
Lots of love from Ecuador,
Jen
No comments:
Post a Comment