EATING IN ECUADOR

Hola,

In the spirit of wrapping up our 10 days in Ecuador, I thought I'd pull together a brief recap of the food scene here.

On our pick-up from the Quito airport, our guide informed us that the fruit and fruit juices are plentiful and delicious and that we should partake whenever possible. She was right; the fruit is out if this world (though we never did take a liking to the tree tomatoes). Oftentimes they even combine the juices (mixto) for a delicious beverage.

Bananas are an important export.

I wrote earlier about the different types of corn and potatoes. Both are an important part of every meal.  I am not a corn fan but the little cornmeal rolls are a ubiquitous part of every breakfast buffet.

Corn meal also makes an appearance fairly regularly with the corn empanadas. Quite tasty.

Another important export (and popular food) is seafood-- whether that be shellfish or fish. Our send-off dinner for Marita and Irene (they are not joining us in Machu Picchu) was at La Nuestro where we had a wonderfully authentic Ecuadorian seafood dinner. Three of us had the Ecuadorian prawns (gigantic and very sweet) and the other three had the sea bass. 

Speaking of fish, another popular Ecuadorian dish is ceviche-- basically made with anything that swims! We had some on the yacht (complete with preparation presentation - see prior post), and at La Nuestro (that dish was a mixed ceviche platter with shrimp, octopus, bass, and black clams). Succulent and superb. For those readers not familiar with ceviche--it is prepared with VERY fresh raw fish which is cured with lime juice.

Soups are another important component of an Ecuadorian meal and we've had all flavors-- plantain, shrimp, tomato, onion, and potato. ..

...and some other tasty lunch foods!

Last, but not least, the Ecuadorians like their sweets (you may recall that our Quito guide told us they counteract altitude sickness). We had wonderful ice cream on the yacht and the pastries are everywhere. Here is a photo from a breakfast buffet.

So, lots of good eating here and we are looking forward to more in Peru. We have also been hoping that the Galapagos hiking has counteracted all of the eating! We shall see.  At least we know that a trip back to the Equator will cause us to lose 2.2 pounds!

Adios 'til Peru

Hugs,

wendy