It does not taste like Chicken!  I'm sure you, just like me, have had those amazing food moments which you'll never forget.  To give you some examples of mine:  Gram's braciola, fried clams at Essex Clam Shack, conch salad in Hong Kong,  Mom's cheese cake, leeche nuts on a train in China, medium rare steak and sticky buns at Hill Top Steak House, Saugus, Ma.  I'll stop there so as not to bore you totally.  Yesterday will stand out as another of those gastronomical moments.  Not because of the elegant surroundings, not because of being surrounded by good friends, not because Mom and Gram's food was always amazing, but because I ate something for the first time in my life that I never dreamed of eating.

 

CuiCui in Otavalo, Ecuador!  Just on the edge of this amazing outdoor market, which I'll get to in a bit, there are the myriad of food vendors.   Now I had a heads up on this food from friends that had recently been here but were reluctant to try it.  Well, not me.  If I'm going to die from eating some exotic food like bangers and mash or lengua, I'm going to do it in some exotic place.  Why not in the midst of thousands of people shopping for goods on the equator? 

I know many of you have already eaten CuiCui, but not me.  Yesterday I ate guinea pig!!!  You bet.  The same little critter that I sold hundreds of in my pet shop ended up on a spit and roasted up to a golden and blackened snack for lunch.  Not chicken, it tastes more like rabbit.  The skin was crunchy with a bit of fat and the meat was tender and tasty. 

 I have to admit it took me a while to suck up the courage to buy the little roasted critter and a little more time finding a hiding spot to eat it.  I didn't want to be too obvious if ugly things resulted from my first bite.  What a kick!  How much you ask, $2.25 including boiled potato, salad and a cup of coke.  Not bad for a new mental milestone.

 

The "Ponchos" market, acres of tarp covered stalls, all chocked full of artisans wares was a site to behold and an adventure to walk through.  No, not a yard sale kind of thing, these were magnificent woven products of everything imaginable.  The most amazing to me were the vibrant colored throws and blankets and ponchos and skirts all of intricate woven threads most of Alpaca and Llama.  Jewelry and indigenous sculptings and even the most elaborate carved guitars. 

 

 

Many, many tourists, all touching and bargaining and buying.  I noted all the bags and there was some serious shopping going on.  This was just the main market.  On Saturday and Sunday even more vendors come with their homemade arts and fill all the side streets as well.  No, I couldn't walk it all.  Finally, worn out, I stopped at a little pie shop, right there on the sidewalk beside all this hustle and had a piece of coconut cream pie.  How about that?  Guinea Pig for lunch chased by heavenly pie. 

 

Time to head back to the old b and b by bus, twenty minutes and $0.25  This is a tourist kind of day, not the living in Ecuador kind of day that I've mainly been doing.  It was fun being a tourist.

 

Two cute stories from my bus rides.  There was a little Ecuadorean lady sitting beside me and she fell asleep.  A fellow walks down the aisle to collect the fee after everyone is seated.  When he got to me rather than wake the lady, I paid her twenty-five cents.  When she awoke and found out that I had paid for her she wouldn't stop hugging me.  You know how good I felt for twenty-five cents?  On the return trip that day a little boy about six years old sat beside me.  Every Ecuadorean lady that walked by us heading for their seat said how cute we were.  One actually said the kid looked like me!  Take a look at any Ecuadorean kid and tell me if there is the slightest resemblance.

 

Things that I found out:

- there are rumors among the expats that Ecuador is separating itself from the USA.

- Rumor:  limiting imports from the USA

- Rumor:  changing from the US dollar to a different currency.

- had to buy lip cream for my lips which have been going dry while sleeping.

- I'm in my second week of research.

- I miss my friends

 

Ecuador as of today:  8/10

 

For those who might like to try it here's a special bonus:

 

A typical recipe for baked or barbequed cuy with a hot sauce: 
• 3 or 4 cuy 
• 50 grams of ground toasted corn, or cornmeal 
• 2 kilos of parboiled potatoes, cut in slices 
• 8 cloves of garlic 
• 6 fresh hot peppers, either red or yellow 
• ½ cup oil 
• ½ cup water 
• salt, pepper and cumin to taste 
Rub the cuys with a mix of the pepper, salt, pepper and cumin and bake. You can also skewer over a barbeque.
 
Prepare a sauce with the oil, peppers, garlic and 

cornmeal with the water from the potatoes or broth. Cook a few minutes until the peppers are cooked. When tender, place the meat in a serving dish and spoon the sauce over it. Serve with the boiled potatoes.