Cooking in Ecuador

It's wonderful to have a kitchen of our own for the next 10 days or so.  The first priority is fully exploring the wide variety of fruits available in Ecuador.  The three story market where I sampled chancho (roast pig) is just a few blocks away.

Here's Ruby at breakfast -- papaya, mango, pitajaya (looks on the outside like a mini pineapple & contains a white fruit with small black seeds), yogurt, bread, coffee and hot chocolate.  She didn't eat it all by herself!

We picked up this guaba today at the market for 75 cents.  You break open the pods and eat the fruit inside.

Here's everything we brought back from our first family trip to the market -- pineapple, eggs, lettuce, cauliflower, broccoli, limes, bananas (small and sweet), mangoes, papaya, tomatoes, carrots, onion, garlic, chives, cheese, pasta, cereal, chancho (pork), bread, milk, chocolate, and coffee.

I made jugo de naranjilla today.  Imagine small oranges with edible skin, which are somewhat green, slimy, and sour.  They smell divine -- almost a sickly sweet citrus smell.  But it's a tart fruit for sure.

Finally, just wanted to share this cute shot of Oscar and Neil doing some algebra today.

A cleansing in the market

Neil woke up with a fever today.  (He's recuperating, so please don't worry about him!)  As it turns out, my tutor brought me to a special market today where indigenous women bring healing herbs twice a week.  For added insurance for my own health, I did the whole treatment. 

First, I smelled a bunch of intensely fragrant medicinal flowers and herbs.  

Next, she whacked me with the bouquet while muttering a Quechua word that sounds like "shshhsh," and means "get out."

Then, she ran an intact raw egg all over my face, scalp, torso and arms.  It felt surprisingly soothing.

Next, she poured a pungent liquid (maybe water with essential oils) into my hand and had me smell, then rub that liquid all over my face.

The next step was a shock.  She drank a similar potion and then spat it on my belly, back and head.  Yes, it's drink and spit three times. 

Next, dabbed ash on my forehead, belly and back to protect me from bad forces.  

Finally, she broke the egg into a bag and read it.  Mine said I had "mucho malo viento," lots of bad air.  But now, I'm limpia (clean).

The whole thing took less than 10 minutes and cost $2.50.  I'm happy to have tried an age-old treatment that has cured colick, colds, depression, infertility, and many other ailments.  

Maybe I'll bring Neil once he feels better...

School

It's only the second week of our trip, and the kids are already back at school.  Actually, we all are.  Not surprisingly, the kids adjusted swimmingly.  Neil and I are coping with it, homework and all.

At la Escuela Simón Bolívar in Cuenca, we each have 4 hours of individual Spanish tutoring every morning.  I confess to feeling some butterflies in my stomach yesterday as we set off down the hill to school.  It was a huge relief to meet Fausto, the director, who greeted us each by name and set us up with tutors, who whisked us off to a morning of learning.

A big sigh of relief -- we all really like our tutors.  The kids' tutors have built a nice rapport with them.  I've had some interesting conversations with my tutor about Ecuador -- its history, politics, and culture -- and about family life here.  She is an experienced teacher who seamlessly builds mini grammar and vocabulary lessons into our conversations.  

Cuenca is a prosperous city of 600,000 in the southern Sierra.  Cuencanos are traditional, courteous, cultured, and they walk much more slowly than New Yorkers!

We each go on little field trips with our tutors, which is a great way to see Cuenca -- and it breaks up those 4 hours!   Yesterday, my tutor showed me the cathedral, the flower market, and we drank a medicinal, herbal syrup made by nuns.  I'm feeling very healthy.  

Today, we went to the market, where I tasted a shake made with vena de toro (good for virility and fertility), some seriously delicious pork (see below), and local sugar.  Cuencanos are fastidiously clean; not only are the streets the cleanest in Ecuador, but the market is thoroughly sanitized too -- even the butchers and fishmongers.

This pig = good eating.

Medicinal flowers and herbs for sale in the market.