Market day today…

These on the spot reporters had an action packed day that would make any super hero envious.
We went to Otavalo and visited the market,(the largest in South America we are told). The Taxi fare was $5, I think it is like 30 cents by bus. The driver waited for us, for no charge, and then drove us back. Oh, this was the small day for the market, Saturday is the big day. As a side note, if you use Google Earth they have some 360 views of the Market you can see.

We uploaded a picture of what we bought. Ok here is the list; 2 Panama hats (they are really Ecuadorian, Panama doesn’t make them, another story); a Pashmina shawl and a cotton enhanced shawl too; napkin rings with little people on them, (look at the picture I can’t explain); a knit hat for a small one, (just that was a crushing $3). Total price was about $42.

A rough guess as to what we would pay in the states for the same things… about $175 – just an estimate.
Back to Cotacachi and lunch, 2 sandwiches, mocha latte, and a coke for $5 and change. By chance we met with the wife of one of the owners of a real estate project we like,(turns out she owns the place we ate in).
Off to the store to pick up more flour and Cinnamon, or should I say, “canela molida”, to finish the bread with.
Back to the Condo and bake 4 loaves of bread; 1 cinnamon, 1 roasted garlic and 2 plain white; whew.

We are preparing for a meeting tomorrow with the Real Estate Agent and the lady we met while having lunch today to see some more house plans and get some more information about their project.
I suspect we might bring them a taste of Alaska Sourdough when we meet too. I bought some loaf pans and the loafs are looking like real loafs instead of the odd shaped ones coming out of my makeshift loaf pans. Ok, even the odd shaped ones tasted great.

bracelets

Just a quiet day

bracelets

bracelets

It was busy though – and somehow I have managed to be productive since we arrived! Yes Lindsay that green one is yours ….

We plan on heading to Otavalo tomorrow to check out the market – will keep you updated (we are going to try the bus – should be fun) LOL

Dinner tonight – Individual Meatloaf Dave is getting anxious its been in the oven for 2.5 hours and its only at 120 degrees – not enough …

Lunch and candle light dinner

After doing our exhausting real estate tours we stopped to eat with a couple of friends and had a 4 course lunch. We had an appetizer that was chicken breast wrapped in bacon with sauce, beef potato soup. The entree of a shredded beef and peppers in a great sauce, with rice potatoes and veggies. This was followed up with a peach for dessert. It was way more food than we expected. We also had 2 bottles of water and 2 lemonades. The cost was $12 and change.
We didn’t want much for dinner after that huge lunch so while prepping dinner and working on the real estate post for yesterday I was ready to post and ready to cook when POOF, just like that, no power. So… in the darkness, your trusty roving reporter cooked a little Pasta Carbonara for dinner. It turned out pretty good and under the light of candles we had dinner.
Today we are off to the Dentist again. We will stop at the Super Maxi on the way back and pick up something for Thanksgiving. We won’t have time to fix lots we will save that for later.
Tata for now….

Ecuador Real Estate Tour

Dave here…Your roving reporting team was VERY busy today looking at real estate in this general area. It is hard to show just a few examples but we have them in the Ecuador Album, just a few highlights. Let me see if I can summarize what we saw. AMAZING, ok there you go done!… ok, ok, I will expand a little.
We saw lots to build on in a development for of .6 acres to 1+ acres for 40k – 80k with absolutely stunning views just outside of town.
In our little tour we visited I think 4 other houses (casas) that ranged from $80K to $135K all with great views and very workable layouts. At the higher end there were fireplaces and bathrooms in each bedroom and fabulous woodwork.
We also saw a development of 4 unit Condominium buildings with just stunning views. These run about $89k to $130k

market

Market Day!!!

We have been waiting to do the Sunday Market. People come from up in the mountains to sell their produce and wares. I was our first visit and it is amazing. Similar to markets we have been to in Europe and Asia. Except every type of fruit and vegetable from tropical climates to climates similar to what we see produced in the Northwest USA.

We were told it was best to go early in the morning for the freshest stuff and we did just that.

We spent about $5.00 today. $2.50 on 25 roses and the rest on veggies. It was really all I could carry back to the condo. I guess we could have made another trip. It isn’t that far just at the other end of Leather Street that we live on.

Check out the pictures. There is another building that sells meat and fish. The picture of the Market is just down one isle.

One other thing to pass on – UNESCO actually built the white tiled market.

Inventing a new dish for the culinary world!!

Yes the title is correct. But what else would you expect after all.

So last night we started to make Eggplant Lasagna for dinner, but quickly realized we didn’t have all the traditional ingredients let alone where to obtain them.

The short story is we invented Eggplant Ecsagna. Why do we call it Ecsagna you might ask. Well… if you have to know…we substituted so many Ecuadorian ingredients…What else could we call it? Pretty ingenious even if we do say so ourselves. The local cheese we used was fantastic and gave the dish a wonderful flavor and texture.

So now you know the true origins of this dish even before it sweeps across Ecuador, South America and the rest of the world!!!