May Update--Trying New Things

At this point, my blog posts are all reporting on adventures that took place over a month ago.  Maybe it’s silly to write about things that happened awhile ago, but for those of you who haven’t been apart of the adventures or have not heard about them yet, I hope you still enjoy reading them!  And my blog has also become a way for me look back on everything I’ve done in the last five months!  So here are some more updates…

On May 1^st I tried encebollado for the first time.  This dish is very popular—it’s fish “cooked” in lime juice (like ceviche) with onions, yuca, and probably garlic and spices.  I went with Javy and he also ordered conchas, oysters, for me to try, too.  Although my dad used to make a soup with oysters that I loved as a kid, these oysters were a bit different.  They were still in the shell, so you had to break it open to eat it (which wasn’t hard).  They had seasoning and I liked them, but we were also so busy eating our encebollado that the oysters got cold and then were not very appetizing.  Once you are served your big bowl of encebollado, you add many condiments to it before eating it.  The basically mandatory additions are fresh squeeze lime juice and a bit of oil, but other common condiments are mustard, ahí (hot sauce or hot peppers), plantain chips, and roasted corn.  Javy also mentioned that some people also add ketchup, mayonnaise (both very common condiments on almost all food here), or beer.  I added very little to mine—just lime juice and little oil and mustard, so I could get the “authentic effect.”  Besides a vague fishy taste every now and then, it was absolutely delicious!

Here’s just a funny picture…when I dropped my laundry off that morning at the lavanderia, the regular woman who does the laundry wasn’t there.  The woman who was in her place that morning asked for my name, but I only gave my first name…since I’m pretty easy to spot in Pedro!  I usually don’t give my name at all and they always know which laundry is mine when I go to pick it up!  This time, I guess they wanted better identification…

The first weekend of May, I was in Quito again with Javy.  We met a couple friends in Quito’s old town or historic district, on a street called La Ronda.  This area was previously really dangerous due to its location next to a large bus stop.  The bus stop has since then moved and the area has been cleaned up.  It’s now a very lively street with a family-oriented atmosphere, great for evening strolls.  I had walked down this street during the day when I had first arrived in Quito, but its much more fun at night!  First, a little history lesson: the historic buildings—previously all houses—on one side of the street are taller than the buildings on the other side of the street due to the distinct social classes that existed in Quito after the Spanish came.  The taller houses were Spanish-owned, whereas the shorter houses were mestizo-owned (mixed Spanish and Indigenous people).  The buildings have super thick walls and in many places you can pick out the original, 1500’s-era craftsmanship of the interior of the buildings.  These days, most of the buildings are all gift shops, cafes, bars, candy stores, bakeries, etc—perhaps a few apartments still exist on the second or third floors.

At La Ronda, we wandered through an art gallery and through the entire street and finally settled at a café/bar and ordered canalasso (a warm, sugar-cane-liquor and naranjilla—a type of fruit—juice drink).  Most of the bars/cafes that line La Ronda have live music and served this and other drinks.  It was very fun to chat (although it was hard to hear with the music!) and sip on warm canalasso, especially because evenings in Quito get quite chilly!

My friends Paola and Javy with me on La Ronda