Food

I decided to forego travel book wisdom and eat anything I was served. I eventually paid for this, but only on the last day of our trip (making for unpleasant travel). But it was worth it.

After you’ve tasted an Ecuadorian banana, the greenish spears in the states seems just plain wrong. The fruits from these countries is the manna of some benevolent god—always ripe, sweet and delicious. Same is true for the vegetables. Ditto on the seafood.

Every morning I drank a jugo de tomate de arbol—a juice made from tree tomatoes. They look like rosy Christmas tree bulbs, and are sweeter than their kin on the vine. I couldn’t get enough of ceviche—a soup made of shrimp cooked by lime juice, not fire. I steered clear of the meat, but gazed on it with fascination. My favorite was the pork skin, fried and cut off of the carcass with the head still attached. Fish often still had their heads too. While in the jungle, Todd ate a piranha that watched him de-bone its sides.

But Peru’s national liquor—pisco—topped all. The strong stuff, made from fermented grapes, was mixed in everything. And it was abundant. A group of workers rallying outside of their closed workplace went so far as to set up a tray of pisco sours as a benefit for their cause. For $2, you could get a drink and support the revolution.

Fresh fish in an market in Quito.

Legumes—in bulk and in a grocery store.

Ice cream was popular with young and old.

At this Quito lunch spot—as in most of them—you could get soup, meat, rice and freshly-squeezed juice for $2 (at the most).

Fresh shrimp ceviche, my favorite traditional dish.

Fresh juices, including tomates de arbol (center?)...Sugar cane rods and juice for sale in Baños.

Coke in a glass bottle with real sugar just tastes better....Getting a big mouthful of some of the best, and cheapest, falafel I’ve had—in Quito.