Tastes like Chicken

What a week! Went out dancing after the football game last Wednesday (we had to cheer ourselves up after Ecuador lost), and didn´t get home until nearly one in the morning! Walked around the historic center of Quito on Friday night, stumbled onto to a concert featuring traditional Ecuadorian music and dance, and ate dinner on a rooftop overlooking the spectacular city lights. Late in the evening had my first taste of the traditional Ecuadorian drink canelazo. It´s sort of like spiked cider-- quite perfect on a chilly night in the Andes!

Saturday morning we headed up to Otavalo, a small town in the lake district of Ecuador that has the best market in all of South America. After wandering the stalls, and soaking in the smell of an entire roasted pig, the sound of wind pipes and guitars, and the brilliant colors of alpaca shawls and sweaters, we ate a traditional almuerzo and then caught a taxi to a beautiful park just outside of town. We gaped at condors the size of children and a mountain that seemed to have a heart craved into its body and then tumbled down a treacherous path to a nearby waterfall. The next day we trekked along the steep ridges surrounding the crater lake Cuicocha, watched the gas bubbling up in the water that fills the still-active volcano, and rewarded ourselves for the long morning of climbing by indulging in one of the national delicacies: cuy. (Also known as guinea pig.) I can´t say that I ate a lot of the creature that was served in its entirity (head, teeth, paws and all), deep fried, on a platter of rice, fried bananas, and corn, but I can attest that the over-used saying applied. Perhaps it is a little sweeter, but at the end of the day, it tastes lik chicken.

P.S.
Tomorrow I head to Mindo, a town in the cloud forrest, and on Monday morning I am off to a lodge in the middle of the Amazon. And tonight? My salsa skills will be put to the test at one of Quito´s best salsa clubs. Let´s hope I can hold my own!