Not from around here

One of our first excursions out of the Quito area was to an indigenous food market.  It was absolutely stunning - crowded, bustling, friendly, and filled with color.  There was an avenue for animals, another for seafood, one for grains, and one for fruits and vegetables.  Many of the people wore beautiful indigenous outfits - I don’t have pictures of them though because I was attempting not to be intrusive. But trust me, it was beautiful on all levels.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chickens were brought to the market live, sold live, and then…well, you get the picture.  These handmade crates held them, and they were surprisingly calm. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just a small portion of the fruits available.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Brown sugar is sold by the blocks; they dehydrate the raw sugar into these forms for easier transportation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One area of the market is also dedicated to handicrafts and cooking supplies.

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are something like 30 varieties of potatoes, all of which originated in the Andes.  The native potato soup, called Locra, is absolutely amazing when made with unique potato varieties.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These dried beans (sorry, I forgot the name) are often cooked, mixed with a onion/salsa mix, and topped with roasted cruchy peanuts.  Sounds and looks strange, but is amazingly delicious.

I had never heard of lava caves before our trip to Ecuador, but they make sense.  Molten hot lava flows from the peak of the volcano and makes tunnels when the outside cools due to outside air, but the inside continues to flow.  Eventually a hard shell is formed on the outside and the inner lava has stopped flowing, leaving a cave. We explored one briefly:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our group entering the cave…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A mother and son owl pair hanging out in the cave.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

View through the cave.  Because the lava needed a way out, the cave also has 2 ways out - but when I heard you had to “crawl” the last section, I immediately turned out.  Brave Husband, however, continued all the way through and the tour bus picked him and a few others up on the other side.  Two kids followed them all the way through - younger kids, they were under ten and hadn’t told their parents where they were going - but turned around when they got out because they didn’t see anyone.  Anyway, our bus spent 20 minutes going back and forth to the entrances trying to find them, and the guide had to run through the cave again.  They found them in the end, of course.

On the first day we arrived in the Galapagos we did some sight seeing and I immediately perked up when I heard the words, “souvenir shopping”.  We were just a short walk and dingy ride away from Puerto Ayora, a little downtown-like area.  Really it was about 20 shops and 10 bars on a road, but that was as good as it gets.

The first night we took a water taxi to Puerto Ayora and explored.  It was Sunday but surprisingly a lot of artisan places were open.  We let ourselves get a little bit lost and ended up at this cute little sitting area facing the ocean.  For a few minutes we just enjoyed the waves and setting sun…then saw this! I was overwhelmed with joy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Of course, the first time our friend reared his head we didn’t have the camera ready. Ryan wanted to wait for him to return but I complained that they don’t need to surface for water but every hour or something; as soon as Ryan started calling the poor little guy names for evading us, he popped his head back up and we took this picture.

 A few minutes later, we were surprised again when this came:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And our friend Mr. Pelican was hanging out with us the whole time, too.