These colorful painted hummingbirds were on display at the riverwalk in April-May. The colibrí (more colloquially called chupaflores - "flower-suckers") were painted by different Ecuadorian artists and are part of a traveling exhibit.
Each hummingbird is different. Some are painted in bright geometric patterns, others reflect particular landscapes or regions, still others make pointed political statements. It was a pleasure to stroll along and note the creativity of the artists.
Unrelated to the hummingbirds: These aquatic hamster balls have graced one of the pools at the riverwalk for months. They're very popular with the general public. The idea is you pay money to get in and roll around on the water's surface.
These past couple weekends, I've eaten lots of cake. It's something about it being the weekend, and letting loose, and also the bad influence of my friend the Cake Baby.
Here in Ecuador, the oven is probably the most neglected kitchen appliance. If there even is one in the kitchen, it is most likely used as a storage unit. The art/science of baking is generally left to the panaderías. As a result, most cakes you find here fall into one of two categories: ridiculously melodramatic, or your basic sponge cake. Both usually come in one flavor: dry. Dry with a layer of manjar (akin to dulce de leche) in the middle.
Type 1
These are the kind you find displayed in bakeries. They usually have elaborate designs based on children's movies or soccer teams. The example I have rendered below is actually much less fancy than the real thing, which I saw in the window of a panadería and which had 5 cakes and lots more stairs and fancy figurines than I had patience for. Quinceañera means business.
Type 2
On the other end of the spectrum there is homemade sponge cake. Very simple, no frills or frostings. Sometimes it's made with orange juice to add a little flavor and zest to what would otherwise be a not-so-exciting experience for your palate (i.e., dry sponge).
I was prepared to give up on cake here, tempted to tell people to stick to their queso de leche and their flan.
But these past few weekends have completely changed my mind. Folks, I bring you tidings of great joy: There is delicious cake to be found in Ecuador! Here are some good Ecuadorian cakes I've eaten recently...over the past week, maybe...or maybe over a longer period of time...or maybe not...does it really matter? Here's the cake!
Proof #1
Cake we ordered from a friend who knows how to bake and runs a small business out of his house. This is the basic sponge cake, but done the way it was meant to be done. I mean, this is what every cake with manjar wants to be. Soft and spongy with rich, creamy manjar in the middle holding it all together. It's so beautiful in its simplicity that it could do without the frosting and sprinkles and be just as good, or better.
Proof #2
Here is one Cake Baby and I found on our evening prowl around the neighborhood. We stopped into the Colombian bakery for a bottle of water and came out with this little guy in tow. He's got a lot going for him: chocolate flavored cake (a rarity here), frosting that doesn't taste like air, and some kind of flavor shot in the filling that tasted suspiciously rummy. And so not-dry that we didn't even need to buy the bottle of water we'd originally come for.
Proof #3
Cake Baby and I made the mistake of walking into a bakery where they sell cake by the slice. D'oh. We couldn't resist the lemon pound cake, and after that the chocolate cake with Oreo frosting. For about $2 per slice, that was a pretty good find. Especially considering both types of cake were delicious. I might have to go back today and get some more.
Proof #4
When I got home after the double cake whammy, my host mother brought me a mini takeout box. What was inside? CAKE. Yes. More cake. I have no idea where this cake came from, maybe from heaven. It was spongy and syrupy and sweet and topped off with thick frosting that had real coconut flakes in it. Swoon.
Proof #5
Return to the Cake Shop: we got another cake by the slice, this time some kind of mystery cake that turned out to be delicious. (That day I was having a particularly difficult time with all the dust and pieces of grit that kept blowing into my eyes, just a part of living in Guayaquil but also the perfect excuse for cake.) Don't be fooled by my inadequate drawing, it was not a fruitcake. It was one of those amalgamation cakes that has a little bit of everything - spices, carrots, what we determined to be coconut, etc. - and they weren't really floating in the cake so much as they composed the structure of the cake itself. It's very difficult to describe the impact this one slice of cake had on us, but it was very, very thick and the tiny spoons they gave us were in no way up to the task of helping us to eat it.
That concludes my Treatise on the Cakes of Ecuador. Now that these five proofs have been documented, I look forward to gathering more evidence and sharing it with you. Come to Ecuador: We've got cake!
I've been reading up on my historical comics lately and came across this one drawn by the lovely Kate Beaton.
Simón Bolívar, having led what is now Bolivia, Ecuador, Venezuela, and Colombia to independence from the Spanish Empire, is recognized as a liberator and a hero here in Ecuador. Sucre, by all appearances Bolívar's right-hand man and a shoe-in as his successor, was at different times the President of Bolivia and Peru. Ecuador's currency was named after him, and the sucre was used from 1884 until dollarization in 2000.
I'll be traveling until the end of the week and might not have a chance to update. I'm going to talk to the new group of trainees about how to live Safely & Securely in a foreign country. Wish me no pickpockets!
Here's a couple breakfasty items off the Ecuadorian menu. They don't necessarily have to be eaten as breakfast, but they're as good at breakfast as at any other time of day, which cannot be said of all foods.
BATIDO DE GUINEO
i.e., banana smoothie
The batido de guineo is notable in that, unlike most of its fruit-flavored batido buddies, it does not require copious amounts of sugar to be rendered palatable. Guineo is naturally sweet and complements well the flavor of plain milk. But wait! That doesn't mean you can't augment this delectable banana, milk, & ice cube combo with other ingredients. For example, chocolate-flavored protein powder or - my personal favorite - instead of using regular old ice cubes, throw in a few cubes of frozen passionfruit juice for a little extra zing. Voilà, breakfast is served.*
*now with passionfruit!!! Because what better way to wake up than with a cup of salacious mania!
HUMITAS
i.e., humitas
I don't make these, I just eat what I buy or - much more preferable - what is given to me by my host family, who knows how to make them and told me the recipe: You know, you grind the corn, you mix it with some butter, some pig lard, some trago [translates as a "drink" or a "swig," but a drink or swig of what they did not specify - definitely something alcoholic though], and a few other things, and then you wrap it up in a corn husk. Uh-huh. Sure. How about you just tell me whenever you make them and I'll come and get some and pretend like I made them myself.
Like tamales, but sweeter! A great way to start the day!*
*not every day, though. One recipe I do know is that pig lard and butter for breakfast every day yields multiple servings of arterial plaque.
Hey guys, remember this post? From back in March, when I talked about the vacation camp for kids that the teenagers ran? And how we constructed scenery for puppets out of cardboard and duct tape and various other materials? And I said, "Stay tuned tomorrow, we have some important visitors coming?"
Well folks, the tomorrow of yesterday is today. And of the day before yesterday, and the day before that, and the day before that, and March 27th's tomorrow is also today.
What I'm trying to say is, in March, two representatives from Peace Corps in Washington made a trip to Guayaquil to visit some volunteers and see what life is like in the field. (You all thought I was in Ecuador; turns out I was in the field all along.) Their visit coincided with the celebratory last day of vacation camp, so we planned a big shebang. The Washington people were kind enough to send me some photos of the event, and now - today - I am sharing them with you.
The kids were supposed to arrive early to help set up, but they arrived late. But late for them is like arriving on time, so really they arrived early even though they arrived late.
Setting the stage.
The puppets waiting in the wings. The story we performed: Jack and the [Raddest, Awesomest, Coolest, Spiffiest] Beanstalk [Ever Made]. If you wish to see a picture of said beanstalk, check out that post from back in March. Then you'll see what I mean.
Luckily, all parties were running on Ecuadorian time, so everyone arrived pretty much in the order they were supposed to.
The kids gave a presentation to our visitors, as well as their gathered family and friends, on our activities in the vacation camp.
Then came the puppets.
The show in progress. We had designated narrators, prop managers, and puppeteers. It was all very professional.
Except for the cardboard sets having a tendency to flop over if they weren't held at the correct angle and people missing their cues and whatnot.
But we had fun.
The sock puppet with the tophat is the narrator.
Taking a bow.
Friends and family came to see the show.
Afterwards, we took our visitors outside to check out the garden project.
Two of our most dedicated "Garden Promoters" explained all we'd done to build and maintain an organic garden. They've seen it through multiple harvests during the almost-year it's been producing.
The PC office sent some literature - the Annual Report for PC in Ecuador - which apparently the little one found fascinating.
Here we all are, wrapping it up in the garden. Everybody was excited to show off what we'd been working on for the past few weeks (and, in the case of the garden, months), and hopefully our visitors enjoyed themselves and got a good idea of what Peace Corps Volunteers are accomplishing here.
It's Saturday morning. Here are two videos. Both were taken at the Parque Histórico in Guayaquil. One is in English, the other is in Spanish and Goat. Over'n'out.
Something that took getting used to here was living on a diet based on what fruit & veg is or isn't in season. Ecuador, being on the equator, nearly always has a plethora of produce that's the envy of anyone living in colder climes. People here like to say that you can just throw seeds on the ground and they'll sprout and bear fruit. Generally speaking, that's true. It's common to see houses with banana, mango, or papaya trees out front. It's relatively easy to plant seeds and make things grow: just throw some seeds down, give them water, and the natural sun and soil do the rest.
Unless you put the seeds in sand. That doesn't work. I once taught a group of 100 Ecuadorian teenagers how to recycle old tires and use them as garden beds, but the only soil available to us on the campgrounds was just not up to par. By the end of the workshop we had about nine tires filled with wet sand.
After the novelty of being surrounded by a mindblowing assortment of produce - especially fruit - begins to wear off and your adrenaline levels are back to normal, you begin to notice things here and there. Such as, Huh, there weren't any pitahayas at the market today. Or, One little bag of grapes for a DOLLAR? Did that lady rip me off or what?!?!?! One time I argued with a vendor lady about a 20-cent rise in the price of plums - it was one of those times where you've picked your battle, and you must be adamant and not back down because that would mean the indignity of losing 20 cents - until she looked at me with pity and said, They're not in season. (Oh. Right. In that case I'll take a pound. Do you have change for a five?)
As time passes one comes to know upon walking into the market what's in season and what's not (as well as what's always going to be around - like plantains). Usually you can tell by noticing what's not there, general price fluctuations, and what there is an overwhelming amount of. One day I walked into the market and saw piles and piles of cherries in all the fruit stalls. I was like, I guess it's cherry season. Another time it was guavas. And a few weeks ago, I started noticing these everywhere:
They are not alien eggs, they are achotillos. More commonly known as rambutan. Native to Southeast Asia. Cousin to the lychee.
Here's a better picture, courtesy of Wikipedia:
They grow on trees, and when they're peeled they look like big white grapes. They're pretty darn tasty.
Anyway, a few weeks ago I started to notice them everywhere: piles of them in the market, vendors selling them out of big rice bags in the street. You know what's funny is, you can also tell what fruits are in season by what types of fruit pits you see thrown away in the street. In December: oblong pits from a type of plum. After that: flat mango pits just smaller than your palm. Then: the hairy achotillo skins.
Now the achotillos are beginning to disappear, and I wonder what will come into season next. Grapes? Tomatillos? Something I've never heard of before? I eagerly await the next winner of Fruit Roulette.
The Guy In Charge explains that there are presidents, artists, musicians buried here..."everything that makes the history of a city." (Rough translation.)
After exploring it with friend Whitni, I came to the conclusion that the cemetery, in addition to housing the city's history, is in a sense a microcosm of the city itself.
The Guayaquil city cemetery starts at the base of a hill just north of downtown Guayaquil and sprawls upward and outward to encompass the hilltop and then down its opposite side. The place is vast and has multiple entrances. We entered through a gate right off the main highway leading into Guayaquil.
The guard took our IDs and ushered us through rather incredulously - I'm guessing the cemetery doesn't see many tourists. Or anyone else for that matter; the whole time we were there, which was all afternoon, we encountered all of one family visiting a grave, and the only other sign of life was a cemetery worker guy walking toward us and I was afraid he was going to yell at us for using our cameras but as it turned out he just wanted to know if we'd like him to paint a grave. We said, No thanks.
This is the section where we entered, a labyrinth of stairs and blocks of graves/tombs...I'm not sure of the exact terminology for these structures, so for lack of a better phrase I will call them what they appear to be: death condominiums. The mid-level-income, rent-an-apartment section of the cemetery, if you will.
There were hundreds upon hundreds of these. Some were stenciled, and others were fancied up with plaques and reliefs. Some had fresh wreaths of flowers, others had been left untouched for what looked like long periods of time.
Foreground: death condominiums
In the distance: downtown Guayaquil
We came upon rows and rows of empty condos, which felt somewhat eerie. Supposedly they are all reserved, and with space running out at the city cemetery, a new one is being built on a hill across town.
His body rests here,
his spirit in Heaven,
and his memory lives
and will live on in our hearts.
After winding our way up and around the side of the hill, the narrow walkways between the death condos opened up to a wider space with graves in the ground.
We had arrived at the "campo" - the countryside - part of the cemetery. It started out as graves lined up in a somewhat orderly manner, with a paved path leading upward. As we went further, we realized that at intervals the path branched off to both sides, in effect creating tiers up the side of the hill. And as we ascended, the less kempt the gravesites became, the more the plantlife pressed in, and the harder it became to discern where the path was. Eventually the rows became individual graves scattered upon the hillside, some better tended than others.
We reached the big cross at the top of the hill. Well, we thought it was the top, but now that we'd reached it we realized it was just one peak obscuring more hillside and yet another ascent.
At that point, the path looked like this:
The light was beginning to fade, we were in dire need of insect repellent, and who knew what sort of wildlife lurked down that fading trail. We decided that the far side of the hill was why the guard took our IDs when we entered the cemetery, and that this would have to be an adventure for another day.
We made our way back down towards the more densely populated portion of the cemetery.
"Daughters of the Charity of San Vicente de Paul"
It seems the obligation to live in seclusion lasts...forever?
Once back on ground level, we walked around the base of the hill, along the highway, towards the city. That's where we found cemetery suburbia...
monumental mansion mausoleums,
mansion-like mausoleum monuments,
mausolean monument mansions,
etc., etc.
Burial site of Victor Emilio Estrada,
former President of the Republic of Ecuador.
Held office for one year, in 1911, before dying of a heart attack.
"Luke! Take these two over to the garage, will you? I want them cleaned up before dinner."
"But I was going into Tosche Station to pick up some power converters..."
I mean no disrespect to the dead. The above mausoleum simply reminded us of a certain movie set, and what better way to end this post than with a quote from Star Wars.
Some of the photos in this post were taken by Whitni.
