My World With Dance: Tastes of Ecuador

I was meant to have one last night in Quito and I wanted to make the most of it. I checked myself into the Community Hostel again and was delighted to hear they had a free old city tour. We started off at the market and were ushered through the endless meat, produce and flower isles. We then got to the food and drink section and I was hungry. After careful selection of my booth of choice I went with the award winning fried sea bass and fried rice dish that came with ceviche. My intuition was correct and I even ended up going back for some another day since it was the best sea bass I've ever tried.

Next we got a brief description of Ecuador's history along with a show and tell about some key squares, old buildings, and churches. I enjoyed the tour especially the candy stop where we got to see some locals making their beloved delicacies out of sugar, nuts and other sweets. My personal favourite was a peanut covered in chocolate and sesame. I got seriously addicted to this stuff and I'm still experiencing withdraw symptoms.

In the evening the hostel organized a food tour. This time we had a local perspective with the restaurants serving anything from tripe, cow womb, and intestines on their menus. I skipped it all but did give the BBQ tripe a shot. It didn't go so well and I was unable to swallow it with its rubbery texture. The next stop was a lot more successful with variations of sausage on a stick. I held out for the fried pork which I really enjoyed.

The last stop was on La Floriana. This is a local hot spot that boasts with life during the evenings. It is a really charming cobble street that is lined with pubs and restaurants and only open to pedestrians. Local artists preform at the venues and to our luck we got a whole kids Christmas choir to entertain us. We settled at a place offering giant empanadas stuffed with cheese that 10 of us couldn't finish.

I would call this night a success and I even checked my self into my awesome bed before midnight. I had a flight to catch at 7 am and I was stoked to see Buenos Aires. If I had a great story to excuse myself from showing up late I would feel much better. Of course, I could make one up like the time I pretended I rescued a baby from a shark attach when I actually just lamely fell of my bike. However the truth is I just thought it was a local flight first but instead it was a stop over without exiting the aircraft that continued internationally. So of course I showed up 15 minutes after the gate closed and had to pay the change fee to postpone my flight to 4 days later. As an ex travel agent I should have really known better but there is no point in crying over spilt milk. In the mean time I have more of Ecuador to explore!