Papallacta's Public Thermal Baths at Night

If you leave early enough in the morning, you can enjoy a multi-hour hike in the páramo before enjoying a fantastic, body-soothing reward with a dip in the thermal baths. Since it is in the páramo, though, the weather tends to be chilly, damp and foggy, so prepare accordingly. This is what makes the steamy hot springs so appealing, though; the contrast is truly delicious, especially at nighttime, when they are vaguely lit and even more romantic. However, you won’t be alone at the public pools; they are almost always packed on weekends.  With over 20 pools of varying temperatures, the public termales are still satisfying and worthwhile, costing $8 for the entire day.

Papallacta's Public Thermal Baths at Night

If you are looking for a bit more privacy, though, and don’t want to splurge on the spa’s thermal baths, you can go to Hostería Pampallacta instead. Pampallacta charges $6 for the whole day, and has four of its own pools (three warm/hot and one polar), one of which is located in a stone cave. If you want to stay the night, rooms run $63-150. It also has an on-site restaurant that serves up the area’s infamous trout in a few different styles ($7), plus grilled beef ($8) and chicken, lasagna ($7) and burgers. Although it is a bit pricey, if you come here, you will have little other choice, since there are no surrounding restaurants. Near the public baths, however, you will find several cheap eateries, with menus focused on fish.

Pools at Hostería Pampallacta

To get to Papallacta by public transport, you have to take the Ecovia (or a cab) to the last stop on the line, Río Coca. At this bus station, you then need to follow the signs to the green-colored buses to Cumbayá ($0.25), a valley about 20-25 minutes outside of Quito. In Cumbayá, get off at the stop near the gasoline station and Supermaxi, facing the large strip mall. From here, wait for any Tena-bound bus, which pass every 30 minutes or so, and hop aboard. Ask to be let off at Papallacta. The ride costs $2. Once you arrive in Papallacta, you can either walk the steep 2.7 kilometers to the thermal baths, or catch a camioneta (pick-up truck) to them ($1-1.50).

Although the baths are open until 10 p.m. or later, return transport becomes more infrequent after 6:30 p.m. Buses pass about every 15 minutes or so until 6:30 p.m., and then every hour or hour and a half thereafter. All you need to do is flag down any Quito-bound bus from the stop where you were dropped off  on the way here. These buses go through Cumbayá, then head straight to Quitumbe, so if you live in central or northern Quito, be sure to get off in Cumbayá and hop on a bus to Río Coca. If you take a late bus back to Quito from Papallacta, you may need to cab it home from Cumbayá ($8-10), since buses from Cumbayá to Quito don’t run very late.

Here is a slideshow of some of the quindes:

Lots of Masks to Choose From

Each family (and many businesses) typically creates an Año Viejo, which is a monigote (large dummy) dressed in old clothes and a mask that represents the past year. The masks, which are sold at every corner starting a few days before, range from Homer Simpson to disliked politicians. At midnight, everyone burns their Año Viejos to say goodbye to the old year (to literally burn away the bad things from the past year) and welcome in the new. It is truly amazing seeing the streets of Quito lit up in flames, while fireworks also explode in the sky above. Most people  jump over the fires created by the burnt Año Viejos for good luck.

Burning Año Viejo

During New Years Eve day, there are huge monigote scenes set up along Avenida Amazonas, a major drag in Quito’s La Mariscal neighborhood. Companies sponsor these creative themed displays, often playing off pop culture or political issues from the past year, which are worth a look. You’ll see lots of people dressed up in costumes at this crowded event, complete with street food stands and local music.

Effigies on Av. Amazonas

Also, do not be startled if you see lots of cross-dressing this day. One of the strangest New Years traditions here is that teenage boys dress up as the female viudas (widows) of the Año Viejos, accentuating their breast and butt areas with balloons or pillows, and block off the streets asking for money. Due to this, it is very difficult to get around the city, so keep in mind that travel times may take longer than expected.

One of the Many Viudas

Several other traditions take place in Ecuador on New Years Eve to ensure the upcoming year is filled with health, wealth and fulfillment:

1) Ecuadorians wear yellow underwear on New Years Eve and put a dollar bill  under their foot in their left shoe for prosperity in the new year.

Yellow Underwear for Good Luck!

2) It is a tradition for each person to eat 12 grapes, one for each month of the year, starting the minute before midnight. With each grape, you are supposed to make a wish for the upcoming year.

Grapes for Sale on the Street

3) To hope for abundant travel in the upcoming year, Ecuadorians run to the end of the street they live on and loop back to their house.

Happy 2012 everyone!

Año Viejo

Zapallo Verde Canasta

Zapallo Verde has lots to choose from. Each week, members can order seasonal fruits and vegetables, or opt for a small ($5) or large ($10) canasta (basket) of mixed produce. There are all sorts of dairy products, including feta cheese, goat cheese and ricotta cheese, as well as natural yogurt.

Variety of Goat Cheeses

Fresh marmalade made with local fruits can top any of the offered homemade breads and biscuits, baked with whole grains, corn, chochos or squash. Several cakes, cookies and pies can satisfy your sweet tooth as well: flan, zucchini bread, apple pie and chocolate chip cookies are weekly staples. All sorts of flours (plantain, corn, wheat, haba) are also for sale, so you can make your own baked goods at home!

Zucchini Bread

Zapallo Verde is perfect for vegetarians and it has a selection of vegetarian alternatives, such as quinoa burgers, bean burgers, two different kinds of seitan, and vegetarian tamales and empanadas. Hummus and baba ganoush are sometimes available as well. Other items include organic ketchup, honey, and aloe shampoo and lotion.

Black Bean Burgers

The cooperative has a one-time fee of $10 to join, then you can order an unlimited amount of fresh products online weekly. All orders need to be placed by 2:30 p.m. on Mondays and are picked up at La Casa del Árbol in La Floresta (at the corner of Lugo y Vizcaya) each Wednesday between 5 and 7 p.m. You can have your orders delivered by bicycle as well, for an additional cost. Even if you are not a member, you can stop by the house on Wednesday evenings during pick-up time and sample some of the leftover products, which are for sale. Additionally, Zapallo Verde occasionally has events or trips to local farms to meet the producers and see how some of the goods are grown or made.

If you’d like more information about Zapallo Verde or would like to join, email zapalloverde@gmail.com.

The first post in this series is on sushi. Quito has several good and not-so-good sushi places, and some of those not-so-good places also happen to be not-so-cheap. So try these, and you’ll never have a sushi setback again:

Splurge: Noe–Noe is an upscale sushi bar with a few locations throughout the city. California rolls here run upwards of $7, but you’d be missing out if you didn’t order one of the more creative chef creations, such as the Rollo Kanebi ($10.30), a sushi roll filled with prawns, crab and octopus and topped with an orange, soy and miso sauce. Sashimi choices range from tuna and salmon to scallops, costing up to $15.90 for five pieces. If you don’t love sushi, there are plenty of seafood and meat mains to choose from, including baked salmon stuffed with crab in a passionfruit sauce (accompanied by grilled shrimp) ($21.10), prawn tempura with veggies in a ginger sauce ($16.50) and simple grilled beef ($29.90). Oh, and Noe has a delivery service…to kick those cravings on a cold, rainy night!

Address: Isabel La Católica 24, La Floresta; also in El Jardín mall, CCI mall and Quicentro mall food courts; and in Cumbayá: Manabí and Francisco de Orellana, Plaza Cumbaya

Steal: Fuji Sushi–This hole-in-the-wall sushi place may not catch your eye if you are walking by, but for the price, the sushi is more than decent. You can get an eight-piece California roll for $4.50, and it comes with miso soup and a piece of tofu. For the fried food lovers out there, a heaping plate of vegetable tempura only costs $3. Of course, there are fancier, more expensive (though not expensive, per say) sushi options as well, in addition to teriyaki dishes and some Chinese specialties. However, you can easily get a satisfying Asian meal here for around $10, drink included.

Address: Robles 609 and Juan León Mera, La Mariscal

Pitahaya

The good news is that fruits and vegetables are plentiful and cheap here. You can get a bag of about eight tangerines for $1, a mango for $0.50 and a banana for $0.05!!! There are all sorts of exotic fruits, enough to keep your palate excited day to day. Some include mango, papaya, passionfruit, naranjilla, granadilla, uvilla, pitahaya and orito. Fresh fruit juices ($0.50-2) are on almost every menu (just beware of the added sugar), and most breakfast places have fruit salad with the option of adding natural yogurt and granola.

"Tilapia," by nate steiner: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nate/417657209/

Buying fish or seafood in the grocery store is significantly cheaper (except for salmon) than in the U.S. as well, so it is easy to prepare yourself a healthy dinner without busting your budget. Fish is also on nearly every menu here, but is often fried or served with white rice and fried plantains or French fries. I have found that in more upscale places, you can ask to replace the fried sides with a salad (es posible de cambiar las papas fritas por una ensalada? or puedo tener una ensalada en vez de las papas fritas?). Ceviche is usually a good choice, since it is only pieces of fish or shrimp marinated in lime juice with onions and tomatoes. Just skip the chifles (fried plantain chips), tostados (toasted corn) and popcorn that usually come with it on the side.

"Quinoa," by Emily Barney: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ebarney/4237839600/

Quinoa, which is grown here, is readily available and costs $1.50-3 for a large bag, enough to make several meals. This versatile earthy seed is high in protein and dietary fiber and cooks much faster than rice or lentils, making it a perfect accompaniment to stir fries. I make quinoa at least once a week and tend to mix it with fresh vegetables, shrimp or beans, and spices like cumin, curry powder and tumeric.

Additionally, Ecuadorian restaurants don’t greet clients with a heaping basket of freshly baked bread, so you won’t have to sit on your hands to avoid filling up on empty calories before your meal even arrives. Most restaurants don’t put anything on the table prior to the meal, though many cheap restaurants put a small basket of popcorn on the table instead. Almost all fixed-priced lunches start with a bowl of soup, and it is possible to just order soup if you want to join friends or colleagues for lunch but want to avoid the typically more unhealthy mains and dessert.

"hornado," by elementality: http://www.flickr.com/photos/elementality/151056830/

If staying healthy is truly your overall goal, do not order the following in restaurants serving Ecuadorian food: hornado (baked pork), fritada (fried pork), churrasco (thin steak topped with a fried egg, served with rice and French fries), anything apanado (breaded and fried), llapingachos (fried potato pancakes topped with meat and fried egg), salchipapas (French fries with sausage and cheese), patacones (fried plantains) or locro de papas (a creamy, cheesy potato soup).

Overall, each place has its own challenges when it comes to eating healthily. In the U.S., I constantly struggle with gigantic-sized restaurant portions, abundantly available processed foods and fighting the cravings for snack foods that are not available in Ecuador. Here, I find it challenging to avoid the white rice and fried sides that take up half the plate at Ecuadorian restaurants, and unhealthy foods like empanadas, tamales and pan de yuca that are cheap and convenient.

However, I think it is important to adjust diets according to what is locally fresh and available, and I feel lucky that I currently live in a place that produces so much of the stuff we consume in the U.S. (bananas, quinoa, coffee, chocolate, shrimp, etc.).

First off, you will need a full deck of cards. All of the 8′s, 9′s and 10′s then need to be removed from the playing deck. These three numbers serve as “points cards” and are not used during the actual game. Each of these cards has a value of two points.

One person starts as the dealer. The person to the right cuts the deck, then the dealer hands out 5 cards to each player. Typically, the game is played with four people acting as two pairs. The goal of the game is to be the first pair to earn 40 points.

If players have three of the same cards in their hand, they should say “ronda” and will automatically receive two points.

The player to the right of the dealer starts by throwing down a card. The circle continues counter clockwise, with each player trying to earn points and/or cards in one of the following ways:

1) Making a pair by placing one of their five cards on a card that has already been thrown down of the same number. Example: throwing down a “5″ on top of another “5,”  no matter the color or suite. Whenever a pair has been made, the player takes both cards and adds them to the team’s pile. Two points are only gained in the case of “caida,” when a player throws down a card of the same number as the card thrown down by the previous player. However, if a player gets caida on the other team’s “ronda” cards, then he/she will receive 10 points.

2) Adding cards. For example, if there is a number 2 card and a number 3 card already thrown, the current player should throw down a number 5 card if possible. Same with throwing down a 7 card if there is already a 3 and 4 card on the table. Keep in mind that Ace has a value of “1.” In these cases, players can take all three cards to add to their pile. The only way two points is earned here, however, is if the table has been completely cleared, or if once these cards are taken, there are no more left on the table.

3) Sequence pair. If there is a sequence already on the table (i.e. 2, 3, 4 OR 5, 6, 7 OR J, Q, K), your best bet is to throw down the lowest number in the sequence. If you throw down a 2 card and there is already a 2, 3, 4 sequence, you get to take the two 2 cards plus all the cards above it in the sequence. Remember, since you are not playing with 8, 9 and 10, Jack is actually the next card in the sequence after 7. In the case of a 5,6,7 sequence with a J and Q also on the table, if you put down a 5, you can take the two 5′s, plus 6, 7, J and Q, adding 6 cards to your pile. Again, you will only earn two points for this move if you have cleared the table, though.

Besides earning points, it is important to always collect as many cards as possible on each move. Every time the deck runs out, each team counts the cards in its pile. You will only earn points for cards beyond 19. Once you hit 20 cards, your team will earn six points or more, depending on how may cards  beyond 19 you have (1 point more for each card). For example, if you have 22 cards, you will receive eight points. But there is a catch: Since each “points card” is worth two points, it isn’t possible to receive an odd number of points. So, if you have 21 cards, you will also earn eight points, even though it adds to seven points.

Again, the goal is to be the first team to get to 40 points. Once you get to 38 points, you can no longer receive points for clearing the table, only for caida and you have to say “treinta y ocho que no juega” to alert the other players that it is the last two points left to win the game.

This game tends to be more about strategy than luck, as it is important to remember which cards have been thrown in order to set up plays to your benefit.

Who is up for the challenge?

For those who don’t know, Fiestas de Quito is a city-wide celebration of Quito’s independence, complete with open party buses (called chivas), cuarenta card tournaments (the national card game), bull fighting shows, and folkloric parades, music and dance.

Yesterday, I went to Centro Cultural Metropolitano for a Salvador Dali exhibit, but ended up liking one of the other expositions in the cultural center even better. Ilustres Ilustradores is a display of illustrations and graphic design by Ecuadorian artists of the last 25 years.  Some of the images modernized traditional cultural symbols or made political commentary, while others seemed like they could appear in places as diverse as a children’s storybook or in the form of a tattoo.

Here is a slideshow of some of the creative pieces I saw:

Lobsters Fresh Off the Boat!

But that is the way of life in Mompiche, a lazy fishing village in the province of Esmeraldas, home to the country’s Afro-Ecuadorian culture. Mompiche has a distinctly more jungle-y feel, with big leafy trees intermingling with palms and brightly colored tropical flowers. In fact, it is located within the biologically diverse Chocó tropical forest, which extends along the coast from Panama to Peru, as the owner of a local restaurant called Chocó kindly told us.

Mompiche

Mompiche is a place where time is measured more by the day’s surfing tides than by the clock, a place where being barefoot in the norm and a place where hammocks may outnumber ordinary chairs. Several sandy paths weave through town, where thatched-roof bamboo huts serve as basic hostels, restaurants or makeshift surfing schools. A few scattered stands offer freshly cut coconuts, batidos (milkshakes) made with tropical fruits in any combination and cervezas. The most popular stand is called El Negrito, where an older man blends up the most delicious batidos and cocktails, topping them with fresh slices of fruit, shredded coconut and condensed milk, yum! Try coconut mixed with mango, watermelon, passionfruit or pineapple!

Mompiche Pueblo

Batido de Coco (Coconut Milkshake)

Ecuadorian coastal food is delicious, and the food in Esmeraldas has its own flair. Esmeraldas is known for its encocado, or a typical dish made with seafood and coconut milk, usually accompanied by patacones, or fried plantains, and a mound of white rice. Ceviche is also popular, but it is sweeter than the ceviche on other parts of the coast. A typical breakfast consists of a bolon, or a fried ball of mashed plantains filled with cheese, and black coffee.

Ceviche de Pescado

Patacones (Fried Plantains)

Nighttime is pretty chill in Mompiche. One of the best places we found was a restaurant-bar/hostel called La Facha, which serves up some pretty awesome brick-oven pizza and which plays an eclectic selection of world music. If in doubt, though, head to any of the beachfront stands for a cocktail or two. You may even stumble upon a local bonfire on the beach, if you’re lucky.

Cervezas at La Facha

Overall, Mompiche is a relaxing place to spend a few nights and to decompress. Mompiche is not luxurious, however; most of the hostels are poorly built with local materials and only have cold water. If you want a more upscale experience, head to Hotel Royal Decameron, an all-inclusive resort in nearby El Portete, which is a gorgeous, secluded beach. From Mompiche, it is possible to walk (1 hour) or hire a car ($5 each way) to take you to El Portete. Other popular activities include taking a day trip to Isla Júniper, renting canoes to explore the area’s mangrove, and, of course, surfing.

Guagua del Pan and Colada Morada

Today is Día de los Difuntos in Ecuador, or Day of the Deceased, a variation on Mexico’s Day of the Dead. This is a time when Ecuadorians pay tribute to their friends and relatives who have passed away, which usually involves visiting cemeteries and leaving their loved ones flowers, cards, presents and food. Many people dress up in dark colors, like black or dark purple, in remembrance.

Also, people traditionally eat guaguas del pan and drink colada morada at this time, and many bakeries and restaurants start selling both a few weeks prior to November 2. Guaguas del pan are different-sized breads shaped and decorated like little dolls or babies. There are many variations, but they are typically filled with sweet marmalade or cheese. Colada morada is a thick purple drink made with fruits (blackberries, naranjilla, pineapple…) and spices, which is said to symbolize the blood of lost ones. It can be served hot or cold, and is sweet and delicious.

It is important to remember that Día de los Difuntos isn’t a somber day, it is more a celebration of the lives of those who have passed.