Easter Sunday, Part 2

Hungry after our exploration of the Old City, we decided to walk over a few blocks to the Mercado Central, a multi-story marketplace.  As soon as we stepped inside, we were a bit overwhelmed.  Stall upon stall of food vendors were situated on both ends, and toward the center people selling fresh fruits and vegetables.  We knew we wanted to eat something from one of the stalls, but as soon as we would glance in the direction of one of the vendors, she would start shouting at us to encourage us to purchase our almuerzo from her.  (Yes, almost all of the stalls are run by older, grandmotherly-looking Ecaudorian women.)


After attempting to ignore the onslaught of vendors and wading through the signs in Spanish to try to determine what they were selling, we finally settled on something we understood - corvina frita.  It seems to be a staple here - fried sea bass - and since it was the only thing we could positively identify, we ordered a plate.  We were told to sit at a nearby table in front of the stall, and a small bowl of ceviche de camaron (shrimp ceviche) appeared, along with a bowl of popped corn, toasted corn kernels (the original corn nut?), and yucca chips (at least, I think it was yucca).  Apparently, these were supposed to go on top of the ceviche as a condiment, although we didn't realize this until today, and we ate them like a snack.  Then a giant plate of the fried sea bass with a heaping serving of rice arrived.  All for $2.  A cheap, filling Ecuadorian lunch.

Stuffed, we found our way back to our hotel room, where, exhausted, we took a long siesta.

Upon waking and lounging around for a while, we decided to use the kitchen facilities at our hotel to make dinner, rather than going out.

We walked a few blocks down the street to the Supermaxi.  Other than having trouble understanding many of the Spanish words due to our lack of vocabulary, it was pretty much like shopping at a supermarket back in the United States.  We bought pasta, mushrooms, tomatoes, parmesan cheese, and a bottle of Chilean wine, which we took back to the hotel and cooked up into a tasty Easter Sunday dinner.