One of our favorite vegetarian restaurants- GOOD AFFINITY

We have a few favorite restaurants that we frequent for "almuerzo", which means lunch in Spanish. Lunch in South America is primarily the largest meal of the day, with a light snack for dinner. Most restaurants have a set price for lunch and a set menu. Typically, lunch is anywhere between $1.50-$3.00. It usually consists of a bowl of soup, fresh squeezed fruit juice, the main plate and sometimes a dessert. One of our favorite places to go for almuerzo is called "Good Affinity" which is a vegetarian restaurant owned by Taiwanese expats. The food is so tasty and healthy and only costs $2.75 for 4 vegetarian sides on your plate, soup and juice or homemade soy milk for $2.75. They also offer noodle and rice dishes,veggie burgers, spring rolls and yogurt parfaits for $1.50-$3.25.

Good Affinity is located on Av. Ordonez and Av. Americas. They are open Mon-Sat 11:00a.m.-3:00p.m.

This noodle dish is loaded with broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage and carrots. The soup had pasta, cilantro, cabbage, potato,and carrots, along with a glass of homemade soy milk all this for $3.25.

Cheap healthy, hearty, quick meal- QUINOA WITH VEGGIES AND EGGS

This is a quick and healthy meal that costs us about $5.00 in Ecuador to throw together. It's loaded with vegetables and quinoa which is high in protein and fiber , so it fills you up without the fat. This can be eaten for breakfast, lunch or dinner.

QUINOA WITH RAW OR SAUTEED VEGETABLES AND EGG- SERVES 4
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INGREDIENTS:
1 LB. BAG OF QUINOA COOKED TO PACKAGE INSTRUCTIONS(I usually boil 2 cups quinoa with 3 cups water with the lid on the pan)
Season quinoa with salt, pepper, oregano, cumin and crushed garlic cloves.
1 GREEN PEPPER SLICED
1 RED BELL PEPPER SLICED
1 MEDIUM SIZED ONION SLICED
1 LARGE TOMATO
4 TO 6 RED SKIN OR FINGERLING POTATOES BOILED OR BROILED
1 CUP FRESH OR FROZEN COOKED PEAS
1 CUP COOKED CORN
1 BUNCH OF BROCOLLI
TONS OF SPINACH, KALE OR CHARD
4 GARLIC CLOVES CRUSHED THEN CHOPPED
5 SPRIGS OF CILANTRO
2 AVOCADOES
4 Eggs boil or fry; whatever you desire

2 TABLESPOONS OF COOKING OIL

I PREFER TO USE ORGANIC COCONUT OIL AS MY COOKING OIL BECAUSE OF IT'S HEALTH BENEFITS, BUT UNFORTUNATELY, IT'S NOT READILY AVAILABLE HERE IN SOUTH AMERICA AND IT COSTS A FORTUNE IF YOU CAN GET YOUR HANDS ON IT. IT WAS SURPRISING BECAUSE YOU WOULD THINK THE CLIMATE WOULD RENDER COCONUTS BUT COCONUTS GROW IN TROPICAL CLIMATES AND SANDY SOIL. YOUR BEST BET WOULD BE EXTRA VIRGIN OLIVE OIL TO SAUTE THE VEGGIES, I JUST STARTED USING AVOCADO OIL WHICH IS ANOTHER HEALTHY OIL.

Heat oil in pan and sauté onions till soft, then add garlic.
Add all veggies and sauté for a few minutes and until spinach or greens are tender.
Place quinoa in a bowl, top with cooked or raw veggies, snipped cilantro , sliced avocado and egg.

Serve with hot sauce, salsa or chimchurri if you want to do it South American style.

Hosteria Dos Chorreras

We took a daytrip with a bus full of expats from the United States, all retirees except for us. It was a short 40 minute ride to the beautiful Hosteria Dos Chorreras on the edge of the Cajas National Park. This piece of property was purchased 30 years ago to start a rainbow trout fishing farm. With the inception of the farm came the need for lodging and accomodations. The hosteria has rooms for rent, a restaurant and a store. The property was beautiful and lunch was great. We all had grilled trout from the farm. I am not a fan of farm raised fish, but after seeing the farm and the natural environment, I felt fine with it. This lunch was a bit of splurge for us at around $12 per plate but it was worth it. I only say splurge because a typical lunch in Ecuador runs around $2.00 and that's what we are used to paying. Here's some photos of the picturesque Hosteria Dos Chorreras and here is the link to the website if you'd like to check it out. www.hosteriadoschorreras.com

We go to see the Cuenca Symphony Orchestra for FREE!

Since we have been in Cuenca for 4 weeks now, we have had the pleasure of going to see the Cuenca Symphony 3 times now, for FREE! This is truly a blessing because back home, we have to pay around $50 per person if we want to see our city orchestra perform. With five of us, it adds up and so it has not been a luxury we have been able to indulge in. The performances have been exceptional and we are so grateful to be able to enjoy such a treat. We were really disappointed last week when we arrived to see the performance and the auditorium was completely full and they were not letting anymore people in. Our 3 year old cried because he was really looking forward to going to the symphony. He asked if he could get ice cream to make him feel better. The next performance is next Thursday, we may be able to post a video clip in the near future.

Photos from the central flower market

These long stemmed roses cost $3.00 for 24.

Free architectural walking tour

Cuenca, Ecuador became a Spanish settlement in 1557. The city center is listed as a Unesco World Heritage Trust Site due to it's many historical buildings. The city lies in the sierra of the Andes mountain and sits around 2500 meters above sea level, with four rivers running through the city and mountains on all sides. This geographical position along with it's historical background makes it a wonderful background for some beautiful photographs. The streets and sidewalks downtown are cobblestone or tiled. Every few blocks you may find a plaza with a fountain. Many of the colonial structures have endured with their original craftmanship , some being restored to withstand time. I took a walking photographic tour with my boys as an extra curricular assignment. We walked and snapped anything that was interesting. This was free and it was fun. Here's a few of the photos I took.

Cheap food

Part of saving money when traveling is cooking alot of our meals at home. We do enjoy going out a couple times a week to experience authentic Ecuadorean food, but we also enjoy experimenting with Ecuadorean recipes as well. One of the best things about Ecuador is that it is home to many fruits and vegetables due to the ideal climate. We have been really taking advantage of easy access to locally grown organic fruits and vegetables. There are several "mercado's " in the area that are indoor and sometimes outdoor food markets. Each stall is owned and operated by a separate vendor selling fruits, vegetables, raw meat as well as dried goods like rice and quinoa.

These bags of tomatoes, avacados and onions, were $1.00 each. As you can see there are 10 onions in one bag, 10 tomatoes in the other and 5 medium sized avocados in the last bag. They were bagged, ready for purchase. What a steal!

I got ALL of these fruits and vegetables for $8.60! No joke!!!!!!!

Avacados,mangoes,papaya,plantains,bananas,tomatoes,carrots peas and green peppers oh my!

Our temporary home away from home

We've been in Cuenca, Ecuador for a few weeks now and feel quite at home. We are enjoying the pleasant weather, the beautiful mountain views of the Andes and immersing in the culture of Ecuador. As budget travelers, one of the most important decisions we make is concerning housing. Since we planned on staying put for awhile, we decided on a short term apartment rental. Because Cuenca, Ecuador has become one of the most popular retirement destinations as well as being a must on the tourist circuit, it was very difficult to find a rental to accommodate our budget. Typically you can find a short term furnished rental between $250- $500. When we were here a year and a half ago, we had no problem renting an apartment and we paid $500 for the whole month. This time around there was nothing available in our price range at the time we needed it. Needless to say, we had to go with what we could get and ending up spending a little bit more than we wanted to again. We ended up finding our rental on Airbnb.com. I highly recommend it as your first resource when looking for short term rental. The site is secure, trusted and easy to use. Owner's of properties have listings online with photos and amenities as well as price per night, per week and per month. You can communicate via email with the owner to ask questions or even call them. You reserve the property of your choice by paying for the full rate by credit card. We've used this site several times and have been very satisfied. The apartment we are renting is a colonial style duplex in a quiet residential area. It's in a great location and the duplex has an electric security fence and an alarm. Although Cuenca is considered a safe area it's still nice to have the peace of mind. It is Ecuadorean owned and the hosts are very hospitable and accommodating. Here's the link to the website and listing of our temporary home if anyone is interested : https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/1252433?guests=4&s=0QAb

We negotiated with the owner on the monthly rate and ended up paying $900 for the month, which comes out to be $30 a day. Once again, for a family of five traveling, it's almost impossible to find a hostel at that price, so we took it. For our second month in Ecuador, we did find an even cheaper rental, but I will share that in the near future.