Iguana Park in Guayaquil, Ecuador

In Lima, Peru there is a large central park in the Miraflores district called Parque Kennedy. In this park lives stray cats. There you can see the cats laying in the grass, cuddling up to people sitting on park benches, kids chasing and playing with the cats. Volunteers feed and care for the cats. In Guayaquil there is a central park called Parque De Las Iguanas. In this park live Iguanas of various sizes. You can see them run around and lounging in trees. They mingle with the pigeons and if you're not careful, you may get pooped on by one up in a tree. Here are some pics for your viewing.

Recipe for " Salsa De Tomate De Arbol "

Empanadas are deep fried or baked pastries filled with meat or cheese. In the local grocery stores you can buy the empanada dough already made. They are flat and all you have to do is fill it with your choice of ingredients and then deep fry or bake till golden brown. I made some with farmers cheese, sliced red onion, salt, pepper and a dash of oregano. I also made meat ones with ground beef, peas, carrots, onions, salt,pepper, and a dash of oregano. They use oregano in a lot of dishes in Ecuador so it is a familiar flavor. Personally, I think what makes the empanada taste good is the salsa that you dredge over it before taking a bite. The best sauce we had was from an empanada place in Cuenca in a little stall near Parque Madre. It's a very popular place and we found them to have the best empanadas in all of the city after taste testing numerous samples. Empanadas are $1.00 and to make it a complete snack or meal you must have it with Morrocho, a warm drink made from corn, milk, cinnamon. Here is a recipe for Tree tomato salsa. You can eat this salsa with anything and make it taste good. I am hoping we can find tree tomatoes or "tamarillo" in the US near our home. If you've never had tree tomato, it is tangy and sweet, grows on a tree and has a very tough skin.

Here are the 6 ingredients to this recipe:

5 or 6 Tree tomatoes peeled
1 bunch of Cilantro
1 large Red Onion sliced
1 Jalapeno or Chili for zip sliced
Salt
A dash of White Vinegar

Stick tomatoes, onion,and pepper in blender and pulse till slightly chunky, add cilantro and blend to chopp. Add salt and a splash of vinegar for taste. Enjoy!

Healthy Food , Exceptional Value- El Nuevo Paraiso

This was another one of our favorite restaurants in Cuenca. It's a vegetarian restaurant locate in Plaza San Blas. The food is so healthy and so cheap!If you are in the Cuenca area for a visit or if you live there, you must check it out. Here's some photos for your viewing:

This is the smoothie menu. Lot's of good stuff!

Can you see how big this yogurt and fruit sundae is? It's a lot bigger than Asher's head. We usually split this between 3 or 4 of us. It is loaded with melon, strawberries, pineapple, mango, papaya, their special yogurt and icecream all for $4.00.

This is one of the menu items for $2.80

Another plate on the menu for $2.80

El Nuevo Paraiso has 4 different locations but the one we went to is located in Plaza San Blas, Calle Bolivar 2-52 Y Manuel Vega.

Or check out their website for more info and photos. www.paraisovegetariano.com