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

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.