Bugs, etc.

Day 6. (Pic to the left is me amidst CACAO! They cultivate the beans and then dry them by laying them out in the sun at a certain altitude--Pic below is Host Sister--she's awesome!). As I’m writing this, there are 3 tiny ants crawling on my computer. I’ve never liked killing bugs, but I am a bug killing machine here in Ecuador. Stupid ants. I hate them. Get off my screen!!!!

Thank goodness I brought a toothbrush holder. I had been brushing my teeth and placing my semi-yucky toothbrush on a little nightstand that I have in my room. No sooner did I realize that there was a stream of thousands of ants crawling up the wall to the nightstand to get to the toothbrush! These darned ants were eating away at the leftover toothpaste!! Gross!!! Anyway, like I said, thank goodness for the toothbrush holder.
We just got back from the family’s office and a quick trip to the market. I’m still trying to figure this family out. I’ve only been here for 6 days but so far I’ve figured out that they like to take trips back and forth to the family’s cell phone store. There is a lot of waiting involved in this process—waiting for the family to get ready, waiting for the car to start up, waiting for the guy to come and unlock the office, waiting for the computer, etc etc etc.
(The below pic is cacao and guayaba). There is one computer in the office that functions well—it has a pretty good internet connection but nothing high speed like we have in the States. The host father lets me use the office computer and I’ve (secretly) learned how to turn on the AC in the office so that I don’t sweat my behind off. It goes like this—host father drops me off in the morning to use the web and picks me up 3 or 4 hours later to come back home for lunch. It’s a pretty great routine, minus the hopping on and off of the computer (I get interrupted by people working there, but I don’t mind). Host father is only here from Friday-Tuesday morning (he goes back and forth to Cuenca each week), so I don’t think the routine will last. So far I’ve managed to email my ‘rents, friends, and profs at home. I’m still waiting for my Blackberry (yup, I bought one—only for the internet access) to arrive. No idea when that’s going to happen. I’ve learned in the 2 weeks I’ve been in Ecuador to be VERY patient. Things here take a while.

Onto the market! (Below you'll see the chicken testicles that the family made me try. Boiled, unseasoned chicken balls. Yup.)

While driving back from the cell phone store, host father mentioned something about buying shrimp at the market. I was expecting a small Shaw’s type deal or Stop n’ Shop, but this market was unlike any other I’ve ever seen (disclaimer: I’ve probably seen a few markets like this one on ‘No Reservations with Anthony Bourdain’ or ‘Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern’, but never in real life). Walking into the market I saw pig and cow heads, intestines, pig’s feet, brains, and something that looked like liver or kidney. The smell was something quite pungent. Past the meat section were fruits as far as the eye could see—papayas, guanabanas, guayabas, tomatoes, limes, lemons, mangoes (although it’s still not mango season), watermelon, strawberries, pineapples--every type of fruit you could imagine! It was very fragrant and colorful in this section until we finally reached the fish section. I was surprised at how fresh everything looked. Host father bought a kilo of very big shrimp for 5 bucks. Good deal if you ask me! The great thing I’m learning about Ecuador is that most of the food is very fresh. For example, on the way to the cell phone store host father and I stopped at his ‘property.’ No idea what this property was all about, but there were some men working on some trucks, a little house, and tons of trees. He told me to wait in the car, went and talked with some dude, and returned with 3 different types of fruit that I ate right there in the car!! The first was…..jeez I don’t know the name…a long funny looking thing, almost like a banana, that was REALLY sweet and yummy with a funny black looking seed in the middle. He also came back with agua de coco (coconut water) which is my new favorite thing here. The other day host sister and I were walking by a fruit stand when she asked me, ‘Te gusta el agua de coco?’ I was very worried and said ‘no’, since I thought that the stuff was water from a faucet. However, host sister assured me that it was from a fruit, and 35 cents later I had a delicious drink in my belly. The meat here is very fresh, too. They will literally kill the animal right there in front of you, skin it, cut it up, and sell you the meat (I have pictures to prove it). They use the entire body of the pig, chicken, or cow, which is good but sort of gross at times. I am not used to seeing all these animal parts, but I suppose it’s probably better to be closer to the food and to see what the heck you are eating.

ANTS GET OFF MY SCREEN!

Host mother has returned from her job as a teacher to prepare ceviche for us (Note to readers: I’ve noticed here that they spell ceviche with a ‘V’ and with a ‘B’. For example, a sign might say ‘Cebicheria’ instead of ‘Cevicheria’. Not sure which form is grammatically correct although I’m inclined to think that both are acceptable). I haven’t yet had ceviche here in Ecuador. I’ve been warned multiple times not to buy ceviche on the street, but I’m pretty sure host mother will do a good job of preparing things hygienically (let’s hope).
3 hours later: Lunch was wonderful. I even helped make the ceviche and squeeze the orange for the juice! I asked host mother about the deal with ceviche here. She tells me that the vendors on the street do not cook the fish that is put into the ceviche, instead, they pour on lime juice which is thought to ‘cook’ the fish. I’m still confused about the jugo. Do they make the juice with ice? If so, why didn’t I get sick in Quito when I had so much of it? I’m hesitant to buy juice here on the street, since I’ve been told that it’s a very, very, very bad idea to eat ice here in Machala (and in all other parts, but especially in Machala since it’s more dirty than most of the big cities here). Who knows.

This is turning into a MLB (Mighty Long Blog) so perhaps I’ll call it a night. Ciao, amigos!