Who Would've Thought? It Figures...

I do not like plantains. I told Brigitte last week that every time I eat a plantain there is an echo of a banana...I would never take a banana, mash it up, mix it with squash seeds, put cheese in the center, and then fry it. But that is exactly what we did with plantains last Thursday in our cooking class. 

The plantain cheese balls are on the far right. The record should state that Brigitte found them to be delicious. Let the record also state that I know that I should like them...but I guess my grandfathers abhorrence of all vegetables is distilled into my dislike for the plantain. But there is a fruit here that is changing my life. It is called "chiremoya". It is like eating candy. You cut it in half and then eat it with a spoon. It tastes sweet, with a slight tanginess on the back of your tongue. The texture is the best part. It feels almost like custard. It looks like this.

Psyche. That is a pizza. And it was a good one at that. No, actually a chiremoya looks like this...

Life has a funny way of sneaking up on you. Sometimes when traveling you come across things that surprise you...or remind you of your own culture and how connected the world is. One of the things that surprised us while walking the streets of Cuenca was seeing a nice "Hello Kitty" shop that had childrens' clothes. BUT WAIT. This is no average Hello Kitty shop. Instead, it is...

HELL KITTY. This is the kitty from perdition. Featured in Dante's famous work. Parents must walk in and feel like they are experiencing a traffic jam when they are already late...or even a no smoking sign on their cigarette break. We have our eyes peeled for little kids dressed in cute little HELL KITTY outfits. Stay tuned for photos.

Another example of cultural echoes is in the coffee that I have been drinking. Coffee is grown here in Ecuador. There is even a plant in the garden of the house that we have been staying at. It looks like this.

Seriously, after the first sight of this baby I had visions of our host mom getting up early, harvesting beans, drying them, roasting them in a pan on the stove like you would popcorn, grinding the coffee with a mortar and pestle, and finally pouring hot water over the freshly ground beans. But instead, our host mom has an assist from Canada.

That is right. None other than Casey's, Ginelle's, Simon's, and Esther's favorite cup a joe, Tim Horton's. So, in theory, this coffee could have been grown and harvested in Ecuador, shipped to Canada, roasted and ground in Canada, bought in a supermarket by a future Spanish student, packed in a suitcase, flown back to Ecuador, and finally given as a gift to our host mother where it does indeed supersede the quality of the regularly served instant coffee, Nescafe. But this is the sad truth of nations like Ecuador who profit more from the exportation of products like coffee and are seldom able to enjoy the fruits of their labor because the cost is so high. Isn't ironic? Don't you think?

In other news we have now successfully purchased a cell phone (I have accidentally texted myself 5 times...we also only have one other person's number) and move into our apartment tomorrow! Life sometimes has a funny way of helping you out.