QUITO, DAY 11, THE LAST DAY

Ok everyone. It's the one you've all been waiting for... the cuy post! But first, it was our last day in Ecuador. Our flight wasn't until the afternoon, so we were able to squeeze in some shopping, and more importantly, some dining, before our flight departed. Now one thing that I haven't blogged about yet is breakfast. Breakfast in Ecuador is pretty much like breakfast in the U.S. - you know, eggs, omlettes, fruit, toast, cheese - that kind of stuff. So I didn't really document any of it since it wasn't too exciting.

However, one thing I did enjoy was the lavish spread that we had every morning at our hotel in Quito. (which was twice). At the Hilton Colon, they have a lot of business travelers and airline personnel staying with them. And every morning for breakfast, they put out this huge buffet in the cafe. It has lots of stations. For example, here's the cereal/yogurt bar.

Here you can pick cereal or yogurt and top it with lots of different things like fruit, yogurt, etc. And there were a ton of fresh juices. By the way, all the fresh juices we had in Ecuador were amazing - it was just fruit, blended with water, so it was never too sweet and just tasted great.

Then there's the fruit area:

It's filled with lots of fresh, locally grown fruit. Including that granadilla that I got on the first day.

And there's the pastry/bread area with baskets filled with all different types of fresh pastries. I liked the mini croissants the most.

I've left out photos of the make your own omlette bar and the hot food stations, but here's a photo of my plate on the last day. As you can see, I was pretty moderate.

We had a little time before our flight in the afternoon, so we spent it shopping and squeezing in our last meal at Mama Clorinda in La Mariscal. I chose Mama Clorinda because it specializes in the foods of the Ecuadorian highlands, and more importantly, it served cuy. So for those of you who don't know, cuy (aka guinea pig) is eaten as a delicacy in Ecuador. It's not all that common, and much more prominent in the highlands. And it's not like everyone eats it - one of our tour guides went on and on about how much she loved it, while the other mentioned how much she dislike it. But it was something that both Tom and Cathy wanted to try. We had ordered our cuy ahead of time because our tour guide had told us that it took an hour to prepare, and we were on a pretty tight schedule.

Here's the dining room at Mama Clorinda. We were having an early lunch, so it was pretty much empty inside, but as you can see, it's very brightly colored and sunny:Since we had ordered the cuy in advance, they had it ready for us when we arrived. Ben and I ordered some more normal foods for our lunch, while Cathy and Tom shared the cuy. They're actually kinda expensive - each one costs $18.
This is what it looks like when it comes out - still pretty much intact. And it turns out that they actually fried the thing (rather than roasting it, which is what I had expected). Tom and Cathy both dug in. Here's Tom eating a leg:And here's another of him eating the head (you can make out the ears and eyes):
Overall, they thought it was pretty good. To be honest, it didn't have much meat on it - mainly skin and bones. And Cathy thought that some of the meat tasted fishy (though I personally think it was the feed that they give it). Ben also tried it and they all agreed that it was something that they'd eat again.

Meanwhile, I had ordered a roast chicken lunch plate:This wasn't so great, because the chicken ended up being fried, rather than roasted. And it was pretty dry and tough. Plus the French fries just weren't very good. But we were here for the cuy, not for the other foods.

We had a really great trip to the Galapagos - I highly recommend it to anyone who's looking for an adventure filled vacation and to finish off this last post about our trip, I'll leave you with a photo of the Galapagos mascot, the land tortoise: