Sunday Sauntering

Today I went walking with Claire, Ben, Roy and Kay. We walked along the cyclo via (cycle track), which has been created along the tracks where trains used to run. It was great to see more of the countryside – huge swallowtail butterflies, fruit trees, crops, cows (standing in the middle of the path!). We walked for about 9km to a place called Rio Chiche, where there is a rather good restaurant in a beautiful location!

Whilst waiting for lunch, I learnt a little more about the Ecuadorian way of doing things:

• Food arrives when a dish is ready, not when all the meals for the table have been prepared.
• Therefore some people have finished whilst the rest are still waiting to eat!
• You can’t guarantee that you will get what you order – we eventually found out that they didn’t have the ingredients for the salad that I wanted.
• Remember to check the ingredients of dishes – they might not always be what you expect. My putanesca pasta had ham in it – but by the time it arrived I was too hungry to care.

After eating we were asked to give our table up for some other people. We decided to sit outside whilst we waited for our bill. Here it was clear to see that the logistics of this restaurant meant that the staff stayed very fit! There is the ‘proper’ restaurant, and the pizza restaurant (where we ate), however both serve the same menu, so the waiters and waitresses were constantly running between the two depending on what had been ordered! (Strangely it reminded me a little of Fawlty Towers!)

We had thought we would get a taxi back, but it became apparent that this wasn’t going to be possible. Roy had already decided to walk home the way we came, but we decided to walk out of the canyon where the restaurant was and head to the nearest main road to find a taxi from there. I think we probably walked another 2-3km, before finding our lift home. So a good day, I’ve seen more of the countryside and I’ve also got quite a lot of work done. Feeling pretty prepared for the week ahead. Also knowing that after all that walking I should sleep well tonight!