A TRIP TO LOJA
Dec 7: Our landlord invited us along on a jaunt to Loja, the biggest city nearby. Tis a 45 minute drive by car, up “over the hill” to the north. You mainly pass disconnected farmland, some scattered forest, two towns and a few small hamlets. The city is a short distance down the same hill, and you soon come into the city proper of 200K. Our landlord Richard said it is one of the cleanest cities in Ecuador, and that became obvious as we passed along the main drag. The only trash we saw was in the river which flowed through the park we walked. Too bad for the eyesore of an otherwise great day.
We let Richard off so he could take care of his chores, and Hernan took us to the “Mercado Centro.” This was a place we had heard of where there was lots of produce. Hernan parked in the basement, and took us upstairs to where we needed to go.
The first floor where we explored was quite full of produce, chickens and cheese. It was amazing to see so much fresh produce and chickens in one place. If we lived nearby we’d certainly shop there. Prices were a little cheaper than Vilcabamba. Not sure why the chickens are more expensive here: a plucked, uncooked one is usually $8.00 or more, whereas in our local Costco a baked on is under $6.00. Here are a few pictures:
BANANA CENTRAL
THERE WERE BOOTHS LIKE THIS, WHERE ONE PERSON
CONTROLLED IT FROM A SMALL OPEN DOOR OF SORTS.
THE CHICKEN ISLE
CHEESE ANYONE?
LOTS OF FRUIT HERE
We next went across to the adjacent area on the same floor. This is where the bulk of the meat was - hogs, beef, and even donkey, goat and sheep meat. I think there was some fish somewhere, but I did not see any. Our meandering was quicker here because the smell was just too offensive.
FLOWERS WERE ANOTHER BIG SALE ITEM
We next went upstairs where there was all sorts of merchandise. Shoes, clothes, belts, and etc. I tried to find a kind of slip in sandal for a friend without success. I did find some nice T shirts which I needed. Here’s the young lady I bought them from, and some other shots:
EGGS ANYONE?
PURSES ANYONE?
SHOES ANYONE?
BELTS ANYONE?
After about a half hour we left there, heading north to a popular park Richard told us about. There were not really that many people there today, but on weekends families apparently flock to it. I did pick up 3 new birds for the trip. Andean Teal, Fulvous Whistling Duck and a Greater Ani. I see from the field guide none of them are supposed to be in this area. I can accept that the ducks may have been domesticated, but not the Ani. We walked around, sat for a while, then walked one final lap.
THOSE ARE REAL FLAMINGOS ACROSS THE WATER
THIS HORNERO GOT QUITE CLOSE TO US
LOTS OF SAFFRON FINCHES ON THE LAWN AT THE PARK
Then we took a taxi to the “Super Maxi,” basically a mall of sorts, where we were to meet Richard. As Rosie’s watch battery had stopped, we noticed a small vendor selling watches, so we stopped to have a chat. The lady soon figured out that she did not have any batteries for that particular watch. Rosie thought she’d just buy a cheap watch, so asked the price of a certain one behind the glass casing. $150 was the reply. I asked her if they had any for less than $20, but she did not. About then Richard came by, telling us he was able to take care of “all” his chores. The way he said it I think it was something that does not happen always. If that happened he would say something like, “Remember, this is Ecuador.”
So we went to the food court where I had some coffee. I was now starting to drag due to the work-out of yesterday’s hike with Sue. While sipping that, Rosie went to the clothing store, but came back empty (a relief?). We then went to the supermarket, where we had an interesting time.
THERE WAS A HEALTHY SELECTION OF CHOCHOLATE BARS TO CHOOSE FROM
THE BEER ZONE
One wonders why OJ is so expensive here since there are plenty of oranges? Back at the house Rosie was looking at the grocery receipt and the 2.5 liter bottle of OJ cost over $9. I probably would have left it on the shelf had I realized that. Same with non dairy milk. Farmed Salmon from Chile was $30/lb. Chocholate bars were about the same, even though it is grown here. I searched for coffee creamer and came up empty. I then happened to see a man with light colored hair, and asked him if he spoke English, and he said, “Yes.” I asked him about coffee creamer and he said Ecuadorians don’t use it, and so don’t know anything about it.
When we went to check out, I saw a VISA card device, so asked about using my credit card, to which he said yes. So in the process of doing that, I thought he wanted the PIN # punched in, which I’ve never used for that card. Luckily the woman behind us was an American who told me that for the foreign transactions he needed my Passport #. Our passport copies were in my day pack, which was in a far corner of the store where you leave them with guy behind a desk. So I went and got that, came back and handed him my copy, and in less than a minute the transaction was final. Nice to be able to use such here.
Richard had arranged for another taxi to return us to Vilcabamba, the driver of which was a long time friend of his. The trip back was the usual offensive drive along windy roads. I suppose that because the roads are mostly all windy, everyone cannot go very fast, so accidents are not all as common as you would assume by the way they drive. Once again, it was nice to be home. We are just not city folks. We’d rather be where it is green and quiet.
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