FAQ: Part 1

Fresh vegetables at the open-air market
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Upon popular request, we prepared answers to many frequently asked questions.  One note up front, the answers apply to Cotacachi and surrounding area but may not be accuarate for other cities, such as Quito.  We feel reasonsably confident about the answers but cannot guarantee their completeness.

1. What American-type foods are not available? Thank heaven there is idication of American style fast foods.  However, there are plenty of choices when it comes to Ecuadorian-style fast foods often including complete meals with soup, rice, fried potatoes, beans, salad, and some but little meat (chicken, pork, fish).  This is called almuerzo (lunch) but is served until late afternoon.  In addition to these tiny restaurants, there are street vendors that offer grilled corn on the cob and grilled meats on a stick or empanada stands that deep fry your oder in front of you.  For a filling meal, you pay from $0.90 for three empanadas to $1.25 for a standard almuerzo, to $2 for dishes with more meat.  BTW, we had the best grilled chicken ever.  Forget about American-style free range, organic which are still grain fed to get their weight often to well over 4 lbs.  The chickens here first serve a purpose before they become lunch - they run around in the field s with the cows, pigs, horses, goats and sheep and eat whatever they can find.  They weight about 3-4 lbs. and have hardly any fat and the meat is superb.

Organic fruits in abundance at the market
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Sorry for the digression.  Okay, what we have noticed that is not available are: peatnut butter, nuts in general, good quality bread (there are a number of bakeries but they only offer some type of rolls which are okay but not great).  We resorted to making our own bread with no equipment to speak of except a frying pan and a gas oven.  Also missing are big corporate brands except Coca-Cola; pretzels (sorry Amin and Tim); meats while available are a much less prominent part of the diet here and are relatively expensive ($1/lb for chicken) and does not come on a styrofoam tray; aged fermeted cheeses; selection of beers and wines (you get two brands of beer - sorry, no IPA - and few boxed wines from Chile and Argentina.  I am sure there is tons more but most things I have not really missed.

Shopping "over the gate" at a viveres shop
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But what you can get are tons of tropical fruits - bananas, pineapple, mangos, papayas, mandarines, etc. ; tons of fresh, local, organic veggies (a bag full of veggies is rarely more than $2-3; raw organic milk at about $0.5/L.

2. Do you have one-stop shopping? Essentially yes if you go to the open air market on Sundays where well over 50 vendors gather to sell anything from veggies to fruits, grains, meats, fresh fish, spices, flowers, household products, etc.  It´s no Wal-Mart (again thank heavens) where you can also get the kitchen sink to wash all you veggies in but more than enough for simple daily living.  Other than that, there a few ¨supermercados¨which are more the size of a small US neighborhood market and literally hundreds of ¨viveres¨stores that are little more than holes in the wall typically with a gate so you can´t even go in.  Just holler or ring the bell, and someone will come from their living room to help you.

A little bit of everything available at the closet-size viveres
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3. Do you need AC or heat? Well, that depends, mainly for the colder end of the spectrum what your personal preferences are.  The lowest temperature I have seen in our casita in the early morning hours was 60°F.  But, as soon as the sun rises it warms up - the highest temperature I have seen was 78°F.  Considering the low humidity one certainly does not  have a need for AC.  The AC we have are cracks underneath doors, around window sills, etc.  While the walls often are heavy duty, the windows are only single pane.  Even houses specifically built for gringos don´t have AC or heat except a fireplace or two.

Grains and flours bought by the scoop out of big sacks at the tiendas
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4. How reliable and widespread is electricity? It is readily available even in small indigenous villages.  I heard the cost is relatively high but have not been able to see actual costs.  People use very little electricity because (1) water heaters and cooktops (many indigenous still use a wood or charcoal fire to cook) are running on 12.8 gallon propane gas tanks ($1.60/gal) and (2) standard kitchens don´t have all those appliances that suck electricity and clutter countertops (you know what they are because every US household has at least ten of them it seems like).

Our washing machine at the casita
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In Cotacachi some and perhaps most electricity is generated from hydro power.  Solar panels are way too expensive considering the little electricity the typical household uses.

5.  Availability and quality of water? Water from the tap is available everywhere and is of good quality as it comes from mountain springs.  Still, most gringos we know seem to drink bottled water (tontos) because of the chlorination of the water which in our opinion is much less noticable than in Portland.

Our dryer
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6.  How do people wash their clothes? Washing machines here look a little different than what we are familiar with and would make Wilma and Fred Flintstone proud.  The actual washer is a concrete block with a slanted grooved concrete surface that serves as the washboard.  The ¨delicate¨cycle has not been invented (any ideas?).  The rinser is a separate concrete basin with a spigot.  And then you hang them to line dry.  Amazing simple and effective because people´s clothes are clean.  While western style washers and driers are available I don´t know of anyone who has a set.  Also laundromats are non existent in Cotacachi.

Our local bus terminal in Cotacachi
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7.  How good is public transport? Essentially one has four options to get from A to B - walking, biking, buses, and taxis.  Buses are frequent and cheap.  To the next bigger city, Otavalo (12 km), they depart every 15 minutes from about sunrise to sunset and the one-way fare (to be paid on the bus) is $0.25.  Via taxi, the same trip costs about $4-5.  Still relatively inexpensive but out of reach for most locals.  From Otavalo, one can catch a bus to Quito and many other places fairly regularly.  Buses are well used and combined with the at times bad roads, the shocks and springs are not as good as desirable.

Bike lane in Otavalo
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Walking and biking is perfectly safe here and in Otavalo.  There are sidewalks along most streets and one can even find an occasional bike lane.  Even though it appears cars don´t have to stop at every stop sign or yield to pedestrians, there are plenty of monstrous speed bumps that slow the little car traffic there is.

In Ibarra, a city of over 100,000 that is about 18 km from Cotacachi, the story is entirely different - fast moving traffic with absolutely no regard for pedestrians. (Click on the View More Photos link under any picture to see the full photo gallery.)