Paute Sunday Market

Dear Family and Friends,

Last Sunday we went to the big Sunday market in Paute, Ecuador. Chuck told me that someone told him that even some folks from Cuenca go down to Paute to shop because the produce is superior to here. This is third hand information....but it could be true. All I know is that the produce at the markets in Cuenca is so superior to anything I could ever find at our local Safeway in Washington state and they are a fraction of the cost.

As in most of my blogs, this blog is mainly a picture blog. I will take you through the market with me. There is an outdoor market and an indoor market. All of these pictures were made in the outdoor part of the market.

The first items I came upon was bread.... This is only one of many vendors selling all types of bread.


There are two things you can be sure of finding in the markets in Ecuador, they are plaintains and bananas. This is just one area of plaintains....there were many.


Here are some bananas.... They are different from the bananas that Ecuador exports to the United States. I think these bananas don't keep as long. They are a little shorter, and the peel is a little thicker, but they taste pretty much the same as the bananas we eat in the U.S. But unlike the price we pay at Safeway, these bananas are - 2 bunches for $1.00


Ahhhh! This is an interesting fruit. This is very popular here. It is called a tree tomato. They make a wonderful juice. The do not taste anything like a tomato as we know one to be. The juice is sweet. I would say this fruit is as close to a tomato as a pineapple is to an apple.

Speaking of pineapples, they grow them here too. The pineapples here are nearer white inside than the yellow pineapples we have in the U.S. I think they are sweeter too.


Here is some more fruit.... pears, peaches, lemons, limes and apples which by the way are not nearly so good as the apples we could buy in the U.S.


There was a lot of fresh vegetables.... (much more than I photographed). Here we have carrots, tomatoes and garlic.


The cabbage here is unreal. A head of cabbage is at least twice as big as at home. Here you can expect to pay 30 to 50 cents a head.

These red peppers are hot and the large green peppers taste much like our green bell peppers in the U.S.


What would a trip to a market in the Andes be without potatoes? They have as many varieties of potatoes down here as we have apples in Washington state.

Here are some real cute ones, very popular down here. They are just a bit larger than your little finger.


Here is another root plant....yuca.

They had just about every dried grain and bean you could imagine....


and I even spotted a staple from my childhood....dried black eyed peas.


Other than food, they had plants....
and of course live chickens... big

and small..


They had puppies and parakeets....

There was metal ware...


and kitchen ware...


and plastic ware...


Handmade wooden utensils...

and handwoven baskets....

and last but not least....wonderful pottery.


In the indoor market they sell meat, fish and poultry as well as fresh produce.

Audrey has done a very good blog about interesting fruit down here... you can check it out by clicking here.

Next time I will share some pictures I took of people at the market.

Man is leaving tomorrow heading down to Peru. Audrey and Jim are leaving on Friday heading back to California. Saturday my brother, sister-in-law and mother arrive from Texas. We are so looking forward to sharing Cuenca with them.

Nancy