Huevos

Eggs are a dietary staple in Ecuador. They provide a simple, nourishing, inexpensive, tasty morsel all in its own neat little package, albeit fragile. And, conveniently, they are found everywhere. Edie’s favorite, as well as mine, is the quail egg. Their cream colored dark-speckled shells hide single bites of yolky richness.

But, you’ll soon forget about those standard white eggs you might have been used to at one time, the ones you once found palatable.  They’ll literally be paling in comparison to their Ecuadorian counterparts. Not just in their unique shades, but in richness and freshness of flavor, the Ecuadorian egg seems to excel.  It’s like Easter all the time as the colors of the freshly gathered eggs are the most beautiful pastels. Their delicate hues and nuances of texture were irresistible to my roving lens at a local mercado. The central area of the mercado has a large skylight affording some very compelling and diffuse light. When it falls on the curves of the pastel eggs, it’s eye candy. I’m certain this makes them taste ever so much better.

But, there’s more as a myriad of grains, legumes, pasta, powdered beverage mixes, and even chocolate eggs give feast to your wandering eyes. There are wheels of queso fresco still showing the  texture of the cloth from where the whey was wrung from them. Look again and you’ll see a huge bag of animal crackers providing further evidence that people are cookie lovers wherever you go.

Sometimes the simplest views with soft colors, simple curves and interesting textures are soothing to the eye and restful to the mind.

The view is very ‘Ecuador.’ A question…“What’s not to love?”, floats into my mind like the mists of the Río Yanuncay. A word forms on my lips followed by a satisfied smile and my ears hear only the two syllables…“Nothing.”