Markets and cemeteries

My new trousers ...

It’s still cold here in Ambato, down to around 12 degrees in the house first thing in the morning. Everyone is moaning about the weather – I think they might be turning into Englishmen.

Lucy arrived back from Quito today, I walked to the burger restaurant with Tim for lunch and she was there when we got back, complete with Nidia, Emilia and the children.

Carlos is caring for his brother (who I haven’t yet seen) and he looks very weary.

We’re off to the Pacific coast tomorrow and it will be a long drive. Lucy’s mum wanted some shoes, so I went to the shoe market in Ambato with them. There’s  a specialist market for shoes and it’s pretty big. There are some brands that I didn’t recognise and some that I did, although I’m told they’re all fake. Some of the fake brands are direct copies, others change a letter in the brand as a gesture towards legality.

While Nidia was trying shoes on, there was a TV screen above the stall with a football match showing. I had a look to see who was playing and it was with Lucy, Nidia and Emilia. Mushuc Runa, whose stadium we passed on the way to Santo Domingo two weeks ago, were playing. The standard was like English Division Two and there was no-one watching.

I had a tour of Ambato markets with Tom yesterday. We went through a couple in the city centre. They are well organised in market halls, just like we used to have in English towns when I was a lad. Produce is piled up in layers and the stallholder stands in front. There are little shrines in every market, some of them rather twee and some rather gruesome.

All sell food and the speciality food in Ambato is Llapingacho, a type of stuffed potato patty. Ambato has its own recipe and there’s a line of shops selling them in the market.

Earlier, I’d picked up my trousers from the tailor. They were a good fit. I’m not going to wear them in Ecuador, I’ll wait until I get home.

One of the covered markets in Ambato

Llapingacho sellers in the market - competition is intense

Tom and I also visited the cemetery in Ambato. This is a huge walled area (with coffin slots filling the walls. Some of the richer families and some business organisations have their own tombs – quite large constructions – with slots for coffins. It’s peaceful and has a nice atmosphere, although some of the graves are decorated with fairy lights and solar-driven animatronics (I saw at least one dancing flower) which would be considered bad taste in the UK. An Ecuadorian-style cemetery in Thorney would certainly save space!

Coffin slots in Ambato cemetery (above) and (below) one of the private tombs