The morning after arriving. I made coffee using the grounds which the kitchen was stocked with. Sitting with my hot coffee, I carefully studied Google maps, since I had already forgotten all the directions the landlady had given me to the market. I made a screenshot of the route to the market, just in case Google’s navigation stopped working, like it had often in Cuenca. I was a little disappointed with the look of the town as I walked following Google prompts. It didn’t look like the photos I had seen on the internet. Google lead me to the back of the Mega market.
I must have looked very confused because a man who was washing a car, came over and told me to follow the road around to find the front. It was a long walk. So long that I decided that I had not understood his spanish, so I doubled back and told him that I wanted the market. I could see the sign on the building, so I pointed at it. He assured me that I had gone the right way, and told me to look for the steps on the left. I tried again and found that had I taken a few more steps in the direction he had sent me I would have seen the front of the market. (Does this sound like me and the taxi driver in Cuenca?)
The Mega is a like any normal modern grocery store, except that they sell mopeds and bikes. I bought two bags of groceries, which filled my nylon shopping bags, and had a plastic bag with my eggs and bread in it. On the way back to the Airbnb, I realized that the new shopping bags are of a slippery nylon. I was cursing myself all the way home as I struggled with keeping the straps of the bags on the slippery shoulder of my raincoat. I was also diriding myself for buying so much, rather than planning to make a second trip the next day.
| Item | Pesos | USD |
| Olive oil | $115.80 | $5.71 |
| Olives | $37.80 | $1.86 |
| Avocado | $9.21 | $0.45 |
| Beef bacon | $54.71 | $2.70 |
| Glazed peanuts | $27.00 | $1.33 |
| Spiced peanuts | $30.30 | $1.49 |
| coffee beans | $100.00 | $4.93 |
| Onions | $6.44 | $0.32 |
| Beer | $71.00 | $3.50 |
| Nutella | $37.60 | $1.85 |
| Saltines | $27.00 | $1.33 |
| Eggs | $25.00 | $1.23 |
| Ham salad | $21.58 | $1.06 |
| Lime | $1.48 | $0.07 |
| Orange | $2.13 | $0.10 |
| Butter | $44.00 | $2.17 |
| Mayo | $25.00 | $1.23 |
| Bread | $12.50 | $0.62 |
| White potatoes | $16.62 | $0.82 |
| Fresh cheese | $19.95 | $0.98 |
| Manchego cheese | $109.90 | $5.42 |
| Philly cream cheese | $14.80 | $0.73 |
When I got home, I was too tired to cook, so I made myself a sandwich of some of the pre prepared ham salad, which I had picked up at the mega. It looked like normal ham salad, but it tasted more like ceviche. It made a wonderful sandwich.
It was a good thing I did over-shop. The next day I woke up with a cold. It was three days before I was able to go out shopping again. I spent most of those three days in bed. It wasn’t too bad of a cold; nothing like that horrible time I had earlier in the year. This was the sort of cold that let you lounge around in bed with a good book, with kleenex and a cup of hot lemon water on the side table. I stayed inside mainly because my nose was running so bad and I was sneezing up a storm. No coughing and no sore throat.
I got out of bed from time to time and cook. What I am calling beef bacon, looked just like bacon, but it was beef. Some of it I cooked as if it were bacon and the rest I made into a stir fry with the onions and potatoes. Thank goodness I had plenty of food and wasn’t tempted to go out.