Best Vegan Meal in Ecuador so Far

Best Vegan Meal in Ecuador so Far

This was a meal that I ate with my friend Skye, who I met in Baños. Like me, she had been vegan for a time before arriving here, though she had about a year under her belt. We were both inspired by this meal.

Nothing cooked, all crudo (raw). Except for the bread, of course.

A couple of rolls from the local Panaderia de la Casa.

Two raw beets
Two avacadoes
Two tomatoes
Three small carrots
One small papaya, for dessert
Half cucumber
Some sunflower seeds and pistachios
Lots and lots of lime juice.

This was such a wonderful meal. The raw beets were unbelievably good. Here’s the rub. A warning: the rest of this post isn´t really cute stuff. It´s sort of gross. I warn you, though I know that means you´re just gonna want to read it more than ever. Sorry. I tried.

As I’m sleeping later that night, I wake and realize I need to use the restroom. I go without much effort and without many solids, so to speak. No biggie, I’m somewhat used to getting that every week or so here in Ecuador. Traveling makes for a ragingly varied diet.

As I am cleaning, I’m realizing that there is some red on the hygienic paper. This is new. I don’t think I like this very much. Actually, I’m really not happy about this. I finish the deed, and glance to see the content in the bowl. Of course, in Ecuador, there shall be no hygienic paper in the bowl, and thus the visual information present isn´t at all compromised by it. I’m blown away by the amount of reddish liquid in the bowl. I’ve never seen this, and I’m immediately really concerned about it. ‘What the fuck’ would probably be aptly placed here.

I rush back to my room, thinking I’ve just shit a pint of blood, and the possible solutions bounce around in my head, not a-one seemingly up to addressing such an extreme problem. ‘What the fuck now’ comes now.

I decide to take the pearls that Dad gave me for stomach problems. I took a couple of weeks of these, and now take them sparingly. I pop two of these, and look for what else might be in my medical bag. There are now two different pills, one in a little baggie and the other still in its foil wrapping. I decide to pop a couple of the bagged ones, hoping they ameliorate bloody shits. ‘Oh, man, what the fuck does that mean.’ Now, I’m being reflective and trying to reverse engineer the problem.

As I lay in bed, I recount the activities of the day, which, in Salinas, is a pretty simple process. Walked here. Check. Climbed that. Check. Photographed those. Check. Said that to her. Check. Ate that…wait a minute, ate that. Ate the fucking beets. I ate beets! Beets! Red beets!

As it turns out, the greatest vegan meal I’ve had in Ecuador had me pondering my own death in the least honorable way.

I waited to write this, for fear that my Sherlockian problem-solving was a little too simple. For an update, there have been no problems akin to those mentioned above. Well, except for the other times I’ve eaten beets. Can´t stop, won´t stop, eating beets. Gotta love those raw beets.