Millionaire Librarian

Every week we take two trips to the local mercado, or market, to buy fruits and vegetables. If we go early in the morning, we usually get breakfast there consisting of slow-roasted pig, or hornado, which costs around $3 a plate. After that, we get a pound of strawberries, a pound of cherries, a giant zucchini, 4 oranges, and around 15 small Pink Lady apples (my daughter loves them) for around $8. We do this twice a week, sometimes getting more items like mushrooms or tomatoes, and sometimes a little less. This habit keeps our house filled with inexpensive and fresh fruits and vegetables all week long.

Another trip we take is to Tuti. Tuti closely resembles an Aldi. It has staples like chips, cookies, cheese crackers, cheap wine, spaghetti, and frozen meats like ground pork, chicken, ground beef, and shrimp. Everything at Tuti is inexpensive and shelf-stable. Even the milk here is ultra-pasteurized and only needs to be refrigerated when opened. Usually, a trip here where I walk out with two very heavy bags of groceries costs between $60–$80 for the week. You can also get paper products, toothpaste, and cleaning products here.

The other favorite place for us to get food is dining in our local almuerzo spot. Almuerzo means lunch and is a national treasure. These lunches usually include a large soup and an entree with a smaller portion of meat, small salad, and large portion of rice with a tiny dessert like a cube of jello or piece of fruit. All together it is a large meal and usually costs between $3 and $3.50 per person. Almuerzo spots are everywhere in Ecuador. In our very residential neighborhood, we have an almuerzo spot about a 3-minute walk away. While walking there yesterday, we saw some lounging cows.

Cuenca also has several great dinner spots. These are usually a bit more expensive but serve exotic meals like Indian, Thai, sushi, homemade pizza, and giant fried seafood plates. Though these range in prices, you can expect to spend between $10–$20 per person for most of them.