New friends in Ayampe

---

Geo: -1.56124, -80.8072

We were out to lunch today and met the neatest people. Being the shy person that I am I offered my wife to them as their photographer. This immediately created a bond between all of us.

They took pictures. We took pictures. We laughed. The one man that spoke English tried to explain why they were there and his wife immediately started jabbering excitedly to Karen.

It's always exciting to meet people who are thrilled to meet you. That was the experience we had at that moment. It was a brief encounter but as we left there were hugs and kisses for all.

We'd taken a local bus to Ayampe, a small fishing village down the coast from PL and were wandering about trying to find a restaurant called the house of corviche (Cabina de Corviche), as corviche is supposed to be a speciality of this area.

Corviche is a round ball of a mixture of platano (a type of banana) and peanuts with a center of fish cooked with onions and celery. Then the thing is deep fried. It comes out looking like a potato until you break into it for this luscious fishy interior.

When we left the restaurant to catch the bus back to PL, we weren't sure where the bus stop was, but saw 2 men across the street who waved us over to wait in the shade and said the bus would stop right there. Immediately a cute little 9 year old girl ran away from us and much to our surprise, returned with 2 chairs so we could sit in the shade and wait for the bus.

Such warm, friendly people!

When we got back to PL we saw bunches of kids fresh from school stopping at a stall on the street. And what do you think they were buying???? Corviche! So I took some pictures of the process.

---

Photos

At home these are house plants
Here, they're 30' tall.

Our helper
This is the little 9 year old who ran to get chairs for us. She was studying English in school and loved that she could practice on us.

Making corviche
First you make a patty that you fill with fish mixture.

Making corviche
Then you roll it in a ball, or oval.

Making corviche
Then drop it in the hot oil.

Making corviche
There's lots of smiles when you're making corviche.

Comments

[Jeffrey Mitchell]

Mmmmmmmm.... I want some.

[bobnkaren]

Here in PL they serve it with coleslaw and mayo or salsa. What's not to love??

[bobnkaren]

Oh Agnes, there are so many wonderful things here to eat Corviche is only one of them. We think we're in food heaven after Argentina!And so's you know---I'm always very careful in the ocean. I never turn my back on it--it's too sneaky. But
it can be alot of fun, too. If I had a board, I'd be body surfing.

[Chuck & Marcia]

Reading about your travels is like following the journey of Marco Polo with the addition of a lot of good food. Cold here but not much snow until this next week. Board meeting Tuesday,presume you will be there?Continue to have lots of fun a
nd be safe!

[bobnkaren]

Tell the board I'll bring corviche.

[Shawn]

You can tell by this picture that this stuff may have some decent calorie count :)

[bobnkaren]

There are no calories while vacationing.