Panama

I´ve got to start living cheaply for a while. At least until I know the cards are en route. My hostel is already eight bucks a night, so I`ve got to keep it under fifteen bucks. I reckon I can manage an eleven dollar budget if I don´t do anything too racy.

As usual, the first morning in a new town is generic wandering. It´s a nice little town, and the weather is on side. I´m soon in a pretty good mood, and have accepted and dealt with the loss of my wallet.

I´m led to believe that Cuenca is home of the Panama hat. They tell me it´s called the Panama hat because it was worn by the guys building the Panama Canal, but it´s strictly Ecuadorian made. I think I can pull off the Panama Hat look. All I´m missing from the look is a nice big yacht. I ought to start wearing a hat of some description. My hair is very much out of control. There´s just too much of it. But, there´s nothing I can do about it. Only John in Devonshire Square and Dennis in Eastcote can help me. It will have to wait.

Outside the central food market, I stumble across a stall with a pyramid stack of raw, skinned creatures next to a barbeque. They look too thin to be guinea pigs. I think they´re rats. The preperation method utilises a metal rod of a three inch diameter. She slices the creatures down through the belly, pulls out the guts, but leaves them hanging off, attached at one end. She then stretches out the anus, wide enough to force the long rod through and up to the neck. The split belly is then wrapped and tied back around the rod. The extracted guts and organs are also strung up along the rod. Twenty minutes of barbeque time later, voila. Bon appetit. Alas, this is a five dollar treat, and too extravagant for lunch on my budget.

In the fruit and meat market, I´m asking after prices trying to work out if I can cook for less the various small restaurants that serve a one-dollar-fifty dinner of soup, a main, and juice.

Dinner for today and tomorrow is a sausage pasta with finely chopped apple and red onion. It comes in at ninety cents per meal. I´m reasonably pleased with that, and it was quite pleasant too cook for a change. I look forward to have a fully stocked and functional kitchen on my return.