In the lands of the coffee, from the book, Searching for treasures
Otavalo Imbabura, Ecuador
A few minutes later, he stopped a jeep and climbed on that automobile, totally packed with passengers. He had no other alternative but to jump onto the platform in the back, outside the car, and hanging on tightly to avoid falling. He held on tight and was ecstatic about this particular unexpected ride; flexing and flexing his legs, Jean Marie managed to keep his balance and compensate for the sudden movements and jerks of the vehicle as he challenged the potholes and ruts on the road, all the while not missing a single detail of the landscapes flying past him. A short while later, they arrived at a small village called La Estrella. It consisted of several houses next to the road, intertwined with a few shops. Most of the people got off here, so the inside of the vehicle emptied substantially, leaving more than enough free seats available. So, he was having a good time hanging on to the back of the car, Jean Marie decided to sit inside and entered the jeep.
“I think I rather enjoyed the back of the car more; defying gravity was quite a challenge,” he thought to himself. The car drove on, but now he was comfortably sitting inside, for that reason, perhaps, he began to feel hungry. He had trekked for a few hours under a hot sun and, at times, climbing steep grades. Checking the time, he asked the driver where he could find lunch on the way. The driver recommended he get off at the next stop.
“You see, in the next small town, there’s a place to eat and it one of the best! They prepare these country type of meals, and they’re so good! I also stop to get something to eat here, almost every day! And the price is much lower than in the cities, too. You shouldn’t pay more than 4, 500 pesos for a complete lunch. You just can’t beat that!
Also, right after, they arrived and pulled in at the restaurant. Getting off the entered and the starving explorer shared the table with the apparently famished driver. While they were enjoying a banana-based, delicious soup that came with an enormous plate carrying rice, beans, fried fish, and a side salad, the conductor described de different places to be found in the nearby region.