After being in a car for five hours until we reached the White Mountains area of New Hampshire, all I wanted to do was to stretch my legs. And I decided to do it on a mountain over 2,000 ft. tall: Mt. Willard. It takes about an hour to hike 2,864 ft. and the summit has amazing views of Crawford Notch. Continue reading “Three Days in the White Mountains of New Hampshire”
If you love NYC but sometimes want some peace and quiet away from the sirens and panhandlers… go to Roosevelt Island! It costs $2.75 to take the tram from NYC to the island, and then you can ride a bike, take a stroll around the park & enjoy some phenomenal views. Check out details and photos below! Continue reading “A Day Trip to Roosevelt Island”
Have you ever seen a restaurant appear in a movie and think: I have to go there one day? For my Mom it’s the restaurant Serendipity, where she has unsuccessfully tried to enter on two occasions. Each time there was a minimum wait of two hours. And there is so much to do in NYC in two hours rather than sit around and wait that we just left… (We’ll go there some day, Mom, I promise.) I, on the other hand, have wanted to visit a famous restaurant since I watched the movie Fresa y Chocolate (Strawberry and Chocolate). The movie was filmed in a building that now holds the paladar La Guarida. Continue reading “Rustic Elegance: La Guarida in Havana, Cuba”
The perks of having dual nationality is that one country’s passport may open up the doors for you to visit a place that the other may prohibit. I could have gone to Cuba as an Ecuadorian plenty of times when I was younger. But when I was younger, I was broke. Now that I am almost an adult, I got the opportunity to go as a gringa. And yes, it was a long planning process. It has been the trip that I’ve had to plan the most for. But it was fun, I don’t regret it, and I would go again tomorrow. In order to help you find out more about the entire planning aspect, I based it on the questions I had leading up to and during my visit to the island. Continue reading “How I Traveled to Cuba as a Gringa in 2017”
Did you know that the United States has more than fifty national parks? Heck, I didn’t know either until I googled last week. Since I live in the United States, I’m embarrassed to say I didn’t know this, even more embarrassed when I found out through that same google search that I had already visited my first national park some years ago: The Everglades in Florida. I had ignorantly thought that the trip I took to Maine a couple of weeks ago would be my first trip to a national park. At the end, I still feel like Acadia National Park was my first real dose of what our parks have to offer, and I now want to visit all of them before I die. You have to start somewhere, right? Two down, fifty-seven more to go! I hope you enjoy this post about the top 10 things you should do when you visit Acadia National Park in Maine. Continue reading “The Top 10 Things to Do in Acadia National Park”
In October of last year, I made a huge mistake. I tried to go to the last Oktoberfest weekend at Bear Mountain in New York. Word of advice: DO NOT try this. As my husband drove the car and we approached the exit to Perkins Memorial Drive, the road that would lead us to the top of the mountain, we noticed a police car blocking the entrance. Perkins Memorial Drive was closed, and the only way you could go to Oktoberfest was through the highway, where it seemed that a thousand cars were trying to cram into. This caused such a traffic jam that it took us almost an hour to travel one mile to the traffic circle that would lead us to Bear Mountain Inn. By this point, neither my husband nor I really thought we’d enjoy ourselves. So I used what never fails, Google, and we ended up at Storm King Art Center. It turned out to be a great day, but we promised to give Bear Mountain another go in 2017. Continue reading “The Top of Bear Mountain”
Like Murphy’s Law would have it, it’s whenever you decide to go to an island that a hurricane swings through it. And just like that, I arrived in Washington D.C. on a weekend when it was warmer in Alaska than in half of the continental US. But two pairs of pants, snow boots and layers upon layers allowed me to enjoy this trip. Continue reading “Down Memory Lane in Washington D.C.”
I’m excited about the Super Bowl but the reason has nothing to do with sports. On Sunday, Ecuador will be promoted in a Super Bowl ad. The Ecuadorian government shelled out more than $3 million, and it will be the first time another country has had a Super Bowl commercial in order to generate tourism. The campaign started early last year with new sculptures constructed in the main cities of Ecuador, buses around the world adorned with the slogan “All You Need Is Ecuador,” and the same hashtag sprang up on all social media platforms from Ecuadorian and foreign tourists alike. Continue reading “Why I’m Excited About the Super Bowl”
If you were to ask me what the best thing about my country is, I wouldn’t stutter at saying it’s the food. Whether it’s typical food from the coast or the sierra, the taste is equally delicious.
And now that I only have a month left here, I’ve set out to eat my favorite plates before I go. Wherever I may be, I know that I’ll get a craving for the citrus juice of a well made ceviche or the peanut salsa on some llapingachos. All of the following pictures were taken by me recently, whether at a restaurant or at my house. If you ever come to Ecuador, don’t even dare leaving without trying these:
A fish stew with yuca, tomatoes and onions (cebolla). I can personally put onions on anything, but if you’d rather have it without onions, that’s an option, too. Although you’re kind of going against the etymology/purpose of the plate. You can have it with different type of fish and shrimp. It’s so good!
Mix shrimp, fish, octopus or any other sea food you want in lemon and tomato juice and this is what you get. According to Ecuadorians, this is also the best type of hangover food. Just one plate after a night of drinking and you’ll be as good as new.
Favorite food ever.
When we make cangrejos at home we put them in this huge pot with my mom’s secret recipe and eat them with the whole family when they’re cooked just right. I think the pictures say it all.
Potato patties with fried eggs, sausage, avocados and salsa made from peanuts. Yuuuum!
Fanesca is always made during Holy Week, so I only get to enjoy this plate once a year. Since you can’t eat meat, everyone makes fanesca, which is a fish stew usually made from salt cod. Add many types of grains (habas, chocho, corn, peas, etc.) and you get a tasty (and fattening) stew.
A Traveling Translator 