Cooking classes with excursions

Sunday morning and I'm curing the clay pot that I bought at the Rotary Market (for $4).  I took two cooking classes last week--first one on Thurs, second on Sat. and I learned a lot. One of which was about the local clay pots.  The meal that the instructor fixed was pork prepared in the clay pot on the top of the stove.  I said I was interested in buying a pot; she told me where to find it, approximately how much to pay and how to cure it.  The process:  put the (empty) pot over the flame for a short time first, then fill pot with water, bring to boil, boil for 30 minutes, empty and then put milk in the pot, bring to boil for short time.

We walked to the indigenous market near where I live (and have shopped) on Tues. and she showed me her favorite vendors.  I asked her if she, as an Ecuadorian, has to bargain.  She said she felt the prices that they say to her are fair, but she always asks for "yappa" (not sure how to spell), which means the vendor gives her a little something extra--a couple of potatoes, an extra onion, etc.  We prepared pork in one clay pot, boiled potatoes in another, and also prepared the favorite Ecuadorian salad of onions, tomatoes, and cilantro + favorite salsa of hot (aji--hotter than jalapenos) peppers, tomatoes, onions, cilantro and limes.  When the potatoes were soft, we mashed them in a wooden bowl with wooden pestle and added fresh cheese (another Ecuadorian favorite--the processed cheese is only found in the supermarkets and is very expensive).  Then we made potato patties and grilled them in a skillet with achiote oil.  Achiote is a red seed (translates to annatto in English, but I am not familiar with annatto) that is added to oil.  Everything was yummy.
     On Saturday--the largest market day, the instructor drove her car to the gigantic market, El Arenal, where the surrounding villagers bring their fresh produce to sell.  We shopped for our food for lunch and she also bought items for her family for the week.  First we went to the fish market to buy fresh tuna--we were preparing fish soup.  Then we went to the section for fruits and vegetables--we bought onions, tomatoes & peppers. The starchy vegetable we used for the soup was yuca--the root of a small tree.  

Yuca

We also bought green plantains (not shown) to cook in sunflower seed oil (much like potato chips), but there were more bananas than I had ever seen in one place -- Ecuadors #1 export.
 
I bought the maracuya fruit (ten for $1) to make fresh juice.  The maracuya is cut in half, the inside seeds and pulp are put in a blender, add a little brown sugar; then, strain the seeds out and it is a delicious--and the aroma is wonderful--juice.  This mother is just one of the hard-working vendors where we bought our food.  Her daughter looks on as we buy our cilantro.