Do you want potatoes with your rice and plantains?

This week, a forty-something neighbor of my host family came in to drop off two big water jugs. A family member told him it looked like he had lost weight. His response:

"Well, I did lose weight in my limbs, but this belly is still here. *patting huge stomach* I do tell my wife that I eat sufficient amounts of food to maintain this large figure, out of a deep love for her. You know, if I didn't maintain this belly, I would be attracting unwanted attention from women left and right. *Jolly laugh*"

Hm, quite an interesting argument for staying fat. I always thought the USA greedily held onto the obesity epidemic, but it is easy to see that the epidemic is growing. I was quite surprised upon arriving to the coast to learn that there is a significant portion of the population that suffers from azucar (literally "sugar," signifying diabetes at a doctor's office) and obesity. It is not hard to see why this is the case. While there is amazingly delicious and fresh fruit and vegetables, carbohydrates are aplenty and on every street corner.

A meal without rice is barely a meal. I haven't gone two days without eating some form of bananas-plantains. (Which I don't complain, they are tasty :-) Pasta is served alongside rice and potatoes. Did I mention the starchy yuca root?

Older Ecuadorians have noted that there didn't used to be all this street food. Sure, in a non-metropolis like Portoviejo, Wendy's and McDonald's aren't really to be seen. Still, KFC is huge here! (I never ate KFC before Ecuador). Hotdogs abound. Empanadas rain from the sky. Fried versions of dough dot the streets.

At least there are still tricyclists pushing about fruit stands and that man screaming like a dead cat, "Guineos! (Bananas!)" in the street.

PS I really do love food here. (Read: Seafood and Fruit, okay and ice cream too). This is just a note on the cornicopia of carbs.

PPS. It is totally cool, and sometimes "loving" to call overweight friends/family "gordo, gordita" (fatty, fat)---as in, "Venga Gordita." (Come here fatty). or "Te quiero gordo." I don't suggest trying this in the States.