Cheese

I ordered this dish (en Español: "ñoqui de cuatro estaciones") at a little café this evening, where I went for dinner with Oly, Michal and Or. Not only were the gnocchi balls themselves sensational: the sauce was also the richest and the tastiest cheese sauce I've ever eaten. They obviously used some very fine, European "smelly cheeses" in the sauce — and the result was out of this world. Mmm, gnocchi: "contigo, la vita é bella".

For our second day in the Quilotoa Loop area, Patrick and I decided to do the popular hike from Chugchilán, to the "cheese factory" in the countryside nearby, and then on to the cloud forest. We had a great morning's walk, through a fairytale countryside of rolling hills and quaint little farms (although it was uphill most of the way). We were also blessed with great weather (not something to be taken for granted, here in Ecuador). However, the visit to the cheese factory turned out to be — well, somewhat different than expected! In short, it looked more like a house than a factory; and we saw little or no evidence of cheese, or of cheese-making, in the immediate vicinity.