The Four Food Groups in Belgium

Posted on August 12, 2014 by lisafindley

I spent most of the last week in Belgium with my cousin; we wandered the medieval streets of Bruges, hauled ourselves up the monument at Waterloo, and sought out the major buildings of the European Union in Brussels. It was a great time, and we did a lot. But just as importantly, we made sure to sample from each of the four major food groups in (tourist) Belgium: beer, waffles, frites, and chocolate.

Ongerfilterde Palm at the Bruges Beer Museum, Bruges (only found in Bruges–this one was my favorite)

Zot, Bruges (one of two beer companies still brewing in Bruges city limits)

Most beers brewed in Belgium have their own glass, and woe to you if you use the wrong glass for your beer. Apparently, it actually causes the beer to taste different. I didn’t test this theory, but anyway you can see that most of the time I had a glass, but occasionally I had to be a philistine and drink from the bottle.

Garre, Bruges (the house bar, which isn't just found in Bruges, it's only found at this one bar--it was my second favorite)

Garre, Bruges (the house beer, which is one of the most rare–it’s found in just one bar in the entire world; it was my second favorite)

Hoegaarden, Brussels (this is the only beer I’d ever had before–we’d just arrived in town and the restaurant’s beer list was surprisingly limited, otherwise I would’ve been trying something new, like I did everywhere else)

Grimbergen, Brussels

I skipped the shitty-beer-drinking part of college and went straight to being a beer snob, since my boyfriend at the time introduced me to expensive imports and I couldn’t go back. So I was in heaven in Belgium, surrounded by trippels, dobbels, blonds, weisses, and other delicious varieties of beer.

Caulier, Brussels

Orval, Brussels

Westmalle, Bruges

Vedett, Bruges

Belgians eat waffles plain, no chocolate or whipped cream or anything. Well, sort of plain–they coat the waffle lightly in a sugar syrup that dries quickly and gives it a sweeter taste. The waffles I grew up eating for breakfast were much lighter than the ones here, which are denser, more like cake. Delicious waffle cake.

The Full Tourist–don’t care!, Bruges

The Belgian way, Brussels

I already knew I liked fries with mayo, from my visit to Amsterdam a few years ago. So I was able to confidently order frites with mayo here, although in some places there are a lot more sauces you can try. The secret to the tastiness of Belgian frites is that they’re fried twice, giving them the perfect crispy exterior.

Frites and Belgian beef stew (there was mayo too, didn’t make it in the shot–and yes, we had frites properly in paper cones too, but never took a photo)

The chocolate in Belgium truly is divine. Every map and tour guide reminded us that Belgians normally just buy cheap chocolate in the supermarket, like everybody else; the fancy stuff is for tourists, gifts for aunties, and special occasions. I suppose that’s because if you were eating the real thing all the time, you’d stop eating anything else. The bonbons are called pralines, which initially confused me, as I looked for nuts, and indeed, pralines often have a hazelnut paste or ganache inside, but they don’t always. Confused? Don’t worry, just point blindly at the display case, and you’ll come away happy. (Um, unless you have a nut allergy, then good luck!)

Pralines in the Brussels airport–there are no photos of the other chocolate I ate, because I never paused to take a photo, but they are aesthetically pleasing as well as delicious

Sunrise, Sunset

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Sunset, London, England

Where in the World Wednesday

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Bewdley, England; July 25, 2014

Awesome August

Posted on August 4, 2014 by lisafindley

Just a short update on how my August is shaping up (spoiler: it’s going to be great). Tomorrow, my 16-year-old cousin and goddaughter will join me on a short trip to Belgium. Neither of us has been before, and we’re excited to spend a couple days in Bruges and three days in Brussels. I figure I’ll eat and drink my weight in chocolate and beer, wander around the medieval squares and old canals, and check out some museums. I haven’t seen hostel lockouts in a long time, but all the places I looked at in Belgium seem to have them as a matter of course–from 11am to 3pm, you have to leave the hostel so they can clean. Most other places now are just cleaning around people, but I see why that would be annoying. Obviously, those are times you’d plan to be out sightseeing anyway, but if it’s a cold, rainy day, that’s less appealing, so wish us good luck with the weather.

On August 11, I fly from Brussels to London Gatwick airport. I have a seven-hour layover and then fly from Gatwick to Edinburgh. I’ll spend a week in Edinburgh, helping out at my friend’s Free Fringe show, seeing as many Edinburgh sights and Fringe shows as possible, and even performing! For three nights, I’ll be part of the Stand Up Tragedy lineup, telling the tale of how I was hit by a car in Vietnam. It’ll be funny and sad, so if you’re in Edinburgh during that week, stop on by. I’ve wanted to be in Edinburgh for the Festival (opera, theater, highbrow stuff) and the Fringe Festival (all types of performance art, much of it experimental or emerging) for years, so I’m excited to be there, and it’s a bonus to perform. Stand Up Tragedy is run by my friend Dave, who interviewed me for his Getting Better Acquainted podcast last year.

Incidentally, if you have a few coins to spare, you can help Stand Up Tragedy keep afloat at the festival by going to the right-hand column on their website and donating via PayPal. Free Fringe came about as a response to the high costs performers had to pay to get a venue at the Fringe, so while performers don’t pay for their venue at Free Fringe, they still have to pay travel and accommodation costs.

After August 18, I’ll be back in London, job searching in earnest, keeping Stowaway updated, visiting with friends and family, and working on some longer travel pieces. The amazingly sunny weather I’ve experienced in England this year can’t last forever, but this August might be awesome enough to give me some warm days to close out the summer. Hope your August is full of fun and things you love as well!

Ecuador by the Numbers

Posted on August 1, 2014 by lisafindley

Hours spent in Spanish class–my first classroom experience in a decade: 40

Hours spent valiantly struggling to make conversation with my host mother in Quito: 20

Iguanas encountered: 12

Delicious soups consumed: 20

Waterfalls admired: 8

Ankles sprained: 1

Inca ruins visited: 1

Equatorial lines straddled: 1

Waves dived in: hundreds

Presidential palaces toured: 1

Chicago Bulls paraphernalia seen: countless items

Total days spent in Ecuador: 47

Total money spent: $2,663.25

Average per day: $56.66

Total money spent, minus the airfare: $1,983.25

Average per day, minus the airfare: $42.20

Blissful beach and waterfall moments experienced: many

Foods of Ecuador, Part 2

Posted on July 31, 2014 by lisafindley

Way back when I was still in Ecuador, I posted photos of some of the delicious foods I had while there. Here are some more. Unfortunately, I’ve forgotten most of the names of these, so join in if you recognize a dish.

That big ol’ ball of mush was surprisingly tasty

Quinoa-based soup

Spinach soup and large corn kernels

Delicious meat and potato on a stick

The four items included in every daily lunch menu in Ecuador: juice, soup, main plate, and dessert

A fancy deli selection of meat, veg, and queso fresco

Chocolate caliente with sweet cakes; there’s also a chocolate caliente con queso, and you can eat the cheese separately or dip it in the drink

Soup is very popular in the Andes

Freshwater fish in Mindo

Fancy llapingachos

Guatita, beef tripe in a peanut sauce–a popular dish in Guayaquil

Where in the World Wednesday

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Chicago, Illinois; July 14, 2014

Not Your Typical Party Bus in Baños

Posted on July 29, 2014 by lisafindley

I appreciate that the traditional way to get to a waterfall is to hike to it, but when I was in Baños, Ecuador, I discovered another way: party bus. There’s a series of waterfalls along Rio Pastaza just outside of town. You can bike it, but if you are still suffering from a sprained ankle in pursuit of a different set of waterfalls, for example, that option becomes less appealing. So you can take a chiva instead.

Double waterfall

“Chiva” means “goat” in Spanish, and in several Latin American countries, it’s the nickname given to party buses: covered, open-sided trucks outfitted with disco balls and massive sound systems. The chivas used for the waterfalls tours are equipped with rows of benches, too. I joined a few other tourists and we enjoyed the bizarre experience of being blasted with loud salsa music in the early afternoon as we sped along a two-lane highway.

Chiva!

Jesus in the Rock

Of course, the guide talked in Spanish, so I only understood a little, but frankly, you don’t need to understand words to appreciate a waterfall. We went in a cable car that zipped us across a ravine, to the edge of two waterfalls, which tumbled into the river below as we swung on the cable above. Party bus and then cable car door-to-door service–there are lots of ways to get to a waterfall.

Cable car to the waterfall

After an interlude wherein the guide wheedled and cajoled to get us all to go on his friend’s zipline, we carried on to the final stop. Here, we had a twenty-minute walk along a beautiful path, down a tricky bit of hill, to a wooden bridge. This was a serious bridge–it was so steep, you had to hold on to a rope anchored to the shore, and use it to walk midway down the bridge. The bridge swayed in the breeze, but once you held on to the sides to steady yourself, you could look around and appreciate the biggest waterfall of the day, roaring down the side of the nearby hill.

The final waterfall on the trip

Serious bridge

It’s a long way down

The music on the ride back into town was just as loud as the ride out had been, although now we were all pumped up from seeing the waterfalls, we were more ready to groove along. Baños–the only place I’ve been where you can reggaeton your way to a natural wonder.

The river valley

Adventure!

Beach Time in Ecuador

Posted on July 28, 2014 by lisafindley

One of the great pleasures of long-term solo travel is the ability to change plans on a whim. I booked two nights in a small beach hostel in Ecuador, but it turned out to be so close to my platonic ideal of a beach experience, that I stayed for two weeks.

Sunset drinks

Most nights, the moon had a giant ring around it, and only occasionally was it obscured by clouds

My days followed a pattern: I got up sometime before 10am, ate the best breakfast I had in South America (eggs! warm rolls!), jumped in the waves in the sea, sunbathed, read my book, wrote a blog post, chatted with my new friend Hannah (who was doing a Workaway stint there), snacked, hopped back in the ocean or in the pool, drank a beer while watching the sun set, ate a communal dinner with other hostel guests, chatted and read til bedtime.

Re-reading that paragraph, I’m wondering why I ever left.

Group dinner

The little hut on the beach

Walking the beach at night, you’d feel little crabs skitter over your feet, and occasionally, the big guys, like this one

It was a short walk to the tiny town of Las Tunas, but for groceries or laundry, you needed to catch the hourly bus into Puerto Lopez, about a twenty-minute ride north. I did that run a few times, but after awhile, when I had the basics for my groceries and wore just my swimsuit and one dress in rotation, I stayed at the beach. If other guests were going into town, I’d ask them to pick something up for me, like a pack of tortillas or a few pieces of fruit. I thought that was all right, but near the end of my stay there, Hannah was asking me if I ever intended to do my own shopping again. I suppose that’s a good sign it’s time to move on.