Wow,
a little bit salty with a little bit salty cheese in the
middle. It's really tasty the biggest wooden spoon in the world validated by the Guinness
Book of World Records. That's right
So we're here in the main square of house and let
me tell you it is everything because right now, it's a hot Saturday afternoon. And we are
surrounded by trees, lots of trees giving fantastic shade. So this is the perfect place
to spend some time now Paute is a small village similar to Chordeleg, Gualaceo, Sigsig. It's one
of those artisanal towns that really maintains the heritage of gastronomy and also artisanal crafts.
And it's also only 45 minutes away from Cuenca. On the weekends it's very busy here. A lot of
people from Cuenca have weekend homes here. And one of the most popular things to do is
actually go down to the river. The river here is beautiful. And so a lot of families come
to spend their time because you know what, we're not close to a beach but
the river is just as good.
All right, so even before you get to Paute
one of the must stops is actually along the way at the small village called El Cabo. Now, El
Cabo is along the road, it's known for its food, everyone stops here before they go to
Paute. Now, a lot of the food here is very similar to Gualaceo. But this is actually much
closer, you don't have to go across the river. It is known for a few things. Some say they
do the best rotisserie chicken in the region. And then also it's known for its tortillas,
they are known to have the best tortillas in the region. For these tortillas, there are
actually three different kinds. So you can get trigo, trigo means wheat so it's a wheat
tortilla, you can also get corn. So this is made out of mote out of hominy. So again, this is
going to be more of a savory type thing. And then my favorite is the choclo. Choclo is sweet corn.
So there are so many different types of corn here in Ecuador. And then these are just two of many.
So you've got your savory corn, your sweet corn choclo I really like. Now unlike pancakes that
you'd have in the United States or Canada. You don't need to have any syrup here. Usually
what you would have is morocho, which is a drink also made with corn, or today, I'm going to
have yaguana. Yaguana is a pre Columbian drink that you find just in this area. So I've had it
in Gualaceo, they also have it here. They also it in Paute. And so what it is, is it's similar to
horchata it's made with different fresh herbs and greens. It's very local, you
can't find it all over Ecuador. It's it's difficult to find. This is one
of the places that you should have it. Now, I'm going to start with these
tortillas from what I think I like least to most, I mean, I like all of
them. This is the trigo the wheat. So this is pretty much like a wheat pancake
style thing. They call it tortilla here. It's like toast. It's actually
quite nice. It's better than toast sometimes, okay. Yeah. That's why I opened it
up. Sometimes they put cheese in the middle. So this is like a little bit salty with
a little bit salty cheese in the middle. Next up we've got the corn so this is made
from mote, also known as hominy. This is also very much a savory dish. It also has cheese in it.
I mean, come on, cheese makes everything better. Okay, this has it tastes more like corn. So it's
a little bit like a cheesy corn bread. Not too cheesy. So just has a little bit more flavor than
the trigo. And then my favorite this is choclo. The reason why it's my favorite is I don't love
sweet things, but I love the sweetness of this. Like if you took sweet corn from the
summer, and you turned it into a pancake, this is exactly what it would be.
So, so good. The tortillas here are cheaper than Gualaceo. They're only 25 cents each. So 75
cents for three of them. And then the drink was $1 all of this for $1.75 more food and drink than I
can have. So share it because you're going to head into town and of course you're going to have
more food. So if you come here, you're going to come to El Cabuyo and so it is just pass the
main part of El Cabo as you're heading back out, it's on the left hand side she also has ceramics
here. So if you want a really good deal, you should probably check those out as well. I
think this place is fantastic. But today she's only doing this because her neighbor next door if
you want that chicken, he's got it next door
So when you come to the main square, the number
one thing you need to do is find Helado de Moises. He's been selling ice cream here
for decades. One flavor it's naranjilla. If you have not had naranjilla you need
to try it made by hand for only 30 cents. Only 30 cents for an ice cream. It's really tasty.
It doesn't taste like it has a lot of cream in it maybe more of a sherbert than and like a true
ice cream. This is like the perfect thing to start the day. It's just cool refreshing
that naranjilla flavor. So good.
Alright, so there are two
buildings here, down below. And the first one you've got clothing. We've got
food up here patio de comidas. And then over here are the fruits and vegetables. And so
Sunday is really the day to come here. It looks like oh, there's nobody. But you can kind
of see over there. I can see they're selling the yaguana that pre Columbian drink. We've got secos,
encebollado. Andres actually just corrected me on something. He doesn't think that this place would
be busier on a Sunday. In this region, it was hit really hard during the pandemic. And so a lot of
people actually left the area leaving Ecuador to work, especially to the United States, whether it
be legally or as an undocumented immigrant is very common in Ecuador. And so for a lot of people
here, they didn't have any other choice. They had to make a living. So they a lot of people have
left here for the States. And oftentimes they will send money back so whoever's left here can still
survive, but it's just a fact of Ecuador. A strong part of the economy here of the local economy
is actually from people working in States.
Right now, there are not a lot of Ecuadorian
fruits in season. So you will see things like apples, pears, all those kinds of things are
from Chile, some Peru I think, but not much. Usually it's from Chile. Persimmons? We call
the Mandarinas. Mandarinas Oh, I think there's persimmons, and then we have actually found when
we go to the market that people are really open about where the fruit is from. So you can ask
is this from Ecuador? And that's actually how I found out that not a lot of things are in season
right now. Of course, you've got like the bananas, plantanos those things like that. Those
papayas are for sure from the Amazon. Yeah, these gigantic papayas this is where
you're going to find probably more local things. Potatoes always local. They do not import any
potatoes. If you're looking to buy an avocado, let them know when you want to eat it.
Whether it's in like that day within the same week. They know how to pick out the good
ones. Yeah, Andres is looking for big ones. 50 cents each. He's got small ones that
are available today. But these are all local avocados so you can get avocados all over
Ecuador. You just need to know you got to ask where they're from. Because ones on the coast
taste different than the ones here Yeah,
Paute is big for avocados. Yeah, in Ecuador
we got two regions where avocados are the best one is whatGuayllabamba. Yeah, north
of Quito another one is here.
Ah, okay, so best avocados are in Guayllabamba
outside of Quito and then also Paute is known for avocados too. I actually really
like the avocados on the coast.
All right, they've got a main plan. As I hear
where they also have lots of traditional food, and anytime there is celebration
like a concert or anything like that it's held here. Oh, wow salchipapas here. Lots
of hornado here if you want to get it instead of Cuenca. Here's another one. We're gonna
see if we were gonna try a little bit. I mean, you guys know, I love the
hornado in the south, this is how they get you. They just give you a little
bit to try so you know if it's good or not. This is good. We can have a
little plate a little play before a next meal. So this is a $3 plate. You can see
it's got tons of food. It's got the the skin. Oh, they've got some encebollado in it. This is
oh, and then she gets rid of the extra liquid. Oh llapingachos Yeah. All right. So you'll find the
vendors here every day of the week but the best days of the week to get hornado are Wednesdays
and Sundays. Guys do not come here without a hat you need a hat or come here and buy a hat it
is hot. It's hotter than Cuenca because it's lower elevation. So that's why a lot of people
from Cuenca use Paute as their weekend villa, weekend home kind of place. There are a lot of
people here who have a lot of money. This is an agricultural area. So we checked that market out
now we just heard about another one I think it's called San Jose. And then also there's another
place that has an orchard and it's really well known for peaches and other orchard fruits.
So I think today is going to just be a day of buying some vegetables and fruits and
eating some more. And then we will check out the river and then also, apparently
the biggest spoon in the world is here.
Heading up to Bulan en la ruta de las frutas
or the fruit route. You'll see a number of people selling fruit outside their house, but
then also you'll see the stands. So we are at la fruteria Doña Gloria. And so she has just some
local fruit here. So babaco which is a cousin of the papaya, we've got some tree tomato, avocado,
lots of different things that are in season, but also we have apples and so I come from an
Apple Valley in Nova Scotia. I'm very familiar with a lot of different kinds of apples. I didn't
actually think that Ecuador grew apples. I thought they were all from Chile. They do grow them here
but they're much different. So they grow them in a higher altitude they are organic because nothing
is up there in the altitude and we are going to try three kinds of apples. The first one is called
colada. So colada is a fruit that is very common for mothers to give their children for the first
time as they move on to solid foods so they'll have it as applesauce. It's supposed to be I can
feel it. It's a really squishy kind of apple I don't know what it'll be like as an eating
apple because people turn this into colada which is why it's called the colada I think it's
going to be just a little bit too soft. Oh yeah. It's too soft. If you don't like Red Delicious
because it's too soft to take a red delicious and and make it like 10 times softer. Oh sure.
It's really fantastic as a colada. You know, growing up in an Apple Valley, I do know that you
have certain apples for certain things just like your potatoes, certain potatoes certain things.
There are baking apples are eating apples like their apples for their juice apples. That is not
an eating apple. All right next apple up this is a yellow apple and it is called Flor de Mayo and
so the flower of may and so this is called Flor de Mayo because it ready in May and is the like
the late season apple so this is the apple that you'll get at the end of apple season. And
as it gets more ripe, it gets more yellow. Yeah, this is an eating apple actually was really
good, very firm. Sweet and a little bit tart. Sort of my I'm a fan. almost tastes like a Royal Gala.
If you have if you have those where you are from. I'm gonna put this one to the side and eat the
rest of it because it's so good. Because next up we have a tiny one and it's called Delicia. So
Andres says same texture. It's an eating apple but it's not sweet. It's very small. I mean look,
my hands I have a small hand for an adult and this is a very small apple so this is like kind of a
snack apple. It's about the size of a small peach. This is not like Red Delicious at home. It doesn't
have a lot of flavor. It's not sweet at all, but still tasty. Still quite tasty. This would
be fantastic with some peanut butter or hummus. Overall, this one wins, I'm going to finish
eating this, I know Andres likes t his one. So I might give him the rest of this. And then also, this area is really well known for peaches.
So this is peach season, and you can see same size as the Delicia. And it's it's
actually quite small, it's like a small peach the peaches are good. The apples in Ecuador
are okay, these peaches are delicious. So we're gonna keep driving up. But if
you come here, you can buy these apples, a basket of them will cost you between $2-4.
Depending on what you get, or you don't want a basket and you just want to get one or two you can
get the really the better deals with a basket.
So one of the things that we were
just talking about was, you know, not all fruits in Ecuador is organic. Yes, there
is roundup and other pesticides used. However, that's usually on the Amazon and the coast
where it's so hot, there's so many pests, but here in this region, the food is organic.
And so if you're looking for that this is a good place to go because there is a higher elevation.
However, if you want to eat truly organic food be prepared every once in a while, you might
have like an apple or a piece of fruit that has a pest in it a bug. So that is the the other side
of eating organic is nature takes its course and sometimes that means a bug or a worm.
In this region, all the little villages have the one thing that they're known for in a
Sigsig it's the hats, Gualaceo it's the shoes in Chordeleg they're known for their silver
jewelry, but they have a little bit of everything. But it wasn't known for one thing. Until now.
Now it's known to have the biggest wooden spoon in the world validated by the Guinness Book
of World Records. That's right. So it's just three kilometers outside of downtown 50 cents
to get in to go see the big wooden spoon
So I'll share with you a play on two
different traditional Ecuadorian drinks. This is a granizado de mapanagua. Let me
explain. Granizado is basically shaved ice. You can have it as kids are a lot of street
vendors and beach vendors that sell this so with ice, and then on top, you have different flavors.
So I have mango, mint, strawberry, and they're all natural flavors, even though the color is a little
bit weird. And then so you have that you put a little bit of condensed milk on it very refreshing
drink. That's granizado. Now mapanagua is sugar cane juice. So guarapo that is then mixed with
lime, and, and booze. So aguardiente so it's sugar cane juice, lime, booze. So you have like
the two drinks mixed in one. Now they do this for $2 here and actually they do a very generous pour
of the booze. We said we only wanted a little bit we actually had to tell her to stop. Aguardiente
straight from here. So it's sugar cane, alcohol unaged. And whether you get it with
the booze or not, it's $2. So why would you not try it with the aguardiente? Try the mapanagua.
You cannot get mapanagua everywhere. The only other place I've ever seen it is Yunguilla, I
have a video about that as well. Let's try this
I've had mapanagua before. It's amazing. So it's
like you've got the sweetness from the sugarcane juice, the guarapo and then you've got the lime to
cut it so that it's not too sweet. And then you've got the booze which is like the best part. I love
aguardiente. It can be really harsh. This one is quite nice. And then also because you've got this
ice, and then you've got like this mango mint strawberry. It's like a really lovely cocktail.
I would say, you know, this is a touristy area, but they really embrace it. They embrace
the tourism part of it. So they also have traditional food here. They've got the tortillas.
They've got other drinks they've got the yaguana. They've also got nachos if you want to have it. So
it's like there's something for everybody here.
Alright, so we're at El Corval, which is the
most famous restaurant in town in Paute. Actually a destination restaurant for all of Azuay
the province that we're in, and it is known to serve traditional foods. So we're in this
colonial house, it is beautifully maintained it has a garden down below where you can sit.
We're actually up on the balcony here and it is so beautiful when you come in, they have lots of
local products, Pauteño products that you can try. And it just really takes you back in
time, but in like a modern kind of way, it's really popular here. So we decided that
since we have been eating bits and bites along the way that we would share lunch, so
we're going to try the Lomo del Diablo, which means devil's loin. So it is actually
beef that's flambeed in Pauteño alcohol, which is aguardiente, the sugar cane alcohol,
which I just had. And then it comes in a red wine sauce with some local herbs and then also shrimp
so it's like a surf and turf. So we're getting one dish. And then afterwards, we're actually
going to do they have a $5 special tasting here where you can try five different local spirits,
alcohols from the area so that's up after lunch. I didn't want to do it beforehand because you
don't want to have a bunch of booze and then not really be interested in lunch at all
Oh, wow
all right, they're so nice here. We're splitting this. This is $16.80 I think? And they
brought us two plates so that we could share it we ordered medium steak that's
exactly what it is. It's like a garlicky red wine. It's really really good. There
the portion size here is definitely enough for two people. Not very much rice the french fries are
good. I already tried the aji traditional tree tomato aji, super fruity. Fantastic. This is
a fantastic lunch. I'm I'm happy this is like the perfect place to go. You can only come to
one place I know I'm all about going to huecas. But sometimes there are famous restaurants
for a reason and this is one of them
So mistela is flavoured aguardiente
so it's infused alcohol. So in this we have strawberry raspberry and satsuma
which is like it's not really sure what it is like it's like a cherry. It smells
like flavor of alcohol, mostly berries oh wow, this is very, very smooth. You really
get like a lot of berry flavor and then just a little bit of alcohol. In fact, I think
it could be a little bit dangerous that way because this over ice or like with a little
bit of club soda would be fantastic.
Alright, so canelazo we've got
naranjilla which is a local fruit, a little bit of cinnamon aguardiente and probably
a little bit of panela unprocessed sugar cane. It's warm, which you have to have it
warm although I would still have a cold it's a drink that warms you up on
the cool nights and it's hot today. And so it's not too hot. It's just a little bit
warm and feels so good inside this is nice.
I almost always drink coffee with sugar because I
find it too bitter. And this is not bitter at all. This is the kind of coffee that would make me
a black coffee drinker I know I shouldn't be having it with sugar although the sugar here is
really good. But this is really really nice if you think you need to have sugar or milk in it
you should try this one. You'd be surprised.
We are finally leaving El Corval I cannot even
tell you how freaking amazing and inspiring that visit was. To know that they have such a
successful business has a successful restaurant have Zhumir but their priority is really about
making Paute a good destination to visit a great destination to live supporting local producers
helping them elevating the people, even just with the coffee, creating all of these products
to elevate the life of people that live here. I just sometimes you walk
into a place and you think I'm going to have a great lunch. But Patricio
the owner of this place, he has such vision. Wow, I'm so inspired and overwhelmed by
all of his ideas. Sometimes you think things will never change, and then you run into
people like him and you realize they can
So I'm ending this video of Paute Ecuador in the
Parque Linear and this is a really popular park along the water. The water here is a little bit
brown right now. That's just because we've had some heavy rains. So there's sediment in
the water. Normally it is very clear. This is a really popular spot for people to come
here families, groups of friends to barbecue, they've got little barbecue spots, they bring
tents, like you can hang out here all day. I gotta say Paute really surprised me. A lot
of that to be honest, was because of Patricio at El Corval, I just see so much opportunity here.
When we look at you know, some of the towns I love like well like Gualaceo. Paute has all of those
things. And so I think it's just kind of coming into its own after going through, you
know, a little bit of struggles but with some vision. I really think this is going to
be an amazing place and I highly recommend coming to visit here only 45 minutes from
Cuenca. This is an amazing day trip.
