What’s the Difference between $2.50, $3.50 & $4.50 Almuerzos in Ecuador?

The typical Ecuadorian almuerzo of $2.50 still exists but in Cuenca you will have to walk outside of the tourist areas…and that’s ok if you want to do that. If you wander off the well worn expat paths you will find hidden hideaways for $2.50. And you don't even have to walk that far; maybe 2 or 3 blocks from Park Calderon! 



And back in 2011 you could still find some pretty decent almuerzos for just $2 bucks like this one below.

Cositas Restaurant in Cuenca - $2 chicken and rice plate - 2011 price.

Here's a short video of the whole gang (our family) in the above $2 chicken lunch plate.

                               


In Cuenca, most folks stay within the first two or three blocks that surround Park Calderon and subsequently that is where the more expensive lunches are found.  It wouldn’t be a big deal except for the fact that there is absolutely no difference in portion size, variety of food, or service in the $2.50 almuerzo and the $3.50 almuerzo. Btw, this restaurant is still in business and you can't find anything under $4.25.

Ejecutivo Almuerzo
 

In early 2014 is when we began seeing the almuerzos inching up to $4.25 and now $4.50 and putting a title on it of  "ejecutivo" or "executive". Gringos like International cuisine and the market responded.  Well, with the prices anyway.

When you see the title of “ejectivo” expect something a bit out of the ordinary such as fried rice with carne or sometimes lasagna or burrito.  By the way, the word aburrito in Spanish means boring.  Just thought I'd throw that in. 



Here's the video of our first "ejectivo almuerzo" for $3.00; back then the price was high for an almuerzo. It was lasagna and well, not that great!

                      


Zona Refrescante restaurant is still in business in the same place (Gran Colombia and the ejectivo lunches are $4.25 and $4.50 now. And the lasagna is $6.20 now. 

Wow, that's a huge price increase in just 3.5 years!

We recommend if eating the $3.50 to $4.50 almuerzo to stay with the ordinary fare of soup, white rice, a meat, menestre (beans, peas or lentils) and small salad.  I always used to say, "When going out, stick with eggs because it's really hard to screw up eggs.  That's how it gets when you're a "picky eater" like me".

Next, we’re going to show you some photos of the typical Ecuadorian $2.50 lunch and then the $3.50 lunch. You tell us in the comments what differences you notice, if any.
 

This is a typical $2.50 almuerzo in Ecuador

Fish, beans, rice, plantain and soup (not shown) $2.50

 This is another typical $2.50 almuerzo in Ecuador.

egg, hotdogs, rice, potato cakes, carrots and soup (not shown) for $2.50

lentils and rice, fish, plantain, salad and soup (not shown) $2.50

This is the typical $3.50 almuerzo in Ecuador

chicken stir-fry, rice, yuca roll, salad, soup (not shown) for $3.50

Now, let's do some comparing and see how it all really pans out.



Food portions: no difference
Restaurant ambiance: no difference
Food quality:   no difference, however if you try something international because you feel like spending more like $4.50 it is a hit or miss. Try it at your own risk.
Service: no difference
Price Inflation: $1 to $3 dollars and sometimes more

So, there you have it. Now you can say you know a little bit more about eating in a foreign tourist zone.

Until we write again.

You might like these videos of almuerzos in Cuenca. 



Here's the whole gang again eating in Cuenca Ecuador and the lunch was just $1.50. Notice all the food you get for $1.50! Gone is the $1.50 lunch; today this same lunch would be $3.00 dollars.

$1.50 Almuerzo Lunch in Cuenca Ecuador

                              

$2.20 Ecuadorian Lunch at Hostal Carib Inn

                             

Review of Don Vittos Almuerzo $2.75 in an upper-end restaurant.



                     

Someone told us that everything is organic in this restaurant.



We're an Expat Family of Five, Living Frugal, Healthy and Happy Abroad. We live in Cuenca, Ecuador and travel the Ecuador coast whenever we get a chance. We just adventured throughout the country of Panama for five weeks! Come along and enjoy some of our experiences with us!

What Do Grande & Muy Amplio Really Mean in Ecuador and Latin America?

We ask the sales lady, “Tiene mas grande?”  She holds up a t-shirt and says, “Si, si, it’s muy grande”!  Yep, it says “extra grande” on the tag in the back but it looks like about a medium size, certainly would not fit any of us in our family. Moving on…

Small means big and big means small, small is the new plenty.  What's your beef?  Wanna live big?  No problem.
Well, here, let’s take a look.

Move Over Honey, You're Hogging the Bed?
 

We’ve been in numerous hostels throughout the country of Ecuador when writing for our Ecuador guide books and in most hostels the matrimonial room, which is for two people offers only a double bed.  The last time I slept in a double sized bed was as a teenager still living at home…until we moved to Ecuador.

FYI: Getting a queen size bed in most hostels is a rare treat and we tried very hard to only list double rooms that had queen sized mattresses in our guide books and one double room hostel in Quito has a KING sized bed…wow!

Si, Mi Casa es Muy Amplio
 

Some of the rental ads do not list the meters of construction. The ad will say the home is “muy amplio”.  So we call it and ask how many meters and he says, “140 metros”.  This translates to about 1,514’ square feet and the home is a 4 bedroom, study, kitchen/dining and living room, and 2-1/2 bath. Hello, how on earth do you fit all these rooms in a 1,500’ house? Easy, the rooms are very small…they are so small that a queen sized bed will barely fit or maybe not at all.

Es Un Grande Almuerzo?
 

Time to eat! When we went to a new restaurant for almuerzo and asked the price, she said $3.50, so out of curiosity we ask, “Why so much, is it a big lunch?” and she smiles and shakes her head with vigor, “si, muy grande almuerzo”.  



Here’s the lunch plate.

$3.50 almuerzo comes with soup and juice

This is no bigger than the $2.50 almuerzo, which is also considered grande…and for some people maybe it is, but we eat a lot.


I
once went out for almuerzo with a friend and first thing he said when
the plates arrived:  "hm, they don't eat much here?"  My answer was, "Well,
at $2.50 you can order another one". Just trying to stay lighthearted. 
He didn't laugh. 



If the Shoe Fits 



Have you ever gone shopping for shoes in Ecuador or Panama? The shoes are tiny, really tiny. I wear a size 8-1/2 and have difficulty finding shoes in my size. I don’t consider myself to be a big person either, just average.

In Panama the shoe sales lady was embarrassed for me because not one of the three pair of tennis shoes I liked had my size of 8-1/2.  At that moment I felt like BIG foot! The biggest size was size 8. Just saying, bring shoes with you if you move to a Latin American country. It’s the same with jeans and shirts too…the clothing is big, small plenty amplio take your pick.

Los Gringos son Grandes Personas
 

It is sometimes quite apparent who the gringos are in a crowd.  They're easy to spot. From 5’10" inches tall to 6' 2" inches in our family we mostly stand quite tall. Good thing we're not taller though like many gringos are.  The good thing about it is, It's easier to film things in a crowd of people, like the time we were standing in line at the El Arenal Bus Transfer Station.

El Arenal Bus Transfer Station

Ecuadorian Furniture and Daddy Long Legs
 

Some of the furniture in Ecuador is muy poco (very tiny)!  When we first moved here our family all went furniture shopping; this is before we thought about building our own furniture, and anyway, we sat down on the furniture and it was so low to the floor we looked really funny sitting on the sofas because our legs were up to our chins and its almost NOT an exaggeration on this one.

Please Leave the Toilet When You Leave
 

Some of the toilets are pequeño (tiny). Once when we were helping an expat couple, the man said, “I just can’t do these tiny toilets, I’m going to have to buy my own toilet and put it in, if I rent in Cuenca”.  We told him, “Yes, the landlord will love that you are fixing up their rental house for them because you can’t take your toilet with you when you leave”. We all chuckled.



So in a nutshell our deduction after having lived here almost 5 years...what Latin Americans consider grande and muy amplio may just be average size and standard or small areas for us.   Or perhaps we should look at it from their shoes (no pun intended), maybe all of the things mentioned are really grande and muy amplio but we are just extravagant people.

Until we write again.
 

You might like these articles too.

• 5 Things Ecuadorians Love and Hate

• 12 Unusual Aspects about Latin America

• 7 Endearing Traits of Latin Americans
  

We're an Expat Family of Five, Living Frugal, Healthy and Happy Abroad. We live in Cuenca, Ecuador and travel the Ecuador coast whenever we get a chance. We just adventured throughout the country of Panama for five weeks! Come along and enjoy some of our experiences with us!

What’s up with the Coffee in Ecuador? Updated 2016

Another update. This article was first published May 26, 2012. Here's what's new with the coffee prices in Ecuador.  



Update 2016 - The coffee we buy (I'm the only coffee drinker in the house) is grown in the mountains of Loja Ecuador. It's really good coffee and ground daily downtown in El Centro off of Mariscal Sucre, about 2 blocks off of the Park Calderon. Just start walking down the sidewalk and you'll smell the strong, wonderful aroma of the beans being ground.



When we first moved here we we're paying $3.85 for 450G for the coffee. (see photo below). It is very fresh. You can also buy the beans and grind them yourself for super fresh coffee. It was the same price off of Mariscal Sucre in El Centro too. Not sure about the price now though, we haven't been there in over a year.

 Loja Ecuador grown coffee

A year later the El Tostador coffee from Loja went up in price to $4.25 for 450Grams. Then the store we were buying it from upped the price to $7.50...so we quit buying it there and found a new store which still sells it for a decent price of $4.50. You can also buy it downtown off of Mariscal Sucre.



Some people say they like the Cubanito brand Coffee grown in Colombia; they sell it at Supermaxi or Coral. I prefer the Loja "El Tostador" coffee because it tastes much fresher than the Cubanito.  



The coffee tastes
lousy in most restaurants in Ecuador. Ecuador is one of the main producers
of coffee in the world and yet, they serve lousy coffee. What’s up with
that? When we first got here we ordered a cup of coffee and we got instant
coffee! Yuck! We were very surprised since we had read that Ecuador grows
coffee.

Then we went to a
different cafe and they brought us a cup of hot water and a small jar of
imported “Nescafe”. What’s going on here? I’ll tell you what’s going on here.
Ecuadorians are not big coffee drinkers—they just grow the stuff for export,
and aren’t trying to compete at the higher taste levels.

When going out for coffee
you have to tell the waiter that you want a cup of brewed coffee or else
they’ll just bring you the imported instant. Unfortunately, some restaurants do
not even have real coffee to serve.  The
brewed coffee is always higher priced, and at one dollar a cup it still doesn’t
seem worth the money.  According to our
rule of 4, (If you have not yet read the article click here) that’s a $4 dollar cup of coffee, but if Starbucks
was selling it they would be soon out of business.

When they serve the coffee
they will always bring sugar to the table with your coffee but NEVER cream or
milk. So, if you like a little bit of cream or milk in your coffee be prepared
to pay extra for it, sometimes $0.50 cents to $1 extra for a ¼ inch of milk in your
coffee, or they will bring you a cup of milk! 



Grabbing a good cup of coffee at $.50 cents a cup would be
consistent according to our above mentioned rule of 3 & 4, but it’s not to be had. 



Update 2016 -  Here's something funny, I haven't ordered coffee out in awhile and just last week I asked the waitress for cafe con leche without much thought and she brought me a cup of milk with the jar of instant coffee. LOL, hehehehehe

I’ve learned not to order
coffee in restaurants, especially traditional Ecuadorean food places because
the establishment usually doesn’t even own a coffee maker to brew the coffee
in! There are several gringo owned restaurants in Cuenca where you can order
real brewed coffee but it can be expensive, plus some of them don’t give you cream
unless you pay for it, or give you free refills.

Here is our solution:

Frank and I bought
ourselves some nifty little thermoses and before we go out to be adventuresome
in Cuenca we fill them with our favorite hot drink.  I bring coffee and
Frank brings his cocoa with raw honey. We pack them into our back packs and
we’re good to go. 

Yes, frugal folk like Frank and I like our creature comforts
and good coffee for me and super good cocoa for Frank is one of them. We can
sit down anywhere and drink our hot drinks. 
Self sufficiency trumps challenges once again.

And another thing we have
noticed when traveling anywhere in Ecuador don’t expect coffee
makers in the hotel or hostel room, like you see throughout the hotels
in North America. In fact, 99% of the time even in the hostel kitchens there
will not be a coffee maker, which is astonishing! Our actual experience is that
100% of the time there is no coffee pot in the hostel.

Tutto Freddo is the only
place we have had some of the best tasting coffee in Cuenca, in our opinion. We
usually order the frothy, robust flavored cappuccino because it is a nice tall
serving for $2.30.



A lot of people complain
about the coffee in Ecuador.  Sometimes
we read someone recommending a great coffee producer somewhere in Ecuador.  But that’s like saying to all people in Texas
that there’s good coffee in Dallas.

Don’t worry, you can buy good coffee here at
your local store but it is quite expensive. Considering it is grown here; we
were expecting much lower prices.  But at least you can buy some at the store and take it home,
and brew it up in your favorite coffee maker and enjoy a good cup of Ecuadorian
coffee. 



We hope you enjoyed our update on the coffee in Ecuador. Until we write again...



If you liked this article, you might try these too.

• Ecuador Coffee, Grown in the Mountains of Loja

• Cocoa Named Best Tasting in Ecuador

• 20 Popular Food Items that Cost More In Ecuador than in the U.S

We're
an Expat Family of Five, Living Frugal, Healthy and Happy Abroad. We
live in Cuenca, Ecuador and travel the Ecuador coast whenever we get a
chance. We just adventured throughout the country of Panama for five
weeks! Come along and enjoy some of our experiences with us!