After receiving the assignment to go to the market to buy fruits that I have never seen nor heard of; the next big challenge was to give an oral presentation in Spanish to the rest of the class about the various  kinds of fruit and what I had learned about each.  The other students all had to do the same, so we were pretty much in the same boat.    Thank God for the Internet to do our research!

I actually found the challenge of the presentation to be fun.  We were all sympathetic to each other’s plight so everyone paid attention.  It was a great exercise to help us improve our language skills.

Here I am wowing(??) the class with my presentation.

Here I am presenting my market research to the other students at Academia de Espanol

Notice the fruit on the platters in the foreground.  One of the teachers labeled each type with it’s name.   Here are some of them closeup:

Photos of the fruit from my presentation

Photos of some of the fruit from my presentation

The name of this fruit really is "Tuna"-don't get it confused with the fish.

The Tuna fruit was really sweet and delicious.  Once you understand it is not the same as the fish, you can really enjoy it!

After each presentation we all got an opportunity to sample each kind of fruit.  I thought it was a great teaching exercise and an opportunity to learn more about Ecuador.

To read about my other travels click here

Steve Barrymore ssb11@prodigy.net

I really enjoy the street markets of Latin America because they are always so interesting, plus the vendors are always willing to talk with you.

The previous afternoon,  my teacher had given me the names of a bunch of different kinds of tropical fruits to research on the internet.  Most of them I had never seen nor heard of.  My assignment the next day(Wed.) was to go to the market, buy each of the fruits, and be prepared to give a show and tell report to the other students. I was supposed to show each fruit and tell some details about each one; like how it is grown, its growing season, flavor, uses, etc.  That sounded fun.  I was up for the challenge.

 We walked 3-4 blocks to a big indoor fruit market.  The best way to give you the idea of the market is to show a bunch of photos here.  You’ll get the idea.

Quito, Ecuador-produce market

Quito, Ecuador=fresh produce market

Quito, Ecuador-fresh produce market

Quito, Ecuador-fresh produce market

Quito, Ecuador produce market, Avacados and peanuts

Qutio, Ecuador-fresh produce market

Quito, Ecuador, fresh produce market. Melons and Star Fruit

Quito, Ecuador, fresh produce market

Quito, Ecuador -fresh produce market

quito, Ecuador-they also sell some meat at the produce market. I'll just throw this in for good luck!

Pretty interesting stuff….huh?  My next step would be to put it into words and do my best to explain it to the rest of the students in school.

Steve Barrymore, ssb11@prodigy.net

Next-Making the presentation to the other students

To read about my other travels click here