Wrocław: Pierogies, Bargains, and Gnomes

I can pinpoint one specific reason (out of many) why I loved Wrocław (pronounced vroetz-wav), Poland so much. Pierogies are the best. They’re just the best food in the world! But actually, I grew up eating my grammy’s homemade pierogies, so I was super psyched to try some in Poland. And I wasn’t disappointed! Unfortunately I didn’t venture out of my comfort zone and stuck with pierogi ruskie, cheese and potato stuffed pierogies topped with fried onions. If I had more wifi access to be able to translate the ingredients of the other variations, I might’ve tried more. But the plain pierogies were just fine with me.

Another thing I loved about Poland were the prices. The conversion rate between the USD and Polish złoty is amazing. In the market square I could get a big plate of pierogies for 14 złoty ($4) and out of the city center I could find them for 8 złoty ($2). I had a little bit too much ice cream there because of how cheap it was. Like… at least two cones a day. Oops. But for $1.50 for two scoops? What a deal!

The Polish people seemed pretty chill, too. I didn’t meet one rude person, and they just let their dogs splash around in the fountains. I saw this multiple times and it made me really miss my dogs!

Wrocław’s Market Square was one of the prettiest places I’ve ever seen. The square (one of the largest town squares in Europe) is lined with pastel-colored buildings, cute Polish restaurants, and along the ground, gnomes. Little gnome statues are scattered amongst the entire city, each with a story that you can look up here.

Our first night there was the championship football game between FC Barcelona and Juventus, so in our attempt to get as much of the European experience possible, we tried to find a bar to watch the game at. Everywhere was packed, so after standing near a TV to watch a few minutes of the game we decided to head back to our hostel.

The next morning I saved directions to get across town to a Sunday flea market, but on our way we actually found a HUGE flea market happening just near our hostel! SCORE! I picked up a few items for a great bargain: a blouse for less than $5, a necklace for less than $2, a tiny elephant for about 30 cents, a change purse for $1, and a gift for my grammy for just a few bucks too. The beginning of the flea market was mostly vendors selling their new products, almost like a pop-up shop, but once we dug deeper into the market we found the real gems laid out on blankets along an abandoned railroad track. A lot of it was junk, but I always love to dig through it to find the real treasures.

Wrocław was the first place we’d been to where there was a bit of a language problem. On the bus there I looked up some phrases and how to pronounce some of the Polish letters (the “ł” actually makes a “y” sound and “w” makes a “v” sound), but I was still unprepared for bargaining with flea market vendors. Most of my communication with them was with fingers, which was confusing at first because Europeans start counting with their thumb, not their pointer finger. So a three looks like a two to Americans. The workers in tourist area by the market square mostly spoke English, but the older flea market vendors did not, at all. They even tried to speak to me in German, seeing if that was my language, but nope, not even close. I did try to use my few Polish words whenever possible though, mostly “dziękuję” (jen-koo-ya), or “thank you.”

Poland is cool. I hope to see more of it someday, especially because I have heritage there. I’d also like to try some more of their pierogies, although in the end they are no match for my grammy’s homemade ones.

Dziękuję, Polska.

Otavalo

Saturday morning Emily and I headed 2 hours north of Quito to the small town of Otavalo, known mostly for its Saturday Market (the biggest in South America). The bus ride there was short and sweet, with some nice views, as seen below!

Once we got there we dove right into the market. It was huge and so easy to get lost in – but I didn’t mind. I love shopping.

I loved seeing the Otavalan people in their traditional clothing. They’re apparently the most properous indigenous group in South America though!

There was a LOT of llama stuff. I’m sad though because I haven’t even seen a llama here yet!

I got some pretty good deals using my previously non-existant haggling skills. I did research online ahead of time and saw that, especially if you’re a foreigner like me, they’ll up the price to twice as much as usual so you have to bargain. So my rule of thumb was to ask for half of what they quoted and work my way to a deal. Most of the stuff was pretty cheap, but I did ask about this one tiny, tiny elephant that was made out of opal (my birthstone) and it was $55. What?! The silver jewelry was about $15 a necklace, scarves could be bought for under $5, and little knick knacks could be haggled down to a dollar. I won’t post what I bought here because most of it is gifts for family and friends who read this, but I did get a buddha necklace (super random but really cute!) for $3 for myself, along with some Otavalan dolls ($2 each) and shakers made out of gourds for my future classroom ($3 each).

For lunch we went to a pizzeria and I got a Pizza Blanca for $3.50 (steal!!!). It was so good. It had onions and garlic and oh my I was in heaven. For dinner that night we went to another Italian place (I know, I need to broaden my dining choices) and I got the same exact kind of pizza. Delicious again. This restaurant happened to be playing the Patriots-Ravens football game. In the middle of the Andes. In a little indigenous town. American football. But the Pats won! Woo!!

Our hostel for the night, Hosteria Rose Cottage, was amazing. It was a 3km taxi ride from the town center but it was so worth it… It was on the top of a hill overlooking the mountains and valleys and pictures just don’t do its surroundings justice.

The owner was very nice (and very British), there were animals on the property (yayyy!), and breakfast was included. What more could you ask for? Oh, and there were hammocks everywhere.

Emily and I booked two single rooms and had a whole little cottage to ourselves! We checked in after lunch, headed back to the market for a little while and to eat dinner, and came back around 6. I brought back my pizza bones for the three dogs at the hostel. They were so cute and so sweet but so skinny! I had to fatten them up. We also gave them Emily’s leftover pasta. And I gave them pretty much every scrap piece of food I could find.

That’s my babygirl Chincha. She was the sweetest little thing. I really wanted to take her back with me (sorry Dad).

One of my other puppies giving me kisses. Mis perritos queridos.

“Santa’s Little Helper” enjoying the view.

Here’s me giving kisses to the hostel’s donkey…

…and Exibit A of the owner’s Britishness:

I found this gem in the reception office. Haha!

One of the coolest things at the hostel (to me, at least) was this map of where people who have stayed there are from.

I put my pushpin in little ole Western Maryland, which I thought was in the middle of nowhere until I came to Ecuador and saw some places that reallyare in the middle of nowhere.

Emily and I spent the evening playing cards by the fire in the hostel’s restaurant. She won.

The next morning (this morning) we ate breakfast at 8 and set out on a hike to find the waterfall, Cascada Taxopamba, that was only an hour’s walk from the hostel. It was quite the hike, but definitely worth it. I’d never been that close to a waterfall that big!

I’m so tiny!!!

So that was my Otavalo trip. Now I’m starting my last week in Quito (wahhh) and planning next weekend’s trip to Banos. I don’t want to leave Ecuador!