One of my favorite treats is bizcochos, a brick oven-baked crispy bread strip typical of a certain area of northern Ecuador. Almost every time we travel north from Quito to visit places like Cayambe or Otavalo we stop at our favorite cafe which specializes in fresh bizcochos. They are great with a cup of hot chocolate on a cold rainy day. They are even better with a serving of dulce de leche (also known as manjar in some places). Bizcochos are a traditional snack. Three towns most notable for their bizcochos are Cayambe, Tabacundo and the small town of El Cajas. El Cajas sits on the provincial border between Pichincha and Imbabura Provinces. This little town is built on the sale of bizcochos and the work of a few gas stations. That's about it. Nonetheless, stopping off at one of the cafes where they also make bizcochos is great fun. Our favorite cafe is "La Casa del Senor de los Bizcochos" in El Cajas. The front of this cafe is spotted like a Dalmatian or a Holstein cow. Not far from this location I just hid a cache by the name Spotted (GC2KHWV). Care must be taken for muggles. This is one of those where you might need to sit down and rest on the grass next to the hiding place and talk on your cell phone while feeling around for the cache. The day we had this cache we took a mixed group of Ecuadorian and North American church members to work in the Quichua community of Espejo. it was just a few days before Christmas and we were doing a children's program. we had a clown, some musicians and singers, a preacher and a translator and several folks just to visit with the people. We had a great time. If you get to Ecuador be sure to visit the area around Lago San Pablo. Espejo sits beside the lake and the lake is gorgeous! Check out the several caches in the area too. Hopefully one of them will be mine.
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