Ecuador, Oswaldo and Ceviche

We spent a nice time today with Oswaldo. Oswaldo is a kind gentleman in his forties and a typical everyday Equadorian man.

Oswaldo is a technician who works on the communications of the Guayaquil Airport. This is the position of a well-trained technician. In the US he’d be making $40-50,000 a year. Here in Ecuador he’s paid $380 a month and supplements his income by driving a taxi. That’s how we met him. My wife wanted to find a reliable guy to drive us around when we needed the service.

His wife is in her sixth year of medical school. They have one boy. They live in Sueces 3, a middle-class neighborhood in the North of Guayaquil not far from the airport. The streets are in poor shape and dirty. They live in a one story structure. The masonry is cracked, but it’s comfortable and clean.

We were there because we’d helped Oswaldo out on a business problem he had. He asked us over so he could properly thank us. Dinner was Ceviche de Manabi and Ceviche de Camarones. Cevishe is a cold dish, a soup really, with seafood, lime onions and a variety of spices. The Ceviche de Manabi is made with fish. The fish is not cooked, but is cured in lime juice for 24 hours. The Ceviche de Camerones is made with shrimp, and the shrimp is cooked.

In the hot climate of Guayaquil the cold ceviche was delicious and refreshing. Oswaldo’s family was a joy. We spent a relaxing three hours talking and practicing my atrocious Spanish.

After this I'm going to head to the Internet Cafe and see about some NLHE. I'm going to work on some techniques, and sharpen my game, so I can hit the poker rooms of Southern California with my best game.