Photo of The Day #7

  Vendor-selling-fresh-water-crabs-on-the-HWY-to-Salinas-Blog

On my first trip to Ecuador in October of 2011, I learned that they have a plethora of crabs available and the crabs are packed up in large bundles for sale at road side stands. It is an amazing site. I am positive I will see many again when I return to Cuenca in a few days, unless there is a seasonality to the crabs.

 

This will be the first time I have traveled to Ecuador during their winter. Kim wants me to measure how cold it really is, as she absolutely hates the cold and feels it down to her bones. I think it is actually getting worse the older we both get! I thought you might enjoy a little local food. I sincerely think though, that you better have a huge family, a party with about 20 attendees or an enormous appetite, if you make this purchase!

Is It Possible to Eat Ice Cream and Lose Weight

One of my passions in life is very unhealthy, completely degenerate in nature, filled to the brim with sugar, butter fat and other high caloric ingredients, but I can’t help myself. I am addicted to it. I love sampling the many flavors and I love the various methods of serving it. At home in the US, I cannot purchase it without gobbling down approximately what is considered three or four servings (at least).

I usually make do and hold my urge to feast on the entire package and devour it in one sitting. I am so unlucky, because in Texas we have what is arguably the best in the world for sale in every grocery, convenience, drug store, mass merchandisers and warehouse stand alone membership venues like Costco and Sam’s Club. It is frankly a losing battle and if one does not have a strong disposition you will suffer the consequences. That is simply the enormous expansion of your waistline or what becomes a middle tire effect.

Mixx Heladeria with 80 Flavors with Jim and Connie Joliff

Mixx Heladeria with 80 Flavors with Jim and Connie Joliff

Obviously by now you have deduced I am speaking of ice cream. It is so hard to shop at my local HEB and pick and choose from all the wonderful fruits and vegetables offered and try to stroll by the Blue Bell ice cream section, without grabbing two or three half gallons. Yes I said half gallons. In the old days when all three sons were living at home and playing athletics, it was nothing to go through five or six half gallons a week.

Growing young men need their calories and proteins because of which many tend to invest in performance supplements for sale along with various diets. And if you’re looking for other types of supplements and health products, then you may consider trying products from drinkharlo.com. Furthermore, most of the fat tends to burn off in the Texas heat, along with a hundred degrees plus at their particular sport’s practices. Eating protein bar for active lifestyles is filling even for a snack. You may also incorporate collagen peptides from NativePath to your diet. Of course Mom and Dad needed excessive butterfat to enable us to do all that screaming for our sons prowess or at the officials, which usually dominated the yelling. Somehow our referees, umpires, etc were always below standard, or at least that was the case when we were losing!

Mixx Flavor Creations

Mixx Flavor Creations

My weight would fluctuate enormously with the advent of late spring and the high temperatures. How else would one cool down? Thank God I realized by the end of summer that I had to cease my ingestion of massive quantities of ice cream and behave normally again as the cold seasons arrived, or else I would have looked like a Goodyear blimp.

As I aged each year it became harder and harder to shed the excess weight, punctuated with a little syrup and more than likely whipped cream. Kim gravitated toward flavors like Butter Pecan, Vanilla and and anything with Carmel flavor. I was infatuated with Banana Pudding, all things Chocolate and many of the seasonal short term offerings.

Mixx Flavor Options

Mixx Flavor Options

Over the years we cut back and started only eating ice cream on holidays and other celebrations. It was not easy to let go of my midnight cravings. I started measuring my ice cream scoops so that I could keep a count on how much I was having on a weekly basis. I pined away my fifties knowing I could not continue this charade. Then it happened. I visited Ecuador. A country full of organic fruits, vegetables and untainted food supplies like we have in the US, with all the GMO’s and preservatives.

I quickly noticed that there was a Heladeria on almost every block. Most were the run of the mill shops and served a gelato style ice cream with basic flavors and all serve a soft style, as rule. We talked with a few local Ex-Pats and they recommended Mixx Heladeria run by a Canadian genius.

Mixx Choice of Serving Methods

Mixx Choice of Serving Methods

This place has all types of flavors, including Mojito, Red Bull, Amaretto, and tons of fruit and tasty creations. The sign on the front says 80 Sabores. I am guessing that is correct. Once you walk in, it takes a while to decide which flavors you want to try. There are so many that are appealing. You also then get to decide what vessel you want the ice cream served in, a waffle cone, a waffle dish, or a normal cone.

Then, you get to decide if you want it dipped in chocolate! My word it is tasty. I have attached several photos for your pleasure and I am sure in a few days when I am back to Cuenca, I will head to Mixx and start testing the various new flavors. Somehow with all the walking in Cuenca I manage to eat ice cream and lose weight at the same time. Now that is my kind of experience! For more weight loss procedures, you may consider checking out Charlotte BHRT.

Mixx Flavor Creations

Mixx Flavor Creations

Photo of the Day #4

A Beautiful side door of a Cathedral in Cuenca

A Beautiful side door of a Cathedral in Cuenca

I captured this photo, on Kim and my second day in Cuenca. We were walking back from exploring El Centro, the old town section of Cuenca and saw this door on one of the plethora of cathedrals in the city. I am fascinated by doors and am obsessed with taking pictures of doors that appeal to me, which is a broad range. After a couple of days Kim would identify candidates ahead of time before I even saw them. There is something magical in my opinion and they serve as entrances to many facets of people’s lives. I always run through my mind what I think is on the other side and what I would find if I opened the door.

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Amateur Traveler Episode 471 - Travel to Austin, Texas