As soon as you get your feet under the table, you discover the depth of your ignorance.  If you are just a visitor, nobody bothers to enlighten you.  It is not worth the trouble but once they realise you are a fixture, you had better learn what is what.  So I have found that there are no bananas in Ecuador!

Those lovely long golden curves which adorn our supermarket shelf, are called guineos.  Their foot long green cousins are plantains and are vegetables not fruit.

This other day I found long golden ones and was told that they were ripe. I could see that but apparently that's their name and they are ripe plantains. - maduros.

The upshot was that I have discovered that I do not like plantains, boiled or baked, but Maduros are delicious fried.  The Ecuadorians like them with fried eggs, but I had them as a relish with stew and rice.

And my adventures with vegetables is far from over.  I wanted leeks the other day and looked them up in the dictionary to be told they were long onions.  However, when I asked for them in the market, I was told that that is what Colombians call them - here in Ecuador they are white onions.  I pointed to a heap of beautifully peeled onions and asked what, therefore, they are called.  Oh, they are just onions, and the purple ones are pink onions.   Spring onions are green onions, and I have yet to find shallots.  Goodness what they will be called.