Living in Ecuador - You Can't Always Believe What You're Told in Ecuador!!!

Bo writes about:
Huevos de Ganzo!!!!
On our way back from El Mercado today, we passed a woman selling eggs.  Inside her basket were three “huevos” that were conspicuously larger than the rest.  Linda asked her why these three eggs were bigger than the others. The egg hawker replied, “Porque es un huevo de Ganzo”.  I thought this meant it was an egg from a pig which of course would explain the reason for such an outsized specimen, but alas as pigs neither fly nor do they lay eggs in Ecuador or any place else, my interpretation as usual was 180 degrees off the mark.

It turns out a Ganzo is a some kind of fowl and is larger than a turkey. This, too, would explain the existence of such a Bunyanesque cackleberry; however, even with this piece of information we were no richer in our comprehension of the exact type of bird a Ganzo was.  Linda explained to our newly discovered Oologist that the fact we know a Ganzo is larger than a turkey was helpful, but we would still like to know more specifically as to which phyla of bird the mysterious Ganzo belongs. The only information that our Spanish-speaking egg specialist was willing to part with was that it was some sort of an egg-layer that was larger than a turkey, thus narrowing it down to about 47 potential avian suspects.

With the slow realization dawning upon us that our zoology lesson was drawing to a close, we asked how much for an egg. Her quick sales response was, “Ocho dolares” which is loosely translated as, “Hand over your wallet."   EIGHT DOLLARS for one of these outsized orbs that originated from a still undetermined mysterious feathered creature!  At the speaking of these words, I excitedly thought that based on the price of this oviparous treasure, we were either looking at the spore of the goose that laid the golden egg (for which $8 would be a bargain) or that the Ganzo was Spanish for “Phoenix."

My hopes rose as I indulged myself in the contemplation of the fame that would accompany me in my finding the holy grail of oospore. They were quickly squelched as we were informed that the exorbitant premium for this ovum that was set before us was due to the fact the Ganzo (whatever the hell kind of a bird it was) only lays 2 to 3 eggs a year. You would think at $8 an egg the Ganzo could make an effort to squeeze out a few more per year.  Seeing that this egg would not bestow any magical powers upon us, make us wealthy and famous, nor guarantee us eternal life, we decided to forego the purchase of the “Huevo de Ganzo."  Feeling that $8 was a bit too pricey for her over-sized offering, we thanked our egg expert for her time and trundled on, still none the wiser as to what a Ganzo is.

Addendum:  I looked up Ganzo, found out it is a GOOSE, and researched that they lay eggs every two to three days.  You can't always believe what you're told in Ecuador!!!!!  Linda