What will $15 buy YOU?

We have a housekeeper. Her name is Blanquita.

She used to come and clean our house once per week from 8:00-12:00, however, with the issues I've had with my pregnancy we have asked her to come Monday through Thursday from 8:00-12:00 to help us out with daily household chores and extras here and there.

The cost of having Blanquita help us out? $10 per half day.

This week Blanquita did my grocery shopping... a strange experience for me.

I asked Blanquita to visit our our local public market (known as la Feria Libre or Mercado el Arenal) to get the fruits and veggies I needed for this week. So, off she went with $15 and a list of items I was hoping she could find for me (availability depends on what is in season, which is why I love the public market! You can also buy meat, rice, grains, pasta, coffee, honey, etc. at the feria)

This is what part of the fruit section of the market looks like (this market is quite large, so it truly is just one part of it).

Fruits and veggies here in Ecuador are much cheaper than they are in the U.S. For example, here $1.00 buys you about 6 good sized beef tomatoes, 14 oranges for juicing (you can get as few as 6 for a dollar, or as many as 30 depending on the season), or 2 very large zucchini. Meat tends to cost about the same that it costs in the U.S. (so for here, meat is extremely expensive). 

Items at the Feria Libre tend to be sold by the pound or in dollar packs (See the backs in the picture above? Those tend to be $1 each). 

My list consisted of a handful of fruits and veggies and how many dollars worth I wanted (mostly $1 of each since we are small family and would prefer to shop more frequently and waste less). Blanquita was able to get everything on my list and a couple of extra items for my $15. She fought high quality, fresh produce at very good prices.

Here are some pictures of what Blanquita got for us...

Apples  (2 types), organs, tomatoes, red peppers, and pears

Grapes and strawberries

Mora
(a type of berry that is sort of a mix between a blackberry, raspberry, and boysenberry)

Basil and a pineapple

Carrots, zucchini, and garlic

Locally made, preservative free, whole grain bread

Sending Blanquita to do shopping for me  felt strange since this is not something I am used to, as the U.S. society doesn't do the housekeeper thing very often. Here, however, it's quite normal. 

I am SO SO thankful for Blanquita! I do love doing my own shopping because I can get what I want (my friend Bonnie teases me about being way too "type A" in this area), but Blanquita picked out amazingly fresh produce, saved me money, and on top of that she brought me freshly cut watermelon and brought it to me in bed.

So, what does $15 buy me here in Cuenca? It will buy me all of the produce that Blanquita brought from the market, or a day of her help, or pay our water and electricity for a month... 

What will $15 buy YOU?