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traditions prevail . Wafting clouds cover the market in a solemn grey haze as ladies wearing layers of traditional ankle-revealing skirts , warm ponchos , and classic hats , inspect the wares . People don ’ t use plastic bags here . Goods and toddlers are tied to the women ’ s backs with colourful hand-woven cloths .
High up in the mountains , where you find yourself easily out of breath , lies Salinas de Guaranda . It ’ s a special community with a co-operative , providing jobs for everyone and preventing younger generations from leaving to find work . The town has Swiss roots , although you wouldn ’ t know it , until you taste their goodies . A Swiss volunteer taught them the arts of cheese and chocolate making , so this is one of the few places in South America producing European-style hard cheeses like Gruyere , Gouda and Tilsit .
The town is full of pizza places , due to their having excellent cheeses available for the pizza - something hard to come by in the rest of the country . Ecuador Freedom knows which is the best and that ’ s where you ’ ll have a feast of pizzas for dinner .
The town ’ s chocolate is to die for . At the chocolate factory you can spy the workers dressed in immaculate white aprons , hair nets and face masks wrapping chocolates in gold paper like in a scientific lab . The shop is brimming with goodies including macadamia nut Nutella , chocolate bars with real orange , salt or berries , and bite sized chocolate drops .
Salinas also has a wool factory processing sheep and alpaca wool with ancient mechanical machines brought
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