Monday, January 8th, 2018 Canoa
Yesterday we walked along the beach into the village of Canoa. It took us 50 minutes. We wandered around town for awhile trying to remember how it used to be. Much of it is still the same along the malecon but some buildings are missing, destroyed during the earthquake that occurred 2 weeks after we left in April 2016.
Our favourite ceviche shack on the beach, Cevicheria Saboreama #2 was still there so we had a lunch of ceviche camerone (shrimp ceviche), camerone enconcado (shrimp in coconut sauce) and a big beer, all for $13.50. After lunch we bought some vegetables from a guy with a bike cart and then some more veggies in a new mini market around the corner from the market where we used to shop frequently but was destroyed in the earthquake.
On the main road out of town, the rotisserie chicken restaurant was still there. We bought a whole charcoal roasted chicken with rice, beans and cole slaw for $14. It seems a little expensive but we get 3 delicious meals from it. Across the road from there, we bought 8 eggs for $1 from a really friendly old couple. In all of these transactions, no-one spoke any English. We used our rudimentary Spanish to express what we wanted. It’s not that hard to get along. Only the people who deal with gringos every day speak any English. And there aren’t that many gringos around, compared to the Ecuadorians. Although there is a large enough expat community here, most tourists to Canoa are other Ecuadorians who come to the beach on weekends.
It was pretty hot and we had a few bags of food, so we walked to where the few taxis wait at the main corner. For $3 we got a ride back down the highway to our condo. As we drove out of town, we saw the house we rented in February and March of 2016. Part of it is still standing but most of the roof collapsed during the earthquake. The timing of our departure before the earthquake was extremely lucky.
The rest of the day we hung out around the pool and eventually had dinner on our balcony, watching the sunset.
Today, we re-started our Pilates routine and, after breakfast on the balcony, went for a long walk on the beach. After lunch we took another leisurely beach walk and then cooled off in the pool for a few hours. There are never many people around our condo area but the few we have met are friendly and seem to travel a lot. We’re always glad to learn about travel to places we have yet to visit.
We were expecting my backpack to be delivered today but it never came. I’ll have to Skype Copa Airlines again tomorrow morning to get this sorted out. It’s now been a full four days since it disappeared.
We have enclosed some pictures of our condo, which is the one that’s in the left building, third floor on the left. There are a total of 15 units in the 3 buildings, some occupied by owners, some by renters like us and some owned but currently unoccupied. Our condo has 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a living/dining/kitchen area and a balcony with doors from the living room and our bedroom. It’s very private and right on the beach. The cost is $800 US per month including all utilities. There’s a maintenance man/gardener who keeps everything looking great. We’re really glad we decided to stay here.
Yesterday we walked along the beach into the village of Canoa. It took us 50 minutes. We wandered around town for awhile trying to remember how it used to be. Much of it is still the same along the malecon but some buildings are missing, destroyed during the earthquake that occurred 2 weeks after we left in April 2016.
Our favourite ceviche shack on the beach, Cevicheria Saboreama #2 was still there so we had a lunch of ceviche camerone (shrimp ceviche), camerone enconcado (shrimp in coconut sauce) and a big beer, all for $13.50. After lunch we bought some vegetables from a guy with a bike cart and then some more veggies in a new mini market around the corner from the market where we used to shop frequently but was destroyed in the earthquake.
On the main road out of town, the rotisserie chicken restaurant was still there. We bought a whole charcoal roasted chicken with rice, beans and cole slaw for $14. It seems a little expensive but we get 3 delicious meals from it. Across the road from there, we bought 8 eggs for $1 from a really friendly old couple. In all of these transactions, no-one spoke any English. We used our rudimentary Spanish to express what we wanted. It’s not that hard to get along. Only the people who deal with gringos every day speak any English. And there aren’t that many gringos around, compared to the Ecuadorians. Although there is a large enough expat community here, most tourists to Canoa are other Ecuadorians who come to the beach on weekends.
It was pretty hot and we had a few bags of food, so we walked to where the few taxis wait at the main corner. For $3 we got a ride back down the highway to our condo. As we drove out of town, we saw the house we rented in February and March of 2016. Part of it is still standing but most of the roof collapsed during the earthquake. The timing of our departure before the earthquake was extremely lucky.
The rest of the day we hung out around the pool and eventually had dinner on our balcony, watching the sunset.
Today, we re-started our Pilates routine and, after breakfast on the balcony, went for a long walk on the beach. After lunch we took another leisurely beach walk and then cooled off in the pool for a few hours. There are never many people around our condo area but the few we have met are friendly and seem to travel a lot. We’re always glad to learn about travel to places we have yet to visit.
We were expecting my backpack to be delivered today but it never came. I’ll have to Skype Copa Airlines again tomorrow morning to get this sorted out. It’s now been a full four days since it disappeared.
We have enclosed some pictures of our condo, which is the one that’s in the left building, third floor on the left. There are a total of 15 units in the 3 buildings, some occupied by owners, some by renters like us and some owned but currently unoccupied. Our condo has 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a living/dining/kitchen area and a balcony with doors from the living room and our bedroom. It’s very private and right on the beach. The cost is $800 US per month including all utilities. There’s a maintenance man/gardener who keeps everything looking great. We’re really glad we decided to stay here.
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