Quito to Ottawa

Friday, March 27th 2015 Ottawa
After a good sleep at the Cayman Tuesday night, we were revitalized once again. The first thing we did was email our friend Bob in Canoa to warn him about the bus to Quito, which he might be taking in a week or so. Tips from other travellers are invaluable so we like to help out when we can.
After the included breakfast at the Cayman, we walked about 12 blocks to the artesan market where there are probably about 100 different vendors selling Ecuadorian crafts. We bought a few things including a $15 double hammock that one of us will have to figure out how to hang in our screened porch. We don't usually buy much on our travels but the artesan market is a great place to see some beautiful Ecuadorian weaving and other crafts.
After an afternoon nap, we took a taxi to visit Josh's friend Parshan, who had invited us for dinner. We had originally planned to go the night before but we had some miscommunications and our bus ride from hell so Parshan was graceful enough to re-schedule.
Parshan cooked us an excellent Persian dinner and we enjoyed meeting her boyfriend Lucas who is also an architect. A great evening but shortly after 10 pm we had to leave to get some sleep before our 4:30 am wake-up call.
Yesterday morning we were all set and left the hotel at 5:30 am in the taxi that, this time, was waiting for us. It's about a 45 minute drive to the airport with no traffic. We knew we'd have to go through security and customs so we wanted to be in good time for our 9:10 am flight to Bogota.
All went smoothly and the flight to Bogota took only an hour and 40 minutes. We had over 3 hours in the Bogota airport which is also quite new and nice. At 2:30 pm we boarded our Air Canada flight for Toronto. Unfortunately, we sat on the runway for about an hour while some cargo had to be unloaded for some reason. We never really mind when they unload cargo they're not sure about. Safety first. Besides, we had another 3 hour layover in Toronto so we had lots of time.
Eventually the plane took off. They served a complimentary meal with wine, which was nice. After dinner one of us went to the back and chatted with the flight attendants, returning with her pockets full of more wine and snacks. Not a bad flight, although it took about 6 1/2 hours. Many people on the plane were too late for connections in Toronto but we were fine.
By the time we cleared customs, re-checked our bags and went through security, we had to wait only about 45 minutes before boarding our Ottawa flight. That too was uneventful. We arrived in Ottawa about 1:30 am and so did our bags, thankfully. The 10 minute taxi drive to our hotel cost $13.70 so I gave the driver $15, even though we knew he could have taken a shorter route. Apparently $15 wasn't enough because he popped the trunk and didn't even get out of the taxi to help me get the bags out. I was inclined to leave the trunk open but didn't want to be an idiot. There's a big difference in attitude and expectations between some Canadian and Ecuadorian service providers.
We've now had some sleep and are all ready for our youngest son Dylan to pick us up to drive us home in a couple of hours so this is the last blog post for this trip.
A few final thoughts on Ecuador:
There are many nice places in the world to visit and we would like to see more of them. However, we also intend to go back to Ecuador, particularly to Canoa which really suits us.
We really enjoyed the variety of fresh, tasty food in Ecuador. There are big differences between the food in the highlands and the food on the coast but it's all delicious. There are lots of fruits and vegetables with which we were previously unfamiliar.
Never put anything that doesn't come out of your body into the toilet. Use the basket instead. Ecuadorian plumbing is delicate.
Whistling is alive and well in Ecuador. Especially on the beach, where the surf is thundering, many people are adept at whistling to get the attention of a friend or co-worker.
Ecuador has a bit of a bad reputation for crime but we had no problems and saw fewer scams than we've seen elsewhere. However, travellers always need to use common sense anywhere. In general, the people we met were very trustworthy, pleasant and helpful. They are very proud of Ecuador for good reasons.
Travel by bus in Ecuador is very cheap and, with a couple of exceptions, our bus rides were safe, comfortable, clean and enjoyable.
Being fluent in Spanish would be very helpful. We always get along but there's not much English spoken in Ecuador and we would have got along easier if we were more fluent. A goal for next time.
The sun in Ecuador is very intense, much more so than in Canada or in the Caribbean.
The climate in Ecuador, even though it's on the equator, can be cool and damp in the highlands. The buildings aren't usually heated so they can be cooler than Canadian homes. On the coast, it's much hotter.
Most people in Ecuador are indigenous to some degree. In Otavalo, for instance, it's very obvious that most people are indigenous not only from their dress but also from their physical features including the fact that many are less than 5 feet tall. On the coast, people are taller; there are more black people and less traditional dress.
There are children everywhere who look well cared for.
Finally, a few more pictures:

Canoa to Quito

Friday, March 27th, 2015 Ottawa
Last Sunday morning by around 9 am we checked out of the Bahia B & B Hotel and got a cab to the Bahia bus terminal. We had the driver wait while I bought bus tickets for Tuesday to Quito for $10 each. Then the driver drove us back to Canoa, total cost $10 so we gave him $2 as a tip considering the wait in Bahia and the cheerful attitude.
The staff at La Vista laughed as they saw us coming in. Luckily, they had another 3rd floor room for us. That's the 3rd room on that floor that we've stayed in. They have only 10 rooms total. Like many small hotels in Ecuador, they don't have an online presence but depend on phone reservations and walk-in customers. Some of the little hotels in Canoa don't even take reservations but rely completely on the walk-in business.
We were sunscreened and out on the beach by 11 am. Glad to be there too. We spent Sunday and Monday doing the usual long walks on the beach, ceviche and cerveza for a late lunch and then seafood and beer on the beach for dinner at sunset. The staff at Cevicheria Saboreame #2 are getting to know us since we eat there once or twice a day. Like many businesses in Canoa, it seems to be a family affair. The young girls who serve us aren't the quickest but only surfing and soccer are done quickly in Canoa. We tip the girls anyway. They're very nice to us and they appreciate our business.
On Monday afternoon, we paid our bill at La Vista and arranged for them to call a taxi for us for 7 am Tuesday morning. We confirmed that a couple of times later. After that, we enjoyed happy hour at the Bambu with our friend Bob from Vancouver and an American expat from Vermont. Then we had our final meal just after sunset at Cevicheria Saboreame #2.
We were up by 6 am Tuesday to shower and finish packing before 7. About 6:50 am, we had the night guard open the front gate and we waited on the malecon for our taxi. It was critical that we finish the 1/2 hour drive to Bahia before 8 am when our bus was leaving. There wasn't another express bus to Quito until after 9 pm. At 7:10 am with no taxi in sight, we had the night guard make another call. We think he got some other taxi guy out of bed. However, an old van pulled up by 7:20 and we hopped in. For $10, we got to the Bahia terminal by 7:50 am so we gave the taxi driver a $2 tip for getting us there on time. We think the hotel guys never did call a taxi for us. Some stuff just doesn't get done. Usually we allow for that but this time we had cut it pretty close.
The Reine del Camino company bus was very clean, air conditioned and had movies showing on a big screen. We had reserved seats 5 & 6 so we had good seats for the movies. Unfortunately, by the time we got to Quito we had sat through 4 of the most ridiculous, violent crime movies (dubbed into Spanish) we've ever sat through. Denzel Washington was in 3 of them. He's made some bad movies.
We thought the bus would take a maximum of 9 hours and that the Reine del Camino company had their own little terminal somewhere in central Quito. I had read that online but hadn't checked at the bus terminal because we were in a hurry. Another travel mistake.
We had a short bathroom stop mid-morning and then a lunch stop somewhere near Santo Domingo at noon. Our last bathroom opportunity was before leaving after lunch about 12:40 pm. We got to the northern outskirts of Quito about 5:30 pm. It was raining and the bus windows were all fogged up so we couldn't see outside that well. Some passengers got out at the north end of Quito but we thought we would be stopping again closer to the Mariscal where our hotel that we had reserved, the Cayman, is located.
As we drove south down the west side of Quito, we saw the old town in the distance and again thought we would stop soon. We didn't want to just tell the driver to stop because we weren't sure of the neighbourhood we were travelling through and it was getting dark. Traffic was very heavy and we weren't sure if we could find a cab while walking through some sketchy neighbourhood with all our gear.
At some point the driver crossed to the east side of Quito and continued south. Then he turned back west, turned south, did a U-turn, went north, went east on a gravel road through a vacant area and turned south again when he hit pavement. At that point we realized he was lost. Eventually he stopped at a gas station where he and the helper disappeared for about 10 minutes, presumably to ask for directions. By now it was after 7 pm and everyone on the bus was tired and anxious to find a bathroom. Finally, by 7:30 pm we arrived at El Quitumbe terminal in south Quito. The bus ride that started out so well but turned into the bus ride from hell was finally over after 11 1/2 hours. For $10 we caught a taxi to the Cayman, getting there after 8:15 pm. After a shower, a couple of bananas and a cup of tea, we went to bed. That was enough for one day. If you want to travel, you just have to accept without complaint the odd day that's less than perfect.

Canoa to Bahia and back?

Saturday, March 21st 2015 Bahia de Caraquez
Last Tuesday was St. Patrick's Day. We had no idea that I was part Irish until my sister Sheila started researching our Scottish roots and discovered that some ancestors had left Ireland for Scotland during the potato famine. The passage was inexpensive and there was work in a Scottish rope factory. Until now, we had thought that we were completely Scottish (except for being descended from French kings long ago, as my Dad always said). Anyway, having never celebrated St Patrick's Day, it seemed a good time to start.
First we went to the Bambu Hotel for happy hour from 5 to 6. We ran into a couple of Canadians and a young German woman that we had met the night before at dinner at the Amalur so we joined them at the bar and later had dinner with them. The Bambu had great banana coladas, rum and passion fruit cocktails, mojitos and so on, all 2 for 1 and only $4 or $5 each anyway. After happy hour we all made it to a table for dinner, which included green pesto sauce on spaghetti, before one of the Canadians and the German retired early.

The other Canadian, Bob from Vancouver, joined Anita and I at Suki's beach bar for beer and good times. Suki's is another one of the expat bars in town. The owner is an American woman, I think, married to an Ecuadorian man. Between serving drinks, he rolled himself joints behind the bar. Many in the crowd, including me, were wearing at least some green. A bottle of Jameson's Irish whiskey was making the rounds among the expats but we managed to avoid that. The party was rocking and we were actually out past 10 pm.
For the rest of the week we did the regular stuff, although I was laid up most of Thursday with the "tourist disease" although not as bad this time as I had in Mindo. Anita and I both ate and drank the same things all day Wednesday. I got sick and she didn't. Mystery. Anyway, a hazard of travelling and not that bad.
Although there are lots of places to eat, including a yellow van with meat broiling on a spit in the back, we've been having breakfast the last few days at the Bambu. It's only $3.50 and it has a nice view of the beach. The horses go by every morning to set up shop on the beach, taking tourists for rides.

This morning we checked out of La Vista Hotel and got a cab ($12) which turned out to be someone's crew cab pickup truck to take us to Bahia de Caraquez. We had reserved a room at the Bahia B & B Hotel for 3 nights. We thought we'd be tired of Canoa after 2 1/2 weeks and could spend a few days seeing Bahia before we got the 8 am bus on Tuesday to Quito.
Our room is okay but Bahia is just a small city on the ocean. Within an hour, we both felt that we'd seen enough. We shortened our stay to one night. Tomorrow morning after breakfast, we'll take a taxi 4 km to the bus station and buy our tickets for Tuesday. Then we'll either take a taxi or bus back to Canoa for 2 nights and hope we can get a room back at La Vista. On Tuesday morning, we'll reserve an early taxi to get us to the Bahia bus terminal well before the departure time of 8 am. Why stay in a little city when we could stay a couple more days on the beach in Canoa? We've included more pictures of Canoa and a final one of where we had dinner here at the yacht club near the big bridge across the inlet.

 There's lots of labour carrying all the gear out to the fishing boats.

The view from our room at La Vista.

The entrance to our hotel off the malecon.

Big bags of small juicy limes are carried into each restaurant and bar every day.

We never get tired of the Canoa sunsets from our balcony.

Anita is waiting for dinner in Bahia.

Ceviche on the Beach Eh?

Monday, March 16th, 2015 Canoa
A week later, we're still at La Vista Hotel in Canoa. At least we changed rooms yesterday. We're still on the 3rd floor but we switched from room 6 to room 8. Room 6 was bigger and had a more private balcony but the roof rafters above the balcony provided a perch for birds or bats at night right in front of our balcony door. They bring fruit and other food there. They leave a lot of droppings on the floor right in front of the door, which we had to hop across to go out to our balcony in the morning before the maid came. In room 8, we have an even better view of the ocean, a flat balcony ceiling where the birds can't roost, and we get wifi in our room rather than having to go down to the lobby. All good.
Every day here on the coast, the weather forecast is "cloudy with showers" or something similar. However, although there are often some clouds or periods of slightly overcast weather, we saw no rain at all since we left Puerto Lopez about 2 1/2 weeks ago until it rained during Friday night. Then both yesterday morning and this morning we had brief light showers before the sun came out. It's still a bit overcast this morning but the sun is so intense here we don't mind that at all.
There aren't too many events here but yesterday morning we did see a funeral procession parading down the malecon while we ate breakfast at the Surf Shack. It was a modest but obviously heartfelt procession.

For the last week or so, we've eaten more at the beach cevicheria shacks more than we've eaten in actual restaurants. The beach shacks have refrigerators and the kitchens look much the same. The food is good and it's nice to sit in the shade with our feet in the sand and enjoy the ocean breeze. Our favourite is Cevicheria Saboreame #2 (saboreame means tasty) which is almost directly across the malecon from our hotel. We usually have one of the 4 or 5 set breakfasts. "Desayuno #1" is usually 2 eggs, cheese, toast or buns, freshly blended juice, instant coffee, marmelade and a big blob of margarine. As someone recently told us, margarine must be free for them to put such big dollops on every plate.
Last Thursday, I decided to try surfing. I'd been watching a few lessons and could see the basics of what to do. We went to the Surf Academy and rented a long board for $3 for one hour. An hour of surfing at a time is just about enough. It's a good workout, especially when you're just learning.
I didn't have a rash top to protect my skin so I was probably the only person in Canoa surfing in my merino wool undershirt. It was a little dishevelled when wet but it worked okay.
We walked to the edge of town where there were few other swimmers or surfers and I started by just staying down on the board, paddling with my hands to catch a wave, and getting the feel for it. Catching a wave isn't that difficult but balancing the board is a challenge.

A surfer who was just finishing for the morning stopped to talk to me. He told me he was an American expat who lived in San Clemente and taught surfing there.

He likes the waves in Canoa so he does the hour drive up here sometimes to surf by himself. He's my age but has been surfing all his life. He offered to give me some tips so I immediately accepted. He helped me for about 20 minutes after he finished a rant about what a "piece of shit" (repeated at least a dozen times) my board was and how the rental shops shouldn't even rent "a piece of shit" like that. He showed me the basics and told me all I needed was practise.

On Friday, we went to a different shop and rented a long board for $4. It was better but I still need more practise to get the hop up and the balance right for longer than a 5 second ride. It's strenuous but lots of fun. I could use the exercise anyway. Like many sports, it will be easier and more fun when I get better at it. That will be quite a few hours from now.
Other than that, we've been walking the beach, bobbing in the ocean and eating tons of ceviche cameron or ceviche mixto or aconcado (coconut sauce) cameron or aconcado mixto or ajillo (garlic sauce) cameron.....

Usually we either have no lunch or share a ceviche and a cerveza. Sometimes we have Los Croquellos frozen coconut ice cream on a stick for lunch. That's good too.

Every evening, people gather on the beach to watch the spectacular sunset. We can watch from our balcony or from a cevicheria on the beach. Either way is just about perfect.

La Vista Hotel

Monday, March 9, 2015 Canoa
Yesterday morning after breakfast, we checked out of the Amalur and walked a few blocks to our new hotel, La Vista. At the Amalur, we paid $25 per night plus 12% tax for a total of $28 per night. At La Vista, we're paying $35 per night including tax so it's only a difference of $7. We have a much nicer, bigger room on the 3rd floor with a balcony overlooking the malecon and the ocean.

After we got moved in yesterday afternoon, we walked the beach, as usual, and then picked one of the cevicherias or beach shack restaurants for a late lunch. It was nice to sit in the shade under the thatched roof and feel the ocean breeze. We ordered ceviche de cameron (shrimp ceviche) for $4 and a tortilla de cameron for $3.50. We thought the shrimp tortilla would be some kind of wrap but it was actually a shrimp omelet with a side of rice, fried plantain and salad. We hadn't really wanted an omelet but it was good anyway. It was so pleasant there in the shade that we had a few beers and whiled away most of the afternoon. It was the weekend, after all.
In the evening, we went across the malecon to a little dirt floor restaurant that always seems busy. We think it's the one that Zack and Annie had recommended. On Sunday evening, it was deserted because all the buses leave at dusk. However, we enjoyed an order of fried fish, rice, salad and fried plantain with a cold lemonade. Total price $6. We had asked for beer but they wouldn't sell it on a Sunday.
The laws regarding Sunday sale of alcohol in Ecuador continue to elude us. We know we can't buy beer in a bodega on Sunday and any liquor stores are closed. However, some restaurants serve beer and some don't. At the Surf Shack restaurant, we stopped to talk to some Americans that we had met and they had been served beer in big teacups in case the police stopped to check. At other restaurants there are beer bottles on the tables quite openly. Mystery.
We like the Hotel Vista so much that we extended our original stay of 1 week to 13 days, so we're here until we travel to Bahia de Caraquez on Saturday the 21st.
This morning we walked down the malecon to another little dirt floor restaurant that we've noticed is often busy. For $3 each we got the desayuno #1 or #1 set breakfast of scrambled eggs, cheese (like feta), nice buns, jam and coffee. Most coffee here is instant, for some unknown reason. On the way to breakfast, I also finally bought a T-shirt, which I need since I brought only one with short sleeves. I probably should have negotiated the $10 price but I forgot. Can't remember everything. We're keeping up a torrid pace but somehow we'll manage.

Canoa Beach Weekend

Monday, March 9th, 2015 Canoa
As we may have mentioned before, everyone in Ecuador goes to the beach for the weekend. Every beach town is full of families enjoying the summer.

On Sunday morning, in the 'soccer field' in front of the Amalur hostal and restaurante, we counted 24 big buses plus some smaller ones.

On Monday morning there were none. They did leave quite a bit of litter, however. Ecuadorians litter like Canadians used to about 50 years ago. There is garbage pickup so the litter isn't nearly as bad as Vietnam or Cambodia but there's room for improvement.

On Thursday afternoon, the malecon was not too busy.

On Saturday night, the party was in full swing, although it can't compare to the 24/7 party in Montanita.

On Sunday morning, the beach is busy for a stretch of about a kilometre right in front of town. Anywhere else, of course, it's almost deserted. We've seen this in many other beach towns in our travels. Almost everyone clusters together. On almost any beach anywhere, if you walk a kilometre, you're by yourself. There is over 100 metres difference between high tide and low tide. People just lay in the tidal flat to stay cool, letting the water wash over them. Many of the older Ecuadorians swim in shirts and shorts, not swimsuits. Across the malecon, there are buildings with showers available for rent to wash off the salt before the bus ride home.

On Monday morning, a rider can allow a colt to follow freely down the malecon.

On Monday morning, the beach is very quiet.

San Jacinto to Canoa

Thursday, March 5th, 2015 Canoa
Yesterday morning after breakfast, we packed up and checked out of Casa WF. It was such a beautiful spot we were sorry to leave. The only downside to our stay there was that San Jacinto was 2 km away and there just aren't that many restaurants there. When we wanted dinner in town we had to make sure we started walking back by about 6:30pm before it got too dark to walk on the beach. I suppose we could have stayed later because it's not that San Jacinto is unsafe, but walking on the beach in the dark would just be more difficult.
Marty drove us to the nearest bus stop on the highway. We just missed the first bus then the next 2 weren't going all the way to Bahia de Caraquez. Another one came by and didn't stop for some reason. We were standing in front of a little house in the shade of a tree so we weren't too hot. Eventually, the lady that lived there very graciously brought out 2 plastic chairs for us to sit on. People help us all the time.
Finally, after about an hour, the right bus stopped. It was full but people get on and off all the time so it didn't take long for us to get 2 seats together. This local bus had no AC but it had reasonably good, clean seats. We paid $1 each for the one hour trip to Bahia.
Once again, at the Bahia bus terminal we had no clue as to which bus company or which bus. However, after a 25 cent bathroom break for each of us, people helped us and in a few minutes we found the right bus and were on our way to San Vicente and Canoa. Again, the fare was $1 each.
As we travelled along the coast and got closer to Canoa, we asked 2 men across from us where to get off the bus. With much gesturing, they gave us directions and we managed to get off in the right place. Canoa is a small beach town so we couldn't go too far wrong.
It was a short walk to our hotel, the Amalur Hostel and Restaurante. We knew that anything would be a step down from the Casa WF, especially for the $25 per night that we're paying here.  The Amalur is about 3 blocks back from the ocean. It faces the "soccer field" which is actually a desert the size of a city block where buses sometimes park. It gets hot out there.
We have a 2nd floor room as requested, with a fan and a mosquito net over the bed, since the windows have no screens. There's only a top and bottom sheet on the bed because that's all we need. We do have an ensuite bathroom with "agua caliente" (hot water) so that's good. It's so dry here right now that last night we didn't have to use the mosquito net because there weren't any mosquitoes. There are a few sand flies outside in the sand at dusk. The fan was sufficient to keep us cool. The Amalur is definitely a step down from Casa WF but there's really nothing wrong with it. The owners are Italian, I think, and the restaurant here is very good. Last night Anita had spaghetti with shrimp sauce ($6.50) while I had spaghetti Bolonese ($6). Both were excellent.
After dinner we talked with a retired couple who are from upper New York state. Like us, they're finishing their Ecuador trip at the beach for a while.
Last Saturday morning, we had used Marty and Jim's phone to call Aeroplan and change our return flight. We keep getting emails from home with pictures of outdoor thermometers at -30C so we decided there was no rush to return. We changed our flight from Quito from March 10th to March 26th. Why not?
So, this morning we checked out other hotels in Canoa. We looked at a nice place about 2km south of here but thought that we wanted to be closer to the restaurants in town. After a few hours of walking around (luckily it was a bit overcast this morning), we decided on the Vista Hotel right on the malecon by the beach. We'll move there on Sunday for at least a week. We'll have a room with ensuite bathroom, window screens and balcony for $35 per night. We paid a $70 down payment so now we're good for the next 10 days here.
This afternoon, we lounged on the beach and swam when we got too hot. There are lots of surfers here so it's fun to watch them too.

San Jacinto

Monday, March 2nd 2015 San Jacinto
For the last few days, we've been staying at Casa WF about 2km along the beach south of the centre of San Jacinto. Linda DeLuca's friend Denise from Ottawa (whom we've never met) emailed us a link to the Casa WF website. It looked really good so here we are. It's great.
Casa WF is the very last house along the beach road before the mouth of a little river. Jim and Marty, our hosts, are 2 Americans who bought this lot and had the house built over 2 years. It's beautiful. They live upstairs. There are 2 suites on the ground floor with patio doors leading out to the patio, deck and little pool in a nicely landscaped fenced yard. We're right on the beach. Everything is new, nicely decorated and very well maintained. We're paying $60 per night and, since the other suite isn't rented right now, we have the whole patio, deck and pool to ourselves.

Jim makes our breakfast every morning for $3 each. We eat on the patio just outside our room. Usually after breakfast we go for a long walk along the beach, often into town to pick up any supplies like beer or wine. In the afternoons, we lounge around on the deck and have a dip in the pool when we get too hot.
In the evenings, around 5pm, we walk along the beach into town for dinner. We've eaten at 3 different little restaurants so far: Laurita's, the Copacabana and Marco's. They're all very simple and basic but the seafood is very good.

We've been eating a lot of camarones aponadas (lightly breaded shrimp) and calamari apanadas (same). Usually we're paying $7 each for shrimp or calamari, rice, fried plantain and salad. We split a 608ml beer that costs $1.50 to $1.75 in the restaurant ($1.50 at the bodega).
This is a working fishing village where the fishermen use logs to roll their boats over the beach to the water and set nets at night, returning in the morning.

Sometimes there will be about 18 or 20 guys pulling nets up onto the beach. Some fishermen also set nets in the river beside us.
Yesterday was Sunday which is family day on the beach. In any of the coastal towns, people arrive by motorcycle, car, or bus from inland to spend the day on the beach. Everything livens up. All the little beach shack restaurants open, there are little shade tents or umbrellas for rent, hammocks under the beach cabanas fill up, there are beach soccer tournaments and pickup games and everyone has fun. This morning, everything is quiet once more except for a few mothers with children playing in the water. It's summer holidays here.
Instead of going to a restaurant last night, we went into town around 1pm and bought half a roasted chicken for $6. Marty had gone to a Sunday morning market and picked up some tomatoes, mangos and a cucumber for us. In the evening, that was our dinner on the patio, sipping wine and beer and looking out at the sunset over the ocean.

This morning we walked into town and re-supplied. We'll probably go back to Marco's this evening. We're here for 2 more nights before we move on to Canoa.

Puerto Lopez to San Jacinto

Sunday, March 1st, 2015 San Jacinto
On Thursday morning, we had breakfast and checked out of the Hosteria Mandala shortly before 11 am. We intended to take the 11:45 am bus to Portoviejo, where we would find a bus for San Jacinto. The Mandala owner called a moto taxi (a tuktuk, as it is known in southeast Asia) and for $1 he got us to the bus terminal on the outskirts of Puerto Lopez. It had rained hard during the night so all the dirt roads were now muddy.
At the bus station, we discovered that there was a bus leaving at 11:15 for Portoviejo so we hopped on. It seemed there was no 11:45 bus and the next one would leave after 1pm. It pays to get to the bus station a little early just in case.
This bus was the worst one we had seen in Ecuador. The windows were covered in mud, there was no AC, most of the seats were worn out or broken and the whole bus was generally dirty. However, it cost $2.50 each for the 2 1/2 hour ride to Portoviejo. On  the way we chatted with the only other gringos on the bus, a young couple from Nelson, BC, who had been travelling for several months up the coast from Chile. That helped pass the time, since we really couldn't see much out the windows. Like most buses here, this one had a terrible movie on the screen, in Spanish of course. Liam Neeson was in Alaska trying not to get eaten by wolves. We were rooting for the wolves.
The Portoviejo terminal was chaotic and pretty shabby. After a quick bathroom break, we tried to find a bus to San Jacinto. At first we got on the wrong bus, going to Canoa, but realized our mistake, got our money back, and someone helped us find the right bus to San Jacinto and San Clemente. Our new bus was cleaner and had AC.
For the first 10 minutes, a busker did a comedy and card trick routine in the aisle. We couldn't understand a word he said but he seemed to amuse everyone else on the bus so when he passed the hat we gave him a quarter. Then he hopped off on the outskirts of Portoviejo to catch another bus on the way in and do it all over again, no doubt. There are dozens of vendors selling drinks, sandwiches, fruit, plantain chips, cheap jewellry and everything else, who do this all day on all the buses we've been on in Ecuador. It's actually a pretty efficient way to get a snack or a drink without stopping the bus.
In about an hour, we reached San Jacinto. Our new hosts had told us where to get off the bus but we missed that stop. There are usually few signs and the towns all look dusty or muddy and pretty shabby, so it's hard to tell one from another except by timing how long we think it might take to get there. Anyway, the helper stopped the bus at the next corner and we got our bags, not knowing really where we were or how big San Jacinto might be.
We saw a little diner so Anita went in and asked how to get a taxi along the beach to the "casa ultima" before the "boca" (the last house before the river mouth). The owner came outside, yelled at some guy just hanging out on the corner and explained where we wanted to go. The guy motioned to us to get in his beat-up old car. I asked, "Cuanto cuesta?" (how much?). He just shrugged and motioned us to get in. So we did. He drove us right where we wanted to go. It was probably worth $1 or maybe $2 but we gave him $3 because he proved to be trustworthy and saved us a long, hot walk in the mud. The internet here is slow and sporadic so we'll try again tomorrow.

Fish Market and Beach

Wednesday, February 25th, 2015 Puerto Lopez
This morning after breakfast we sunscreened and walked along the beach into town. Hundreds of big birds hover over the fish market area.

Lots of people here make their truck racks out of hardwood of some kind. The other night, we saw a whole dune buggy body fashioned out of wood.

Although it was late morning and winding down, the fish market was still busy.

To the north, on the way back past our hotel, there is 2 or 3 km of empty  beach. We walked that again this afternoon.

In front of our hotel is the skeleton of a humpback whale. Apparently this 30 year old whale washed ashore south of here. Biologists discovered that it had died of cancer. The hotel owner here cleaned up the carcass, buried the bones for 4 years and then mounted the skeleton outside our hotel. The owners here are very conscious of the value of whale watching and are determined to do their part to save the whales from extinction. Whale watching season here is from June to September so we'll miss it on this trip.
This afternoon we had to swim a few times on our walk to cool off. It's sunny and hot and the water is perfectly warm. Tomorrow, we're off to San Jacinto.

Dolphins, Frigate Birds, Sea Turtles and Blue Footed Boobies

Tuesday, February 24th, 2015 Puerto Lopez
We walked to the cevecherias by the pier last night but they were both closed by 5 pm. Lunch only, it seems. So, we walked back to our hotel and had ceviche and breaded calamari there. While we were eating, we met a couple about 50ish who boxed up their bicycles at home in Moose Jaw and flew with them to Bogota, Colombia. They've been biking south for a few weeks. Sounds a lot like work but we had to admire their adventurous spirit.
At breakfast this morning we talked to the same couple. He's a firefighter and they also own a sporting goods store. They're peddling Rocky Mountain Metros, which are made in Canada. We'll have to check them out, not that we're about to do any crazy bike touring.
Our boat tour car picked us up at 9. After a short stop at their office to pay the $40 each, we walked to the pier. There were 16 tourists on our boat. It took an hour to travel the 42 km to Isla del Plata, which is included in a national park. For part of the way, we were followed by a school of dolphins.

At the island, we joined 2 young Dutch couples and our English speaking guide for the medium tour of the island, while the Spanish speaking rest of our group opted for the easy tour. One of the Dutch couples started in Costa Rica and are traveling by bus, like us. They are 4 months into a 7 month trip and will soon head south into Peru and Bolivia. Like the Moose Jaw couple, they told us that Colombia seemed quite safe.

It was really hot and dry on our 5 km or so walk but it was worth the effort. We saw hundreds of blue-footed boobies and their fluffy looking young up close. For a nest, they scrape a little hole in the dirt and surround it with a circle of guano (bird poop) as a marker. Then they lay 1 or 2 eggs which are guarded by either the male or the female. The young birds do not have blue feet. That only shows up as they age due to their diet of sardines. Who knew?

We also saw thousands of frigate birds.

Following our walk we had a quick snack of fresh watermelon and pineapple on the boat. Some local fishermen tied baitfish to a string to attract the sea turtles for us. After that, we went around the island to a good snorkeling area. Everyone snorkeled and we all enjoyed seeing lots of different tropical fish.

 Our boat is just the right size for 16 tourists and the crew. It was fast and actually pretty comfortable.

 There were lots of blue footed boobies along the shore as well as up on land under the bushes.

The fish were very plentiful and everyone enjoyed the warm water too.
When everyone had had enough snorkeling, we had some sandwiches and soft drinks on the boat and then headed back to Puerto Lopez. We had a great day but a shower and a cold beer were welcome. Tomorrow we're probably going to walk and laze on the beach. It's about time we had a chance to relax.