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.

Montanita to Olon to Puerto Lopez

Monday, February 23rd 2015 Puerto Lopez
On our last night in Montanita, we ate at Tiki Limbo again. All of the restaurants are open to the street and there's lots of action. While we were eating, the eternal soccer game was blasting from the big screen TVs in every restaurant and bar, the music was blaring from every speaker and a water truck was unloading water through the front door of our restaurant. Potable water seems to be delivered by truck to restaurants everywhere we go. The bad juggler was dropping batons on the street and a busking duo on electric guitar and some wind instrument were playing requests. We love Montanita for the entertainment value.

Just when we thought we'd seen everything, we heard a bongo drummer on the street. The crowd formed a circle and, as unlikely as it seems, there was a bellydancer who danced for a while, passed the hat and posed for photographs. We were getting tired of the bad juggler/skateboarder/unicyclist anyway.

Yesterday morning after breakfast, we checked out. Anita waited with our bags while I walked into the taxi office and ordered a cab to take us to Puerto Lopez. However, on the way we wanted to stop at Olon, the next town, and meet the owner of an apartment that we had seen advertised online for $1,000 a month. Instead of $25, the taxi driver wanted $35 to cover a 20 minute wait in Olon. We agreed on $30. We picked up Anita at the Swisspoint and were soon in Olon.
Annette, the owner of the apartment, is from Toronto. Her husband still drives transport truck on the ice roads out of Yellowknife but is here the rest of the time. She was very nice and the apartment seems quite clean, secure and just across the road from the malecon in Olon. The Olon beach was very busy on Sunday with Ecuadorians. Apparently buses bring people for Sunday from Guayaquil and Manta.
Although we liked the apartment, we didn't see ourselves staying there for an extended period next winter. Since we arrived on the coast, our travel has turned into a fact-finding mission for future long stays. We believe that we could spend the winter on the coast of Ecuador for about $2,000+ per month, including rent, food and everything else. We're spending about double that now while traveling and staying in hotels. "Why wouldn't we stay longer for less?" is what we keep asking ourselves.
After about another 3/4 of an hour, we arrived at our hotel, the Hosteria Mandala, on the beach on the north edge of Puerto Lopez. The taxi driver was a good guy so we gave him an extra $2. He seemed pleased.
We have a huge upper floor room in a building with 4 units, set in a beautiful garden/tropical forest. We have an ensuite bathroom and massive balcony. We're paying $70 per night plus tax. It feels like the fanciest treehouse ever.

The floors are all pegged hardwood and the whole place has large screened windows. There's no AC but there are fans. There are mosquito nets over the beds but we didn't use them last night because it's nice to get more of a sea breeze without them. Neither of us seemed to get bit. The Mandala has a very good restaurant for guests only where we ate breaded shrimp, breaded calamari, salad, rice, fries and beer for about $20 total including service charge.
Afterward, of course, we had to do the obligatory viewing of the sunset over the Pacific.

From the restaurant, there's a great view of the ocean through the palm trees.

 

There are fishing boats at work in front of the setting sun.

This morning we walked into town to find the ATM. On the way, we ran into two Canadian guys whom we met in Cuenca and again in Vilcabamba. They're staying near us in the Victor Hugo hotel, which is apparently quite good and a bit cheaper. They told us about a cevicheria (ceviche hut on the beach) just past the pier, which apparently has great mixed ceviche. We went to scout it out.
Just north of the pier is the fish market. There isn't a market building, just a spot where the fishing boats are beached at low tide and big refrigerated trucks back down onto the sand to buy the fish.
The birds like it too.

The pier is not for fishing boats but for tour boats to Isla del Plata and whale watching or diving tours. We're going to Isla del Plata tomorrow. On the pier, we talked to some Americans, 2 of whom are here doing volunteer work for the Jehovah's Witnesses, of course.
This afternoon, we walked north along the beach for 2 or 3 km. Past our hotel, the beach is virtually empty. In an hour or so, we'll walk back to the pier and dine on big bowls of ceviche and beer.

Another Day in Montanita

Saturday, February 21st, 2015 Montanita
It didn't take us long to get into the beach town groove.

Last night we wandered through town a bit and then we had another good dinner at Pigro and walked up the beach at sunset to watch the surfers.
In the evening, there are vendors with full bar setups lining the streets.

This morning it was raining hard when we woke up but, with our umbrellas, we still walked into town and bought fruit and pastries for breakfast ($3 total). We eat on our porch outside our room and drink the coffee and tea provided by our hotel.
The rain stopped by 11 am and the sun came out so we went beach walking again. Even when it's raining, it's still hot. It must be in the low 30s every day.
Although the surf looked about the same to us, the lifeguards on the beach were very careful about letting swimmers go out too far. Apparently there can be dangerous rip tides. Basically, a rip tide occurs when the water from the incoming waves builds into a sort of river in one spot heading back out to sea. It's difficult to escape and people get in trouble fighting it. What you're supposed to do is swim to the side, not try to swim straight into shore. That way you can escape. We saw the lifeguards rescue 2 people this morning who were being carried out and losing strength. Scary stuff although it doesn't really look like much to those of us who are unfamiliar with it.
I walked around la punta to see the next 8 km beach to the north at Olon while Anita relaxed on the Montanita beach. Then we walked a long way south but not as far as we had yesterday.

In the early afternoon, we bought a bowl of ceviche ($6), a marinated mix of seafood, from a lady who mixed it all right in front of us from her cart on the beach. Delicious.
In a couple of hours we'll go downtown for dinner and then back out to the beach to watch the sunset and the surfers. Tomorrow we'll take a cab to Puerto Lopez. We could go on the local bus without AC for 1 1/2 hours for about $2.50 each or we can take a cab with AC for $25. The cab sounds pretty reasonable when it's hot.

Montanita

Friday, February 20th 2015
Our hotel, the Swisspoint, is on the main road leading north along the coast. We're 5 minutes from downtown and not more than 2 minutes walk from the beach, which is down a little dirt road just across the main road. Our room is small but it has AC which is good. There is no hot water but the cold water isn't really that cold so there's no need. We're quite close to the road so there is vehicle noise, dogs, cats and roosters at all hours. We can just barely hear the music from town which doesn't seem to stop until 4 am. Our AC has several speeds: loud, louder and loudest. If we keep it on the lowest speed it drowns out all the other noise and we sleep just fine. Our room door opens onto a small backyard patio with little pool. It's a great place to relax. The owner sets out coffee and tea on the patio by 9 am every day. We're quite happy here for $50 per night, including tax. We also have small friends here.

Yesterday morning we walked into town for breakfast at Papillon, one of the many bar/restaurants. Their "Americano" was okay for $3.50 each but not that great and the service was very slow.
After breakfast we applied liberal amounts of sunscreen and went for a walk on the beach. In Montanita it's board shorts and no shirt for the guys and bikinis and maybe a cover-up for the ladies all day and into the night. It's hot by 8 am so more clothing seems inappropriate.
There are numerous street vendors. The juice vendors turn into bars by mid-afternoon. When you buy a beer ($1.50 for a 608ml bottle) at a bodega, they ask you if you want it opened before you go out onto the street. Drinking on the street or the beach is very common. There are several pedestrian streets so the whole town is a party.
The beach is very flat so at low tide it's the widest we've ever seen, and we know our beaches.

 The sand is light brown, not white which is our first preference, but it's hard packed and great for walking.
We first walked north up to la punta, a rocky point with bigger waves. We watched the surfers for awhile but the best surf at dawn and dusk.
Then we turned south and walked past the town that way. Finally we came back and found a spot to sit on the beach for awhile.
The Dharma Beach hotel is one of the biggest and looks nice, although a little strange. There are also countless more modest hotels and hostels in town.

After happy hour back on our patio, in the late afternoon we walked into town to Pigro, which is an Italian restaurant. They had 2 specials for $8 each so we ordered one of each. Fresh, homemade pasta and sauces with fresh seafood in each one and each included a soft drink or water. With a beer and tip we spent less than $20. It was so good we're going back tonight. After dinner, we walked the beach again to see the better surfers and watch the sunset. There are a lot more people on the beach at sunset than at noon. Not everyone gets up as early as we do.
This morning we walked south on the beach to the next town, Manglaralto. On the way, we saw the parasailing boys pushing their big heavy boat out into the water. The beach is so wide that there are no piers so the boats are pushed manually out over the tidal flat on log rollers. It takes a lot of manpower.

Further down the beach we watched some fishermen haul in their nets and their boat. They loaded everything onto a big truck and sat in the boat on the truck so it wouldn't fall out. Again, it took a lot of guys and looked very labour intensive. Anita waved at them and they all waved back. Despite the crime statistics most Ecuadorians seem very friendly and helpful.
After we walked back, we sat on the beach for awhile and then retired to our patio for happy hour. Tonight we're going back to Pigro. It's too good.

Cuenca to Montanita

Thursday, February 19th, 2015 Montanita
On our last evening in Cuenca we ate dinner at Don Colon's and then watched a band play in front of one of the churches near Parque Calderon for a little while.
Yesterday morning we got up early because we knew we had a long day of travel ahead. We were in the lobby for the 7:30 start of breakfast by 7:20. Unfortunately, the breakfast cook was late so we couldn't start eating until 7:55. However, we still managed to eat, check out and grab a cab to the Terminal Terrestre (bus terminal) in time to catch the 8:45 bus to Guayaquil. At the Cuenca bus terminal, the bus parking lot is fenced and secured. To get out of the terminal to the buses, you have to pay 10 cents, show a ticket and pass through a turnstile manned by an armed security guard. For $8 each, we were on our way to Guayaquil.
After we left Cuenca, we climbed for about an hour through Cajas National Park. It's very beautiful although none of the areas of the Andes that we have seen so far are particularly rugged.

 However, we seemed to be above the tree line with only free range alpacas visible in the alpine meadows.
Soon we started downhill for at least an hour, until we finally reached the most flat land we have seen in Ecuador. On the west side of the Andes, south of Guayaquil, there are miles and miles of banana plantations, sugarcane fields and rice paddies.

 The diversity of environments in Ecuador is unbelievable for such a small country.

It took only about 4 hours to reach Guayaquil.
The Guayaquil bus station is immense and insanely busy. The bus parking garage is on 3 levels and there are well over 100 bus platforms and many companies selling tickets. However, we knew from latinbus.com which company we were looking for and after asking a few times, we found their office. Our tickets to Montanita cost $6 each, including 25 cents to go through the turnstile out to our platform on the 3rd level (2nd level here since they don't count the ground floor). Latinbus said there were buses at 1pm and 3pm but really there were buses every hour. The 1pm was full so we got the 2pm. After a quick sweet bun in the terminal mall for sustenance, we went out to our platform a little too early. Guayaquil is very hot and sticky compared to the highlands and the diesel exhaust on the platforms was a bit intense. Buses left from our assigned platform about every 10 minutes. Finally, our bus arrived but not at our platform. However, we followed the crowd and got on the right bus. We were glad to get out of there.
It took a long time to drive through the city. Guayaquil  is a port in a bay of the Pacific and is Ecuador's largest city with over 2 million people. Although the waterfront malecon is apparently quite nice, the rest of Guayaquil wasn't particularly impressive. We passed miles of slums and then, on the outskirts, quite a number of gated communities with nice houses. It's a mistake to assume that countries with lower income per capita than Canada are populated solely with people who seem poor to us.

Eventually, as we got closer to the coast, the landscape became very dry and scrubby. Once we got to the Pacific again, we passed through several shabby towns until we reached Montanita about 5 pm.
Montanita has its shabby areas but is mainly a surfing and beach party town composed of hostels, hotels, restaurants and bars. This is party central. The beach is beautiful; the town is super laid back; it's hot and humid all the time.
By asking a few people, in our broken Spanish, it didn't take long to find our hotel, the Swisspoint, just on the edge of town out of the party district. It's basic but fine. More about that tomorrow.

We had dinner at the Tiki Limbo and then went out to the beach to watch the sunset. This beats the hell out of shovelling snow.

Last 2 Days in Cuenca

Tuesday, February 17th, 2015 Cuenca
Yesterday we walked to the Museo del Banco Central Pumapungo, the main museum in Cuenca. It overlooks the Rio Tomebamba and is adjacent to the archaeological site of the old Incan settlement of Tomebamba.
The first floor of the museum contained art exhibits that weren't really to our tastes. However, the second floor consisted of a series of life-size dioramas demonstrating the homes, clothing and lifestyles of the various and very diverse indigenous cultures. We have seen glimpses of the various traditional clothing worn as we have traveled throughout Ecuador, but these dioramas clarified a lot of what we have seen. As well, there are numerous indigena, as they are called, groups that we haven't seen. The last diorama was of the Shuar culture from the southern Oriente or Amazon headwaters. Hallucinogens are used extensively in Shuar religious rites. They are also one of the groups that prepare and display shrunken heads of their defeated enemies. The Shuar were very fierce in resisting Spanish incursion into their territory and so remained somewhat isolated for much longer than other indigenas. However, they wouldn't make shrunken heads of white or mestizo (mixed race) people because they considered them to be inferior enemies. (There are one or two hunters at home with heads of bear cubs on their walls who could take a lesson from the Shuar). There were 5 or 6 shrunken heads on display in the museum.

Outside, we walked through the archealogical site. The Canari indigenas had a settlement here for at least 3,000 years. Then the Incas took over for a short time. Following them came the Spanish in the 1540s. The Spanish dismantled many of the Incan buildings for the stone so there's only foundations left on the crest of a hill overlooking the river.

Below the hill there is a re-created Inca garden and a little aviary and alpaca pasture. We really enjoyed the museum, the archealogical site, the garden and the aviary. We are constantly amazed at the diversity of flora and fauna in Ecuador.

Today was sunny and warm and we really didn't have any plans. Although it's Fat Tuesday of Carnaval, there's really nothing happing in the old town except a few people driving around spraying foam and throwing water balloons out of cars. We decided we'd walk as far as we could through the park along the Rio Tomebamba to the east. After an hour of walking, we came to a larger park where the 3 rivers of Cuenca meet. There was a festival in the park with a lot of children's activities through the day. Some people were barbecuing while the children played in the river.

We weren't really interested in the little midway sort of thing so we walked back, resting once in a while along the river.
Back at our hotel, we gathered our empties and went out in search of an open store where we could buy beer and water. Pretty well everything is closed and the streets are almost deserted. On our search, we met a couple from Barrie who took our picture in front of one of the banks. They're wandering around Ecuador for 2 months, much like us, but in the opposite direction. We traded travel tips about towns, hotels, buses and restaurants for about 1/2 an hour. This is the best way to figure out travel plans.

Eventually we found a little store to get re-supplied. Tonight we'll probably go back to Don Colon's for the 3rd or 4th time. It's one of the few restaurants open. Tomorrow morning we'll check out and have a long day on one bus for 5 hours to Guayaquil and then another for 3 hours to Montanita. The beach beckons.