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.