Although we really like our apartment, yesterday morning we had to prove to ourselves that it was the best deal. We walked around Canoa looking for other apartments to rent. There are lots of little hotels but few apartments available in town. It didn't take us long to decide ours is just fine. As soon as we got back, we emailed the owner and offered to commit to a long stay until April 1st. This week, through Airbnb, we're paying $258 CDN for one week. Since the apartment has only rented once before since renovation and we were willing to commit for a long period, the owner gave us a special offer of $625 US or $873 CDN for about 6 more weeks until April 1st. We were lucky to get in at the right time because we're sure the price will be higher later, especially for short stays.
It's a bright, spacious, 2nd floor 2 bedroom apartment with fridge and gas stove in the combined kitchen/dining/living area. The bathroom has a good shower, toilet & sink, but oddly, no mirror. However, we do have huge mirrored doors in our bedroom which has a 4 post queen bed. The other bedroom has double bunk beds but we use that room for storage and drying laundry. There's no air conditioning but we have a fan which keeps us cool enough to sleep. It's about 25C every night so there are no blankets here, just sheets.
We don't have a balcony but there are big screened windows so it's almost like being outside anyway. The building is 3 storeys with an apartment on each floor. We're on the edge of town with a dirt road about 150 metres to the paved highway. It's a little over 5 minute slow walk to the beach and about the same to the centre of the village. A local man cut all the weeds in the little yard yesterday. He had to bend right down and cut with a machete. What he worked at all day could have been done in an hour with a string trimmer but hard physical labour is how things get done here.
There are only a couple of paved roads, including the 2 lane coastal highway, in Canoa. Everywhere else is dirt, not gravel. It rained really hard all night and this morning, on our way to catch a bus to San Vicente, about 20 km south of here, Anita got stuck up to her ankles in the mud. She had to slip out of her flip flops and reach down to find them, then walk the rest of the way to the highway barefoot. Traveler that she is, she washed her feet and flip flops in a puddle and got on the bus.
San Vicente is the closest place with an ATM and a larger grocery store although there are a number of little mom and pop shops in Canoa. For 50 cents each, we bussed to San Vicente and grocery shopped. Prices aren't that much different from Canada. Shopping for groceries where there is zero English on the products makes for hard label reading but we did okay. The ear-splitting radio noise in the store didn't help either. There is far less selection here than at either of the grocery stores at home in Barry's Bay. For example, we asked for butter, in Spanish, and were directed to the margarine, not refrigerated but on a regular shelf. No butter. I think there is only one ATM in San Vicente outside the bank and there isn't one at all in Canoa. The next closest would be another few kilometres across the big bridge into Bahia de Caracquez. Ecuador is still primarily a cash economy. In Canada, we often don't realize that we have everything we want almost at our fingertips.
Since we were loaded with groceries, including 36 rolls of toilet paper (on sale), we caught a cab back for $6 plus 50 cent tip. It's mostly overcast today, although 30C as it is every day, so I napped while Anita settled in. Later, we went down the street to buy a bag of garden fresh tomatoes and green peppers off the back of a truck for $1, some breakfast and lunch buns at a little bakery and beer at a little market. Our road has dried up now so walking is easy. Tonight, we'll go down to the malecon for dinner.
No comments:
Post a Comment