For the 2nd year in a row, we celebrated my newfound Irish heritage (on my mother's side) with a happy hour pub crawl and dinner on the beach in Canoa.
First we met our trivia team member Nathan at the Bambu at the north end of the Malecon, where happy hour starts at 5 pm. He invited us to join him and about a dozen expats for a drink. Most were Americans but there were also a couple of Canadians and Aussies. We spent an hour or so there watching the sun set, enjoying plantain chips and guacamole dip, and drinking banana coladas (2 for $4). We'd already seen a lot of the people we met around town or on the beach. Many of them have retired here to their own homes or condos. Although they're cautious when they're out at night and about guarding their homes against petty theft, they laugh at their friends back home who are afraid to leave their gated communities. It seems that the biggest threat around here, as it is in most places, is being in the wrong place at the wrong time where getting mugged by young guys with drug problems can happen. Apparently the worst drug problem here is addiction to some kind of residue that's left over from cocaine manufacturing and is available fairly cheaply. However, during the day and evening, you'd never know that there's any such problems at all. There are children playing all over and people sitting out enjoying the warm evening air and greeting us as we walk by. Not threatening at all. However, we don't wander drunkenly in the middle of the night either here or in some areas of Toronto or Ottawa, even on St Patrick's Day.
One of the men I talked to had sailed here from San Diego with his brother and ended up buying property and building a retirement home. His partner was a retired teacher so she and Anita had lots to discuss. Although land and homes are cheaper than in Canada, it can still cost $100,000 US or more for a waterfront lot. Living here is certainly inexpensive. Water delivery and electricity are very cheap. Electricity for a house costs $5 or $6 a month.
There are still a lot of fishing families here. There are probably about 40 small fishing boats that launch every day from the beach, each with a crew of 2 to 5 men. It seems that the catch has been quite plentiful lately. We've seen them bring in big tubs of small fish. The whole family helps when the fishing boats arrive at the beach. There are a couple of different buyers who back their trucks down between the ceviche huts, weigh the tubs of fish on scales that probably haven't been calibrated since 1950 and dump them into the backs of the trucks. We've heard that prices are good lately so that must help the community.
Many of the fishing families live simple lives. Probably one third or more of the homes here are small bamboo houses with no glass or screens in the windows The rest are concrete and concrete block with steel roofs. No-one seems hungry and it seems like Ecuadorian health care and education are adequate, so we see lots of children and families who look happy. We can't remember seeing a beggar anywhere in Ecuador although we've seen lots in Canadian cities. And the weekend vendors on the beach here who sell hats, sunglasses, fans, ice cream, sandwiches, beer and everything in between are not at all pushy. We just smile and say, "No, gracias" and they nod and leave us alone.
If we wanted, we could buy fish, shrimp or "pulpo" (octopus) from vendors who walk down the Malecon and the main street on the weekend with bucketfuls. So far, we've just been buying in the restaurants. A few days ago I had "pulpo a la gallega" at the Amalur. The owners are Basques so it may be a Basque dish. It's fried octopus on a bed of boiled sliced potatoes topped with paprika. Anita didn't care for it but I liked it.
Anyway, our next stop was the Surf Shak, where Happy Hour starts at 6 pm and the banana coladas are also 2 for $4. We sat outside with Ted from Alaska (a nice fellow although he looked like a refugee from ZZ Top), Morris, an Ecuadorian from Canoa and George from Nevada. There we learned that the liquor truck that sells to all the bars and stores arrives on Thursday afternoon between 2 and 4. If you sit on the Malecon and wait for it you can buy any wine or spirits that you want at good prices straight off the back of the truck, just like vegetables and fruit. Very efficient.
Our final stop was the Suki Bar (pictured) where happy hour starts at 7 pm. We each ordered mojitos (a nice refreshing drink), which were fantastic, and we shared a plate of Irish Stew. After dinner, we talked with some of the people we had met in the previous 2 bars, since everyone knows the happy hour pattern so it is like a pub crawl. By 9:30 or 10, we were done. Today was a slow day but the sun was shining, the ocean temperature was still 25C and the air temperature was about 30C. A nice recovery day on the beach.
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