A couple of weeks ago we were waiting for the bus to take us to shop in Bahia, when Walter and Rosemary offered us a ride. They had a couple of stops along the way but we weren’t in a hurry.
In Briceno near here, we stopped at a shrimp farm to pick up bait for Walter and Rosemary’s charter fishing boat. In this case, shrimp farm meant a pond about the size of a typical public swimming pool situated next to the Briceno River and beside that was a very modest bamboo house. The owner threw a bedsheet size net in the pond and waited for a few minutes. When he pulled it up, there were several dozen large shrimp caught in it. The owner and his wife pulled the shrimp off by hand and threw them in a bucket with a lid so they couldn’t jump out. They’re livelier than we thought. They counted out about 40 shrimp and charged Walter $2. What they don’t use for bait when fishing they’ll cook and eat. Unfortunately, we didn’t have our phone so we couldn’t take pictures.
That Friday evening, about a dozen of us from here at Playa Azul condos hopped into Walter and Rosemary’s truck (3 in the front seat, 4 in the back seat and 5 of us in the box) and drove to the docks at Bahia de Caraquez, about 1/2 hour south of here where they dock their charter boat.
We were well stocked with drinks and snacks and soon set off up the Chone River and then back down past Bahia to the ocean where we watched the sun set. After a couple of hours, we got back to the dock just as it got dark.
We piled back into the truck and drove up past our condos to the Suki Bar in Canoa for dinner. There was a lively crowd there getting amped up for Carnaval. However, we didn’t stay late. After a homemade ice cream in Rachel and Edgar’s shop on the Main Street, 4 of us caught a cab back home. It was another great evening.
There has been a lot of rain the last couple of weeks. January, February and March is the rainy season here, averaging about 5 inches of rain per month. However, it’s still 28 to 30C every day. Most of the rain is at night or in the early morning. Since we arrived, we’ve had 3 days that rained or drizzled all day. That hasn’t stopped us from doing anything. We’ve been out for our hour plus walk on the beach every day. We’re still seeing a lot of sunshine, particularly in the afternoons. The pool here is very welcoming, especially after our walk.
All of the restaurants here are either just under a roof or have wide open windows so we have to be cautious at dusk to be wearing bug dope. It’s definitely bug season but nowhere near as bad as the bugs at home from mid May to mid July.
Carnaval was very busy in Canoa but here, 3 km south along the beach, it was still quiet. We walked into Canoa for lunch on both the Saturday and Sunday. We had never seen so many people there. The crowd is almost all Ecuadorian families at the beach for the holiday. On Tuesday at 5 pm when we took the bus in for happy hour at the Bambu and trivia night at the Surf Shack, there was still quite a crowd. By 9 pm, the streets were almost deserted. Ash Wednesday was coming and Carnaval was over for another year.
In Briceno near here, we stopped at a shrimp farm to pick up bait for Walter and Rosemary’s charter fishing boat. In this case, shrimp farm meant a pond about the size of a typical public swimming pool situated next to the Briceno River and beside that was a very modest bamboo house. The owner threw a bedsheet size net in the pond and waited for a few minutes. When he pulled it up, there were several dozen large shrimp caught in it. The owner and his wife pulled the shrimp off by hand and threw them in a bucket with a lid so they couldn’t jump out. They’re livelier than we thought. They counted out about 40 shrimp and charged Walter $2. What they don’t use for bait when fishing they’ll cook and eat. Unfortunately, we didn’t have our phone so we couldn’t take pictures.
That Friday evening, about a dozen of us from here at Playa Azul condos hopped into Walter and Rosemary’s truck (3 in the front seat, 4 in the back seat and 5 of us in the box) and drove to the docks at Bahia de Caraquez, about 1/2 hour south of here where they dock their charter boat.
We were well stocked with drinks and snacks and soon set off up the Chone River and then back down past Bahia to the ocean where we watched the sun set. After a couple of hours, we got back to the dock just as it got dark.
We piled back into the truck and drove up past our condos to the Suki Bar in Canoa for dinner. There was a lively crowd there getting amped up for Carnaval. However, we didn’t stay late. After a homemade ice cream in Rachel and Edgar’s shop on the Main Street, 4 of us caught a cab back home. It was another great evening.
There has been a lot of rain the last couple of weeks. January, February and March is the rainy season here, averaging about 5 inches of rain per month. However, it’s still 28 to 30C every day. Most of the rain is at night or in the early morning. Since we arrived, we’ve had 3 days that rained or drizzled all day. That hasn’t stopped us from doing anything. We’ve been out for our hour plus walk on the beach every day. We’re still seeing a lot of sunshine, particularly in the afternoons. The pool here is very welcoming, especially after our walk.
All of the restaurants here are either just under a roof or have wide open windows so we have to be cautious at dusk to be wearing bug dope. It’s definitely bug season but nowhere near as bad as the bugs at home from mid May to mid July.
Carnaval was very busy in Canoa but here, 3 km south along the beach, it was still quiet. We walked into Canoa for lunch on both the Saturday and Sunday. We had never seen so many people there. The crowd is almost all Ecuadorian families at the beach for the holiday. On Tuesday at 5 pm when we took the bus in for happy hour at the Bambu and trivia night at the Surf Shack, there was still quite a crowd. By 9 pm, the streets were almost deserted. Ash Wednesday was coming and Carnaval was over for another year.
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