Birthday Girl and Valentine’s Dinner

On Wednesday evenings, there’s usually a bring your own food communal dinner down by the pool. Wednesday, February 5th, was the night before Anita’s birthday. Our friends Russell and Julie bought a birthday cake for Anita, which she shared with everyone after we all sang happy birthday to her. The next night we went to the Canoa Suites for her actual birthday dinner.

Russell and Julie were leaving for Crucita further down the coast on Monday so we had a farewell party for them by the pool on Saturday night. One of the ladies brought her electric piano down and played background music for happy hour. Then after dinner, Russell played some of his original songs. We were falling out of our chairs laughing. For some good entertainment, check out a few Russell Sawler YouTube videos from music festivals in Atlantic Canada. 

Anita B, the artist formerly known as Mrs. Boles, continues to go to Moya’s house in Briceno for the “sip and paint” lesson every Thursday afternoon. She prefers to be discreet with her wine by keeping her bottle in a paper bag. She finished her first water colour painting this week. 

Friday evening, we were waiting for the bus to go to the Canoa Oasis, a private home on the beach with 2 rental suites and a beautiful garden and pavilion, for the annual Valentine Dinner benefit for Los Algorrobos School. Our friend Walter drove up. There were already 5 people in the cab of his truck but he offered us a ride in the back so away we went. It wasn’t a limousine but we got there.

The party venue was very beautiful anyway but more so with all the Valentine’s decorations. There were about 60 people there for dinner. We enjoyed champagne and appetizers while we watched the sunset then had filet mignon prepared by “Chef Dan”, an American professional chef who has relocated to Canoa. Another of the local expats acted as a deejay and took all requests. After a dessert of pineapple upside down cake, we danced for a couple of hours. We had lots of fun and were still home before 10 pm. 

Next weekend will be Carnaval. We’ll shop on Tuesday or Wednesday before the store shelves get emptied and then most of the time after that we’ll be close to home. There will be lots of people and lots of partying in Canoa.

Back in Canoa, Ecuador

On Friday January 10th, our son Dylan, our daughter-in-law Kasumi and our grandson Kaito drove us to the Ottawa airport, with a couple of stops along the way. We arrived there with time to spare before our 8 pm flight to Toronto. We managed to get an earlier flight but in the end there were so many delays that we left only about 10 minutes before 8 pm anyway.
After a long walk through the Toronto airport, we found our gate and were soon on our flight to Quito Ecuador. Air Canada Rouge just started this direct route last December. Rouge planes aren’t the most modern but they work. Once everyone was boarded, it turned out there were some baggage issues and we sat on the runway for close to an hour. Eventually we took off. The flight to Quito was uneventful. We even managed to sleep for a couple of hours.
At the Quito airport, we passed through customs very easily. Both our checked bags arrived so it wasn’t long before we exited the airport. Our driver was waiting with a sign with our names. We had arranged the driver, Wilmer, through the property manager of our condo. He had driven from his home in San Vicente, near Canoa, the night before and stayed in Quito so he would be there for our arrival about 6:30 am. In the past, we have always travelled by bus in Ecuador but we thought we would be tired after an overnight flight. It’s a long way from the airport to the south bus station in Quito and then 7 or 8 hours or more on the bus from there to Bahia de Caraquez. Then it’s another bus to Canoa. For $180 US, we avoided all that. Wise move.
By 7:20 am, we were on the road. It took about an hour to get through the north end of Quito and out to the 2 lane highway that snakes down the west side of the Andes to Santo Domingo and eventually to the coast. For the next 2 or 3 hours, we descended through mountain passes. It’s very beautiful but a little terrifying. Ecuadorian taxi drivers don’t waste any time. I was okay but we had to stop at one of the few gas stations near the bottom of the mountains so Anita could throw up. Next time she’ll take a Gravol.
The rest of the trip was flatter with less tight curves so it went a little easier. We noticed our driver yawning a lot so we chatted with him in our limited Spanish, which was fun. Around 1 pm, we arrived at our condo. The property manager, Samia, was There. We paid the balance of our rent while Wilmer waited for us. The condo is costing us $250 US per week for 12 weeks.
For another $20 US, we had arranged for Wilmer to drive us to the supermarket in Bahia, wait for us, and then drive us back. We bought enough food and booze to keep us going for the first week. In the end we paid Wilmer $210 because he was good to us. Taxi drivers here don’t expect a tip but we like to recognize good service. We have seen some expats who are always afraid of being cheated or mugged. The vast majority of Ecuadorians are just as trustworthy as anyone else anywhere in the world. It’s easier to get along by adopting a positive attitude but also being smart about where you go and who you deal with, the same as you should do in Canada.
By 4 pm, we were relaxing on our balcony with a wine and a beer, enjoying the sunset over the Pacific. That night we slept for 10 hours straight.
For the last 3 weeks, we’ve been waking shortly after sunrise and enjoying a coffee in bed while we look out our bedroom glass doors over the ocean. Then we each take a turn at doing our Pilates exercises before breakfast. After breakfast we do any chores, get sunscreened and go for an hour and a quarter walk along the beach into Canoa and back. Then we usually swim in the pool before lunch. After lunch we have a siesta before often going back to the pool for a while.
On Tuesday evenings about 5 pm, we hop on the bus into Canoa for 25 cents each. It’s a short walk down the Main Street to the ocean. We usually have a couple of Mojitos at the Bambu bar during their happy hour (2 for $5) before wandering down the Malecón to the Suki Bar or the Surf Shack or somewhere for dinner. The Suki bar has great shrimp burgers for $4 each.
At 7:30 pm on Tuesdays, the weekly trivia contest starts at the Surf Shack. Since we’re staying at the Playa Azul complex of about 15 units, the other residents here have invited us to join their team. It’s always lots of fun. Most nights someone with a car will drive us home so we’re back in our condo by 9:15 pm.
On Wednesdays, there’s an informal BBQ by the pool here. Whoever is around brings all their own food and dishes down to the palapa by the pool and we each barbecue something on the charcoal grille. It’s a good social event with our neighbours. On the first Wednesday we were here, we all went out to the beach afterward and burned a big pile of driftwood. Although it’s the rainy season, it’s been fairly dry so far so the mosquitoes and sand flies aren’t too bad.
We often go out for dinner on Thursdays too. Last week we went for the Thursday special at Canoa Suites Hotel. Tonight, we’re going for Chinese food in Bahia.
Last Sunday was the annual Beach Bash fundraiser for Los Algorrobos school in Canoa. A lot of the local expats gathered at the Canoa Suites for a chili dinner and social event from 3 pm until 7 pm. We’re never out late.
Sometimes we walk into Canoa for lunch at one of the beach hut restaurants. Usually we’ll order something like one shrimp ceviche for $6 and a 600 ml beer for $1.75. That makes a good lunch for both of us.
The beach here in front of our condo is usually empty. A couple of days ago, a truck stopped and a small fishing boat (or panga) came from Canoa to meet it. The men loaded a lot of containers on the boat and it went straight out to sea. Someone must have suspected something nefarious going on and called the police. They arrived about a half hour later. It turned out that the boat was taking ice to a bigger boat fishing farther out and bringing back the fish. There are drug smugglers working along this coast but that wasn’t happening this time.
Anita is currently at her first art lesson at a local artist’s house in Briceno near here. The other ladies that go refer to it as the “sip and paint” afternoon. They all sip wine while Moya, the artist, who came here from Peterborough almost 40 years ago, helps them with their projects. We’ll see how this turns out.

Travel mishaps on the way home

On Thursday morning, things started out well enough. We awoke at 5:30, showered, had a breakfast of fruit, yogurt and coffee in our room and finished packing. At 7:15 am, we were out the door.
Through the hotel, we had arranged a taxi to pick us up at 7:30 and drive us to the airport for a fixed rate of 30 euros ($45 CDN). When we got to the front door, our taxi was already waiting for us. In about 40 minutes, we were deposited at Terminal 1 at the Madrid airport.
We had booked with Air Canada but were flying to Newark on United. Air Canada often uses Star Alliance partners for various legs of our trips. As we checked in, we discovered that Air Canada had booked us twice, which was better than not at all as has happened to us in Ecuador before. Anyway, that wasn’t a problem. Customs and security went smoothly too. After a couple of hours of waiting, we boarded our plane.
Our flight was full but we had an aisle and middle seat in the middle of the plane so we could get in and out as we liked. That’s our preferred seating for a long trip. The lunch on the plane was actually pretty good and the flight attendants were generous with the wine. Watching a couple of movies and having an hour nap made the 8 1/2 hour flight go pretty quickly.
Due to the time change, we landed at Newark about 3 pm. We had to go through US Customs, which wasn’t a problem, change terminals, go through security and then wait through our 6 hour layover in the small and crowded confines of Terminal A. This is one of our least favourite airports in the world. It’s busy, crowded and they have a reputation for delays and lost luggage.
About 6 pm, with another 2 1/2 hours to wait, we started noticing delays and cancellations from Toronto and Montreal coming up on the board. We knew the weather was bad in southern Ontario and Quebec. Within a few minutes, we got an email from Air Canada flight tracking that our flight was cancelled. We were quick to get to the service counter. There was no way we were leaving Newark until the following morning. We were assigned tickets on the 8:35 am flight to Ottawa the next day. Because the delay was weather related, we were on our own to find a hotel.
While we retrieved our bags at the luggage carousel, we noticed a web address for the Newark Airport Marriott Hotel, the closest one to where we were. We reserved a room online ($217 US) then phoned the hotel on Skype to find out where to catch the free shuttle. Soon we were on the shuttle and at the hotel.
After check-in, when we tried to log on to the internet, we discovered that they wanted another $12.95 per day for that. We’ve stayed in hundreds of 2 star hotels with free internet. It’s always the expensive hotels that try to gouge you a little more. We went to the front desk and I said, “Are you really going to try to charge us $12.95 for internet?” The desk clerk immediately gave us a free access code. We’re probably not the first ones to complain.
After splitting an overpriced hamburger in the hotel restaurant, we showered and got to bed early.
By 4 am, we were up. We caught the 5:30 shuttle back to the airport. We dropped off our small packs again and went to the long line-up for security. For some reason, we had “TSA Pre-Check” printed on our boarding passes, which meant we could skip the rest of the line and go through lesser security. We didn’t have to take off our shoes, get the iPad out or any of that stuff. Very civilized. Then we went back into the Terminal A holding cell to wait.
We knew there were still high winds in Ottawa so we kept checking the board for cancellation. However, our flight left on time at 8:35 am. Our plane was a two engine jet capable of carrying about 80 passengers, so it wasn’t a small plane. Nevertheless, the trip got bumpier as we approached Ottawa.
As we came in to land, it got really bumpy. At the last second, a siren warning of severe wind shear went off and the pilot pulled up. The flight attendant told us we would make our one more attempt and if that didn’t work, we’d fly to Toronto where the storm had already passed. That would be inconvenient but it would be better to be alive in Toronto than crashing in Ottawa.
Luckily, the second attempt, although very bumpy, got us on the ground. I never cheer landings but I did this time, as did everyone else. We’re not nervous flyers but that was among the worst landings we’ve ever had. The pilots were very skilful to land the plane in such extreme wind conditions.
Once we got through customs and picked up our bags, our son Zack was waiting for us outside. He drove us to his house in Gatineau where we packed a sandwich and tea for the road and got in our car for the trip home.
By 3 pm Friday we were finally home, after leaving our hotel in Madrid at 7:30 am on Thursday. It was another long couple of travel days but, as we said at the beginning of this trip blog, if you can’t take these things in stride you better stay home.
We were in Spain for almost 5 weeks and spent about $8,500 CDN for absolutely everything. Hopefully our insurance will reimburse us for about $1100 of that to cover the money we spent scrambling because of flight delays or cancellations. We enjoyed Spain again but now we’ve seen a lot of the major cities there. Where to next? 

Last day in Madrid

On Wednesday morning, we walked about a block to the Tacita de Plata churreria and chocolateria where we had been a couple of days before. Once again, we had coffee and churros which we dipped in chocolate.
We didn’t have any plans for the day other than to wander around central Madrid, absorb the culture and find a restaurant for dinner. We’d have to leave some time for packing.
We walked through the Plaza Puerta del Sol and up to the Gran Via. We watched a small film crew shooting film of an actor walking out of the subway entrance several times. It didn’t look easy getting the exact shot they wanted in all the crowds.
We wandered back through the Plaza Mayor and over to the Mercado San Miguel, which wasn’t quite as busy as it had been on Sunday. Still, it was crowded and the tapas seemed overpriced.
Near the Mercado, there were a group of African street vendors. It seemed like they didn’t have necessary permits because each of them kept his wares on a blanket, with a string tied to each corner. In a second, they could gather the blanket and run if the police hassled them. We’ve seen this in other countries before. Sometimes trying to make a living looks pretty hard.
Just around the corner from the Mercado San Miguel we found the Amicis restaurant where we talked to one of the owners who was trying to lure us in. We agreed to return a little later for the menu del dia.
When we went back there, we enjoyed a really good 2 course meal plus dessert and drinks for 13.50 euros each (about $20 CDN). Anita figured out that the man we had talked to before and his wife were the owners. She started chatting with them. They are British but have been in Spain for 14 years and opened their own restaurant 2 years ago. We told them we had enjoyed our meal and would send a review to TripAdvisor. They offered us another drink for free and chatted for awhile longer. It’s very competitive being in the restaurant business in central Madrid but there’s lots of potential if you do it right.
After a last stroll around, we retired to our room to pack so we would be ready early the next morning.

The Prado Museum

Yesterday, after breakfast in our room, we walked about 20 minutes to the Museo del Prado, one of the best art museums in the world. Because we had bought tickets online for 15.50 euros each, we didn’t have to line up at the ticket office and could go straight to the Jeronimo entrance that is for ticket holders only. We lined up a few minutes before the museum opened at 10 am. It didn’t take long to get through security and inside.
We rented audioguides for 6 euros each. The museum is huge and has dozens of different rooms. There are some sculptures and fine furniture but most of the artwork is paintings. Many of the European old masters are represented. The Prado is the home of major works by major artists like El Greco, Hieronymous Bosch, Goya, Rubens and many others.
Photography was only allowed outside and in the foyer so we took few photos. However, once again, we were amazed at what we saw. There were a few Roman sculptures from the 1st century AD but most of the art was produced between 1100 and the present. There were some miniature paintings and others that were about 5 x 6 metres. The detail was astonishing.
In 4 1/2 hours, we covered most of the museum. We were exhausted. It was time to go back to our room, open the balcony doors and enjoy some beer, wine, cheese, bread and olives. Later we went out for a walk around the Puerta del Sol area but it was a cooler evening and we didn’t last long.

The Royal Palace

On Monday morning we walked just down the street to a restaurant that specializes in churros and parros. Our hotel, the Hostal Patria Madrid, has an arrangement that their clients get a slight discount there. For 6.40 euros, we got 8 churros, coffee and a cup of hot chocolate (like pudding) to dip the churros. It wasn’t healthy but it tasted good.
Then we walked about 15 minutes to the west to the Royal Palace. We had to line up for about another 15 minutes to get in. At every tourist site here, there is security just like at an airport. However, that didn’t take long.
Once we were in, we got audioguides. It took a few minutes to figure out the sequence but once we had that organized, we started through the palace. This is the 3rd greatest palace in Europe, after Versailles near Paris and the Schonbrun near Vienna. This palace has about 2,000 rooms and is still used for state receptions, dinners and ceremonies. There are about 24 of the most important rooms that are open to visitors. No pictures are allowed inside the rooms.
The fenced and gated plaza in front of the palace is impressive on its own. To the west is a huge park that was once private but is now public. Inside the palace, we followed the set path and listened to our audioguides. Some of the smaller rooms were quite congested because there are a lot of tourists here every day. However, the bigger rooms weren’t too bad. We can’t imagine coming here in the summer when it’s 35-40C and extremely crowded. We were glad we waited until October.
The opulence and grandeur of the palace is hard to believe. Every room is decorated and furnished extemely elaborately. Royalty has its perks. There’s also a huge collection of medieval arms and armour.
After about 2 1/2 hours, we’d seen all of the areas open to the public. We walked back to our room for a short rest and then went to a Peruvian chicken restaurant, oddly enough, to eat. On our way, we took a photo from our tiny balcony and one of me standing across the street from our hotel, which is right behind me. Later, Anita took a photo from our balcony at night.
After we had eaten, it was dusk. We strolled the pedestrian streets around the Plaza Puerta del Sol for a couple of hours watching different buskers and enjoying the whole scene. We spent about 20 minutes watching a great busker orchestra composed of 6 violins, 2 cellos, a stand-up bass and an operatic singer. All of them seemed to be very good, very well trained musicians. They drew a crowd that was about the same size as the nearby line-up for lottery tickets that went around the block. We also watched a mariachi band of 8 or 9 musicians for a few minutes but it wasn’t really to our taste. There’s no end to the buskers and street vendors around the Puerta del Sol.
Finally, we went back to our room. For the following day, I bought tickets online to the Prado art museum, one of the world’s finest.

A Madrid walk

This morning after breakfast in our room, we walked to the Plaza Puerto del Sol and looked at a few restaurants. The trouble is that, being Sunday, everywhere near the Plaza is packed.
We started following a self-guided walk from a guidebook. At the south side of the plaza is a government office that is notorious for being Francisco Franco’s police headquarters. Apparently an inordinate number of those being detained and interrogated “jumped” from the windows to their deaths while trying to “escape”. This plaza is also where the war against Napoleon started in 1808. Napoleon had imposed his brother as the king of Spain. There was a protest and Napoleon’s soldiers massacred the protesters here. This is also the centre point of the highway system of Spain or kilometre zero.
This morning, the plaza was all set up for a rally protesting violence in Spain’s continuing political issues. It looked peaceful but with the huge crowd and large police presence, we thought it best to move on.
From the Puerta del Sol we walked a few blocks to the Plaza Mayor, built in 1619. It has been the site of bullfights, royal events and many trials and executions during the Spanish Inquisition. Those found guilty during the Inquisition were paraded around the square wearing billboards listing their sins. Then they were either slowly strangled or burned to death. It’s quite pleasant on a sunny 20C Sunday, though.
From there we walked a few steps to the Mercado San Miguel, a glass building full of food vendors. It’s very busy on a Sunday. We bought a bocadillo de calamares (squid sandwich) and then at another booth, a glass of white wine. As we shared our snack, we started talking to a Japanese couple next to us who spoke fairly good English. They work for an airline and were here for meetings and getting in a little sightseeing. They have travelled the world and have been to Canada several times. They even took a tour to Yellowknife to see the northern lights. Canada’s natural wonders are very attractive to the Japanese people.
We walked a few more blocks to the Cathedral of Almudena, next to the Royal Palace. We didn’t go in because the crowds are too much on a Sunday. Maybe tomorrow.
Later, we walked back down near the Mercado San Miguel to a small Chinese restaurant. Anita has a sore throat so we thought some soup and some noodle dishes might be easy to swallow. After we ate, we wandered around the Plaza Mayor a bit more enjoying all the buskers and artists. Back at the Plaza Puerta del Sol there was still a huge crowd so we didn’t bother staying there. The time changed in Spain last night so it’s getting dark a little earlier now.