Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Oct.16 to 22- Week 3 in Salinas, Ecuador

On Sunday we went again to the Score Sports Bar- Uwe needed his football fix of course.
This time we took our Canadian couple, Gary & Edit and their daughter Barbara with us. Since we didn't arrive as early this time, there were lots of other expats there already and of course, more new friends to meet and another delicious barbecued meal.

As you have already read, Tuesday was our trip to Guayaquil. After our 12IX Visa ordeal we went to the Malecon. The Malecon was very long and very beautiful, clean and scenic.

And more

And then some

We had lunch finally ( hadn't eaten since before 6AM that morning) at a very cute place on the Malecon. And of course a cerveza was required to celebrate our achievement.
Me and my new buddy, Eddy

Later that week Uwe & I took a cab to the Malecon in a nearby city called La Libertad.
Here is a street scene near the Malecon

You may have noticed that every city on the ocean or river has a Malecon.
We walked up and down this one. It was filled mainly with students on their lunch hour- very few gringos in La libertad

We watched a fishing boat bring in a load of freshly caught fish and then try to move them into a waiting truck. Though I tried, I didn't get any pictures of the frigate birds diving down and stealing the fish right out of the baskets! It was a pretty amusing scene. Here are the pictures that I did get.

Here is the boat coming in and the truck waiting to be loaded.



Lots of pelicans and frigate birds waiting to steal the catch

And one of the men running from boat to truck with a basket of fish

Loads of other fishing boats

On Friday we took a local bus to Ballenita with our new friends, two couples that we had met the previous weeks.
Here is the bus- 25cents per person except old farts like me who only cost 15cents.

After a 1/2 hour ride we arrived at a very scenic sea-side spot that had several restaurants and some great photo opportunities.

Some of the restaurants

We had lunch here. At the front of the table, Connie & Darvin, originally from New Mexico, recently from Houston ,Texas, have already decided to make Salinas their home, already have their retirement visa and are renovating their sea-side condo.
Our other friends, Edit & Gary who moved into the apartment unit beside us last week, are like us- still looking.

After lunch we went to a museum storing articles from a sunken ship discovered off the coast of Ecuador plus many other nautical artifacts.

We had a guide who took us through and explained the varied types on display.

These are the wooden beams from a ship that had sunk in the 1600's

And some of the articles from the same boat

Attached to the museum was a restaurant with many other antiques on display plus a hotel. The scenery from this location was awesome.

The negative edge hotel pool overlooking the ocean

And the incredible bar with our friends & the guide

After a much required cerveza, we headed back home.










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