Feb.23- 27- Entertaining Guests from Cuenca

On Thursday our guests, Cody and Brent & Boushra from Cuenca, were due to arrive shortly after noon. It was on this same day, of course, that our contractor, Mike, got all his guys together to finish our final renovations. They came early to install the final sink- in our ensuite, all the mirrors in all bathrooms ( yes, I had lived without mirrors for 3 weeks- woohoo- good excuse for no make-up), put up our blinds in two of the bedrooms,  redo the grout in ensuite to a darker color and replace a broken air-conditioner with a new one.
Needless to say, our company walked into a major construction site- workmen all over, 2 guest beds on one of the balconys, drills screeching- OMG. So much for all the cleaning I had done in anticipation of their visit. This construction went on till well after 5PM with more to come the next day.

We walked to the Malecon that evening and enjoyed a wonderful seafood dinner in a nice open-air restaurant away from our construction blues .

Next day was beach time. The weather now is perfect beach weather- sunny and hot.
And we did take a few walks along the beach to both people watch and get a bit of exercise.
                                         Uwe and the girls- oops, I mean Women

                                       Boushra, Brent & Cody

The group of lazy Expats under our Cabana

Oh, what a life!!!!

That evening we did a group cook at our condo. Boushra did mid-eatern chicken with tomatoes, onion, yogurt in a pita all with Cody's excellent help. I did my signature Ceasar salad and Uwe & Brent helped plus kept us supplied in vino.

The kitchen crew

We had a most excellent dinner seating outside watching yet another sunset.

The next day, Saturday, we had invited a few more friends over for a farewell party for our good friends, Gary and Edit, Canadians from Hamilton, Ontario, who were flying home on March 1.

Me, Uwe, Edit & Gary

We invited about 11 people with a couple more arriving during the evening. Cody made some yummy guacamole, Boushra made incredible tasting brouchetta , and I heated up a bunch of  deli bought appetizers. Everything was obviously good as it quickly disappeared. We had some great discussions and Eddie kept everyone entertained with his insights to Ecuadorian life.

Uwe, Eddie, me, Lars and Paola

Elsie, Lorie, Boushra, Paola and Dave

Gary, Brent & Cody

Two tall guys and one slightly shorter- LOL

We all had a great time and this late afternoon cocktail party lasted till past ten- pretty late for this old fart!

On a more serious note to all potential expats to Ecuador. If you think you might like to live here, do come down and give it a trial run . Though we have lots of expats and many positives, this is a third world country with all it's third world problems- bad government, a generally poorer population with many slums, garbage, wild dogs, unsafe drinking water etc etc.

If you do not enjoy the latin culture and want to only to bring North America to Ecuador, this is not the place for you.  Our friends who are now leaving Ecuador after living here since September passed the honeymoon period and the negatives of this country became more than they wanted to deal with. Please be aware! Even those of us who love Ecuador go through periods of depression ( small though they be) tiring of Spanish, long lines in banks etc and the general bureaucracy of any dealings we have to suffer through.

On Sunday morning, four of us decided to get a taxi to take us to Chocolateria- the furthest westerly point in South America- just a short drive from our condo.

I had been there previously with Eddie and Paola but you can never get tired of the scenic surf. More opportunity for photos!

Our group

For dinner, the five of us decided to go to Will's Score Sports bar . He and his partner Wendy who also have a hostel in the same location http://hostalaqui.com/ were having an Oscar night and serving his famous barbecued spare ribs and southern fried chicken along with smashed potatoes and green beans- yummy! This is a Salinas Expat hangout and a great place for comfort food from home.

I had been in touch with a fellow Canadian, Jamie, in an Exblog internet site and she and her husband John happened to be near Salinas that weekend and we had agreed to meet at Will's. You meet the nicest people at these sites!

Jamie and her husband John

And a few other Canadians & Americans

 

Feb.14-21- Carnival Week in Salinas

The crowds along the beach have been building up each day as we neared the BIG party weekend. Carnival is celebrated hugely all over Latin America- especially at all the beach towns.

Before the weekend arrived, we again met with some of our Canadian and American friends and sat under our condo Gazebos enjoying yet another suberb beach day.

Saturday morning we took an early walk along Chipipe beach and then along the main beach. It was still very quiet but preparations were under way for the arrival of thousands of carnival visitors. Many, many beach chairs and rows of gazebos were all along both beaches.

Stages were being set up.

As the day progressed the crowds got huger and huger. Every available parking space visible from our bacony was taken up with more lines of cars coming.

There were volleyball games going on.

Bands playing

And many pretty girls.

And everyone enjoying the wonderful beach.

Starting Saturday night and finally ending Tuesday night we got very little sleep. Beginning by midnight and lasting till 5AM, the crowds in Salinas partied! Huge boom boxes in trunks of cars blared music all night- the windows on our 16th floor apartment were rattling. The crowds along the Malecon were as crowded as during the day- there was no way you could sleep through that. We decided after 3 sleepless nights, that this would be our last carnival in Salinas. We were way too old for this!

 

Feb.12-Seeing some sights of Salinas

On Sunday our friends Eddie and his wife Paola took us to see some of the highlites around Salinas that we had not seen before. They picked us up in their car around 10AM and the first stop was at a local store to pick up cold cervaza for our trip. Then we drove to the local Army/Airforce base- 5 minutes away- to ask access at the gate. We were going to a private beach at the base where there was a colony of bachelor sea lions. These were the older bachelors that were driven from the main herd on the Galapagos when beaten by a stronger male.
                       We arrived at this incredibly beautiful beach with amazing surf.

This beach is strictly reserved for the base personnel and their friends. Several surfers were enjoying the waves.

We took a short walk to the end of some rocky outcropping and did see two of the sea lions.

And one lonely seal.

I took some great shots of the scenery.

And our amigos, Eddie & Paola

Eddie holding his beer & cigarette under the No Drinking/No Smoking sign.

We then went back out the first entrance gate, drove a block down the road and entered yet another guarded Base entrance to the furthest westerley point in South America called 'Chocolatera'

We walked to an old lighthouse no longer used.

And took some more photos of our happy group

Again there was amazing surf and more opportunities for photos.

This area is open at all times to the public and a 'must see' if you are in the Salinas area.

The ocean and surf views were truly incredible and highly recommended.

After a short stop at our condo for yet more cervaza and vino, Eddie suggested we go to another ocean side village called San Pablo which was maybe 20 minutes drive away.

This village, famous for fishing and seafood, was also on a very wide beach.

We found a recommended restaurant- there were many many all along the beach.

We had yet more cervaza and some great local food. I had arroz y concha ( rice & a local clam) very delicious. The beach views from the restaurant were fabulous.

After eating, we stopped at the local fish market so that Eddie & Paola could buy some clams for dinner.

These are some of the more expensive and extremely rare varieties.

Spondylus is a genus of bivalve mollusks of the order Ostreoida present in different parts of the world, particularly two species of this genus, the species Spondylus princeps and Spondylus cacifer found on the coasts of Peru and Ecuador. Their colors range from orange, red and purple, has some spines or bumps on its shell, which makes them attractive. It is also called "red gold- very expensive even in Ecuador!

Some huge shrimps for sale.

All in all we had a wonderful day with our amigos- mucho gracias!

Feb.7-11- Week 2 in Salinas

On Tuesday we actually had time to go to the beach for the entire afternoon. Our condo building even has it's own gazebos on the beach for the owners' use. It was a perfect sunny day and and because it was during the week the beach was not busy. We sat with our Canadian friends Gary & Edit and new friends Americans Barry & Tricia. Barry brought his own cooler containg Coronas and water and Uwe and I supported the local economy and bought the local cervaza called Club for $1.25 from the many beach vendors, delivered cold to our chairs.
                                        Some great beach pictures

Our condo building with Gazebos in front

The tallest building on our beach- 22 floors

On Wednesday, back to getting all things done for our condo. Remember back a couple of postings where I mentioned that you couldn't get more than one thing done per day in Ecuador. Well, this day we set a new record!! Count them below- 5 things completed in one day- what would we do without our amigo, Eddie's help.

1. Met with Condo Admin person, Cecilia, and got Bill for year's worth of HOA fees

2.Went to Atahaulpa and ordered & paid for new bedroom set  

3. Arranged delivery of living room furniture that we bought in December and received it in our apartment- finally a living room!

4. Went to Direct TV to get our money back- condo wouldn't allow dish.

5. Went shopping at Super-maxi for more condo stuff and groceries

And OOPS I forgot- #6- I established internet access to my Ecuadorean bank account!

What a day.

And the next day, we went to the Power company to change service to our names. That took a bit longer- needed copies of our entire Condo registration package, waited in line at Power company office, sat with Power representative while she typed our info into computer etc. This will still require one more visit back once they figure out how much we have to pay to re-install meter. Almost completed- only taxes left to transfer.

On the weekend we had some of our friends over for cocktails and to view our new furniture. Eddie had picked up all our old furniture left by the previous pwner- donated to a needy individual- so we had lots of cleaning up and organizing to do. We completed all before our guests arrival and enjoyed drinks watching the sunset.

The Three Blondes

The three Hombres