November 23 to 30- Week 4 in Salinas

The Friday after Thanksgiving while the rest of North America was busy invading the shopping malls, Uwe and I went to the beach and met Connie, Murray and their Canadian/Ecuadorian friends Silvio and Isabelle. Where would I rather be- fighting the crowds for yet another unnecessary gift or sitting enjoying the view of the Pacific- hmmmm?

As you have probably guessed the weather is much much better now, sunny almost every day and lots more opportunity for beach time.

The next day we went to a concert for charity at the very exclusive Salinas Yacht Club.

 

 

The performers were a group of young adults with various disabilities who study the performing arts at Fundacion Gabriel in Salinas. Because of their disabilities these young people have some difficulties interacting with other people on a daily basis. Pia’s efforts gives them self-esteem, confidence and the courage to do a live performance in front of an audience of people that are strangers to them. A very worthwhile cause!

The show was the musical’ El Hombre de la Mancha’ and we all know the most famous song ‘ The Impossible Dream’. The venue was full, half of the audience local Ecuadorians and the other half consisted of almost every gringo in town. A very full turnout.

 

 

After the very good concert ( it consisted entirely of lip-synching to a copy of a professional concert) Uwe, Paola and I walked over to a new Mexican restaurant in town, Luccy’s, run by an Ecuadorian woman who had lived in the states for a while and definitely knew her Mexican food. Eddie met us and we had a few cervazas , burritos and enchiladas- great food! Welcome to Salinas, Luccy, we need and have missed good Mexican food.

On the weekend it’s always too busy for us to sit on the beach- Ecuadorians love their beaches and people from all over the interior flock to Salinas, So instead we take a walk along the shore and enjoy the warm water, sunshine and people-watch the families of our adopted country.

If we are lucky, we can see a sport fishing boat come in. This boat had a load of wahoos.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wahoo

 

 

 

During the week after a dental visit for teeth cleaning (yes, we do that here regularly just like at home) we went to the very large Mercado  for fresh fruits and vegetables in the nearby town of La Libertad. For $5 we bought all of the following:

1 Lb of strawberries

4 lb of onions

10 green peppers

8 cucumbers

15 mandarin oranges- talk about a bargain!
Plus Christmas paper to wrap the many many outfits I had bought for my Great grand baby.

Remember the last post when we went to the CNT to order our phone/internet/TV service? Well, they called and came on the dot at 3:30PM to install only our phone line. However, that was still pretty fast for Ecuador- we were impressed. Next week hopefully we will get our internet and TV.

Later that week we were invited to our friends Randy & John’s house for lunch. Last year they had bought a pretty house in Santa Elena, a short drive away, and so far they were the only gringos in that town. Randy picked us up at the El Paseo Mall because it may have been difficult for a taxi to find their house- most houses do not have regular addresses like back home.

Here is the front of their house in a very quiet area of town.

 

Though the outside was quite unassuming , the inside was- WOW! Here is the beautiful pool area and the patio overlooking the pool where we had our lunch.

 

 

 Our wonderful hosts

 

When Randy and John moved here they brought with them along with a 40’ container, eight pets.

                                                                   Two large parrots.

                                                                   One small parrot.

 

                                                                       Two friendly dogs

 

 

And three cats- sorry no pictures- plus they have adopted several more local cats- see this cutie.

 

Their house was lovely and we did get the grand tour. After a healthy lunch of soup and a pasta/seafood/fruit platter and homemade watermelon juice, Randy took Uwe & I to a local Museum in Santa Elena that housed the remains of an ancient civilization of this area plus showed examples of life then and through the centuries.

http://consumeresponsablemente.wordpress.com/2009/10/02/sumpa-el-poblado-mas-antiguo-de-la-costa-ecuatoriana-por-hugo-calle-forrest/

A very interesting and informative tour which was given by a young man in mostly Spanish- our lessons must be paying off as I understood most of his explanations.

When we first arrived there was a bus load of young Peruvian students ( I’d say late teens early twenties) who were also checking out the museum. Well, the oddest thing happened.

We told them we were Canadians and they quickly insisted that we pose for pictures with each of them. Wow, talk about feeling like a rock star- Brad and Angelina move over- LOL!

As first I, then Randy and finally Uwe posed with each and everyone of about 20 young and ,did I mention, good looking people, as several cameras flashed off.

 

                              I’ve never seen Uwe so happy to have his picture taken over and over again.

We have also put up some pictures from home in our condo- we have many empty walls. First we had a poster of the Toronto Beaches framed here- a great job- and much like home even here the framing cost more than the picture.

Next we had a painting commissioned by a young Collingwood artist, Jon Houghton, of the intersection of Blue Mountain Rd and Highway 26- nostalgia!

 

November 11 to 22- Week 2 & 3 in Salinas

On the second Sunday of our time back to Salinas we decided again to go to Will’s Score Sports bar but this time for dinner which was scheduled to be served at 6PM.

We watched football at home for the afternoon on an internet site we had discovered some time ago that was UK based and gave us access to every sport event shown- golf, NFL & CFL football, soccer, baseball etc etc.  http://www.thefirstrow.eu/

As well, Eddie and Paola came over to our condo to have a couple of drinks with us and then come with us for dinner. There was quite a crowd at Score and dinner that Sunday was either barbecued ribs or drunken chicken. Our group all opted for the ribs- excellent!

This week was also the first time we had a few days in a row of perfect sunshine- yes, it’s spring 2 degrees south of zero! We spent almost every day taking 1 ½ hour walk along the beach which during the week is wonderfully peaceful and empty- just us and the birds.

 

 

 

During one of the more sunny days, we spent a couple of hours sitting on the beach and swimming in the clear waters of the Pacific. None of our condos’ cabanas had been put up so we rented 2 chairs and one umbrella- $3- and sat looking at the great scenery- nothing like looking at the ocean to calm your nerves and complete your day.

 

 

 

Our favorite beer lady, Defina, recognized us immediately. After ‘how are you’s’ , hugs etc she let us take her picture and of course sold us more cervaza- $1.25 each- brought to our chair nice and cold.

On Friday evening, Kimberley, our Real Estate person, had a party for her visiting daughter, Jackie, at the Score bar. Naturally we all went- Uwe, I , Eddie and Paola along with a large crowd of fellow gringos.                                     

                                                            Kimberley & her daughter Jackie

There was a great local band playing everything from Santana, Pink Floyd to Stevia Ray Vaughn.

 

We also met a couple of Canadians there who had been reading this BLOG and had contacted me with the info that they were coming to Salinas to check things out. Richard and Ping live in Montreal but spend most winters in the warm part of China.

They came and visited us the next day at our condo and we had a great afternoon discussing our travels, investments, Ecuador etc etc. It’s so amazing that you can meet online and then in person- there are many many positives about the internet.

During one of our many walks through town, we met yet another Canadian whom we had heard about. We were walking by his house, saw him outside and introduced ourselves. He invited us in to check his place out- very nice- and chat about where we lived in Canada etc.

Well, not only was Andy from Collingwood, but he had owned a restaurant in Craigleith a block from where we had our house! I’m forever amazed at how very small this world really is.

On Wednesday, we went with Eddie to the CNT office, the local state-owned telephone company. Over the summer, our dish TV service had disappeared ( was a pirate company), plus our internet service was the pits. We were supposed to get 1meg of service but we were rarely above .5, making NFL game downloads almost impossible. So we were applying for internet and TV service with this company. After waiting about 25 minutes for our number to be called, we sat with a young lady while she filled out what we required, our address and one of the phone numbers in our building. Within 8 working days an installer should be contacting us re a visit- I’ll believe it when it happens.

American Thanksgiving was on Thursday and Will’s Score Sports bar was having a potluck dinner. Guests would each bring a side dish or desert and Will supplied the turkeys. There was a huge amount of expats there and everybody brought something- WOW- the amount of food was amazing! The turkey, stuffing and gravy were a wonderful taste of home.

                                                                        Guests arriving with food.

 

The desert table

 

The many many side dishes

 

Our happy group

 

As you can see our days are flowing pretty normally, shopping once a week at Supermaxi, the large local grocery store where everything we need is available, long walks along the beach, dinner or lunch with friends, cooking and cleaning at home- much the same as life anywhere. We just happen to live in a place with perpetual warmth and NO snow.

November 3 to 10- First Week back in our Salinas Condo

 Before leaving Puerto Lopez, we had been treated to a great North American breakfast by Gerry and Shandra- scrambled eggs with ham, toast, tomatoes, cheese- yummy!  -and of course made plans to meet them both again in Salinas this time.

After another couple of hours of scenic drive along the coast, we arrived around noon in Salinas .

Our condo had been rented for the last seven months, first to our friends Brent and Boushra and then to a tenant found by our Real Estate person, Kimberley.

Everything was still in place, no major problems only some much need cleaning as both Uwe and I are major clean freaks- we blame it on our European upbringing!

The rest of the week was pretty boring- trips to grocery stores to fill up with supplies, a trip to the mall to get another sim card for Uwe’s new cell phone, and getting help from Eddie to upgrade our Internet because we did not have sufficient bandwidth for our streaming, OOVOO and Magicjack phone.

We also bought some paint and spent a day painting all the railings on one of our balconies. Yes, I know we can hire help here very cheaply but ‘what else did we have to do? We’re retired’. The problem with living beside the ocean is that everything metal rusts, so one balcony done, two to go.

On Sunday we went to Will’s Score Sports Bar for NFL football- had a nice visit with Will & Wendy and met another couple of gringos. This will probably be a habit every Sunday at least during Football season.

One evening during the week we finally met our friend Connie for dinner. She is very busy now working at two jobs to support herself- teaching English plus helping other expats with their Visa applications and the slow road through the bureaucratic process. Her friend Murray, a fellow Canadian also living in Salinas, joined us.

The most depressing thing this time of the year, and hopefully gone soon, is the lack of sunshine! We experienced the same thing last October while in Salinas. Although reasonably warm, 20 to 25C, we had only a few hours of sunshine all week. It is a norm for this time of year so we will suffer in silence till our sun returns.

 

 

October 30 to November 2- Road trip from Quito to Salinas

On October 30th our friend Eddie arrived in Quito to drive us home the following day.
We went out to yet another great restaurant within walking distance of our apartment in the La Ronda neibourhood.

And once again I had Cuy ( guinea pig) this time roasted with a wonderful peanut sauce- really yummy and much more tender than the barbecued version I had last year.
I also ate it like chicken wings with my hands- much more effective as the meat is scimpy.

Next morning at 9AM we were ready to leave- car packed with our four suitcases and overnight bag. We had decided to make 2 overnight stops- one in Crucita to visit friends of Eddie's  plus pick up Eddie's wife Paola who was visiting there already. The next stop was to be Puerto Lopez where our friends from Collingwood, Shandra & Gerry lived.

It took us awhile getting out of Quito as the highway south seemed to go right through town with lots of traffic. Once out of the city, we drove into the mountains going west towards the ocean. The road was great and the scenery amazing.

 

It took us until 4:30PM ( with two short stops- one for lunch and the second for cervazas) before we arrived in Crucita, a small fishing village. We had booked a room at the Ocean Blue Hotel so went there first to check in.

A very nice hotel about a block from the beach.

 

We then drove up to Ron and Brenda's house on a hill overlooking Crucita. And WOW, what a house! I only took pictures of the outside living room- when we got a tour of the other 3 floors I didn't take my camera but this was definitely a million dollar house- WOW again!

This is the pool area.

                                           And this is the outdoor living room.

 

And the view of the ocean.

 

And our super host & hostess!

 

We all went out to dinner at a great Italian restaurant, great food & service.

 

Do we look like we MAY have had a bit too much vino!!! LOL

 

The next morning we walked from our hotel one block to the beach and had a delicious breakfast at a typical Ecuadorian restaurant- an egg omelette, rice and tomatoes & cucumber- quite delicious.

The view out of our restaurant.

 

The beach was right across the road- lot's of fishing boats had just returned.

The beach there is quite deserted and has wonderful sand for walking. We took a long walk along the beach and met another Gringa, Tetiana from Washington. The neat thing in Ecuador, is we expats always exchange names, cell numbers & emails- so our list of new friends grows and grows.

 

After saying goodbye to Ron and Brenda, the four of us, Uwe, myself, Eddie and his wife Paola were off to our next stop, Puerto Lopez. Our friends from Collingwood had decided this was the place for them and had bought a house on the beach there.

 

We arrived at this small beach town in time for lunch.

View from our retaurant on the Puerto Lopez malecon.

 

 Our group having a delicious lunch.

 

Puerto Lopez is a very pretty town, hills all around and a great beach area.

 

We had booked rooms in the hotel beside Gerry and Shandra's house.

 

Great views of the beach right there and the sounds of surf while sleeping!

 

We all went for cocktails at their house first. Very nice house with such an excellent beach view- wow. These are our hosts in their pretty kitchen.

 

 

 

We then went up to their 3rd floor and deck- again excellent views of the sea.

 

 

 

And our gang having cocktails on the scenic level.

 

And yet again, another Italian restaurant - those Italians are everywhere!!!- with excellent food.