June 11 to June 17- One Week in the Life of a jubilada (retiree) in Salinas, Ecuador

I quite often get asked by my friends and family back home ' But what do you do all week in a strange country far from friends and family?'  So I thought it was about time I came clean.

Here is a pretty typical week in what is our early fall. Though usually we spend at least 1 day a week lounging on our beach, this particular week we did not.

Saturday June 11

Every morning, not just this one, starts about the same way for us. We get out of bed about 6:30 or so, read email, newspapers on line and FB. Drink our 2 cups of coffee during and then have cereal, fruit & yogurt for breakfast.
That morning I had an appointment for a medical check up at a new doctor I had not previously met. I just needed a check up, my women's work  & my blood work done. The doctor's office was about a half hour walk away so I took the local bus (.25 cents) and arrived in lots of time for my 10:30AM appointment. Dr. Elke Ruiz was very personable and spoke perfect English- she had grown up in New York!

After my checkup it was off to a birthday party for my Ecuadorian friend, Susana, at a local Hostal with a beautiful pool.

               Lots of her friends attended

               Susana with her birthday cake

            And later much fun in the pool

Sunday June 12

On Sundays we actually try to do nothing! We make no plans and just try to spend time together. For Uwe this means watching all his favorite sports. So to summarize our sports day:

Blue Jays beat Baltimore 10 to 9 ( Uwe has the MLB package so we can watch any & all baseball games)

Ecuador beat Haiti in the America Cup 4 to 0 to move on to the next level- quite an achievement for our National Soccer team!

And Canadian Brooke Henderson who is only 18 years old won an LPGA major Golf Tournament in the USA!

Sundays don't get any better then that LOL

Monday June 13

Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday we have a 1 hour yoga class in the mezzanine common area of my condo building. Since we have no resident yoga teachers, I lead the class Monday & Friday and my friend Tari leads Wednesdays. The classes are from 9 to 10AM and are geared to us more senior citizens but still pretty intense. I love my yoga sessions and since starting them approximately 2 years ago, I have had no more sciatica nerve problems.

As well, most Mondays, if we both have time, I meet with my student Vicente for our weekly lesson. I teach him English and he teaches me Spanish for approximately 1 hour. We have done many excursions together- shopping at the mercado, watching my guards play in a soccer tournament, fish shopping at the beach in Santa Rosa and many others. We try to split the session between speaking a half hour of each language. This day we were meeting at a local restaurant, Aloha2, where we translated and made up sentences.
During the 6 months we had been doing this, we have become good friends.

After my session with Vicente, I walked to our local grocery store to meet Uwe and we shopped for some supplies.

Tuesday June 13

Every month I go to my friend Tari for a 1 hour massage. She is a licensed Physical Therapist and gives an awesome massage. This is my monthly treat and at my age (well, actually at any age) massages are so good for you. She has a beautiful room with massage table in her condo. Soft music, gently breezes, and aromatherapy complete this amazing picture.

On this particular day, I went to Cruz Roja after to have my blood drawn for my blood work. Cruz Roja runs a clinic for this type of work plus has a doctor on prem for check ups etc.

After, I went for my monthly pedicure at one of the local Beauty Salons. Now, they do not have all the fancy vibrating chairs and foot baths but for $4 they give an awesome treat. 

We ended this great day with Pizza night with friends at Marco's Papa Pizza Restaurant- one of our favorite places.

Wednesday June 15

After my yoga session, Uwe and I walked once again to our neighborhood grocery store to buy beer and sweets for a Music night to be held later at our friends Lynn & Rick's house.

This was the second session of a 4 part Beatles Anthology video series. Part 1 & 2 at Rick & Lynn's, part 3 at our condo the following week and the last at Craig & Tina's house.

We had ordered a taxi to take us there at 6PM as they lived about 30 minutes away. Rick & Lynn have a beautiful new house with a big TV, lots of seating and snacks for half time. Another awesome music evening with +-30 good friends!

Thursday June 16

Today was the 3rd Women's Honey Hunt! Twice before a few of us women, had driven with Randy to buy honey at a village called Colonche up the coast. We all wanted unpasteurized honey for it's health benefits so why not buy it straight from the farm.
Doris & I met Randy at the Ballenita Bus station and away we went.
Colonche was approximately 45 minutes up the coast- a nice drive to see coastal scenery and chat.  When we arrived at the farm, no one was home! Damn! However we knew a small tienda a few villages further that sold the farm's honey so away we went.
The proprietor remembered us from a previous visit- really, how many gringas actually make it to such an out-of-the-way place- and we bought our supplies of honey after chatting with his wife & 5 daughters in espanol of course.

Now for the best part of the day- lobster lunch on the beach in Ayangue. Here is the view from our lunch table.

And eating those delicious lobster tails

And then, margaritas on the beach after- it doesn't get any more perfect than that

Friday June 17

We had both ordered prescription glasses the week before at our local mall. I had ordered both sunglasses & normal- I mostly need them for driving which I only do in Canada and maybe golfing- if my ball goes far enough LOL- and Uwe had ordered new sunglasses only as his were a bit scratched. Mine cost a total of $187 for both but Uwe was a bit more fussy and his were $237. Obviously a wide variety of styles and costs are available.

After picking up the glasses- yes, they were ready- we went to the food court and had a great pizza for lunch.

So ends a fairly normal week in the life of an expat retiree. 

Some of our weekly activities missing on this week- some only occur every 2 weeks- were our Tuesday afternoon Beersbee on the beach (a bunch of people drinking beer & playing games on the beach) and our Women's Koffee or Koctail Klatch. Not sure I would have been able to fit them in on this eventful week.

So do you still think our retired life is boring?