New Life in Ecuador

Saturday January 21, 2017

We started our day by checking out the fish market that happens every morning on the beach beside the pier in Puerto Lopez. There are many varieties of fish, just out of the ocean. There are also several men and women standing by to fillet the fish on site. In addition, there is an eating area where fish is served for breakfast. There is lots of bargaining going on between sellers and buyers.
After this, we went for breakfast at a small cafe on the malecon. There was an incident at the cafe, and we ended up moving our coffee and breakfast to the cafe next door, El Bambu. The staff of this cafe were very welcoming and cooperated with the cook from the first cafe to ensure we had a good meal and great service.
We had decided earlier that we definitely needed to move hostels. Mike tried to take a shower, and there was no hot water! This was the last straw. One of the staff at our cafe suggested a hostel that would be a good alternative to our current location. We headed over to "Sol Inn" to see if they had a room available. The owner agreed that we could move our stuff over right away, and the room would be available later in the day. We were pleased with the inner courtyard, seating, tables and kitchen access at this location. This hostel was only $20 per night, far less than the other location, and it had reliable wifi and hot water.
We tried unsuccessfully to find the fruit and vegetable market (mercado) and decided to hire a taxi for a tour of the town. Our taxi driver, Darwin, agreed to drive us around town for about one hour for $10. He proved to be an excellent guide, telling us about the different areas and taking us to some excellent lookouts in the hills on both the north and south sides of the town. We asked Darwin to show us lots that were for sale, and he showed us several. We explained that it was difficult for us to call local cellular numbers because of being based in Canada. He offered to keep in contact with us by e-mail to let us know prices of land for sale around town. So we now have an unofficial broker for possible land deals in the area of Puerto Lopez.
Our driver dropped us off at the mercado, which is located several blocks from the centre of town. This was a traditional market with stalls for fish and meat, as well as a wide variety of fruits and vegetables. We returned to our hostel to change for the beach. We decided to hop the bus to Ayampe, a beach town known for surfing. The beach there was beautiful, with small pebbles and rocks everywhere in a wide variety of colours. There is a strong current, and the water is quite a bit colder that in Canoa. We went for a swim, then walked on the beach and explored the town for a few minutes. We went up to the bus stop on the highway to catch the bus, and there was a group of five young surfers waiting for the bus. Three were from Montreal, one was from Maine, and one from France. One of the Canadians pointed out that waiting for the bus in Ecuador is a lot nicer than waiting for the bus in -40 degrees Celsius in Canada!
We returned to our hostel to change for dinner. We tried a restaurant called "Spuma del Mar", where they had the best fruit drinks we have tried. Our meal was great as usual. After our meal we went to the main street and saw a small political rally. We found a pastry store with a wide variety of yummy dessert options. We chose a biscotti, coconut cookie, tres leche, and a small chocolate mousse. All of these cost total $3.50! We took our dessert back to the hostel, and spent some time chatting with a couple from Argentina, Estani and Marisa. Estani is a music student at the university in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He chatted with Mike about music for quite a while.