New Life in Ecuador

Wednesday January 18th, 2017

We started our last day in Canoa at Bambu again for breakfast. We got there too early, so we went for a walk on the north end of the beach, to the nearby cliffs. Once seated, Mike got to enjoy his real coffee again, and I had an herbal tea. Mike ordered an omelet with cheese, shrimp, peppers and onions. It filled the entire plate! I had the chocolate banana crepe again, because it was so good the first time. Our waiter spend much of his time trying to shoo the stray dogs out of the seating area. One dog in particular was very good at hiding under tables and slinking around.
While we were eating, we saw a vendor delivering fresh (as in just came out of the ocean) fish for the restaurant. He also had huge branches of bananas to sell. On the other corner, there was a vendor using a bicycle cart to sell coconut water to the workers who were repairing the bridge. He would use a machete to slice some of the hard shell off the top of the coconut. Then he would make an opening in the pulp and stick a straw in it. Very refreshing (I had this in Same)! We also saw a double sea kayak passing horizontal to the shoreline towards the cliffs. This is the first time we have seen anyone in a kayak on this trip. Finally, we also saw a couple of people on horseback riding along the beach and the malecon.
We headed back to Hotel La Vista to check out. We said goodbye to our very helpful hostess, Daisy and left her a tip. Daisy also told me that the shade trees in the courtyard were called "almendra," which turns out to mean almonds. Yum!
We headed to the corner of the main street to catch our bus to San Jacinto. While we were waiting, to young men approached. One of them asked me if I would help his friend practise some English. He was learning it from his phone app (similar to how I have been learning Spanish with the app Duolingo). So I worked with him on pronouncing some simple greetings and reviewed a few words. I thought it was very sweet that they asked me to help.
We caught our first bus to Bahia de Caraquez, a beautiful coastal town which has some multi-level apartment buildings. Unfortunately these buildings were all damaged in the earthquake, and will have to be demolished. We learned from one of our hosts, that many of the buildings were not built properly to start with, or additional levels were added that had not been planned for. When we arrived at the us station in Bahia, we quickly purchased tickets for our next bus to San Jacinto.
We arrived in San Jacinto at around 12:30. The sun was very hot, and we had about a 20 minute walk to get to our hostel. Fortunately, we caught a ride from a local lawyer for about the last 700 meters.
When we reached Casa WF, one of our hosts, Marty, was waiting for us at the gate. He was very warm and welcoming and started chatting with us right away about the area, the homes, and the possibilities for further development. He also introduced us to his three lovely dogs, Mama, Princess and Bo. They are rescues from after the earthquake. This guest house is built with two rooms to rent on the ground level and the hosts live on the second level of the building. Jim and Marty put alot of thought into their plans for the house, and it shows. The setting in beautiful, right on the beach at the point where the river Portoviejo meets the ocean. There is a protected mangrove area just behind their home. They are the last house on the road, and had to build part of the road to reach their house. There is a small plunge pool on the patio, but Mike and I prefer swimming in the ocean.
Once we had a chance to cool down, we walked into town to explore and get some lunch. On the recommendation of our host, I tried a soup called viche, which is made from a peanut based sauce and has beans, vegetables and fish. It was very tasty and filling. Mike had ceviche again, in order to compare it to the others. He said the ceviche at Laurita's was his favourite so far of the trip. The town has many small shops and restaurants. At one of the small market stores, we bought some snacks to take back to our room for supper.
Around 5 pm, we headed to the beach for a walk and a swim. The sea was quite calm. The water was a bit cooler than in Canoa, but very refreshing. We ended our day with a light supper and another long and informative chat with our host Marty.