Ecuador

It’s hot, hot, hot and sunny – perfect beach weather.  Too bad we’re not at the beach!  We are now in Guayaquil with a few days to kill before we catch our flight to the Galapagos on Tuesday.  The last few days did not go exactly as planned, but I guess that is bound to happen now and then.  You may recall that we were planning to go to Montanita to spend a few days in this beach town.

We arrived in Montanita early Wednesday afternoon under cloudy skies (nothing new there).  Once we got ourselves organized with our packs, we set out to check a few hostels that looked promising on line.  Along the way, a friendly gringo approached us and offered to show us the way as he was heading in the same direction.  We didn’t think anything of it, accepted his offer, and chatted with him as we made our way to the various hostels, breaking some fundamental safety rules in the process.  It is a well- known scam at bus stations for someone to befriend you, offer to carry your bags, help you load them onto the bus only to steal them when you’re not looking, because the bus guy thinks the bag belongs to your “friend”.  It was only later that we thought of this and wondered if we were going to be victims of a similar scam and find ourselves robbed when we returned to our hostel.  Thankfully, this was not the case, and Zachery from the peach state of Georgia was nothing more than a friendly guy doing a good deed for the day.  I must admit though that we had some anxious moments wondering if we were at risk.

Montanita is renowned for its surf which is much bigger and stronger than Canoa. This is not the place to learn to surf as the waves are pretty intimidating and there is a strong undertow.  I missed my chance to take surfing lessons in Canoa due to a combination of bad weather and sore legs from horse back riding. But surfing will have to wait.  This town is also known as a party town where young people flock to party the night away indulging in both legal and illegal pleasures.

We picked a hostel (Kundalini) on the edge of town, away from the bars and discos in an effort to ensure a good night’s sleep.  As we walked around town looking for a place to eat, I had an uneasy feeling about this place.  The town itself was quite charming in a laid back, beachy sort of way.  The streets were lined with shops that sold surf related stuff as well as little kiosks selling everything from hand-made jewellery to the typical tacky beach souvenirs.  The locals were a blend of Ecuadorians and foreigners who have made Montanita their home.  Apparently it’s quite common for young foreigners to come for a visit and then never leave.

Why was I feeling so uneasy?  Clearly we stuck out as different – not just being foreigners, but let’s face it, we aren’t young and we aren’t hip.  Perhaps it was just an over active imagination on my part, but regardless, I wasn’t feeling very secure.

And then the weather turned on us, for the worse.  It got colder and started to drizzle – not the best beach weather for sure.  As we watched the surfers from the hammocks on our balcony we decided that this place was not for us – in the morning we would leave for Guayaquil.

We’ve come a long way since our first bus trip in Quito.  We’re no longer nervous about bus travel although we remain vigilant and cautious on travel days.  Not knowing where the bus station is or when the bus is coming doesn’t really faze us anymore.  We know we’ll sort it out when the time comes.  We headed towards the main street in Montanita looking for a bus station or bus stop.  I had read about the direct CLP bus but had no idea where to catch it or what the schedule was.  By chance, we walked by a group of people with luggage who obviously were waiting for a bus.  Turned out this was the CLP bus station and the bus to Guayaquil arrived as we were buying our tickets ($5.50 each). Good luck with the buses again. This was the most comfortable bus we have been on thus far.  It was air conditioned, the seats were well padded, a movie entertained us, and it only stopped a couple of times along the way, arriving in Guayaquil in less than three hours.

The bus station in Guayaquil is the biggest bus station I have ever seen – I thought we were at the airport when we pulled in.  We grabbed a cab to the northern suburbs where many well reviewed hostels are located.   We arrived at our first choice only to find they only had dorm beds available.  We actually debated the merits of this option – this hostel was quite lovely perched up on a hill with an amazing view of the city, it had a swimming pool and the property was very secure.  On the down side, the dorm room was in the basement and looked more like a jail cell with eight twin beds/bunk beds which meant we could be sleeping with six strangers; we would have to lock up our belongings in the lockers at all times; the cost was high at $15 per person (at least by the standards we were used to); the hostel had no restaurant and was in an isolated location so finding food and getting around might be a problem.

We decided against the dorm room, and headed over (by taxi) to another hostel (Nucapacha) in the same area.  This one had great reviews online, also had a pool, and showed plenty of vacancies.  But when we arrived, they only had twin rooms with shared bath available (and with cold showers we learned later).  The rooms were bare bone. Our room had two single beds and a  bunk bed.  The mattresses were made of soft foam, and there wasn’t even a blanket on the bed, just a thread bare sheet.  There was absolutely nothing else in the room except for a noisy fan.  I felt we had sunk to a new low.   To its credit, the hostel was clean, and the common areas weren’t too bad (mind you that lovely pool was closed for cleaning which it sorely needed).  I had concerns about the security of the rooms – there were no closets to lock our things in, and the locks on the doors and window were very flimsy.  Again, I did not feel safe.  I don’t like this feeling.  I can put up with basic accommodations, as long as they are clean and secure.  We took the room for one night and then evaluated our options.  I must admit I was feeling discouraged.

We did have options.  We could stay put for the next five days and suck it up and hope our stuff was safe.  We could leave town and go somewhere else such as Cuenca for a couple of days.  We could look for another hostel and hope it was better (I now realize you can’t put too much weight in the on-line reivews and pictures). We could find a nice hotel (this is a big city with lots of nice hotel chains) and indulge in a little bit of luxury for a few days.  It didn’t take us long to choose the latter option:  4 nights at the four star Ramada Hotel right on the waterfront.  Afterall, we always said we reserved the right to check into a nice hotel when we felt we needed it!

Print Friendly

Yesterday was a “chill” day.  We slept in, had a leisurely breakfast in town, did some writing, photography, and generally just goofed off.  Our hostel is a beautiful place to just kick back and relax.  This has been the best hostel we have stayed in to date. The hostel is located on the north edge of town, engulfed in a lush, tropical garden that contrasts sharply with the bleak, dry vegetation that prevails along the coast during the dry season.

We spent the first couple of nights in a private cottage (photo to the right) which was lovely, but then we had to switch to a different room because the cottage was already booked.

Our second room was larger, the bed more comfortable, the shower hotter, and being on the second floor of a four-unit chalet made us feel like we were in a tree house.

The best part was our private balcony with a view of the ocean and two lovely hammocks that invited us to just relax.

We don’t think we fared to badly in the room switch.

The hostel owners are environmentally conscientious and “save the whales” information is everywhere, including the t-shirts worn by all staff.

The other unique features of this hostel include the amazing gardens and the artistic handiwork that appears everywhere, from the toilet seats to towel racks to the architecture of the main lodge.  I’m by no means an expert, but I think these gardens outshine the Botanical Gardens in Quito by a mile.

In the photo below, Chris is standing at the entrance of a second story deck equipped with multiple hammocks – a perfect place for a siesta.  Notice the woodworking detail on the floor.

Another feature of this hostel, believe it or not, were the resident dogs.  We have seen hundreds of dogs throughout our travels in Ecuador – dogs are everywhere and usually have free reign to roam wherever they please.  We have seen all kinds of dogs – good, bad and downright ugly and mangy.  The four dogs in this hostel are gorgeous and the one remaining pup (out of a litter of 10 – all of which have found new homes) is adorable.  Check out this video of the puppy playing with mom.

We did some “work” yesterday – sort of.  It was laundry day.  There are laundry services everywhere in Ecuador and Puerto Lopez was no exception.  It costs $7 or $8 to do a week’s worth of our laundry.  Money well spent in our opinion.  So far, we have only done laundry by hand once while we were in the hostel in Canoa.  The rest of the time we have used laundry services wherever we are and we have always been quite happy with the results.  Mind you, it is always a little unsettling as you drop off all your clothes to a little hovel or shack that happens to have a washing machine on site.  You don’t get a ticket or a receipt or anything to prove that they have your clothes.   I’m always amazed and relieved when we return at the end of the day to find our clothes fresh and clean, and all neatly folded and ready for us.

We also made some plans for the next leg of our trip – Galapagos Islands.  We have booked our flight for next Tuesday and we will be on the islands for 2 weeks.  The current plan is to find a hostel and do day trips to the various islands.  However, we might consider a boat cruise for a week if we find a good last minute deal.  Eduardo and Paola are planning to go in December and highly recommended basing ourselves on Isabela Island, something we are seriously considering.  We still have a week to figure things out, and even then, we really only need to know where we want to stay the first night or two.  At least our flights are now booked and we feel we got a pretty good deal:  $560 return for both of us, including taxes.  There is a national park entrance fee of $100 per person that we must pay at the airport before we leave.  It will be an expensive couple of weeks, but we think it will be well worth every penny.

We must be in Guayaquil in one week’s time so we have some time to explore the coast a little more fully.  We have decided to leave our wonderful hostel today and head down the coast to Montanita. After that, we may go to Salinas.  As you may have noticed, we are not making plans too far in advance.  This gives us the utmost flexibility.  This approach is working out really well for us so far.  We find that we are planning our itinerary based on the input we receive from people along the way.  For instance, we weren’t planning on going to Montanita, but based on Eduardo’s recommendation, we will stay there for a few days.

The following is a collection of photos of the town of Puerto Lopez that have been taken over the past few days.  Enjoy!

Print Friendly

Under a blanket of heavy, low clouds, we headed out to Los Frailes beach by taxi on Monday morning, with our diving friends, Eduardo and Paola.   When we arrived at 10:00 in the morning, we had the entire beach to ourselves.  Los Frailes beach, with its large, sweeping expanse of sand framed by high bluffs, is one of the most pristine stretches of coastline in Ecuador. Part of the protected Parque Nacional Machalilla since 1979, the beach is only a small part of the 55,000 hectares of coastal land home to a variety of marine life such as dolphins and sea lions, over 200 species of birds, howler monkeys, anteaters, deer, squirrels, iguanas, and lizards.

We are in the dry season here on the coast and everything looks dead – very similar to winter in Canada.  However we have been told that by January when the rainy season begins this area will look lush and tropical.  Hard to imagine that right now.  Since arriving on the coast almost two weeks ago, the weather has been the same every day – cloudy with temperatures in the low 20’s and very little rain.  We have only had one day of sunshine while we were in Canoa.  This is definitely not lying on beach weather but it is very comfortable for hiking and sleeping.  During the rainy season (January – May), it is very hot and sunny during the day and then torrential rains pour down each night.  The rainy season coincides with the high tourist season.

We headed north towards a trail that would take us through a dry forest to a lookout at the top of the bluff.    The path meandered through unique dry forest vegetation with bottle-shaped trees adorned with heavy spines, spindly cacti, and fragrant trees up to a clearing that provided spectacular views of the coastline.  We only saw a few birds, mainly vultures and pelicans.  We encountered no other wildlife.  We continued our hike to a neighbouring beach, Playa La Tortuguita where spiky rock formations jutted out of the turquoise waters and large crabs scurried along the rocks.

In spite of the weather which was a little on the cool side, Paola was determined to go for a swim and bravely went for a quick dip into the cool waters.  Chris and I were content to stay warm and dry and enjoyed taking photos of the beautiful scenery.

Throughout the morning, we learned so much about life in Ecuador while conversing with Eduardo and Paola.  We were surprised to learn that they pay similarly high income taxes (pro-rated per income like us) but they don’t feel they get much for their taxes.  Ecuadorians must pay for their own health care although both were fortunate to have private insurance through their employers.  All schooling must be paid for privately, even the lower grades.  Getting a mortgage depends as much on who you know as it does on your ability to pay the mortgage.  And interest rates are very high – about 8 percent for a mortgage, although the government has introduced some programs to make it more affordable.  There are no social safety nets in place like employment insurance or maternity benefits.  Even today, it is typical for a middle class family to have at least one maid and perhaps a gardener.  Day care facilities are common just like in Canada.  Iam always fascinated to learn how people live and it’s so interesting to see both the commonalities and the differences in our respective countries.

The morning passed quickly and soon we had to head back to Puerto Lopez as Eduardo and Paola had to catch their flight back to Quito later in the day.

Back in Puerto Lopez, Chris and I decided to wander around town for a while, people watching and taking more pictures.  We met up with our friends a little later on for lunch at Patacon Pisa’o where we enjoyed a special dish of crisply fried plantains topped with a choice of toppings such as squid, shrimp, fish or a combination of seafood.  It was delicious.

As the afternoon came to a close, it was time say good bye to our friends. We hope they come to Canada one day and we would welcome the opportunity to share our beautiful country with them in the way they shared their country with us.

Print Friendly

On Sunday, Chris and I went on a diving excursion to Isla de la Plata, also known as “Poor Man’s Galapagos”.  This was the primary reason why we came to Puerto Lopez.  We wanted to get a couple of dives under our belt before we went to the Galapagos.  After talking to the various diving operators in town, we settled on Exlporamar, a PADI certified shop that had good reviews online.  Luckily for us, they already had a dive scheduled for Sunday with space available.

We arrived at the dive shop before 9:00 Sunday morning to get sized up for our gear.  We were really happy to see all the gear was in top notch, nearly new condition.  And we met our guide who spoke excellent English.  We were still feeling a little nervous about this dive since this was going to be our first dives after getting our open water certification, and our first dives in the ocean.  We were joined by four Ecuadorians – Eduardo and Paola, and Eustava and Naty who were doing the last two open dives for their certification.  They all spoke excellent English which really helped us get to know each other.  We learned that Paola had just found out she was pregnant with their first child and so could not complete her open water dives this weekend.

As we made our way to the boat in the bay, we passed by the local fishermen who were hauling in their early morning catch which included a hammerhead shark, sword fish, and a few other sharks.  In the photo to the left, Paola is in the foreground not looking too impressed at the sight of the dead hammerhead shark at her feet; in the background her husband Eduardo is taking a photo of another shark, and Eustava and Naty are looking on.

Once on the boat, we all settled in for the one hour trip to Isla de la Plata which is a small island off the coast of Manabí, and is part of Parque Nacional Machalilla.  There is a large diversity of animal species here; for example, several species of booby, including the Blue-footed booby, Red-footed booby, and the Nazca booby.  Another species found here is the South American sea lion. Dolphins, like the Pantropical spotted dolphin can be found in the water close by.

As we approached the island, we were required to stop at the park office to pay the park entrance fee: $2.00 per person.  If we were landing on the island, the fee would have been $15.00 per person.  I must admit, the island wasn’t much to look at from this vantage point – very similar to the coast line, dry forest everywhere.

We had two dives planned for the day.  Our diving instructor, Juam Manuel, gave us the orientation for the first dive and then we suited up and got into the water.  This was my first time doing a backward roll off the side of a boat and I managed it with no problem.  However, once in the water, I felt a little anxious and needed a few moments to relax my breathing.  We then descended to a depth of about 20 feet.  We stayed close to our guide, who pointed out interesting fish that often were well camouflaged on the ocean floor.   Suddenly, right in front of us loomed a huge creature – we later learned it was a Manta Ray, approximately 5.5 metres in size!  Juam also saw a hammerhead shark in the distance – the first he has seen in this location.  Unfortunately, we did not see the shark.  We were very lucky to see the Manta Ray – Juam said he made over 300 dives before he saw one.  Beginner’s luck.  Check out this Youtube video that someone took while diving in the same location – it’ll give you an appreciation of the size and beauty of a Manta Ray.

We were amazed by the sea life as we continued to a depth of 60 feet – the maximum depth allowed with our diving certification.  At that depth, we passed through a thermocline – a distinct change in water temperature.  The water became much clearer and felt frigid even though it was only 3 degrees colder.  During this dive, I struggled with my buoyancy which is a skill I really need to work on.  It comes with experience I’ve been told.  We depleted our air supply in less than 30 minutes – typical for new divers.

Between dives, we snacked on fruit and muffins, along with water and hot cinnamon tea.  The tea was very soothing and restorative as I was feeling a little nauseous after the first dive. 

We then headed to the second dive site, had the site orientation, suited up and got back into the water.  This time I felt much more confident, no nervousness at all.  The second dive followed a coral reef which presented a different variety of sea life.  We saw huge sea turtles on this dive, and swam through large schools of colorful fish.  It was quite amazing.  I had much better buoyancy control on this dive which was a good thing as I was very careful not to inadvertently touch any of the fragile coral reef.  Again, we depleted our air supply within a half hour, but by then we were ready to surface.  There was some current and surge on this dive, and we found it to be a little tiring as we swam hard against it trying to keep up with Juam who made it look so easy.

Back on board, we enjoyed a simple lunch of tuna sandwiches and coke.  We were entertained by several sea turtles that swam alongside the boat.  Our new friends completed their second dive and we congratulated them on their success.  They were now certified open water divers like us.

We were all pretty subdued on the trip back to the mainland.  Chris and I were really happy that we successfully completed these dives in preparation for the Galapagos Islands.  As we left the boat, Eduardo and Paola invited us out for dinner with their friends and the diving instructors.

At dinner, we were the first to arrive at the restaurant and ordered a beer.  The restaurant owner came out and said something to us that we did not understand.  He gestured strongly, trying to help us to understand.  We nodded our heads agreeably and he returned with our beer and two glasses.  He poured our beer and took the bottle away.  We didn’t really think too much about this.  When our friends arrived, they were surprised to see us drinking beer and reminded us of the Ecuadorian law that prohibits the consumption of beer in restaurants after 4:00 on a Sunday afternoon.  Our accommodating restaurant owner was more than happy to serve us another bottle of beer, disguised in a juice jug.  He then served us rounds of Ecuadorian “tequila” distilled from sugar cane – all on the house.  And this while serving three local police officers in his restaurant.  I guess there is flexibility with this law.

During dinner we got to know our new friends a little better.  Eduardo and Paola are in their early thirties, and as I mentioned, they are expecting their first child.  They live in Quito and came to Puerto Lopez for the weekend to complete their open water certification.  Both are very well educated and well-travelled – Paola studied business at a university in North Carolina, and then did her Masters in Spain. Eduardo also studied business, followed by two master’s degrees – an MBA and the other related to environmental business management.  He is now looking into doing his PhD, possibly in Canada.  Paola works in her family’s law practice, and Eduardo works as a Director in a company that develops alternative energy sources.  Our diving instructor, Juam, is a biologist who has been invited by Andrea Marshal, known as the Queen of the Mantas, to jointly study the manta.  He has plans to pursue his PhD in this area.  We gained a greater appreciation for this gentle giant that we were so lucky to see first-hand on our first dive in the ocean.  To learn more about the manta ray, check out this BBC video, or this interview with Andrea Marshal about the making of the BBC video.

The other diving instructor, Janko, also lives in Quito with his wife and they too have a baby on the way.  He is a martial arts teacher as well as a diving instructor.  In the high tourist season (July-August and January-March) he comes to Puerto Lopez on a rotating basis with other instructors.  His wife is a Pilates instructor.  As the evening came to a close, Paolo and Eduardo invited us to join them the next day for a trip to Los Frailes beach – reputed to be one of the most beautiful beaches in Ecuador.  We gladly accepted their invitation.

Print Friendly

It seems that over the past month, we have unwittingly managed to sink deeper and deeper into the grunge and dirt of Ecuador.  This is the dry season along the coast and as a result, everything – plants, trees, roads, houses – is covered with a thick layer of dust and dirt.  The landscape is dreary and drab.  The predominant color is the color of dirt.  Now and then we will pass through an agricultural area that is fertile; the vibrant colors are a shock to our dulled senses.  To make matters worse, Ecuadorians are prolific litterers and garbage is everywhere you turn.  For example, a new road is under construction along the coast, parts of which boast an adjacent bike path.  One day Chris and I went for a run along this bike path and we were simply disgusted by the garbage that covered the path the entire length of our run.

The grunge and dirt were starting to get to me by the time we had reached Canoa.   After three weeks of hostel living, we were really looking forward to staying in a house with all the associated comforts. I don’t think I had overly grand expectations – I knew the house was still under construction.  I was looking forward to some simple pleasures like having a living room to relax in (instead of just a bedroom), having access to a kitchen, and home cooked food.

When we met Andy and Leo last Friday night, we hit it off with them immediately.  We had exchanged emails for about 10 days prior and had already established a pretty good rapport.  Andy is a Brit who has settled in Ecuador with Leo, an Ecuadorian from Quito.  Together they are building a house on the ocean about 10 minutes south of Canoa (that’s a half hour walk along the beach).  The two-storey, brick house is designed as two separate units.  Each floor has a kitchen, bathroom, living/dining area and bedroom.  The major work on the house has been done – walls, windows, exterior doors, roof, plumbing, electrical – are all complete.  Now they are left with the finishing details.  And that’s where we came into the picture.  The plan was for Chris to work on cabinetry in the kitchen, and I was to work in the garden.

Constructing kitchen cabinets without the proper tools did not seem to deter Chris.  At his disposal were: a power drill, a circular saw, one hammer, a motely collection of screwdrivers, a dull hand saw, a hand plane, a few used rusted nails, a measuring tape that was almost illegible, glue, and some small pieces of rope.   And he had access to the “wood man” at the sawmill who could apparently cut wood to order and to specification.  The idea was for Chris to design the kitchen cupboards, come up with all the measurements and give these to the “wood man” who would whip everything up on demand.  Then Chris would only have to glue the pieces together and install the finished product.  And so Chris began…..

Once the design was complete, the first order of business was to buy the hardware for the cupboards and drawers as these would impact the final measurements.  Off we went to San Vincente and Bahia – two larger towns within about a 20 minute drive.  The first hardware store had door hinges and 12 screws – yes, 12 individual screws, and hardware for one drawer – yes, one drawer.

This was not Home Depot, let me tell you.  And so began the run-around to try to round up all the hardware required.  Four stores later, Chris had what he needed.

Then it was off to the saw mill to see what type of wood they had and what type of cuts they could do.  They could do some of the cuts but not everything.  Chris then needed to adjust his design to accommodate the hardware and the wood.  We ate ice cream as Chris did his calculations. Then it was back to the sawmill, only to find it closed for lunch.   Killed some time doing errands, returned to the sawmill only to find out they had no electricity for the rest of the day and the wood man would not take any more orders.  So we went to another sawmill down the road.  He too was without electricity but promised to take the order and have it ready for the next morning.  After much discussion and many explanations – Chris explaining to Leo who then translated it to the wood man – the order was given and we headed back home.  The wood was ready the next day, and cut to specification, although they couldn’t do all the cuts needed for the doors; they couldn’t cut the lengths, nor could they cut the “tongue” part of “tongue and groove” – they could only cut the “groove”.

Each subsequent day presented its own challenges; for example, two days we had no power at the house.  Chris took matters into his own hands and went back to the sawmill and arranged to use the saws himself to make the necessary cuts.  Finally all the pieces were cut and ready to be assembled.  In parallel to this, Chris was teaching Andy and Leo basic carpentry skills as he knew there would be plenty of work left for them when we left.  They were willing and appreciative students.  Under Chris’ direction, a frame was built and installed in the cement cupboards to which the doors would eventually be attached.

You might be wondering what I was doing all week long.  Well, I painted the pillars in the front of the house, weeded and cleaned up the back garden and some of the front yard, cooked a few breakfasts, assisted Chris when necessary and did most of the dishes throughout the week.  Unlike Chris, I found it difficult to embrace the tasks at hand.  The front yard was full of construction debris and required some serious machinery to get it cleaned up before you could even consider starting a garden.  The only garden tool at my disposal was a plastic rake with no handle.  Leo attached a flexible piece of plastic to the rake head to create a rather flimsy, bendable rake.

The exterior of the house was still very much a construction zone with materials and tools all over the place.  It seemed rather premature to be focused on the garden, in my opinion.

The inside of the house was also in a state of disorder – the result of months of construction and just making do.  There was no furniture in the house yet except two beds (ours was very comfortable, in fact the most comfortable bed to date), a plastic patio table and two plastic patio chairs.  Their dog, Lucky, was recovering from cancer and had some open wounds.  Their cat, Daggy, also suffered from some mysterious open wounds.  These animals were indeed lucky to have owners like Andy and Leo who were tending to their ailments and sores with a variety of medicines from the vet.

We ended each day with cocktails at sunset.  Andy prepared his house speciality – Tequila Sunrise – with freshly squeeze orange juice.  Chris prepared our summer time favourite – Vodka and Tonic with Lime.  Andy fed us well with home cooked meals each day.  One morning I made my infamous pancakes (that are now being served at CocoLoco I might add), and I made French toast another morning – a little taste of home.

By the end of the week, one cupboard door was completed and installed, another one was glued and drying, and the remaining cupboards were ready to be glued together.  A template for a drawer was also created and was ready to be duplicated for the remaining three drawers.

One day we went horse back riding with the owner of the hostel we had stayed in.   Neither of us are comfortable on a horse and it took a while to find our groove and our balance; although we never did quite manage to go faster than a trot.  Chris went barefoot – not by choice, but by necessity because his sandals did not fit into the stirrups.  It was a beautiful ride – two hours traversing hills and valleys of lush, picturesque farmland and then returning along the beach.  Our muscles are still hurting from that ride!

What is the final verdict on our first HelpX experience?  We couldn’t have worked for a nicer couple.  Both Andy and Leo were kind hearted, hospitable, and fun to be around.  They certainly didn’t push us very hard, in fact, we probably pushed them harder than they may have wanted.  We have a deeper appreciation for the challenges of getting anything done in Ecuador and found the experience to be an eye opener.  After working pretty hard for a week, we’ve come to realize that it’s much more fun to stay on vacation and so we aren’t planning any more HelpX jobs for the foreseeable future.

As we travelled on the bus from Canoa to Puerto Lopez I struggled with my feelings.  I was tired of the grunge and dirt and grime that surrounded me and didn’t see any respite from it while we were in South America.  I fantasized of ways we could leave this continent.  Yes, I know, I was feeling pretty negative.  I fully expected Puerto Lopez to be more of the same and so you can imagine my surprise, my delight, my relief when we found our current hostel.  Tucked away on the north edge of town, directly on the ocean, Hostel Mandala is an oasis of serenity, beauty and cleanliness.  We’re going to stay here for a while.

Print Friendly

Today we are off to Andy and Leo’s place for the next week.  We met them last night and popped over to there house for a few moments before going out for dinner with them.  They don’t have internet access at their house, so we will be off line for the next week.  We’ll try to check our email when we come into town, so that will be the best way to reach us if you need to contact us.

Next stop on our route will be Puerto Lopez which is a little further south, still on the coast.  From there we hope to do some diving at Isla de la Plata, often called the “Poor Man’s Galpagos” since this area is much more accessible (cheaper) and offers a lot of the same natural beauty, birds and sea life.  It is reputed to have great snorkelling and diving so this is where I will do my first dive since getting my certification. This will be a trial run before going to the Galapagos Islands.

So we’re off to do some work for a week and we’ll be sure to tell you all about it once we’re back on line.  Cheers!

Print Friendly

We awoke to a beautiful sunny, cloudless day and a gentle ocean breeze. After an early morning stroll along the beach, Gaby, the girl who helps Elizabeth in the kitchen, prepared coffee and we took our mugs down to the beach to watch the surfers. I know, it was a rough start to the day.

As promised, I showed Elizabeth how I make my pancakes and while they weren’t quite the right texture, they sure did taste like home. I made my usual family sized batch and after Elizabeth, Chris, Gaby and I ate to our satisfaction, the left-over batter was put in the fridge; I noticed it didn’t last long, as Gaby was serving pancakes to guests later in the morning. I promised to make another batch tomorrow morning for Elizabeth’s husband, Mao, and their son Mao junior – also called Mini Mao (how cute is that!) who had already left for school.

We learned today that this hostel is for sale: $560,000 US will buy you a hostel on the beach, complete with living quarters for the owners, and 23 guest beds in both dormitory and private rooms. They’ve also got a ranch that they are developing and hope to sell that next and then with the proceeds of both properties, purchase a larger ranch where they will focus on their horses, offer 4-wheel adventures, and grow organic vegetables to serve the needs of the local restaurants. Ambitious plans for this industrious family.

Today was International Clean a Beach Day; at around 10:00 busloads of school children were deposited on the beach with garbage bags in hand. For many, this looked like a great excuse to get out of school, and yet others seemed to take their task quite seriously, filling their garbage bags to capacity. We strolled along the beach and for about an hour made our contribution by picking up garbage along the way and depositing it into the children’s garbage bags, much to their surprise. Heck, it was a good cause, so why not.

We’re not sure if the good weather brought people out to the beach or if it was because it was Friday; regardless, the beach took on a festive air as proprietors set up their beach chairs and umbrellas, and boogie boards and surf boards lined the shore, ready to be rented out. More buses arrived with more tourists – both Ecuadorians and foreigners alike. By mid-morning, the sand was almost too hot to walk on and the sun’s rays burned intensely – glad I brought #50 sunblock. We are at the equator after all.

Print Friendly

Yesterday was a long, uneventful travel day, in spite of sleeping in and missing the 6:00 bus (doh!). No worries, we caught the 7:00 bus instead.  It took 9 hours and 3 buses to travel 340 km from Mindo to Canoa, via Santo Domingo and Pedernales at a cost of $10.50 each.  This was 99% bus time as we connected immediately with each bus – with no more than five minutes to spare each time – pure luck on our part I assure you.  Turns out the buses we took were doing the “milk run”, stopping in every single little town along the way.

This was a great opportunity to see the landscape change from the tropical cloud forest of the foothills, to flat, fertile farmland as we approached Santo Domingo.  We saw fields of banana trees and other fruit trees that we did not recognize. As we approached the coast, the land became hilly again but was still very lush and tropical.  At the coast, the land transformed to arid terrain.   We passed by forests of bamboo trees and noticed that almost everything is constructed from bamboo in rural areas – houses, fences, and furniture.

We caught a glimpse of life in  the small villages and the rural countryside. The following photos were taken from the bus along the way.  Notice the motorcycle in the second photo below carrying a family of four:  young daughter in the front, father, and mother in the back holding a baby.  This is a common scene everywhere.   After a while, all the towns and villages started to look the same.

We arrived in Canoa at 4:00 in the afternoon, well before dark.  I must admit that every time we are dropped off in a new town, my reaction is always the same – oh my god, now what?  The photo to the left is one of the main streets of Canoa.

This is a sleepy, laid back town at the best of times; it is now off season and the town is virtually dead.  There’s a handful of gringos in town, but not enough to keep all the businesses open.  Most of the open air shacks on the beach are closed up and won’t open again until November when the holiday season begins.

We didn’t have a hostel reservation this time, although we had researched a few hostels ahead of time.  It would have been helpful if we had written down the names of these places.  As we made our way towards the beach (many hostels were on the beach) we were trying hard to remember the names – was that Baloo or Baboo?  Coco something or other?

Didn’t matter as once we reached the beach, there was an abundance of hostels to choose from.  We looked at a couple – carrying all our gear limited our ability and desire to spend much time looking at different places – and settled on CocoLoco, a hostel that oozed cool but was perhaps a little low on comfort.

The hostel owners were taking advantage of the low season and were doing some renovation work and repairs to the place.  There’s a few other guests – a group from Poland and a few Americans.  The owner, Elizabeth, a native Alaskan, bought this place four years ago and has settled here with her family – husband, eight-year old son and a six-month old baby girl, Sophia .   When we arrived to look at a room, she had just made some yummy hors d’oeuvres and insisted we try them out – I’m sure that was her tactic to lure us into choosing her hostel.  Well it worked!  Elizabeth’s warmth and hospitality won us over, and we didn’t regret our choice for a minute. I’m going to show her how to make my pancakes tomorrow morning – that’s the kind of place this is.

Our room is on the second floor, in the corner.

This is the view from our balcony:

Today we explored the town (took about 10 minutes to walk the whole town) and the beach.  We have eaten seafood fresh from the sea for every meal since we arrived – delicious!

It has been cloudy ever since we arrived, and very windy.  But the temperature is comfortable – probably low 20’s celsius.  We thought it would be warmer, maybe when (if) the sun comes out it will warm up.  The temperature of the ocean is like bathwater.  We’ll have to go for a swim tomorrow, and I’m thinking of taking some surfing lessons.  This beach is reputed to be an excellent location to learn to surf – there is no rip tide, the waves are not too big and are always present.  Tonight the moon is out, so we’re hoping for a sunny day tomorrow.

Print Friendly

We have decided to leave Mindo tomorrow (Wednesday) a few days earlier than planned.  A week has been long enough in Mindo and we’re ready to move on.  We plan to spend a few nights in a hostel on the beach before we meet up with Andy and Leo, our HelpX hosts who we plan to stay with in a “work for room and board” arrangement.

Today we visited one last “attraction” advertised in Mindo – the local chocolate factory, El Quetzal. Every day during the past week we have meant to go to the 4:00 tour and we have missed it every time for one reason or another.  Today was our last chance, so we were determined to do this tour.  Are we ever glad we did it as it was one of the highlights of our visit in Mindo.

Joseph Meza, the owner, began the tour with a description of the rich history of the cocoa bean.  We had the opportunity to taste the cocoa fruit as well as the cocoa bean in various stages of processing.  We were then taken on a tour of his farm and we were inspired by this man’s creativity as he continuously sought out new and interesting ways to use every part of the cocoa plant.  For example, he had created a barbeque sauce from the juice of the cocoa fruit, a by-product that is usually thrown out.  He had also created a syrup from ginger that he serves on pancakes in his restaurant (instead of maple syrup which is expensive to import).  It passed the Canadian taste test!

We toured his garden and saw some of his other projects: about 25 coffee bean trees,his own cocoa trees, lemon grass, aloe vera plants, variety of fruit trees and vegetables for his restaurant, chickens, and pigs to name just a few.  Everything had a purpose.  All of this on an acre and half plot – it was amazing!  At the end of the tour, we sampled his products and were wowed by the brownies – they certainly lived up to their reputation as the best brownies ever!

The products produced in this little factory are sold locally.  In addition, Joseph who is a Michigan native, exports cocoa nibs (cocoa beans that have been processed to a certain point) back to the US where he also has a chocolate factory.  He splits his time three months in Mindo and three months in Michigan. He has a fascinating story about how he got into this business.

While on the tour, we met a lovely family: the mother, Blanca, an Ecuadorian native,  the father, Richard,and their adult children: Scott, Kelly and Kelly’s husband Kevin.  This family has its roots in Ecuador on the mother’s side.  In fact, her father, who was a civil engineer, had played a pivotal role in the establishment and development of Santo Domingo de los Colorades.  We caught their attention when we shared with them that we were on a 2-year round the world adventure.  When they heard about our plans to go to Canoa to do a work exchange, they mentioned their sister (aunt) who runs a school in Santo Domingo de los Colorades who is always looking for help teaching English to children as well as help for her many projects she has on the go.  They insisted on providing us with her contact information and encouraged us to look her up. They said they would mention us to her as well.  While we’re committed for the next week or so, we’ll see after that.  Who knows, maybe that will be our next gig. Richard also provided his business card along with their address in Pedernales where they are heading next.  He kindly offered to provide us any assistance if we need help or got ourselves into trouble.  I am constantly amazed by the kindness of strangers!

And so that wraps up our visit to Mindo.  Back to practical matters, like how the heck to get to Canoa from here.  We have puzzled over the best way to get to Canoa from Mindo.  The advice we have received is to go back to Quito, and catch a bus from the station south of the city.  This just seems counter intuitive as we are already about a quarter of the way to the coast.  I have looked at the map and scoured the internet for other options.  I have discovered there is a main bus terminal in a town called Santo Domingo de los Colarados which isn’t too far from Mindo.  I’m certain we can catch a bus from there to the coast.  The only question is how to get there.  I read a blog about a guy who went this way to the coast, so I know it can be done, just have to figure out how to do it.  And that is what we did earlier this afternoon.

The bus station in Mindo provides bus service between Mindo and Quito only.  However, I have seen another bus in town that does not use the bus station – this bus just parks itself on the road next to the park.  I figured we should find out where this bus went – who knows, maybe he went straight to Santo Domingo.

I suppose we could have asked someone in town about this bus, but that seemed pretty complicated from a language perspective.  I figured it would be much easier to talk to the bus driver directly.  Only problem was we didn’t know when he would be there.  So the big plan for this afternoon was to hang out around the park waiting for the bus to show up.  Luckily, the bus was sitting there when we went to the park around 1:00.  I had practiced what I was going to say and so dove right in with my questions for the bus driver.  Sure enough, this bus went directly to Santo Domingo at almost hourly intervals in the early morning, then again at 11, 1 and 4.  Problem solved.  That was much easier than anticipated.

We will take the 6:00 am bus tomorrow morning in order to give us plenty of time to get to the coast before dark.  We will have to transfer in Santo Domingo to Pedernales, and then again in Pedernales to a bus heading south down the coast.  Not sure how long this journey will take, but at least we now have a plan.

Print Friendly

Last Sunday we met up with Arya, a fellow student we met at our Spanish School in Quito.  Arya had emailed us last week to let us know she was coming to Mindo and would be staying in our hostel.  We offered to meet her at the bus station to help her get oriented; she gladly accepted our offer.  She arrived at about 9:30 as planned and after getting settled in her room, a quick walk around town, and a coffee, we decided we would hike to the waterfalls.

We would take a “taxi” to the trailhead, rather than walk the five kilometres as we had done earlier in the week (once was enough for that walk). In Mindo, they have a couple of regular taxis (cost is about $6 to go just about anywhere locally), but the normal mode of transport is hitching a ride in the back of a pick-up truck.  Cost is one dollar per person.  We found a truck that was getting ready to leave and climbed into the back, squeezing ourselves into a spot amongst the other six passengers already on board.   There were 6-8 people crammed into the extended truck cab too.

Off we went, groaning with every bump we hit along the pot-holed road – a definite reminder that we’re not 20 years old anymore.  A couple of kilometres out of town, the truck came to a sudden stop.  A man jumped out of the cab and explained, in Spanish, that we were taking a little break, if we didn’t mind, to pick some lemons.  Would we mind helping them?  Arya and I looked at each other and said sure, why not?  Chris on the other hand was rather suspicious of the whole situation, plus he had all his camera equipment with him.  He opted to stay at the truck with our knapsacks.

Arya and I and a few of the other passengers followed this guy towards a field.  I got the feeling this wasn’t his farm, and these weren’t his lemon trees as he directed everyone to crawl under the barbed wire fence.  As Arya scrambled under the barbed wire fence and down a muddy slope, I asked out loud:  Hey, is this legal?  Yes, I know, very astute observation on my part.  Too late to turn back now, Arya was already on her way down the hill, so I quickly followed behind.  This guy was telling us to hurry up as he pulled Arya’s jacket off her and motioned for her to put it on backwards creating an instant basket.  He then proceeded to whack a tree with a stick and as lemons fell to the ground he threw them to us to put in our “basket”.  The other passengers were doing likewise.  It was all very confusing and chaotic as everyone was tossing lemons at us and talking in Spanish.  We were laughing so hard as we tried to catch the lemons – clearly baseball was not our forte! The man pointed to me to get some of the higher lemons – yes, me – let’s face it, Ecuadorian men are not known for their stature.  Within about 10 minutes he was satisfied with the haul and we curtailed it back to the truck, watching out for the cow paddies along the way.

Now that we were accessories to his crime, he decided introductions were in order – names and where we were from.  His name was Colon, as in Christopher Columbus.  He insisted we only speak Spanish to him as he rode with us in the back of the truck.  In fact, he told us he was a Spanish teacher and therefore felt entitled to correct our Spanish and have us repeat our sentences until we spoke them to his satisfaction.  His English was very good but he used it only when necessary.  Arya and I were having a great time with this gregarious fellow.  At one point, I was scratching my feet – I was wearing sandals and something must have bitten me in the field.  Suddenly, Colon grabbed my foot, took my sandal off, squeezed open a lemon and smeared the oils from the skin all over my foot – weird, yes, but boy did it feel good.  I held up my other foot and he did the same.  We learned the lemons were for his restaurant – to serve with the fish dishes – and we were invited to his restaurant in the evening for a party. (Note:  we looked for his restaurant later that night but could not find it….hmmm….a little suspicious perhaps.)

When we got to the trailhead at the waterfalls, he stopped the truck and thanked us for our help, wished us well, and waived the dollar fee for all of us, even though Chris didn’t help (as he pointed out).   I observed to Arya that she probably didn’t expect to have this much fun and excitement with a couple of old folks like us!

The trailhead to the waterfalls begins with a ride across the canyon in a cable car, powered by a Nissan car engine and transmission, as Chris observed.  Someone has taken the guts of a car – dashboard, ignition, gas pedal, clutch and gears – and altered it in order to “drive” the cable car forward to the other side, and then put it in reverse to bring it back.  I had not noticed any of this (which was probably a good thing) as I was too preoccupied with a) how far across we were going (530 m), b) how flimsy the cable car appeared, and c) how high we were above the canyon floor.

As we traversed the canyon, I tried to keep my eyes focused straight ahead as I have a fear of heights.  Occasionally, I glanced down below and my heart almost stopped as I saw the raging river at least 250 meters below.  I tried very hard not to think about what would happen if the little Nissan engine stopped mid-way – I took some comfort knowing it was a foreign engine, although I would have felt better if it was a Honda – either way, we would have been goners for sure if the engine failed. Unbeknownst to me, Chris captured this all on video.

Once safely on the other side, we hiked along a beautiful, if not at times treacherous path that wound its way down to the canyon floor, to the base of a spectacular waterfall.   Often we had to wade through the river to continue the path on the other side, or overcome other obstacles like fallen trees strewn across the path.

The scenery was spectacular as we were engulfed within the cloud forest, surrounded by lush tropical vegetation. In all, there were five waterfalls that we hiked to.

We took our time, pausing to take many pictures along the way, and enjoying the company of our young fellow traveller.  Arya is twenty years old, originally from New York and a third year anthropology student, studying in Portland, Oregon.  She took a break from school for a semester to travel and volunteer in South America – on her own.  Conversation came easily that afternoon.  Arya shared with us her plans, her dreams, her hopes for her future.  We shared with her our story of how we met and our first date.

As we reached the last waterfall, it started to rain.  This was the opportunity I had been waiting for to test out our new rain gear designed to fit easily over our back packs and provide full length coverage – kind of a cross between a poncho and a rain jacket.  When I purchased these last summer, Chris was not entirely convinced we needed this strange looking rain gear, but I persuaded him it was just what we needed when we were carrying our packs in the rain.  Well, we looked ridiculous, confirmed by Arya’s laughter and her observation that she couldn’t decide if I looked more like Little Red Riding Hood or the Hunchback of Notre Dame – thanks Arya.  Oh well, I’ve always let practicality override fashion – maybe this time I went a little too far as I conceded Chris definitely looked like the Hunchback of Notre Dame.  To my credit, I stayed nice and dry, although Chris complained that they weren’t breathable enough so he got just as wet by sweating as he would have in the rain – picky, picky. By the way, I would have posted some pictures of us except all the pictures of our rain gear were taken by Arya on her camera, so we’re out of luck.

We missed out on the last two waterfalls on account of the rain, one of which was the Nambilla waterfall that we had visited earlier in the week and had only seen the top of the waterfall.   Guess that just wasn’t meant to be.

We shared the return cable car with another couple – much to my dismay.  There was seating for four which seemed to indicate (at least to me) it was designed to carry four people, not five.  So I’m wondering – Did we really want to stress the limits of this rickety, hand-made device???  But the operator saw no problem in having the fifth passenger stand up all the way – yes, stand in this flimsy little cable car.  The young guy didn’t seem to mind one bit; and Chris and Ayra who sat opposite to me, kept smiling reassuringly at me; meanwhile, my heart was racing, convinced we were going to plunge to our deaths at any moment.   What can I say? I have an irrational fear of heights.

Luck was with us, as a “bus” was waiting on the other side, and we were spared the five kilometre walk into town.

Print Friendly