Wednesday, October 28, 2015

Heading North

I'd be remiss if I left Salinas without a picture of the beachfront condos (Holy Carlsbad, Batman!)

and if I didn't mention that our second night in Salinas gave us our first taste of the above-excellent service you get everywhere in Ecuador. We went back to the sidewalk grill for dinner, but they didn't have a table outside and it was much too hot inside, so they went inside, grabbed a table, and plopped it on the sidewalk for us.

I'd also be remiss if I simply said that we left Salinas. Truth be told, we went around the same block at least six times before we stopped at the local police station and a kind officer drew a map for us.

MontaƱita

Our next stop up the coast, MontaƱita. This is coastal Ecuador's party town and it was truly bustling on a Friday afternoon. I took only one photo, an empty bar space sure to be hopping by day's end, because it stopped me dead in my tracks I laughed so hard...



I also learned a very important Spanish word there - batidos - smoothies! But unlike your local Jamba Juice, they don't mix fruits; you get only one. Still, batidos became a significant part of our diet while on the road.

Manta

We spent night 3 in Manta at the Hotel Maria Isabella and liked it so much we returned on night 8.







Super-hard mattress and pillows as usual, otherwise 5-star by anyone's standards. Breakfast was delicious and the coffee was fresh-brewed - yay!

We walked down to the beach for dinner and ordered lobster in seafood sauce. Truthfully, it was not the best lobster I've ever had, but the service was outstanding! I ordered a margarita but they were all out would I like something else. I said no, never mind, and the margarita soon appeared at the table. I think they bought it next door.

And when people got up to dance, nobody told them to sit down because the restaurant didn't have a cabaret license!


The Tuna Boats

Before we left Manta, we stopped to see the tuna boats under construction on the beach.




And as lucky as anyone's allowed to get, Tom said hi to a stranger who became a friend named Miguel who has degrees in marine architecture from U Rhode Island and taught for a while and is now retired and "helps with the design" of the tuna fleet.



So with broad smiles we continued north up the coast...

Monday, October 26, 2015

Why Ecuador?

I always said I wanted to spend my retirement years watching the sun set over the ocean. And here I am, retirement age, living about 3 miles inland with a not very good view of the sunset and no view of the ocean.

Bored with the usual TV options one night, I tuned to HGTV's Househunters International and we watched someone buy beachfront property in Ecuador for $60,000. Oh! Maybe my sunsets aren't out of reach after all!

So we plotted ... and just returned from two weeks driving the coast of Ecuador. No hotel reservations, no plans, just two old hippies in a rental car. This is what we found.

Nights 1 & 2, Salinas


I have to admit, I don't travel well, so by the time we landed in Guayaquil, I was ready for a rest. We spent the first two nights in Salinas at the Hotel Marvento. We'd never thought of stopping in Salinas. It's just a convenient place to catch our breath and find our bearings.

The hotel is clean and modern, the water in the shower gets warm eventually, WiFi is spotty. The bed is hard; the pillow is harder. The key card for the room stops working and needs to be reprogrammed at least twice a day. Breakfast, included in the price of the room, was cold scrambled eggs, cold rolls, a glass of juice, and a cup of hot water with jars of Nescafe and Swiss Miss on the table for your pleasure.

In general, I've divided most of the cities and towns we visited as either poor-but-prideful or mid-century-shabby, and Salinas definitely falls to the shabby end of the spectrum. Sidewalks are in horrible disrepair. But the beach is wide, clean, and well cared for - and full of vacationers!



It was in this little sidewalk grill across the street from the beach in Salinas where I had my first (and second) taste of Arroz con Camarones. OMGYum! My tastebuds fell in love!