End of November - Monteñita and Guayquil

It's been a week of cool happenings, starting with a run out to Montañita, a village about an hour up the coast, to check out the surfing vibe and have a yummy lunch.  And ending with a surprise visitor in our bay late yesterday...

In the 5 weeks we've been in Salinas, we have not once wakened up to sunshine.  Every day has dawned with heavy grey overcast skies, even though the temperatures are relatively warm.  But...on Wednesday last week (Miércoles - Wednesday), lovely morning sunshine to waken us up!

And..it lasted all day!  We even had a sunset!  Just a tease, a taste of things to come...but delightful. We savoured it on our way up la Ruta del Sol (highway E15, good road!) running alongside miles and miles of beautiful empty beaches. This highway runs about 750 kilometers from Salinas north to the Esmeraldas and the coast of Colombia, and crosses the Cordillera Chongon-Colonche - one of the two major mountain ranges west of the Andes - covered in indigenous wet rainforest.  We'll get up there in the next few months, so more on that another time.

But today, our trip goes as far as the charming surfer village of Montañita, which was relatively undiscovered until it finally made it onto the map as surfers from all the world were drawn there. And they are followed by every nationality of tourists to experience the beauty and the unique vibe of the place.  We were there on an off-season Wednesday, just for the day - but even so we had a sense of what the weekends must be like, especially in high-season, and February's Carnivale - streets packed with fun.

The beach village is all about winding narrow streets with unpretentious colourful shops and restaurants, music everywhere (often reggae), hostels and small bright hotels.

 The beach itself is spectacular - I'm almost getting tired of over-using that word...can we invent a new one?









 

Tiki Limbo for lunch

Leisurely lunch at Tiki Limbo (link), where one can choose a table-topped mattress, which looked so comfortable.  Ideal for spending a few hours with a laptop..or a hookah perhaps (yes, I do mean a pipe). Meals are between $8-15, portions huge, and selections an eclectic mix.  Beers the usual $1.50 - $3.  We sat in comfy, cushioned booths and had burgers with tasty variations.  Recommend it, and feel pretty sure there are no bad choices on this menu.

THAT'S what I'm talking about! Oceanside ceviche and cervesa!

Delicious corn/chicken fritters for sale on bus

Travellers from many countries can enter Ecuador without a visa for up to 90 days.  To stay longer, one has to arrange for a non-Immigrant visa which can extend the stay up to 180 days.  Although we could have acquired the document by taking 3 trips to the Ecuadorian Embassy in Toronto before we left Canada,  we had decided to apply once we arrived in-country. This must be done at the Ministry of External Relations in Guayaquil, the country's largest city - the one we flew into on our arrival - and about 2.5 hours away by bus.  So, now we know we do want to extend our stay, off we go to undertake the venture.

Coming into Guayaquil - sprawling city

Business centers in Guayaquil

Ministry of External Affairs, Guayaquil

The little Salinas bus station that was a 20 minute walk from us has now closed, so we have to take a longer local bus or cab to Ballenita, to the brand new Terminal Terrestre de Santa Elena - the central terminal for the Santa Elena region. A $5, 20 minute cab ride.  Really nice bus station!  $3.30 each for an air-conditioned coach ride into the city.  The Terminal Terrestre in Guayaquil is very close to the José Joaquín de Olmedo International Aiport - easy-peasy for our travel home in (we hope!) April. And from the bus station, a quick ride by cab to the very impressive glass government building, where we took a ticket, waited for 10 minutes only in the large, cool hall, and obtained the 'real deal' on what is required to apply for the visa.  We've google'd this to death. We've talked to umpteen people here, and really didn't know what to expect.  'It changes frequently',  'Very complicated' to 'simple', and 'you will need a criminal record check from your country', and a 'health certificate from a local doctor' - that we would 'probably be best to hire a lawyer'. 'Get there early in the morning, because the lineup starts at break of day'.  So we booked into a hostal for two nights, to cover all eventualities.

Here is the scoop to apply, straight up: Write a letter to the Subsecretary of Ministry of External Affairs (presently Eliana Larrea Marriott), asking for approval to extend the stay, with your reasons - tourist travel, language study, etc. Print it, sign it.  Complete the simple one-page application on line (link), print it out, sign and date it. One passport-size colour photo is required (Foto shop just around the corner)..about $3 for 6!  Take a photocopy of your passport, face page and page with the entry stamp coming into the country. Copy of exit transportation (plane ticket, etc). Proof of bank account with a balance of US$2,000 (to show you have funds to support yourself here). That's it.  Oh, and - ¡importante! - put it all in a manila folder. It seems that there is not enough funds available in the $234 that this visa will cost you to cover the price of such a sophisticated office item. I kid you not on that part...manila folder, very important.


Our story to get all that done does seem to be a litany of running around, about $20 in cab fares here and there, and a lot of frustration with bank machines, but I won't bore you with that.  We got it done the following morning, and walked back into the hall about 2 pm, waited about 5 minutes for our number to come up, presented our docs, paid the $30 each required to process the apps, and were told to come back in a week for our answer.   Had we been clear on requirements ahead of time, we could have done this all in one day, no overnight required.

Stores in this mall rival anything I've seen in Canada/USA

A look inside Mall del Sol. One of largest in S.A.

We cancelled our second night, but still had a bit of time to look around. The upside of extra time in that city of 2.5 million souls, is that we had a taste of it's energy for a while. Could have been any North American city at times - rush hour traffic, gridlock, crowded malls.







 But - the differences were energizing - Latin music everywhere - streets, shops, cabs..delicious smells wafting out of holes-in-wall almuerzo stops...and happy faces, lots of smiles.  Traffic is brutal for pedestrians, who have no acknowledged right-of-way, so be aware of that.

Mall del Sol. Largest food court I've ever seen!

Patio at Hostal Macaw

And our hostel was a real 'find'.  Hostal Macaw (link) was set in a narrow side street, behind steel gates. One buzzes to be admitted into this little haven, and the welcome is immediate. As we were checking in with Fanny - co-owner - we were politely presented with glasses of juice (guayaba, I think) and pleasant conversation in good English (appreciated because our Spanish is still so awkward, but we try hard!). We admired the charm of the place, the gorgeous wood and tile work, and Fanny was humbly proud (oxymoron? I know, but it works) to tell us that she and her husband built the place themselves, 'every piece of it'.  And it shows - the cleanliness, the attention to detail, the thoughtfulness for guests' comforts.  The $75 for our double room with private ensuite and cable TV included the 12% taxes and breakfast the next morning seemed a bit high for a hostel, compared to others I've stayed in around the world.  But it's great value for this city, where even a dorm bed in a backpacker hostel will run about $20 per person. The night was comfortable, quiet (what no barking dogs or breaking surf??) and cool.

Our breakfast table, Hostal Macaw

Our morning meal was at a table under a courtyard window, served ever-so graciously by Wilson, who obviously enjoyed working at this charming place.  Home-made yogurt, with cane syrup and granola to add, fresh-baked fruit bread, mango and pitahaya (dragon fruit), and our choice of eggs (we chose omelets with ham and a local cheese). Coffee...ah, yes..excellent coffee. This will be our 'home' whenever we have occasion to stay in Guayaquil...that's how we feel about it after one night!






 

BAE Guayas

Oh, and the surprise visitor in our bay?  The three-masted barque BAE Guayas (link) anchored off-shore - only for the one night, as it turned out.  This Tall Ship is owned by the Ecuadorian Navy, and runs the shores of the country teaching seamanship, and recruiting. She's steel-hulled, 257 feet in length including impressive bowsprit, and carries over 15,000 square feet of sail! The Guayas has sailed all over the world, participating in Tall Ship and races globally. What an experience for the 235 sailors on board...about 120 crew, 80 trainees, and 35 officers!

I'd have given up a lot to see her under full sail, but she came in under power (700 hp GM diesel) and was gone before dawn the next morning.  I'll watch the horizon for those masts till the day we leave - she'll come back again, right?

Settling In

El Malecon

Note the low hanging cables. Typical here.

Pleasant routines seem to be developing of their own accord - a local gym 3 days a week ($1.50 each per day we go), Spanish lessons 2 days a week (an American ex-pat with Spanish teaching degree, who seems to have a technique that works well for us so far). In between all that, walks on the beach, or around the neighborhoods, bus rides to the supermarkets that take us through the barrios, away from the gringo waterfront towers. Maybe late afternoon a stroll along the beachfront to pick up our laundry (folded, clean and fresh-smelling for about $.40 a pound), and a stop off for tasty cerviche and a cerveza or two.

Small supermarket we use frequently

Alumuerzo spot. Full of diners, lots of music and good food

Our laundry. Excellent 6 hr service

So close to the equator, there are no long evenings.  Sun is up around 6 am every day, and goes down almost 12 hours later year round, with a variation of only 10 or 15 minutes.  I thought I would miss the longer days, but somehow I don't.  Maybe because the air is just a perfect temperature, soft and gentle when the sun goes down.  Although we're told it's relatively safe to walk outside after dark, we tend to stay on the malecon (waterfront) and busy streets in that area.  And even then, one is wise to use good sense and not carelessly display expensive devices, jewellery or wallets -  an i-pad would feed a family for a month down here.

Will's Place

We've found our local 'watering hole' (Will's Place aka Hostel Aqui aka Score Bar) and a couple of spares very close by.  'Sin' (link) is a disco/bar about a block behind us, owned by an American couple, and frequented by ex-pats and Ecuadorians.  Great place to listen to all kinds of rhythms, but primarily Latin and lots of salsa dance!  Trying to get some lessons set up for all the gringo's that stand at the bar and watch the locals show how it's done...man, they are GOOD!

It is said - and we would concur - food is very good in the coastal regions of Ecuador.  Can't speak to the mountain and interior regions yet, where I believe there are many distinct regional dishes to be tried - we'll get there in the next couple of months.  But here by the ocean, there aren't enough words in my vocabulary to adequately describe the richness of food to be had.  And I don't necessarily mean prepared food, although that is excellent too, and comes in almost any variety you could wish for.  But the availability of good fresh meat, incredible fish and shellfish, top grade produce and rich dairy leaves nothing to be desired that we have found.

On Friday, we took our friend Carlota for lunch at a local area down by the beach, specializing in ceviche and everything mariscos.  It's a chance for us to practice our Spanish. A whole lobster was $12, or a 'seafood fiesta' that would feed at least 3, was also $12, and was a mountain of seasoned rice rich with oysters, squid and shrimp,  surrounded by mussels, fish, more shrimp, several other varieties of shellfish, topped with crab legs...oh, and a dish of mixed ceviche on the side.  Honestly...for $12.

At the fishmarkets, we have found shrimp of every size ('camaron' are the smaller count, 'gamba' the large prawns), sea bass, red snapper, dorado, mahi mahi, corvina and tuna.  And many more varieties we aren't familiar with...yet.  In fact, local fishermen go by our door all day, selling fresh dorado, lobster and crab off their carts.. 

One of our best adventures to date was a morning at the Anconcito fishing village, about 20 minutes down the coast by cab ($8 ride..very expensive!).  It's an old village not yet moved-in-on by gringo influence, and the stretch of beach between there and Salinas is stunning, stretching for a couple of miles or more - and only an odd pelican or two to be seen.  We marked that playa for a day of walking..more on that another time.

As always, not having good language or negotiating skills, we were at a bit of a disadvantage in our purchasing,  but we came away with two fileted corvina (enough for 3-4 meals each) and 3 pounds of gamba (prawn), enough for 3-4 meals each , 3 mango, 2 lbs of strawberries (tasting like Nature intends, sweet, firm, juicy), 3 pounds of mandarins...6-8 meals for about $23.  So we think we did not too badly.  Given that we paid asking price....those skills have to improve!  But it was fun - we were the only two gringos to be seen, and for some reason drew a crowd as we bought the corvinas and we all watched the guy skillfully filet and skin them for us.

 All the fishing boats are in, bringing their catches up to sell.  Most of it goes to small trucks waiting to take it to the local markets.

 We think this is red snapper, or pargo rojo as it's called here.  We couldn't buy this here, unless we wanted a whole crate.  So we'll have to find the markets they are going to.  You would think the supermarkets would have good fish counters, but not so much, we've found.  And so far, we haven't found the little local markets places.  We've learned of two though, and will seek those out for sure.

 Skate?

Boat building. They take apart old ones, and remake into new vessels.  This will likely be a shrimper.

 Tuna perhaps.  I was too busy taking the picture to notice tail etc.  And the head was already removed.  Either way, big fish!
The world's largest marlin was caught off this coast, by the way.  1,000 lbs +  !!

 Friendly guys, watching us wander round.

 Long shot of the boats.

 Our purchase being fileted and skinned for us.  For some reason, we drew a crowd for this little transaction...

These are dorado at the top, and the corvina in the red bin.  We bought a couple of corvina.

This was what we came home with.

Next week we'll be taking the bus into Guayaquil for an overnight trip and a visit to the Ecuadorian Visa offices.  As Canadians, we can stay here for 90 days without a visa, but will require another 90 day extension to stay through till April as planned.  So we'll take a look at the country's largest city and see what experiences await us there.  In the meantime, tomorrow we are headed up the coast with some friends who moved here 15 months ago from Ohio (just met them last night!), for lunch in Mantanita, which we're told is a surfer town a couple of hours up the coast, with a cool vibe and lots of great food.

Our plan was to use the first month here to settle in, and get a sense of what we wanted to do whilst we're here.  So, now we're looking further afield for our adventures..volcanoes, mountain villages, rain forests, hopefully some good trekking, photo ops..and more good flavours!



 

Arriving in the Country

Our first view of Ecuador, from hotel window in Guayaquil

Three weeks behind us now, and we're starting to get a sense of how it feels to be 'local' - but only from the perspective of a Gringo (who is anyone from outside Latin America it seems).  I suppose you could say our first exposure to this family-centric culture was on board the American Airlines jumbo jet that was jam-packed with Ecuadorian families heading home from Miami, or points beyond.  Never have I been on a flight with so many children before, and confess to being glad it was an evening arrival in Guayaquil, and not an overnight flight.

Gord's suitcase failed to make the connecting flight from Miami with us, and we thought we had done a good job of arranging with the American Airlines Lost Baggage desk at the airport to get it to us, either at the Airport Holiday Inn before noon the next day, or in Salinas after that if necessary.  Long story short - it turned into a bit of a mess. We were told by AA agent (and her manager) in the USA the next day 'No Local Delivery in Ecuador'!  Which resulted in us making a 5 hour round trip, paying $100 for a fast direct ride, when the bag actually WAS being delivered whilst we were on route! Needless to say, letter of complaint went out to AA, who have responded very courteously, and sent out a $100 travel voucher to aid in smoothing our ruffled feathers.  And Gord has his luggage.

Other aspects of our arrival went much more smoothly.  The Holiday Inn at the airport is great. The rooms are clean and modern, service is excellent, and the food was pretty good at breakfast the next morning.  The pickup from the airport the next day at 1 pm was not exactly prompt, but our very nice driver Carlota was helpful and friendly, stopping off for us at a local supermarket before dropping us off, so we could pick up some essentials items..like coffee.  (Which is really, really...really good here, by the way..)  $50 for the private car and driver.  With our luggage, a bus would not have been our best option, especially without fluency in the language and local knowledge.

Rooftop view from Salinas condo 

First impressions from the drive in: Guayaquil (pronounced 'Y a keel' by locals) is the largest city in Ecuador, with a population of 3.75 million.  It's also their main port, and like many port cities, has it's rough side, or so we are told.  There is a movement to turn the city into a major tourist destination, and for sure as we made our way out of town we could see much in the way of shopping centers and intriguing restaurants and apparently much is being done to improve the safety of travelers. We'll be back to explore - interesting history here.

The countryside between Guayaquil and Salinas would not compare to the ever present beauty we experienced in Costa Rica. I gather this area is in fact 'tropical savannah climate', which means it has pronounced wet and dry seasons, and clearly we were arriving at the end of their dry period, because there was very little green to be seen.  By December, we're told, everything greens back up.  I'll look forward to that. 

Looking N from roof. Lots of new building going on

In the meantime, we're in a period influenced by the Humboldt Current (link), meaning there is little precipitation, cloudy mornings, and pleasant afternoons with cool breezes.  Seems odd to us that we are pretty much dead on the equator, and yet have such temperate conditions. But after 3 weeks of mostly cloud, we can vouch for this being fact....and when we do see the sunshine, we appreciate every beautiful moment!  Because..when the sun comes out, there is beauty for sure on this coast.

Looking at the costs to live here will be an ongoing study, but our immediate impression is that prices are substantially less than in Costa Rica.  And there is very little that we are 'used to' that is not available here. Some brands we know are often much higher, or the same as at home. But so far we have found nothing that is not at least well acceptable - and sometimes better.  More detail at time goes on.

Getting around the immediate area is easy - authorized taxis are ubiquitous, and cost between $1-3 per ride. No tipping.  Local buses are clean and plentiful and cost $.25 per ride..regardless how far you are going in the area.  Longer rides, for example to Guayaquil, run every 6 minutes (!) from the bus station, and cost $3.50 for a one-way ride. Generally speaking, it's about $1 per hour of travel here.  We haven't yet been on these coaches, but they look much like we would find at home. 

Every day starts and ends with Pacific waves booming and crashing on the shore in front of our condo, and the night is littered with the lights of ships waiting to get into port. So far, feeling pretty darn nice...