Farallón Dillon

For brunch today we went to Common Grounds. It is a popular hangout with locals and gringos. They speak English and Spanish so you won't get lost here. Free wifi and soccer on the TV make it techno friendly.

Had a few of these cappaccino frapps

 

I had the cafe frappuccino and the breakfast cheese burger. Shaved and deep fried potatoes topped with a fried egg and large slab of bacon. The other half was a very good tasting burger mixed with onions and slopped with HP sauce. Still too much salt though. And add a large piece of nearly cheddar cheese. 

After the noon hour we got a taxi and headed for Ballenita and the Farallon Dillon. This is a residence, hotel, entertainment center, and restaurant. And museum. The captain used to actually sail the oceans but since retirement has built a location where his life surrounds him. He and his wife have even built a museum with their purchases and finds collected over many years. All related to the nautical theme.

 

Here is a video I made with video and photos I shot during my visit to Farallon Dillon in 2013.

Rental bedroom is only on the first floor with the stairs access. The others you only get to by a ladder on the side of the building. One of the workers lives in the second floor bedroom.

The pool is almost a true infinity pool but it's big point of interest is the nautical figurehead mermaid soaring over the pool. 

After check in I had to head for the beach and do some quick exploring. A foul smell led me to a recently died turtle of over two feet in length. The head was gone but the rest intact but swarming with flies. The death reminded me of the previous week where I rescued newly hatched turtles that would not have made it to the water. The circle of life. 

Likely the second day on the beach after washing up dead.

Sunset. Just could not resist. I seem to be posting them often. This shot is from my balcony in the tower overlooking the pool. In the distance is Salinas. 

View south from my bedroom perch in the tower at the Farallon Dillon

Sunset was 6:35 so supper is after that. For supper I had fried shrimp with vegetables. The shrimp were fresh and the veggies perfectly cooked. What's with the salt? Are the shrimp packed in salt brine and absorb the salt. Only when you bite them do you get a mouthful of salt. 

Salinas is Busy on a Hot Sunday

Another fantastic day. Very few clouds, a temperature of 31 degrees and packed beaches. If you like activity it was a great day. Sorry I forgot to get a picture earlier.

For a late lunch we walked around the back street and ate at the Mar Azul. We had shrimp ajillo and stir fried rice with shrimp and a personal pizza. My pizza was good- ham and cheese and pepperoni.

 But the shrimp in both the shrimp dishes was rotten or at least tasted bad. Those dishes were a waste as they were the main ingredient of each. We are hoping for health and not a GI attack. 

Someone was cutting weeds with a machete and cleaning up in front of his property. I picked up an aloe vera plant he had pulled. I smeared the juice on some sunburned spots on my legs. It was seven dollars in the store for about three leaves worth of the stuff. Days later I was still using the juice on my head and shoulder burns. It worked fine.

My chef just put the chicken on the stove. He says supper will be ready in a couple of hours. These gas stoves work different than I am used to with electric. What do I know. 

And the housekeeper just complained about a couple of small deposits of dirt that must have come off my sandals. Traveling with your staff is almost like being at home. Except I am forced to look after my own laundry here as not all the regular staff wanted to travel. 

At 6:35 I headed west to try to get to the iglesia merced by 7pm. On the way the sun went down so I have more sundown pics. 

I got to the church on time and by 7:20 was one of over 400 participants in the event. Over an hour later we all filed out. I did not understand much as it was in spanish, and the sound system just bounced off the stone walls and got drowned by the multiple cooling fans hanging on all the pillars.

Good night. Tomorrow we go fishing.  6 km today

Saturday at the Torremar then off to Big Ralph's

It rained most of the morning in Salinas. But don't let that fool you when at a beach. The people just show up anyway and the rain stops and the day is great by noon. It's the weekend and thousands showed up.

I found the building manager and asked him if there were any units for sale in the Torremar. He showed me two. One on the sixth floor above us on the side apartments needed about 15k in renovation according to him. Another larger one on the whole front of the building was in need of very little work but was only on Piso 2. It had an awesome front view but it would have been much better on the sixth. At 130 k and 150 k nobody is going to even venture a nibble. Far too much when you compare others available on this street that have pools or hot tubs.

Our Torremar building. We were around the side and not right on the front facing the street.

 

I walked down the beach and came across a music group shooting for a music video. Lots of playing and shooting different angles by the camera guy. It took them more than half an hour to get all the shots I saw and they might have enough for the one song. Nice job.

Here is a video on Youtube of the group pretending they are playing while the camera guy takes cutaways of each of them.

At about seven in the evening we walked over to Big Ralph's Fish and Chips.

We began with the appetizer of deep fried shrimp in the same batter as the fish is fried.

Then we ordered beef oso with mashed potatoes and vegetables, curried beef with deep fried onion rings and rice and beef steak with rosemary sauce, fries and salad.

All of these were great dishes. Ralph is originally from England and does not use the Ecuadorian method of salt as the only spice. He has several recipes and the ones we tried were all great with his homemade sauces.

And finally for dessert was a chocolate brownie with strawberry sauce and ice cream.

2.2 km walking

Mar y Tierra upscale Restaurant on the Salinas malecon

Last day at the Ibiza. So I got the front desk to fill the hot tub one last time. By noon we decided to go find something to eat. We walked down the malecon to the Torremar building to see if by chance our next place was ready. Not yet they said but in an hour or two. So we went across the street to the Mar y Tierra. You will recognize the place as the front is shaped like a boat. On one end is a rudder jutting out onto the sidewalk.

I had the rice and seafood plate. It was plenty and had lots of shrimp, scallops, octopus, crab and who knows what else. It is a good dish but the shrimp are too salty.

Someone told us later that the processed shrimp that the restaurants buy are shucked and then injected with salt water to plump them up a bit. If this is true then it explains why they are always larger looking than the uncooked frozen ones we see and why they are much saltier and larger than the ones we purchase back home.

 From the looks of the clientele it is a higher priced and higher expectation eating place. We were the only ones that did not arrive there via their own vehicle. Walkins are not barred, but seem to be rare.

With a little over an hour to go until we turn the keys back we walked back to Ibiza to get one load of luggage. Then we made the trek back to the Torremar and were shown up one floor to the apartment. 

The manager gave us the keys, showed us how to run the TV, and attempted to explain the water cooler and how to buy water. That was about it. We were in. 

The next job was a walk back to mi comisaria to stock the groceries again. It is still a fair walk with full bags of goods but half the distance it was before. 

In the evening it rained hard. Even with the windows closed the rain leaked in and created a small flood in the veranda area. 

No more sunset from the apartment window. We are too low and blocked by buildings. So I need to walk across the street to the beach to shoot now.

4.9 km walking

Walking the Beach & Eating at Ralph's

We did a lot of walking today. Went from one end of the malecon to the other and even tried go further. However the army stopped us at the point where their wharf juts out into the bay. The instructions from the guards were to turn around now and go back up the beach the way we came.

We watched an old fisherman toss his net into the ocean to catch fish. On one throw he got two small fish about 8 inches long, several small crabs and a lot of seaweed.

Later we went back to Big Ralph's for an evening of curried beef and Ossobuco.

My travel companions had the fish and chips. You will not get a better meal. Just saying. Or maybe I do need to say it again. These and other meals on the menu at Big Ralph's will be some of the best tasting foods you eat on this trip.

Deep fried shrimp appetizer in the fish batter. 

I had the beef osso buco on mashed potatoes with braised vegetables on the side. Cooked beets on top with deep fried shaved potatoes on top of that.   

Ralph frying up some fish. 

8.7 km walking