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

Sunday is Move Day from Ralph's Hostal to the Ibiza building

Time to move. We had only booked Big Ralph's Hostal for three nights. And we were to meet our new landlord at 10 am. So by 9:30 we were packed up and began the trek of dragging the suitcases the three blocks distance to the Ibiza building on the Salinas malecon. Not too bad except we took a shortcut up a side street. And that made us bypass the Ibiza. And that turned the trek into 29 minutes and likely 17 blocks. We still arrived on time so no harm done except for more perspiration.

You can see Ralph's from the roof terrace on the Ibiza

We got the tour and the how-to instructions. Paper in the bin not in the pot. Washer dryer is slow and you might want to get the doorman to take your laundry to a local laundry service. And the pool is down for maintenance so we won't have that either. Hmmmm. Thankfully the internet works. But the pool and laundry were things we looked for on AirBnB when we booked. My fault. I forgot to ask if they worked.

But the place is very nice. Great view. Excellent kitchen. The glass slides fully open if you want fresh air. Lots of air conditioning. Three bedrooms three bathrooms. Lots of space.

Up on the 14th floor is the terraza. It has a nice 360 degree view of the whole peninsula.

The Ibiza is high enough to be taller than most buildings nearby so the view is fantastic. It's also only three years old so it isn't crumbling yet.

 
We walked down the street behind the Salinas malecon until we got to Cafe Jazz. It's basically a light food cafe so we were able to get coffees, sugar cakes and meat crepes. A nice touch was the hot towels arriving in bowls before the food. Nice to be able to wash our dirty sweaty hands. This place is a bit of a hostal too, so there are people staying in the building.

 
Then we took a taxi into Libertad meaning to go to el Paseo mall. Gave him the wrong name so he drove way past and dropped us off in a seedy area with lots of street stalls and smelly fish. We walked through with a quick look. I was too afraid to take out a camera so there are no pictures.

We walked back to el Paseo mall and had ice drinks in the food fair to cool us off. Also a Chinese meal that was too cold to be worth eating. More ice cream. Then into the store for shaving cream and some orange drinks. Then into another taxi and off to the super-maxi on the way to Salinas.

 
Over an hour in super-maxi to fill a shopping cart. Food, cooking bits, drinks, and junk food. Now we don't have to go out for every meal. Lots of options for the two chefs in the group.

One more taxi back to the Ibiza and we are ready to live on our own.

5.9 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

Rain, Coconuts, Fish and Chips

Today was a travel day. We thought we were to fly at 10:15 from Quito to Guayaquil but the flight was delayed over three hours. We checked out of the Quito Suites Hotel and headed to the airport to wait it out. Dinner was at the Guacomole Grill in the Quito outgoing lounge. The food was good but not cheap, and in line with airport prices. Definitely a better service and quality offering than the burger chain before the check in at this airport which we had tried five years ago.

 While waiting in the airport we thought we were to finally board. Nope, we were being paged because everyone had to read and sign a piece of paper that would give a future rebate because our flight had been delayed in leaving. It was going to offer $60 which was more than the flight cost in the first place. Kind of useless to us as we would have to book the next flight through a specific office and not online. So I ended up with a fancy piece of paper with my name on it.

Our private driver was patiently waiting for us upon arrival and we had the most awesome ride from the airport to Salinas. We heard many interesting stories and were shown many sites that were described to us. We stopped at a roadside kiosk to purchase a couple of coconuts. The vendor hacked off the tops and we had ice cold coconut milk for a refreshment. Coco helado is what they call it.

The driver even took us on alternate routes to show us special locations. To finish it off he delivered us right to the door of Big Ralph's where we were to stay. I'm not promising at all that you would get the same tour and service but we had booked the driving services from Angela de Souza before we even left home.

By the way the desert areas of July and August are very green and lush. Many of the creeks and rivers are raging water flows due to the uncharacteristic large amount of rain this year.  In some places on the trip the rain was actually a downpour and twice water was flowing over the highway. 

 

We booked in at Big Ralph's, then walked a bit on the Salinas malecon til after dark waiting for Ralph's restaurant to open. The homemade curry sauces were brewing but will not be ready til tomorrow. So we each opted for the signature fish and chips along with several lemonades and other thirst quenching liquids. Then we sat around and chatted with Ralph and other guests before deciding to turn in for the evening.

Big Ralph in his favourite location - his kitchen.

5.0 km walking

Another Apartment Booked

I've booked an apartment on the airbnb site. We wanted a front view of the ocean along with pool, hot tub, laundry, Internet and other luxury fixings. I got us a week right on the malecon. I'll post the name when we get home.

I've also booked with someone else to pick us up at the airport in Guayaquil and deliver us right to the lodgings in Salinas.


The first three days we will be at Big Ralph's Bed and Breakfast. And that is only two blocks from the apartment so the transfer will be quick. It's always good to have someone to chat with when you first arrive, so the bnb will be great for learning about things to do in the next week.

Big Ralph's photo I took in 2013

Oh today I am attempting to input using my phone. That's all I will have once we leave. I can tell you this is awkward. Even harder to add a photo that was not in my photo album on the camera.

Fly the First Leg

We got the air tickets purchased for the first leg of the journey inside Ecuador. From Quito to Guayaquil there are a few airline companies that will sell you tickets. We picked Avianca based on time and dollars.

We did not want to get up too early in the morning but we also did not want to be arriving in Salinas after dark. So the 10:15 flight looked about right. Any earlier would have been about 8 am I think.

Could have saved a few bucks buying the return but right now we have not booked the living space as we are still awaiting some prices at places. We have a line on a condo on the east end of the San Lorenzo and also prices on some days up the coast a ways. If we go up the coast we will want to book a few days at Big Ralph's so we can spend a weekend in the beach town before heading northward for quiet and relaxation. So all that chatter means that we need to wait to make the decision on when to return to the highlands of Quito.

A few dollars by taxi will take us from the airport to the bus station and then to the crowded lineups to purchase bus tickets to take us to the station in Ballenita.