Third visit to Ecuador. This time with a text blog as well as videos. The video site had been removed due to lack of interest. All pages have at least one photo. If you don't see them you may have an ad blocker on or need a cache purge. (Firefox Win)
While waiting for the fishing trip pickup I went across the street to ask about the cost of a place for sale. Third floor walk up in an older looking building. The manager showed me the place which smelled of old fish. Three bedrooms etc plus maid's quarters. Totally new and nice floor tiles. No AC. Price was 100k negotiable furniture included. Not buying it but at least I have another comparison.
We got started with the fishing trip when Viktor Tchernikov picked us up at the Torremar at 11:00 am. We headed north on the routa de spondylus through Ballenita, Monteverdi, Valdivia, Montanita and Olón. At this point we were a bit over half way.
Then we passed through the Parque National Machalilla of the rain forest in Manabe province, winding back and forth to climb up and drop down through the mountainous rain forest region. There was also a separate beach reserve area near Playa Del Salango for the sea turtles. You could stop there and walk to the beach to see if you could find turtles.
Puerto Lopez
We stopped to take photos of a couple of points of interest as well as some flowers called Bird of Paradise.
Most of the trip we were whisking along with trees too close and blocking the sea view. At other times we were passing through villages where stores and people were oozing out onto the highway. The only thing slowing traffic were the electronic speed indicators and sleeping policemen- or large speed bumps which are everywhere in Ecuador. Actual police don't do much to curb speeding as drivers will just pass them but many just drive around with their lights flashing all the time.
Apparently the hill ahead is home to several species of poisonous snakes.
They run a regular busy business here.
It was nearly two and a half hours before we arrived at the fishing company office in Puerto Lopez.
Perfect timing as the boat was just returning from a tourist outing. We got all our fishing permits stamped and passport numbers checked and were on the water by 2 pm. Apparently president Rafael Corea went for a tour on this boat as there was a picture of him and the captain.
We were out on the water for nearly five hours. The view was fantastic as we passed small beaches, daunting cliffs with pelicans, blue footed boobies, gannets, gulls, and several more that we would not be close in guessing their names.
We traveled at full throttle for twenty minutes or more until we got to Salango Island. There we spent at least an hour trolling with four lines out hoping for anything. Eventually we got a barracuda. Not much fight and once they strike you really cannot feel much at all as you reel it in.
Here I am with my barracuda and with Viktor our guide who jumped up from
sleeping so he could get his photo taken with the fish.
You can see how far south we went from our start location at Puerto Lopez.
We trolled around and near a few islands. Later we caught another barracuda. But during the waiting for bites we saw a lot of great views on the water and nearby cliffs.
Yes, I did catch fish. Here is a barracuda I am reeling in. Not huge but I am sure the guides ate it the next week.
Yep, I don't travel well in planes and boats.
We pause now for station identification and ample time for an aforementioned passenger to fire stomach projectiles over the side of the boat. No harm done as this interlude had been prophesied and the gradual buildup of sallow eyes and pale skin had accurately predicted the time of content ejection.
Back to fishing. We fished and toured for a couple more hours. No more catches but did get several strikes. Lots of birds flying to and fro just barely off the water level. And the sunset on the ocean was spectacular.
This was when we were leaving but it was dark when we came back at about 7:30.
It was quite dark when we arrived back at the dock.
A quick potty break and we were back in the SUV for the two hour drive in the dark back to Salinas. I had mentioned the number of people on the road on the way up. But now in the evening the number of pedestrians and slow motorbikes had increased. It was almost like riding in a rally car dodging pylons. If I was not in the front seat I might have got sick again. Nope; for sure I would have.
I had the chef assemble a rice and pepper steak dinner. It was in a special non traditional chutney of fresh pumpkin, with roughly chopped onion and yellow sweet peppers- and black pepper.
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.
We woke up in our new location right in the center of the Salinas malecon. The Torremar is a long block or so away from the boat wharf. However the rental we got is actually on the side street with a partial view of the ocean and just barely a view to the left of the chocklatera. A torrential rainfall blasted us at about seven last night. Even with the patio windows closed the water rushed in and left a large pond on the floor. By morning it had leaked out and as the caretaker said when I told him water was coming in "No problemo".
This is a much older building and this owner has had the condo since 2013. It has a large open area and ample eating area for the large groups that book it. We will be here for nine days so a bit of cleaning is necessary. Much of the kitchen was filthy and the inside of the cupboards were sticky dirty along with plates that still had food stuck to them. It should all be clean now as we washed everything ourselves. It's still a good rental. Look on AirBnB or VBRO and you will find this one.
Interior view or our rental in the Torremar.
We made another trip by taxi to el Paseo mall.
A few groceries, some lunch in the food court and store browsing used up several hours. Do not ever waste space in your suitcase by bringing water gear. You can buy much cheaper here and chose from a far larger selection. Also water boards and other toys.
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I priced out induction stoves in an appliance store. The most expensive were six burner with oven for about $1500. Less than half that for the 24 inch wide units. It costs more to buy a 40 HP outboard motor in this store than a motorcycle.
The apartment has a magicJack dongle connected to the phone and Internet. It gives free calls to the US and Canada. I made a few calls back to Canada and it worked quite well. One had many cutouts you could hear while talking, but the internet was poor then too until we restarted the router.
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.
