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)
Breakfast at 8:30 again today. I'm eating too much pineapple because my tongue is starting to burn from the excess vitamin C.
At 10 I was in the grand plaza waiting for John Henry to show up for my
tour. He arrived and we began the walking tour in the historic center of
Quito. I've gone on two of his tours in previous years so I wanted
something different. John is not new at the guiding game so you need to
be firm on how much money you are spending or he will extend the tour
for higher pay. But I'm no dummy when it comes to carrying only a
certain amount of money so there is only so much to get. I also gave him my umbrella at the end of the tour. However he complained that it was just cheap Chinese junk and not a high quality Ecuadorian product. Yep, it was from Dolarama back home.
YouTube clip number one with John Henry as tour guide.
Now that you have watched the clips from this year, here are some John Henry videos I made a few years back on a previous visit. They were made with a Panasonic TH-700 HD camera and a wired Radio Shack lav mic connected to the camera with about 20 ft of wire.
This one is a tour to Barrio San Marcos which is next to the Quito Central Historical district.
Here is one of the Iglesia de la Merced (Church of Mercy) in the Central Historical district of Quito.
This year the videos were made with a GoPro Hero 5 inside a water resistant box, handheld with a 3-Way Mount. I learned I need to hold it very
stable as I move around. Also it is very sensitive at picking up noise
as I touch the camera or handle. Total distance walked so far today is
6.7 km.
Lunch was at the Pizza SA across the street from the Bolivar Theater.
I don't know if it is the same company but it was a pizza place in
the theater building that caused the fire several years ago. The pizza
was good but the garlic bread left a bad after taste and salads I just
don't eat here anyway. I also had a coffee and a coke.
Breakfast first and it is included with your stay at the Hotel San Francisco de Quito. Scrambled eggs but you could ask for fried and the staff would get them right away for you. Toast, buns, rolls and breads. Freshly squeezed fruit juice that changed daily. Sliced pineapple, watermelon, passion fruit, and others. Coffee, tea, butter and jam. What you eat here can keep you going for a long time each day.
Went to church in the morning. It started at about 10:30 and went til after 12:30. A rather lively establishment of worshipers.
In the afternoon I wandered the streets for several hours, taking pictures and just looking. It was Sunday and the whole city it seemed had come to the historical area to spend the day. After four I stopped in at a grocery store to stock up on water, juice, apples and Doritos.
That was my supper for the evening along with a piece of vanilla cake with white icing and piece of strawberry soaking in milk I bought off a street vendor. The milk was not something I was excited about- not that it was bad tasting - just different and very sweet. Later a guy told me it was goat's milk and some other milk mixed.
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.
Today we took a day trip up the coast with Viktor Tchernikov. He is a Russian educated in the Ukraine and has now moved to Ecuador to live permanently. Viktor basically works full time with his tours.
He had a nice new car that worked well for our travels. AC and he could even connect his phone wifi so we could use the connection for email if we needed. All part of the package. If you are thinking of contacting Viktor you should first become a member of the Facebook group called Salinas Stuff. You will find him advertising his trips there.
We first went to a place called Punta Faro in Ballenita because that was a location I had seen in 2012 when they were constructing the complexes. I wanted to see it now and also wanted to see the ocean view with the lighthouse in front.
Front wall and ceramic logo for the complex
Back view facing the ocean
This photo is from an ad a couple of years back.
Here is a link to a video I made in 2012 when I viewed the construction of the first three units of this complex. I was impressed then and that's why I wanted to go back. I tried to find it last time I was there too but got lost on a wrong turn only a few blocks away, even though we did find the more common beach in the photo below.
We also went to a more commonly known location a few hundred meters down
the coast where there is easier beach access and you can see Salinas
and Libertad. From here you cannot even see the lighthouse just up the coast. Even more reason I would still like to get a place in that condo as it is very private and unknown.
From a beach near Ballenita you can see Salinas
Then we directed Viktor to Colonche which is the location of the oldest existing wooden church in Ecuador. Construction began in 1700 and it survives today. More renos have taken place since I was here in 2013 but it is still an operational church. Here is a link to see a video I made on my first visit to the Santa Catalina de Colonche.
We did not see the caretaker so we were unable to climb the bell tower this time. If you go there be sure to watch the video first so you know a bit about the church.
From there we drove up the Routa del Sponylus past shrimp farms, shrimp laboratories, cabanas and small towns. We stopped to buy fresh baking in a town where they claim to be the undisputed bread republic of Ecuador.
We visited the ancient archeological town of Valdivia (3500-1800 BC) where all the archives seem to centre around the goddess of love. All the stuff you buy are copies although there are plenty of authentic bits around you could purchase if you ask. Good luck with that as you could end up being arrested on the way out of the country.
Further up the road we found the Valdivia Marine Park. Here you can see a couple of sea turtles swimming around in their pool looking at you through the windows. Several land turtles have their enclosure. We saw several species of fish and other marine animals and there are even two or three blue footed boobies wondering why we were there. This may or may not be the same organization that we visited a few years ago. But previously there were many rescued animals and we saw none of that this time. Here is my video from a few years ago. It will open in a new window so you can come back here.
I walked out back towards the ecological area nearer the ocean. While there I found three freshly hatched turtles that would not have lived had not I given them a head start and lifted them to the ocean. There were several other dead turtles around who had not made a successful trek to the water. The mother had laid eggs too far from the ocean. She had even gone over a large sand dune away from the ocean and the little guys had no chance in today's high heat to make it. Some is better than none.
Further north we came to Montanita. This is the hippie surfing town of Ecuador. Our plan was to come back there for dinner so we kept driving northward to Olon.
Only a few kilometres up the road we stopped at the iconic church on the cliff. This is a bit of a multi religion tourist stop that appears to be ready to crumble with the cliff it is build on. The architecture has features that give it the look of a large boat. There were repairs ongoing to the interior but enough was open to large wood carvings in the working church and awesome views of the Olon beach below.
We soon arrived at Olon. The long beach was the best so far in Ecuador. Surfers, swimmers and sun worshipers enjoyed the expansive reaches of the sand. We walked a while and then decided we were too hungry to wait any longer for lunch. The plan was to come back after lunch.
Back to Montanita to a place called Tiki Limbo Restaurante. Victor took us to this place as they speak Spanish and English and have food that he considered safe to eat.
Victor went to visit with friends while we ate dinner, but came back later and we had the waiter take a photo of us.
We ordered pasta and burgers and fries. The lemonade, beer and chocolate coffee milkshake provided the refreshments. I guess we were not as hungry as we thought. None of us ate all we ordered. They were good burgers although a bit too salty which is the norm here. The chocolate coffee was the best.
After the meal we spent time walking the beach, walking through the street vendor shops and people watching. By the time we had finished we decided we would not return to Olon but instead head back towards Salinas.
We came back through Libertad and drove up the Libertad malecon. People were everywhere as it was the weekend and about 5:30. The kiddie section of the beach was full of swimmers and the food kiosks had lineups waiting to purchase. Quite different compared to when we walked through in the middle of the day a few days ago. It had looked deserted.
We got home just after six. Just in time to take a few photographs of the sunset from our seventh floor apartment on the Salinas malecon.
