The Torremar has a Different View of the Beach

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. 

2.5 km walking

Doin' Nothin' on the 7th Floor of the Ediface Ibiza

Monday is quiet. We woke up in a classy rental overlooking the ocean. Most of the day is spent listening to music on Stingray, making and eating snacks and watching people on the beach.

Around 2:30 the sky darkened and the rains blew in over the bay although it didn't seem to hit the shore. Divers with scuba gear spent a few hours each morning diving for octopus.

When we arrived we were told that the washer dryer was slow- maybe 4 hours or more. We got one load washed and it would not dry. Then finally there was a loudish pop and nothing worked. There was no power at the machine.

After a bit of prying with a screwdriver we got the plug to come out of a small power sensing device that plugs into the wall. Now it works fine. It says 10 amps on it. We are thinking that the machine dryer mode must be too much for it and has burned it out. I'm guessing the device is to shut off your appliance if the power source is too high or too low. Also I think the interior of the dryer needs a clean. Likely there is a lot of lint buildup in the mechanism and the dryer sequence is no longer working correctly. The self contained units are very picky compared to the ones that exhaust the hot air outside.

Here's the view of the deck rail when you have no dryer.

Younger brother and self-made chef brewed up supper tonight. This is far superior to most of the food offered in the local restaurants.

The starch was white rice. Vegetable was lightly cooked long green beans. The main dish was chicken cooked in a mixture of green and red sweet peppers, onions, carrots, garlic and herbs, then all slow cooked in a mixture of spices and yogurt to create a yellow curry sauce. The result was better than most of the local cuisine available. And that is why we rented an apartment. We can eat in by choice.

Oh yes. I did get the staff to fill the hot tub up on the 14th floor terrace so I could sufficiently change my digits into clean looking but prune shaped objects. It's a nice way to relax after doing nothing all day.

.3 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