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)
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.
Dad's birthday today. Happy 92nd Dad. Here is happy birthday in Spanish. Part of a concert in 2013 in Salinas.
This evening we decided to go out for a nice meal. The Salinas Stuff Facebook group had some proprietors pushing their restaurants so we decided it would be one of those. We spent a couple of hours looking at reviews to make the choice. It's amazing how some places can hope to exist and yet do not post their address. Assuming everyone knows where you are is not good for business in a tourist town where new people arrive each week. Just my opinion.
We chose the Parrillada Entrefuegos because it had an address we could walk to after dark. Amazing enough though we walked right by another one that had been poorly promoted in the Facebook group and we did not know where it was. With better advertising it could have been our choice.
We ordered T-bone steaks medium well, chorizo, baked potato, and a beef cut that the phone ap could not translate. We suspected a problem when the chef could be seen salting on the BBQ with a restaurant sugar dispenser. The t-bones were rare but the other cut arrived on its own small griller so we were able to use it to add more cooking to our cuts. But that third chunk of meat was so salty it was sent back. It literally was like putting a spoonful of salt in your mouth. There was a ring of dried white salt around it on the grill. Terrible.
Anyway we received a new one without salt. We sliced it like fillets to get it thin enough to cook on the small grill as it arrived quite blue rare.
The wine was good enough for this town and they seem to be knowledgeable about the Chilean liquid quality as hundreds of empties are displayed on the wall as if in a cellar.
The Parrillada bills itself as a place for those with a passion meat, and it uses imported Argentinian beef. But this place needs to try and help itself. Try offering some BBQ sauce, even black pepper could help. Oh yes, even the salad was salted before it arrived at the table! Marginally achieved, but the best meat on the table was the chorizo.
It is a good thing there were many locals eating there because word will travel in the expat community. This will not be a popular spot for expats used to seeing these same prices on a good tasting piece of meat. Too bad this is as good as the locals can buy.
