Ecuador/Mx winter 2020

Guayaquil, pronounced WHY-UH-KEY, is a port city in Ecuador, known as a gateway to Pacific beaches and the Galapagos Islands. Stretching along the Guayas River is the waterfront Simón Bolívar promenade, home to La Rotonda monument. In the north, Las Peñas is a neighborhood full of colorful houses. Stairs lined with cafes and art galleries lead up Santa Ana Hill, site of Santa Ana chapel, a lighthouse and views of the city.

Image result for maps of guayaquil ecuador

Our stops this year will be Guayaquil, Cuenca,and Salinas all in the southern end of the country.

Dec. 30, 2019-Greetings to all new and old to the blog. I look forward to sharing our trip with you again this year. Please feel free to comment and ask for pics along the way. I enjoy sharing with you what you want to see. This year we are off for another new adventure. We will be spending six weeks around Ecuador then moving on to the Baja of Mx. I know, I said twelve years ago I would never go back to Mx. However, it wont be Cancun.

So, to start our trip I met Bill in Panama City, Panama for our jumping off place. He had been on the other side of the country for 17 days in Boquete, in the mountains. We get a 25% discount on tickets if going thru Panama, so that’s what we did. We spent two nights at the Riande Hotel. Very nice “oasis” . Pool and pool bar, games, water fall, orchids, etc. Nice place to plop for a day to re-acclimate. We lounged by the pool and read all day and had a nice chicken shish-k-bob for dinner, pool side.

All charged up it was time to catch the next flight to Guayaquil, Ecuador. Neither of us have been To Ecuador before and are excited to explore. We sat next to a gentleman (Nelson) who is Ecuadorian but resides in Miami. He gave us all kind of information, rode in the cab with us to make sure we found our apt. and set us up with a driver. So very nice. I have a feeling this isn’t the last we have seen of Nelson.

After dropping our bags we were dropped off at the mall to get a sim chip for the phone and to scope out the local shopping. We called for our cabbie to come get us, and after 35 mins. wait we took another ride back to the apt. He said something very fast when I called him and I didn’t understand him and he hung up…who knows. We stopped for a little groceries just down the street then came back and had dinner. It was now after 7:00.

Dec. 30, 2019 This morning started out with an hours walk around the neighborhood to get our bearings. get out and see what is available to us. We found all sorts shops and restaurants, stores, etc. We bought a batido which is like a fruit smoothy and a pineapple empanade. Both were excellent. Peggy, you would have loved the empanade. So much better than the ones in Boquete. Around the streets, on cars, in doorways, etc. are these paper mache figures. Everything from Picachu and Minions, to Batman and disney caricatures. For sale of course. They burn them on New Year’s Eve. Can’t wait to see that! The cute gal is the artist who made this batch of effigy. She is Annalisha and it took her four months to make and paint.

Off to the downtown area and the Iguana Park and cathedral. Our next adventure was down to the Malacon 2000. This is a 2.5 km promenade built in 2000 is touted as one of the most successful revitalization projects in South America. Once a dilapidated river front is now a main attraction with many shops and restaurants. We spent three hours walking here and seeing the sights. We enjoyed some wonderful large shrimp cevieche.

Then we called our driver Jenny ( Nelson’s friend) to come pick us up. Thinking we were going to head back to the apt. WRONG! Nelson and Natalie were with Jenny and asked us if we had walked the stone road which he had told me about on the plane but had forgotten about. We said no and he asked if we wanted to. Sure why not, right? This turned into another three hours or so. We walked the stone road and the Cerro Santa Anna to see the beautiful colored houses and to walk the 444 steps up to the old light house. What a view.!!!

On the way down the hill, Nelson asked if we would like to try some typical Ecuadorian food. Why yes of course! So off to a nice sea side “cafe” that he frequents often for some great Sangria and bolone. This is a green plantain dish made with mashed plantains, filled with chicharones, and cheese. Very nice. Would have been most excellent with something like a 1,000 Island dressing. So, to recap, we left the apt about 11:00 and returned around around 8:00. I think we got our 10,000 steps in, twice.

Tues. Dec 31, 2019 New Year’s Eve– We walked this morning in the opposite direction of yesterday’s walk. We found a quaint little restaurant that had baked goods. I bought a tiramisu that was out of this world. It was so moist that when you plunged the fork into it coffee ran out the bottom. Yummy. As we were walking out a gentleman said in English happy new year. So of course we started to chat. Turns out he is a national here but spent 50 years in Jersey. He recently “retired” and has a couple of little stores in the adjacent mall. Very nice man. The side walks were very busy with everyone buying their last night party items. Grapes, burn dummies, fireworks, etc. On our way nearly back to apt. we encountered yet another tradition here. They are called the widows. Young men dress up as grieving widows for money and competition. The change they collect is used for beer or fireworks for later in the day. According to one of our party hosts, some used to go into quite the performance. The black veil, wailing, etc. “My boys” were pretty funny and took it less seriously. Time for a little rest before embarking on a trip to check out the bus station and see what the scoop is there for our trip on Mon to our next destination. Upon arrival I couldn’t believe how many people were milling about. It’s a holiday after all. Turns out there is a mall in the station as well. Grocery store, electronics store, etc. This trip caught us in the rain and down pour. Popping into door ways and stores along the way trying to stay dry. This effort was futile.

rained so much water blowing back out of the street drains

Next time for a little rest. We no sooner returned back to apt when we received a mess from Nelson asking if we wanted to attend his families Ecuadorian New Year’s eve festivities. This was about 4:00 so we had plenty of time to rest and run to the store for our contribution. Nelson’s driver Jenny picked us up promptly at 9:30. Nelson lives in his parents former home up in the hills to the North. Beautiful home built 60 years ago. There was 18 of us for dinner. Mostly Nelson’s family and three of Natalie’s family. Some came from England and L.A.!

The “entertainment” was amazing. First we throw the “dummy” in the road and light him on fire. The burning symbolizes letting go of the bad things of the past year and warding off the bad spirits for the incoming year. The dummy is stuffed with random fire crackers. Next is your twelve grapes, good luck for each month. Then of course a champagne toast at midnight.The release of our night lanterns didn’t go so well as the neighbors, but of well.Now, time to eat dinner. Glass of sangria, Turkey, gravy, two kind of rice, salad, a wonder side dish they called stuffing, but not, corn bread cake, and of course Peach cake for dessert. Nelson played then piano and we chatted with many of the relatives. All so very nice to a couple of gringo “strangers”. Now its going on 4:00 am. and time to go back the apt. We were up til nearly 5:00. I can’t believe how fast the time went! By far the best New year’s eve I have ever spent.

Jan 1, 2020!!! Happy New year!!! Well, if today is any indication of what the new year looks like I think we had better slow down a bit. I think from all of the walking before the party and the party we were utterly pooped. We slept five hours until 10:00 a.m. The literally laid around and watched tv. all day!!! Never left the apt. Guess we are getting too old for all of this excitement in one day. Bill’s digestive system has taken a little bout of irritation, from who know’s what, but hopefully it will be back to normal in a day or so.

Jan. 2, 2020 Thurs– a long day today as Bill is still not feeling back to normal. That makes two days hold up in the apt. Although we did take two ten minute walks today. That’s more than yesterday. We were going to go for a typical crab dinner for my birthday but Bill not comfortable with leaving the bathroom that long. Not sure what caused his plight as we have eaten all of the same things. So, maybe tomorrow night. We ended up grabbing some chicken and local fries which Bill did not eat. Fries were all hand cut and had a sort of mustard/cheese sauce and ketchup on them. Pretty tasty.

Jan 3,2020 Fri– Bill still not feeling the greatest so I said it was time for some meds. We walked two blocks to the farmacia and got some cipro. He took two immediately. Hours later things were perking up, and food staying put. We had a nice meal of rotisserie chicken, rice, yellow potatoes, beans, and cole slaw. We did not eat the slaw.

Jan 4,2020 Sat– Well, the cipro seemed to have done the job. Bill feeling much better and not quite so weak. We took our first Uber to a different mall to walk indoors as it was 91 today. Too hot for me. We got a nice fruit bar that was very tasty. Had a little lunch and went back to the apt. Bill needing a little rest we watched a movie until it was time to get ready to walk to back and forth to church. First time we had walked at night here.

Jan. 5, 2020 Sun– off for a day trip. We took the Tren de la Dulzura Ecuador for a 2 1/2 hour trip across the midlands. This is where the local crops of sugar cane, bananas,rice, and cocoa are grown. this train runs thurs-sun and it is funny how many people line up to take pictures and wave as the train goes through their little town. The trash and garbage along the tracks was disgraceful. I couldn’t even bear to take a photo of it. The trash here in the city gets picked up every two days. But I guess not in these other towns. The train was very nice, very clean, air conditioned, with liquor and food bar. We had a car all to ourselves. We were able to go out the back of the train and hang out. I liked that a lot! Arriving in the town of Naranjito we were told the waterfall we had hoped to see was only accessible by buying a tour package that was offered on the train. Well, THAT wasn’t in the web info! They were offering $25,00p.p. side trip to a farm, lunch, info about the sugar cane and cocoa process. But we didn’t want to do that. The information on the web site was vague and sketchy and didn’t mention any additional trips. BLAH!

Any way we walked around and got the feel for the town. Hit a Sunday street sale where we found a guy selling something out of a pot. We took interest and he offered us a taste. Turns out it was boiled figs with sugar and vanilla. OH MY!!! So good. They were serving them on a bun with some sort of cheese. I would have just eaten them in a dish with whipped cream. We found the big church in town and got in just before communion. Big old church, lots of fans, no air. Time for a bite to eat now. Rotisserie chicken is the fare for the day. Again. I’m starting to think I am going to get chickened out before the six weeks are up. We met a man (Peter)on our return at was born in Guayaquil who now lives in Vancouver. Very nice.Gave us some info on Cuenca where we are going next.the return trip left at 2:00 and we got back at 4:50. A nice way some of the outlying area without having to drive.