Beach Time
Trip Start
Mar 31, 2006
1
11
37
Trip End
Mar 31, 2007
Same,
Ecuador
Sunday, June 18, 2006
Life is so exhausting. There is everyone else relaxing at their jobs and here are poor frazzled Sheila and Chris slaving away at enjoying themselves. Our day starts with coffee and tea at about 7.30am; then I have to prepare a cooked breakfast; Sheila then washes dishes (duties are now well demarcated and friction is reduced); we then ablute and start our Su Doku (I am on "easy" and Sheila is on "tricky" - we had a wobbly moment when Sheila suggested she give me some advice); by now we are having to think about elevenses; then a walk, then lunch inevitably looms; by 2pm we are really starting to feel a little tired but we struggle on to teatime with writing of blogs and more Su Dokus (we tried to do a crossword but we got the Time's book and even when we see the answers we still cannot understand the clues); now tea rolls around and even before we've finished tea I have got to start thinking about dinner; we play backgammon or scrabble and read and then stagger to bed at 9.30
Bar ar Escondida
. The coast is very relaxing and soporific and we are now on our third Ecuadorian beach.We had reached the first, Alandaluz for our last blog, and we stayed there for seven days and the sun did shine occasionally but it was all so peaceful and relaxing that we could not tear ourselves away; lovely gardens but suffering from the drought. Sheila fell in love with the town where we internetted and provisioned a few km up the coast called Puerto Lopez; always a bustle and people got to know us in the market and little bakery (it was here that we first noticed how many people and businesses took their power straight from the overhead power lines!). Alandaluz was all open buildings made out of bamboo and palm thatching very like the hotels on the Kenyan coast. We were the only people camping for the first 5 nights!
We then moved on up the coast a couple of couple of hundred kms to a little beach resort town called Canoa; not too touristy but definitely only there for the backpacking trade. We stayed at a delightful little place called Hotel Bambu which had been recommended to us and we could see why as it was so relaxed and laid back with loads of hammocks and little cabins and quite full of young backpackers. The town claims it has good surf but it was a bit messy for the two days we were there. We met a delightful Dutch couple who had been traveling for twelve years. They had picked up a puppy in Morocco when they first started and he now must be one of the most traveled dogs in the world
Campsite at Playa Escaondida
. They kindly sat down with maps and gave us all sorts of ideas for the rest of South America.Bambu was where Chris finally lived a wish: paragliding (although in tandem). An American has set up here and for only $20 you get a flight off the cliff and around. He has a cooler and cold beer on the top of the cliff and a large one went down very quickly before the flight. Everything went well until I told him I had thought of doing skydiving (again in tandem) and he said he would give me a taste and immediately started swinging all over the place; the cold one nearly came up as fast as it went down and I lost complete interest in everything as I concentrated on the horizon.
It was here that we first realized how important the world cup was to Ecuador. We had seen excitement at their first win when we were at Alandaluz where they were having a convention of Toyota dealers (I know it does sound a bit odd); but they were all arraigned around the TV wearing Ecuador's bright yellow strip (men and women) watching an awful picture and knocking back copious quantities of beer. When Ecuador scored their second goal to clinch the match they went absolutely berserk and beer was sprayed over everyone and everything. At Canoa we were peacefully having breakfast when we thought war had broken out with screams, people running and loud bangs: just another Ecuadorian soccer match. The whole town was watching mostly from the street at TVs in shops and bars
Duck company
. At the end of the game the one functioning truck was pressed into service and loaded with young and "loaded" young men and driven round and round the few blocks hooting and yelling and waving flags. Then the local band gave the whole town a free (peripatetic) concert. It is wonderful to see people so proud of their nation. It seems inevitable that they will play England in the first round of the knock out. I think I will keep my allegiance very quiet.We tore ourselves away from Canoa and moved another 200 kms north to a resort (called Playa Escondida) in its own 100 hectares run by a Canadian. I wish we had known how wonderful it was going to be as we would have spent more time here. It is well away from any other habitation and the sea laps almost to our tent, we have a lagoon to the side, and the dry forest is identical to the forest we knew in Zambia. Last night was the most peaceful we have had since getting to Ecuador. Although the twice nightly trek to the long drop to pee was a bit nerve-wracking: we knew there was a small swarm of bees on the ground and two leaf-cutter ant highways between us and the bivvy but in addition the hotel duck was sitting on eggs right behind the throne and hissed the whole time one was trying to concentrate on ones needs. I cannot imagine how this place could be more beautiful - the bar and restaurant right on the beach (and it helped that we seem to be the only ones spending the night). As I look over from my seat at the computer our proprietor is strolling along the beach with her three dogs - and one of the ducks - and Sheila is snoring quietly in the tent.
The coastal road has now turned into a lovely drive through patches of forest and pretty farm land and little villages (where no one seems to have any work to do so many hammocks are slowly rocking). Most of the schools seem empty and we met a young Costa Rican maths teacher who was teaching in Ecuador and who had to take four grades at once due to the shortage of teachers, and all with no books
The Bambu at Canoa
. Seems a vicious cycle of lack of money so lack of education so underemployment. But most stomachs are ample and most faces are smiling.Currently we are very frustrated by the lack of post offices. We know they exist as we went to one in Guayaquil. But since then we have hunted high and low; everyone knows (or says they know) where one is but I think it is their way of ensuring we get to know their town.
One of you asked how the Pages were getting along in such continuous close proximity: as long as you have no conversation there seems little friction; Sheila has stopped her full blown battle to improve her husband and has settled down to the odd flanking action; but Christopher has now developed a sixth sense ( a bit like the spins that rugby players do to avoid a tackle) and less blood is being spilled. As always, as long as one is like a shadow and does exactly what one is told to do there is only harmony!
On the Sheila front: today is the day she stopped rattling from all the pills she was taking and a little box of white wine has gone into the cooler. Fingers are being crossed.
