Friday, Mar 17, 2017

Friends in Ecuador

Another fantastic week in Ecuador. Our friends Don and Donna (and Monte our “foster” dog) and Roy and Melody came for a week to visit us! Our landlady owns the house next to us, and she markets it as a vacation rental. So our friends rented the house for a week and we got to be neighbors again…at least for a short while. What a blessing it is in life to spend time with good people.

Birthday Celebration

Donna’s birthday was on Sunday and Heidi made her a coconut cake with strawberry topping. No flour involved. Don’t ask me how, I only know I like eating it. We all went to Ayampe and met up with Bev and Jim and celebrated some more. It was nice having several of the Bahia peeps together to celebrate Donna’s birthday. It was a mini “Bahia de Caraquez reunion” with many of us together again…kinda like “old times”.

Celebrating Donna’s Birthday

Our visit in Ayampe included going to a new restaurant (for me) located just north of town. It is called Pau Pau. The restaurant and surrounding grounds were really inviting and pleasant.

Lunch at Pau Pau’s

The dining area is all open under a thick thatched roof with beautifully polished natural wood poles for support. Large wood carvings of whales and mantas decorate the restaurant. Coconut palms, with hammocks strung in between, are spread out in the surrounding green grass area. It was a great place for a lunch get together.

Beautiful Beach in Ayampe

We went to Ayampe more than once this week to visit Bev and Jim. We spent time together walking the gorgeous beach there, and then headed up the hill to Fincas for lunch. I’ve written about this restaurant before. It has a beautiful view of the pacific ocean looking at the “Ayampe rock” off the coast.

Hangin’ in Ayampe

Ecuadorian Heat

It has been a hot week! I am in heaven. 😉 Seriously. Between about 2 pm and 4 pm, however, the heat and humidity is pretty hard to take…even for me. It is the perfect time to go swimming in the ocean. The blue water is so refreshing and it cools the body off quickly. Even in the heat of the day, there is still a coolness that blows off the ocean.

The sunsets this week have been glorious. I don’t know how else to describe them. We are in the rainy season so the afternoons will cloud up, some rain will fall for a bit, then the clouds separate and spread out over the Pacific. The orange, red, and yellow colors of the setting sun fan toward us reflecting off and through the clouds overhead.

Chase, Easton…and Monte. Sunset swim.

I love where we are located. We can get a cool breeze from the east coming down from the green mountains behind us in the mornings, and then one off the ocean from the west in the evenings. There is something magical living between green hills and a beautiful beach.

Best seafood around! La Rinconada

La Rinconada

We learned of a place called La Rinconada from our new friends, Roy and Mary Anne, who we met in Olon a few weeks ago. We took Don and Donna, and Roy and Melody there to enjoy this great tiny fishing village sitting above its isolated cove.

The people who live here are very friendly and welcoming. I even saw the same boy whose picture I took, as he carried a large fish in his hand from the cove below, last time I was here. There is a feel of community and a sense of continuity here. I like it.

La Rinconada

Fun Times with Friends in Ecuador

A signature dice game with our group that we play is 10 Thousand, and although each day we said we would play after dinner, it wouldn’t happen. Walking the beach, seeing the sites, swimming in the ocean, preparing great meals, eating late in the evening and enjoying some after dinner drinks, all takes a toll on the energy level.

It wasn’t until the last night Don and Donna, and Roy and Melody were here that we finally made our game of 10 Thousand happen. We all sat around the table outside on the deck playing dice and listening to the ocean. As the evening wore on, rum and cokes seemed to be the perfect thirst quencher for the tropical heat that hung heavy in the Ecuadorian night.

It was a fun time, and we had good energy the whole night. Heidi even won a game…her first time as a 10 Thousand winner! Lots of laughing and many stories…mostly from Roy 😉 made a perfect end to a great week with good friends.

Chau.