Beach architecture

We have been walking all around, up and down the Malecon, and getting to know what's what in our new town. We have found that both San Jacinto to the south, and San Clemente to the north have hardware stores, fruit/veg markets, sell fresh fish and shrimp off the boats, and have bakery's. San  Jacinto has a bank with an outside ATM, San Clemente has homemade ice cream (looked more like sorbet) and a place that has shawarma! We will try it for lunch today, and leave the fresh ceviche I made in the fridge til dinner. Yesterday outside the gate we bought over a pound of fresh fish fillets for $5. We pan fried some for lunch and I par cooked and chunked some for the ceviche. But this post was supposed to be about architecture...

This one doesn't look finished, but it's an interesting mix of concrete and bamboo. The railing has a nice design, I'm sure it is cinder block construction with concrete skim coat/stucco over top.

More interesting designs made with bamboo, these are smaller stalks, sliced down the middle, because bamboo is hollow, they aren't really flat on the cut side, but they can get twice as much. 

I love the use of coconut palm fronds as thatch, not sure how long it lasts, but there's a never ending supply, and so tropical!

These are probably richer folks who live in Quito full time, they are not permanent residences, could be gringos who only come for months at a time.

Over the weekend we saw a large family in this one, the fence was open, and they have a pool, but by Sunday eve it was closed up and empty.

This is one of the few on the water side of the Malecon. The homeowners are American, met briefly on the Malecon one day. During really high tide and El Niño they get water under the house, seen pictures where it looks like a swimming pool.

This one has a political election poster, not sure if they are full time or not.

This one has a restaurant attached, the mustard structure is the main house. I've only seen the restaurant open on the weekend, but there are plenty to choose from during the week. Such a mix of tiki hut style, beach cottage, concrete fortress, and modern. Some are very well kept, some need some love. Some are extravagant (4 story with an elevator being built near us) and some need torn down...

I wouldn't call this one a tear down, but it needs some attention. We really enjoy walking around checking it all out.

We played with the filters on this one a bit, but it's a fun scene of where they park the boats. The beach here disappears at high tide, so they can't park the boats on the sand like in Crucita. And speaking of Crucita, some pictures I took one of our last days.

Under the thatch roof is the cleaning stations, they do mostly sardines and send to Manta.

Well, Mike has told me he's done with his work for the moment, so we will put on some sunscreen and walk down to lunch. The tide is still high, so we will have to walk on the Malecon, but maybe after lunch we can walk on the sand. Will definatly take the pups later, they LOVE the playa! Reminds me, gotta get Mike to work on the video. Stay tuned, the adventure continues!!