Ecuador Thanksgiving 2018

What a day, I haven’t been that stuffed since I left the States, Ugh!! But sooo good. Newer friends Patty and Dustin offered to have it at their rental house. I offered to get extra tables and chairs, come early to set up and help cook. I requested the mototaxi, went to San Clemente to borrow the tables and chairs, stopped to do a quick haircut, and arrived at La Boca around 11am. Just as I was arriving Patty got a call from her builders, and they had to duck out to the job site for a minute. (News is, they will get to move into their newly built house next weekend, woot woot!) While they were gone, I prepped the green beans, and got the table set.

Started peeling potatoes (Mom, my nose itched, I kid you not) and the day was in full swing. We had new friends Bryan and Ron who recently bought a house in San Clemente, they came straight from Manta where they picked up their permanent Visas, another woot woot! And the usual suspects were there too, Mary was without Nancy, as she flew to the States that morning, and Pam was without Bonnie, as she wasnt feeling well. Leo joined us, we had many laughs and good times and we all left waaay too full. Not much of a sunset, but the temp was wonderful and we had much to be thankful for.

Hope all my North American friends and family enjoyed their day too. Stay tuned, the adventure continues!

Life is back to normal?

I have been back on the Coast for almost two weeks, and am back into the haircutting, painting, house sitting work, puttering in the patio and beach walks. I thought all was back to normal until I was woken up by a loud crash on my patio. I had just done some rearranging that afternoon and had stacked a bin of sticks on top of a table. My immediate thought was someone was coming over my wall...so what do I do? Throw open the door and head outside. I had laundry hanging, and had to duck under the laundry to see what had happened. And there on top of my washing machine was the culprit. I dashed back inside to get the camera, and this was my early morning visitor.

A rather unhappy Opposum! Perry started barking at him, so I knew I needed to get him back inside. We went back to bed, and I did hear scampering on the roof, so he found himself a way out of the patio.

The next day when I posted it on the local San Jacinto/San Clemente site, many people were unaware we had Opossums here in Ecuador, but this was what I found when I Googled it.

The common opossum (Didelphis marsupialis), also called the southern or black-eared opossum or gambá,[2] is a marsupial species living from the northeast of Mexico to Bolivia (reaching the coast of the South Pacific Ocean to the central coast of Peru), including the Lesser Antilles,[2] where it is called manicou.[3] It prefers the woods, but can also live in fields and cities. The common opossum is sometimes used by humans for food on islands in the West Indies.

The common opossum is similar in size to a house cat. The fur of the opossum is actually yellow in the under-fur, but is hidden by the longer black guard-hairs that cover it, while the tail, fingers, and face are lighter "with the tail being without fur, somewhat similar to a giant rat tail." It can measure nearly 20 inches long. It has large ears that are usually black, and its face is usually a pale peach in color, with black whiskers and eyes that reflect reddish in light. With a body length of nearly a foot, and a tail that can reach almost two feet, the common opossum is one of the larger members of its family. An adult can weigh more than three pounds.

So, there we have it...never a dull moment...stay tuned, the adventure continues!!

Back at the Beach

Four weeks, anywhere...is a long time, but when the climate is soooo different than what you are used to...it can seem like a lifetime. (Haha, cue dramatic violin music) But, seriously, I was one happy lady getting back to the beach...this beach, MY BEACH.

There were many things different in the Sierras, than at the Coast. My skin, lips and hair were dry, I rarely use chapstick or lip balm at the coast. In the Gated community, I heard gardners with their weed eaters everyday, instead of hearing the loud speakers of the street vendors. The gated community was also a very different place on the weekends, many cars parked in the driveways and streets, and people out with their little dogs.

Very often by 3 pm it was time to close the door, as the afternoon storm came in. Dark clouds, thunder and lightning, sometimes with rain, but others no. And then it started getting cold again. Down to 44F at night while I was there...no gusta!

By the time lunch came around it would warm to 70-80 F how many costume changes can one do in a day? Turns out I like a much more consistant temperature. The low here in Manabi is 72F and high this week has been 88F. As long as you are not in the direct sun walking, and have a breeze, it is heaven...at least heaven for me.

Life is back to normal, so stay tuned...the adventure continues!