Feliz Cumpleanos Charapoto

I have told you that our festival circuit starts in June, well Charapoto actually has two fiestas, and I hadn't really realized it. Charapoto has its birthday party in late September, but then has their other festival in October, now I've got it straight. Charapoto turned 482 years old this year!  It starts with the cleaning, painting and decorating the streets...

I noticed these plastic flowers last year, and is why I made my own at Christmas. Charapoto's colors are green and gold (for the crops they grow) but when these plastic flowers were tweaked a bit and painted red, they made wonderful poinsettias. Anyway, the streets were decorated and the parade was on Wednesday afternoon. (You've seen one parade, you've seen them all, so we didn't go, even tho Nexar had said he would take us. Pictures are from Facebook.)

The white, and green with red stars is the Manabi flag. (Our "province")

I especially liked this group of Special Needs people, check out the guy in the Superman themed wheelchair "float", LOVE IT! 

Such a prideful people (and not in a bad way), they are so eager to show off the wonderful-ness of their area. And rightfully so, this area of Ecuador, is especially bountiful, but really ALL OF ECUADOR IS HEAVEN! If you haven't been here, you should! People from foreign lands, as well as the "natives" didn't just settle here over 482 years ago because it sucked!

So many things to do, and not enough to time, Mike is out of clay so we need to make a trek down to the Boca. We need to collect some wood too, maybe we will ask Nexar to drive down and help after he's sold out his bread, he often drives down before heading home. So, on that note...stay tuned, the adventure continues!

Busy week

So much has happened this week, I almost don't know where to start. I guess I'll start with Monday, I went to pay the power bill at the bank in town, and the machine was down, she said mañana. So Tuesday I went, still down, it was becoming necessary to go to Charapoto to pay at the office. While I waited for an answer of a quick ride, I got to watch the continuing saga of the new sea wall being built.

So much sand had washed away, these rocks were showing, so they dug them up and started making a wall. The owner of the lot next to the lot next door may have been the financier, or maybe the municipality, not sure. But most of the work was done at that other lot. 

Don't know if they are finished, or if it's just Saturday... Stay tuned

Didn't get to Charapoto Tuesday, but we got on the bus by 10am Wednesday, payed the bill, no problem $9, and were on our way. Stopped at the fabric store bought some new fabric for pillow cases, and other odds and ends in the "big city", remember Charapoto has a stop light!

While there, we walked past the rice mill, quite an impressive machine!

I bought 2 lbs in town for $1, how does that compare to US? It's been awhile...after shopping we stopped at our friends restaurant for lunch, it was on the way home and across from the welder.

Martha, the owner/operator is the mother of Christopher, who's godfather is Fernando Father fishermen, and the young man who chaperoned us on the shrimp boat last year. Small town...lunch was great, as always and we saw Rene the welder pull up just as we were finishing. We gave him our drawing, talked price estimate, and were on our way...

Thursday afternoon, Rene brought us this baby! Recycled truck tire rim turned into a grill, parrillada in Spanish. This was a spendier option, we liked the recycled aspect of it, but since it was once part of a vehicle he wanted to seal it for contaminates, it cost us $65. Smaller and rectangle would have been closer to $30, but from drawing to execution in less than 24 hrs and delivered, we are NOT complaining! 

I buy my carne from Jenny's tienda, I never know what I'm going to get, but a pound is $3.25. Brought this chunk home and Mike said, "that looks like tenderloin!" So steaks it was, they turned out great, so lean he had to add a little butter...potatoes onions and bell pepper in the foil packet and I steamed cauliflower. EVERYTHING was Tender and flavorful, the grill is a wonderful purchase we will use often, next shrimp?

And here we are Saturday morning, waiting for the organic egg man. Mike and I are both feeling a touch of bronchitis, and so I call for a lazy tv day. Catch up on some shows, and rest up. Hope y'all enjoyed our "busy week", many things in progress, I'll share next time...so, stay tuned, the adventure continues!

Charapoto

Before Carnivale we went shopping in Charapoto, it's about 5miles away, and we take the bus for .50 cents each way. It has one stop light, so you know it's bigger than our little village, and therefore has more to offer shopping wise. For instance, Charapoto is the closest fabric shop, flower shop, bike shop and has several large pharmacies, not to mention the huge market on the weekend. But this particular visit, we were more interested in the new sign! 

All around Manabi (our State, or province) these new signs are popping up. I hadn't realized that each letter had a different picture, representing the area, but up close I could see them all.

Cock fights and gambling, shrimp, fancy dancing horses, music and dancing...

Corn, Charapotos flag, the hills, rice and the church.

The hills are not usually so green, so beautiful January thru March.

This street is full to the brim with vendors on Saturday and Sunday market, but this day was very quiet.

The main street looking West, towards our village

And looking east, towards Roca Fuerte and PortoViejo. Just past noon and the stores were closing up for lunch and siesta. So much for anymore shopping, oh well. It's hotter inland, so we always love getting back to our lovely San Jacinto and beach breezes.

Can't wait to get our sign here in SJ, thought it might happen before Carnivale, but no...so, stay tuned! The adventure continues!

Hodge Podge

This post will  be a compilation of things from the past few weeks, cleaning out the camera roll and some last tidbits of info.

We saw another Christmas tree in Charapoto while at the weekend market, looks like in the past they've done the string of plastic bottles, but this year did something different on the tree form. It's Astro Turf, they call is cesped (cess-pay, the d is silent) we've just ordered some for our courtyard space, our friends at the Boca have it and it's lovely.

Charapoto is a very nice little town, I've said before it's about 4 blocks by approx 6blocks and a good outlet for items one can't get here in the "village". It's approx 5 miles from here, and a quick trip on the bus, usually .40 cents.

I don't even remember the circumstances of this picture, (it was taken way back on the 11th of December) and so much has happened since then, but I do love the juxtaposition of the old world and the new. If I'm seeing this correctly, the burro is tied to the four wheeler, yes?! Love it, certainly know I'm not in The States anymore...

Another shell project completed, this one is more of a wind chime than wall hanging, the shells clink against the bottles and make a nice sound, I'm thinking of adding a couple more bottles so it makes a bit more noise. The fishermen like our crafty side and brought us a present yesterday, Mike has an idea of something to do with our new treasures from the sea...

They shrank a little in the drying process, but very cool none the less. Looking forward to what else the pescadaro's bring us. We've got a standing order for a pound of fresh fish fillets on Tuesdays for $5, we used to pay $6, and I swear this pound is double the size what we used to get. 

Here's a funny one taken at dinner one night. Notice how the three cars are all parked different, the black one is parked diagonally, the next one is parallel parked and then Gino the bread man's truck... That's Ecuador for ya! No Rules!

Our new water pump leaked, and we've been rationing water the past couple days hoping the city would refill, but they are off schedule because of the holiday and it didn't fill last night, so we're calling on a water truck, it'll cost us $15 but worth it. Also waiting on a carpenter, need to have a fence built to keep the street dogs out of the courtyard, wanting an outdoor table to do our crafts on, and maybe some sort of shade structure. The hiccups here are getting smaller, and the new house is still great, we've survived the first 6 months, and they say they are the hardest...no kidding, but it does look like it's smooth sailing ahead. So Stay tuned, the adventure continues!

Charapoto shopping trip

On Friday we decided to take the bus into Charapoto, check out their fabric stores, (I'm sooo sorry I didn't get any pics Joan and ladies!) and see if they had a bakery. Rocafuerte has a very nice bakery, but they don't package well, and after a bus ride we end up with squished cake. But, I was talking about Charapoto...bus comes down the Malecon towards San Jacinto a couple blocks from our house, but we were talking and watching the ocean instead of watching for the bus and it passed us! We wandered into San Jacinto to see if maybe one of the restaurants spoke to us, but nothing did, and I just knew as soon as we ordered another bus would have gone by, and it was getting late.

But as we waited, we noticed that this encebollados cart had three flat tires, and Mike commented "that's Ecuador for ya". And I thought, " that's right! F*@# it! We're not giving up!" And just then another bus came, but we got one more picture.

Bus (or motorcycle) is the most popular mode of transportation, and the items this guy sells are bulky and cumbersome: toilet paper, cleaning supplies, and I'm not sure what else, but I'll watch for him!

We got moving, and into Charapoto right about siesta! Wouldn't you know it! I remembered a little restaurant we saw last time, Mike had said it looked interesting, so we ordered al muerzo. And when I say restaurant, it's a shade structure, dirt floor and plastic tables and chairs, this one did have tablecloths. Soup was good, entree was tuna "casserole" made with yucca, very much like potatoes, so I guess more apt would be tuna potato salad. Tasty, and really great naranja jugo. (Orange juice) $3 and filled some time, and if we do find a bakery, it'll be better that we aren't starving. Wandered the four blocks or so up/down and then the two blocks in either direction off the Main Street. (It has two stop light)

The sign out front said entero pollo $1.48 lb, I haven't looked it up, but it either says entrails, or entire...your guess is as good as mine. They looked especially silly as we walked up on them... We found a little panedaria (bread bakery) but what we really wanted was a cake store! But alas, it was not to be. Next time we go thru Rocafuerte I'll take my own Tupperware, and maybe our goodies will have a chance.

By now, the stores were rolling up their gates and opening back up for business. Found the fabric store, she didn't have a great color selection in what I was looking for, but she kept looking and found some teal, I'd gotten this Tshirt fabric in Bahia for $4 /meter but here it was $6, I went ahead and got some anyway, and chalked it up to they evened out to $5/ meter and it had made a BIG difference in our comfort level. We want to go to Bahia again when we have more money, there was a nice nursery, and the Tia grocery store. But then when we get our container, I won't need anymore Tshirt fabric, because I'll have REAL SHEETS! Real chairs! Our bed! Dog beds, Rugs, casserole dishes, cookie sheets, crock pot, microwave! More than one skillet, end tables, dinner table, coffee table! Make up table!!! (Not that I'm wearing much make up these days) shampoo ( big bottles from beauty supply), hair color, slippers, lamps! Ohhhh my lamps! Mirrors, this house has NOT ONE. Pictures, knick knacks, Veronica's dog dresses (I only packed 14), walking shoes, sun screen (I've got like 6 3pks from Target), reading glasses and sunglasses (we stocked up at the $1 store.) You know, a HOUSEFUL...

But, back on track, we left Charapoto and made it in time for a walk before high tide. We didn't take the pups, but soon. They really love it! Some items to add to our "what we find on beach walks" file:

Another wonderful day in Ecuador! Seriously the only thing that needs to change is for us to get our container, and some creature comforts and this is paradise! One of my former clients comments often, (I for the life of me, can't figure out how to reply to comments, but I do usually email) anyway, Joan asked if I would suggest a visit, and I absolutely would! I knew from reading other blogs that we would enjoy the weather, the food, and be ok with the slower pace of life. What I didn't know was how available ALL MODERN CONVIENCES ARE. They don't have WalMart, but close. Shop around, word of mouth from friends, that's what we do in the States too, right? People said stuff was expensive...$12k expensive? TONS of headache expensive? I wish I knew, but yes visit first, because it's not for everybody. The buses,or lack of, the random government office closings, the parades, late night festivals, roosters, barking dogs, language barrier...I was talking to Chase bank, trying to get a pin # for my cards cash advance and they said "just go into the bank with ID" but with the limited spanish, that's not an easy task. Even when I do type out a paragraph for the pocket translator, then the clerk has a question...which I can't understand, let alone answer. 

But we have faith, gumption, and a good attitude, thanks to everyone reading for your well wishes, prayers, crossed fingers and of course donations.( goFundme button at top right) We had some trickle in lately and it warms my heart! Thanks for reaching out, my faith keeps growing thru this trial! I remind myself that this is the BIGGEST move we've ever attempted, of course there will be bumps, but in the end it will all be sweet! Thanks again everyone, keep dreaming, and stay tuned. The adventure continues...

Moving day

Yesterday was moving day from Crucita to our new beach house in San Alejo. We had the driver Richard scheduled for noon with his truck, we got everything in one load and said good bye to Crucita. Dave the landlord had done quite a lot to get ready for us, made sure we had a double bed to sleep in, borrowed sheets and pillows from his Hostel punta bikini in San Clemente, and bought us some fresh calamari. The two areas we wanted roofing were complete, the internet is top notch, and the new fridge is gorgeous. We went to an early dinner (as we hadn't had any lunch) San jacinto hotel, nice place, good dinner, great view, and a swimming pool you can use for $2. Watched the sunset, enjoyed the sound of the crashing surf, and retired early. Was a great day!

We got settled, a little...we have almost no furniture, when we rented this house we expected our container to be here...we had to buy a fork, knife, spoon set for both of us, cutting knives, cutting board, cups, bowls, plates, skillet, spatula, Tupperware. I hate to purchase too much, because I must have faith that the container will arrive! Dave kept the bunk beds and the twin beds here so we can use the twin beds as couches, and the bunk beds will be shelves. One for clothes, and the other in the "pantry" for food. We have a bunch of shelves in the container, that I'd like to use in the kitchen, but right now there is NO storage.

We bought a coffeemaker back in June, so we had coffee this morning on the porch. Had to go for our exit walk thru at the Crucita house, so after a little snack we headed towards the bus route. We decided after we were done in Crucita we would check out Charapoto, it has a big outdoor market on the weekends, and from what we've seen from the bus, it's pretty bustling during the week. We were on the hunt for plastic chairs and maybe a plastic side table/step stool, we also needed some clothesline and clips, a water bottle (5gal) and tank of gas for the stove. We thought if we found all these items we could taxi home. 

I had forgotten that gas tanks are $65 to start and didn't bring enough cash, but we did get chairs, clothesline and clips. Also bought a huge tarp that we will use for privacy ( there's an open slated corner on the fence, right by the outdoor shower) and caught a taxi for $5. We will have to ask Dave, that may have been high. We dropped the stuff at home, got more cash and walked towards San Clemente to find al muerzo and then water and gas.

This was our view at lunch. The restaurant is called 5 Hermanos (brothers), al muerzo was good, pan fried fish with excellent flavor, light salad, no rice, no soup, but I did get some juice after asking, $3. Probably a little high, since we didn't get any rice or soup, but we are trying it all for the first time. The view was great though! Thirty cent ice cream from the tienda down the street and on into San Clemente for the rest of our quest. Of course as we were walking we saw many shops closed, and realized it was siesta, so we walked home on the beach, and decided we would go out later after it cooled off.

Above is looking North, and the other is looking South. Pretty empty, had the place to ourselves, decided to go home, change into bathing suits and get the pups. By the time we got back down there the waves were a little rough, so no swimming, but the pups had a great time running around on the sand. We took lots of video, will post a short one in the next day or so.

This evening we have to find an ATM, it's time to pay rent, and still need that $65 gas tank, from here on the tanks are $3 to refill. Water will be $7 for the first bottle, then $1 to swap out empty for full. Our electricity will be paid to Dave, it'll probably be around $18 per month. Speaking of rent!! Our Greensboro house rented, and I got a copy of the lease today in email, and noticed it was for TWO years!! Yippee! We can get a letter from the property management and copy of the lease to show Ecuador that we have income, and that will help with getting our residency. 

I think that about covers it, our first day in the beach house. Things are looking up, hiccups are dissipating and hopefully it will all be smooth sailing. Thanks for all your support and prayers, I especially enjoy writing about the good things, but hope I stay positive even when I'm describing bad things. Our worst day here is still better than our best in the States. Fresh beach air, good fresh food, and my sweet little family, life is good in Ecuador. The adventure continues!