Pizza delivery

For most of my readers, on any given day, if you wanted pizza your options would be numerous. Your options would include jumping in your car and driving to your favorite pizza place, or calling one of a hundred pizza delivery places and within X amount of time, voila! hot and fresh at your door...not so in this tiny fishing village of San Jacinto, at least not until recently.

A restaurant in San Clemente Ceibo y Bambu is owned and operated by an Ecuadorean man and his Spanish wife. When we first moved to San Alejo we would frequent it quite often, as it was one of the few places who offered other things than the usual coastal fare. The had fish and shrimp, but would put the Spanish flare in the spices and cooking techniques, and they also offered a very good hamburger, not to mention when they started up the brick pizza oven!

But alas, when we moved yet another mile farther away (a year ago yesterday) we went less and less. We liked the place, the atmosphere is great during the day, but at night the lights are TOO BRIGHT, like an operating room, so again, a reason we've not been lately.

About a month ago on Facebook they ( the restaurant) put the question out, would we be interested in delivery? And so many of us expats shouted yes! We live two miles away, and our friends down at the end of the Boca live three miles, that's a pretty long trek even for pizza! (Round trip 6 miles) Finally the menu was posted online and delivery was starting Tuesday thru Sunday from 3-8pm. 

So, Mike and I decided on what kind we wanted, we were getting two, because...leftovers! Yeah!! Then of course our Ecuadorean cell phone was dead, because we rarely use it, and had to wait for it to charge a little...but finally I was able to call in my order. They put the young daughter on the phone, but she could not understand my directions, giving directions is tricky because we have no address and we have no street in front of us, we are on the back side. After a bit of a struggle on the phone, she hung up and in a minute or so another lady called, Linda is an expat living here, though we've never met her. She was able to make sure the order was correct, and got the directions, we still said maybe call when they get to El Centro San Jacinto and I could walk towards the street.

That phone call from Linda was 5:45, we had our wonderful pizzas and were eating within an hour! I did have to go the two short blocks to town to meet the delivery guy, but he gave me a ride back to the house, and now knows where we live. We ate our fill, and enjoyed the leftovers for lunch the next day. Next time, I may just call Linda directly, and let her place the order, or maybe I'll bone up on my directional Spanish, and try my hand again. (Of course it should be easier since he knows where we live now)

Another first on the coast of Ecuador! Things are progressing all the time, I'm getting eggs, beer, water, coffee and now pizza delivered ! Life does NOT suck so, stay tuned...the adventure continues!

San Clemente Festival

I've said before the San Clemente Festival is "mucho loco" and we honestly weren't sure we were going to go, but low tide cooperated on Saturday, so we walked down to check it out. We missed the parade, but thanks to Facebook, I can still share photos. The festivities started with a week long evening mass at the statue of the Virgin.

It got fresh paint, windows cleaned and pretty fabric and floral decorations. Hundreds of plastic chairs were set up every night, and the towns people prayed for the strength of the Fishermen and the cooperation of the Ocean to bring the livelihood of the village. (Total paraphrase)

San Clemente always has a much bigger parade than San Jacinto, and this year was no exception. They had the children's English class taught by many of the expat women in the Norte Barrio

They dressed as pirates, pretty cute. As were this group...

The volunteer fire department, and volunteer lifeguards...

Another well costumed group of young performers...

Not sure who these guys are...they look like trouble. Probably SC's version of our Los Vagos (the lazy) group, the card playing men's club

And of course, the snake man...

Drum corp and the trick ponies

Everyone paraded down towards the main stage, where the prominent people were sitting, the Royal court, Queen and Princesses etc. May have been a tad weird at the end, the parade to a dead end, guess they just turned around and went back the way they came.

After the parade was over, the tables were set up for the Gala. We were in town from late afternoon til after 9, and never saw anybody sitting at these gorgeous tables, but after the band started I'm sure people sat. We did not stay late enough for the band, it wasn't to start til 11pm...

We wandered around, eating fair food and shawarma. 

There was a small merry go round, (my picture is blurry) and table games for the kids. 

I met a young man from Chone, and he said most of the tourists were from there. San Clemente is THE "vacation spot", where, most of the SJ visitors come from PortoViejo. (Don't know how much truth there is to that, but he spoke well and wanted to practice his English)

 

This had raffle tickets for sale, probably collection for next years events. We tried to hang out til Pablo's smoked sandwiches were ready, but honestly we'd had enough shawarma, we were ready to head home. 

As we walked southward we passed so many people heading into SC, so as the night wore on, it just got busier and more crowded. Glad we escaped when we did, we rounded the corner into SJ and sighed a sigh of relief, home...our peeps. We tried a new milkshake place, Casa Jeremy across from Minimart and had Oreo milkshakes for dessert. And ho hum, home by 11.

Sunday there were kids games in the square, and music in the afternoon.

Heard thru Facebook, there may have been a small fire, and someone fell and broke their eyebrow, ouch! Surprised that's all the damage, glad it was minor. Everybody had a great time, and I'm sure the town is quiet today. 

So, there you have it. Another San Clemente festival for the books, Charapoto is next on the festival circuit, Joffre took us last year, maybe we should start planning an outing. Stay tuned...the adventure continues!

Today's the day

Today is Carnavale, we were warned that it was to be crazy insane. We did loose power Monday midnight and it came on about noon, losing power meant loosing the floor fan, but other than that we weren't too bothered, coffee made on the gas stove, no worries. Flexible. Sunday We walked thru town and down the Malecon towards the old stomping ground, San Alejo, that WAS crazy insane. So glad we don't live there anymore, life would REALLY have been disrupted. The tide turns out to be high in the afternoon, so after the beach is gone, the partiers party on the Malecon. Bus traffic had to be diverted and getting a car thru is very slow going.

So many vendors, both food and jewelry/clothing. Beer tents, shaved ice carts and grill carts roaming the Malecon, activity everywhere. Car stereos competing with each other, honking horns and so much whistling. 

We were able to take our coffee at low tide this morning and see the beach as it was just waking up. It wasn't until noon yesterday that the beach infront of our house got full. Today will be another big beach day, and then tomorrow it should be back to normal. (Being our first, we will have to wait and see)

Tents at Crucita, across the Boca (mouth of the river)

Tents on the stretch of beach between the Boca and San Jacinto, never seen this many tents in this area before.

CottonCandy vendor on the beach out in front of our house, not something you see everyday...

The fishermen built a restaurant, that turned out to be great! Shrimp ceviche to days in a row, the yummiest I've ever had, really! Had drinks the other night with them, after the kitchen closed, Ramon, Fernando and Raphael are the fishermen we see everyday, and now we know the wives too. Very good neighbors! Vecino Bueno! 

Before and after its paint job, and our view from inside looking out, at our house.

Went into town last night, none of my pictures turned out tho, so we will try it again tonight. There was a bandstand set up, and I heard the band start around 10pm, but it wasn't loud enough to keep us awake, and once Mike woke up at 2am, he said it was quiet. San Jacinto just turns out to be a quieter, more tranquil kind of party. If you want wall to wall bodies, so loud your ears (almost) bleed, and paint/foam fights, go to San Clemente, they have the crazy.

So, like I said, since this is our first Carnavale, we have to wait and see, can't take anyone's word for how it will be, since we are all wired so differently. So far, if we want crazy we know where to find it. But stay tuned, because the adventure continues!

Walking the beach with "our dog". 

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!

[2014-06-22] sanALEJO House

Here is the first look at the house we are going to in August. It's in San Alejo between San Clemente and San Jacinto. It's right across the street from the beach! If you click the youTube logo in the bottom right corner you can make this bigger. Make sure you read the post before this to get all the details. Hasta Luego, Mike