Protests and Presents

I'm sure I've mentioned before, I get all my news from Facebook, I've never been one to sit and watch story after story of tragedy, and these days are no exception. Thru Facebook I learned soon enough of the most recent killing spree in the U.S., and if I had needed more info, I could have googled it and learned plenty, but I had enough info, sad is sad, I didn't need details. I'm sure if I sat down to watch a news hour, I'd see good stories with the bad, and here on my Facebook it's the same. Today's Facebook news is a protest in Manta.

I DID think I needed more info, so I googled it...didn't get a whole lot, but I gathered the protest is about the mayor. No big surprise that apparently not everyone in Manta likes the Mayor, not much news there, it's the same in every city.

There is speculation of corruption, something about a land deal that went sideways. People may or may not have been cheated, I read the city had wanted to buy some land for either a water treatment facility or some other reason, and people were only being offered .47 cents per square meter for their land. So that's not good, but then I read something else that said, the plan never came to fruition and the land was all given back...like I said I've never been one for news.

Another thing I read, was that there was a "march" to gain support for the traffic police getting a higher pay wage. So because I got these pictures from Facebook, there's no telling what's really going on, but now you know!

And the GOOD news...in Jaramijo, not far from Manta, Santa Claus came early, in the form of 8 boats! The reigning Queen on San Jacinto turned me on to this story, and it's a sweet one.

Not sure where the boats came from, but they were given to  "de la Federación de Cooperativas Pesqueras Artesanales del Ecuador". 

Looks like the boats all have fresh paint, and see those boxes in the corner of the picture...guess what's in there?!

Just like Christmas!

Towns people at the ceremony, and some very happy campers...

I noticed that Fernando Father Fisherman's original Robinson boat is gone, I'll have to ask him where it went, and how much the new one cost. (I really have no idea how much the boats cost.)

Well, there you have it...protests and presents, all the news there is to know...from Facebook. We just had some visitors over the fence, Joffre brought the organic egg man, and we bought 10 for $2, I usually buy a dozen for $1.80 so they are a little more expensive, will just have to see if it's worth it. And Ali was out soliciting his famous Coco Chicken, we ordered two, and he said he would deliver at six, that's fun! One last thing, my finished kitchen rug...

I sprayed it with clear coat, and was able to just sweep it off, not bad if I do say so my self...on with the day, stay tuned, the adventure continues!

When all else fails, Paint it!

My plastic planters are looking pretty sad these days, being that they are over a year old and have been in constant brutal sun, so I started painting them. I did a quick not so great primer coat a couple weeks ago, and when the power went out yesterday morning, I gathered my paint and sat outside.

After I got the design painted and dryed, I sprayed with clear coat. They may not last forever, but you know I like to change things up, so I may just be ready for another design when this one fades.

And another one, in progress

And finished...with bonus sunset

Mi gusta! Now another project I'm working on. I took a very tired and dirty kitchen rug, and covered it. Rugs are expensive here, these half moon rugs with plastic backing are $6! (not to mention a trip by bus to the "big city") I was recently given a pair of jeans that were too big for a friend, and thought it might be a good fabric to use. I started with a rug like this one, but with a lot of white in the pattern, and it was not getting clean.

I had some "Elmers" glue, I painted on the old rug, and smoothed the denim over, then hot glued the edges, folding them under as I went. First attempt is never the best, but I'm happy with it. I'd been wanting to play with bleach, seeing some great designs on Pinterest, so I took a piece of scrap and practiced. It wasn't going to be instant design, but it would work. After the bleach did its thing, I added some paint, and that's where I had to stop and let it all dry. 

I'll add some more bleach and paint, and I'll have a new kitchen rug! I know it wouldn't stand up in a washing machine but I don't have to worry about that, since I don't have one. And talk about trash to treasure, because I was certainly getting ready to throw it out! I'll finish it today, and share next time.

Don't know if y'all noticed these hanging on the fence in a previous post, recycled yogurt bottles, prettied up with paint, fabric, macrame and beads. And we've started putting our cameras, cords, chargers and iPhones in Tupperware, last night in front of the TV I made rice bags to go inside the Tupperware. Anything we can do to keep what's nice, nice.

Another day of sun, fun and crafting, my life on the coast of Ecuador does NOT suck. I could do this forever, so...stay tuned, the adventure continues!

Enough about me...who are YOU?

I don't get many comments, not much feedback from my readers, I read other blogs and it seems every reader has to throw their two cents in, so for that I thank you...but I don't have a clue as to who you are! So I've decided to do a little survey and find out who my audience is.

Instead of doing a real survey (Mike said it would be easy, but...) I'll just throw some questions out there and you can answer what you want.

CURRENT LOCATION

    IF EXPAT, BIRTH COUNTRY

CURRENT OCCUPATION

    IF RETIRED, FORMER OCCUPATION

HOW'D YOU FIND MY BLOG?

IF YOU SEARCHED ECUADOR BLOGS, WHY?

DID YOU SUBSCRIBE?

HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN FOLLOWING?

WHAT DO YOU ENJOY MOST ABOUT THIS BLOG?

WOULD YOU SUGGEST IT TO OTHERS?

DO YOU HAVE ANY BLOGS TO SUGGEST TO ME?

This is all the info I have on you, my dear readers. Not very Informative, and not very personal. I've noticed on the flag counter I have collected 45 U.S. State flags, I've yet to have readers from:

North Dakota, Rhode Island, Vermont, New Hampshire and Arkansas, so if you know somebody in one of those states, share!

ANYTHING YOU WANT TO TELL ME?

ANY LINKS YOU THINK MIGHT INTEREST ME?

Let's say I give y'all a week to get your answers to me, then I will compile what info I've been given and share. I look forward to hearing from you, no pressure, no obligation, if you want to stay anonymous that's fine, tell me as much, or as little as you like. I'm all about confidentiality, so rest assured when I share what info I've been given, I will edit accordingly.

Ok, ready set, share! And of course, stay tuned, the adventure continues!

  

Power outage putterings

I like to putter.  I used to make lists, actually I used to make lists and put things on the list that I'd already accomplished, just so I could cross it off. But these days the only lists I make are for groceries, because I am definatly at the age that I may not remember if it's not written down. So my puttering goes a little all over the place, I do tend to get side tracked, but hey, life is Tranquillo, so as long as one thing gets done, everything else is gravy.

The other day before our walk we came up with a new design for a shell collector, we have numerous 1litre bottles I've been saving, and we decided to cut a hole in the side and tie around Mikes belt loop, or our travel pack and voila, hands free! He even drilled holes in the bottom, so we could wash them right in the carrier.

But that got us thinking, what else could we use the bottles for? We'd already done the bag holder for the fishermen, and Mike thought shell storage would work too, he was right! Look how nice and organized and pretty they are! Much better than the ziplock bags I had them in before! I could even lay them down and stack them, as long as the opening was on top...

We were eating lunch outside the other afternoon, Mike had been glueing shells on canvas, and I was, well puttering, (Watering plants, moving things around) and we decided to move our outdoor couch to an area where there was more shade. That always gives me plenty of things to do, sweeping where the new piece will go, sweeping where the piece moved from, moving tables, plants, decorations. So here is a view of the finished, rearranged patio, always a work in progress.

I'd put this black plastic tarp here to block the wind, mostly for the plants, but for us too, to have somewhere to get out of it, if it was too much. I'd like to have Manuel come back and add more boards to these two sections, it would be prettier than the plastic...

Where the couch used to be, plants love it back in this area, away from the wind and salt. My Manuel shelving unit, which I have morning glories planted in front of the trellis, so they will eventually grow up and hide the shelf unit. Will do shells here on the table, the overhang from vecinos roof gives about 3ft of shade next to the building, and there's always the umbrella if it's not too windy.

This side didn't change all that much, this is our sunset watching area.

Shadrach's "lookie out post", he hates that he is too short to see over the concrete wall, so he loves to sit on top of this chair and survey his kingdom.

Veronica tends to stay out of the wind, if she can help it. (And she likes the softer furnishings.) Speaking of softer furnishings, I had a visit from my friend Becky not too long ago, and she made a comment about the dog bed I made, so I made one for her schnauzer, Kaiser.

I've also been getting house plants going. We bought some in Bahia when we were there with blog reader Mark and Kathy.

Repurposed coconuts, I made macrame slings for them, then decided to hang them from one central point. The trailing plant is planted right in the coconut, the wandering Jew is in water in a jelly jar, and the third one is empty waiting for cuttings from our friends at La Boca.

The power came back on around 4pm, our friends were headed down for Happy hour, and I needed a shower, so snacks had to share the table with the shells, but life is Tranquillo, and nobody minded.

Even with the power being out so much recently, it still beats going to work for 40hours or more a week! I'd much rather putter in paradise!!! And with that said...stay tuned, the adventure continues!

Mangrove project Part 2

First, let me say I've been wanting to get this posted for almost a week! This morning is the only day we've had power past 7am! But, that's a story for another day. Finally got pictures from the new camera, not an easy task either, Mike had to mess with them, making them smaller or some darn thing and I didn't even get all of them! (but I hear they've done even more to the project, so there might even be a part 3.)

This is the observation deck from the river side, turned out really cute, with the thatched roof. One of the neighbors has been painting signs. They've also been getting more trash out from the mangled root masses.

Another sign above, but also added "rungs" to the walkway, because it was such a steep incline. The view from the first floor landing...

And the stairs up to the second landing are STEEP!

The walkways wind around, thru the mangrove roots and end up at another observation deck. 

Next time we walk down to the Boca I will take some more pictures, decide if we need a part 3, or if I can just add them to another post. So...stay tuned, the adventure continues!

Mangrove project Part 1

Sometime in May our friends at the Boca (mouth of the PV River) told us of some construction going on behind their house in the mangroves. It was several weeks before we ever saw anything other than these pilons, but over the past 5 months things have really progressed! This is the architect and job foreman, there was a crew of maybe six, a truck dropped them off every morning with their tools and supplies.  While we house sat (June 1-15) we watched them everyday, watched the wives bring lunch and the children to eat with the men, and they always waved and said good morning or evening.

Then on top of the footings, multiple walkways were built.

At this point, we learned it was an Observation Platform, something about being able to watch the river, the mangroves and wildlife. This is the view one would see from the deck.

There were some weeks that nothing was being done, and we thought the project was abandoned, but when they came back to work, we found out they had been called to another job. All is well, the project will be finished...and added to...a Zip line!? That's what they said, a zip line to where? The mangroves on the other side of the river? Then what?! So many questions...still unanswered, but we wait.

This sign was finally placed on the main road to educate the public. And we saw this on Facebook.

The project continued, more and more wood was brought in for the railings, and we could kinda tell what it was going to look like, a lot of speculation and sneaking over after the workers left to check on progress.

Of course the workers had tide issues the whole time, and when the ocean threatened to wash away their small piece of beach, they took it in stride, always a smile and a wave! Phase one is finally complete, stay tuned! The Mangrove project and the adventure continues!