the Continuing Adventure
Cemetery in nearby Charapoto.
On the way to Portoviejo, this little town is in a low spot, and floods EVERY year.
Further up north.
The sky has been gray the last few days but little rain, hopefully some of these inland places are getting dried out as well. Stay tuned, the adventure continues.
This house is farther from town, but closer to the ocean and without many houses around, I get breezes from all sides. Can not get the photo of the outside from my phone to the tablet, but Monday I will have work being done, so will post outside pics later. First thing I had to do, was make a closet as these little Miduvi houses dont come with much but the basics.
There were plenty of cinder blocks outside, and a broom handle later, voila.
Front porch, faces north so is always in shade.
Living room, yesterday tho I took up the rug, still too much muddy foot prints.
Perry photo bomb. I will hang some of my artwork on the latice.
Kitchen is a work in progress and so is the bedroom. The property is only partially fenced and so I have someone coming on Sunday to give me quote on fence and a shade structure. The windows also do not have screens, so that needs done, but for $120 a month not too shabby. (Water and power included)
So...stay tuned, more photos and the adventure continues!
Tourists start rolling in Thursday afternoon and have several beach days before the night time dancing, Sunday night San Jacinto had an Orchestra and tho I was starting to feel a cold coming on I went down for awhile. At most I think there were 1000 people and shenanigans were at a minimum...unlike in neighboring San Clemente!
No one was safe from being sprayed by foam. (One reason people dont usually complain about rain, is it washes all this foam off). This photo was taken in front of the disco, and you can see wall to wall people behind them. (No gusta)
And in Crucita, across the river...
And in Manta...
Just not my cup of tea. I enjoyed my little fiesta, me and 1000 of my closest neighbors. I probably was the only expat there...but Monday night I stayed home, my cold was hanging on, and I didnt need to be out again. Last night was the last hurrah, and the party went til about 4am, it wasnt very close to the house so did not keep me awake, but is very quiet in the barrio this morning.
Some folks will pack up and go home, others will stay thru this weekend and enjoy more beach days. I have been thinking about these folks, families of 5 or more taking a beach vacation...how many in the US can afford to do that? Sad...the simple life, seems to me to be much better...so stay tuned, the adventure continues!
Very sweet girl, well behaved, Not potty trained (tho learned very quickly) skinny and full of ticks. I started with getting rid of the ticks, more than 30 on this little thing. Then a bath, she did not like it, but learned the less she fought me, the faster it went. Flea and tick med, and three meals a day. She learned her name quickly, and is more apt to potty outside when it isnt pouring down rain. I expected puppy all the way, chewing, cant be left alone, but she did very well. ( Perry was less than pleased)
Making herself right at home on Perry's bed. She is going to a home with a 12 year old boy, so she will get lots of playtime, and I think she will do great. She also is chill enough that laying on someone's lap is good too. Enjoy your forever home Miss Moon, I know I will see you again... stay tuned, the adventure continues.
Often on busy beach days off duty fishermen take their boats down to the river and take tourists on boat rides. That is why Elvis and Luis were there, they saw Ingeborg and dogs floating out to sea and promptly scooped her and pup out of the water. They knew she was in bad shape, so high tailed it down to the Navy station who then got the volunteer firemen involved. One of the firemen is a member of the San Clemente San Alejo San Jacinto Facebook and put her picture on the site, as she had no identification, and he did not know her.
She was taken to the hospital in Bahia and soon after her picture was posted, her husband and friends from Crucita were notified. She was reuinited with both dogs and is recovering from the ordeal. She was beyond grateful to Elvis and Luis and wanted to find them and thank them. I got on the task, and found them on Facebook in no time, sent messages, and have been writing to them relaying her thanks and wish for meeting them in person.
Even in paradise the unspeakable can happen, thank goodness we have social media and a great number of wonderful caring people who live here. I know them men will be embarrassed at getting gifts, because they were just being human, but Ingeborg is just so grateful to be alive. And I am glad I could be involved and help.
So...stay tuned, the adventure continues!
The roads are a mess. Even the paved roads become muddy when a car comes from a muddy side street...so even tho I have boots, it is slippery everywhere. Sometimes best to stay home. Then...there is this...
Yep...and Toby, who is NOT my dog
Gotta love them, It didnt take me long to start closing my bedroom door when I get up in the morning. Ugh, muddy foot prints everywhere!!
And THAT is why I took the cushion covers off, and have towels over the furniture, also took up the shaggy rug and replaced with the woven plastic rugs. I brought the cushions from the patio inside the other night, but forgot my pool towel hanging to dry...looks like it may be a couple more days, hahaaa.
Stay tuned, rain or shine...the adventure continues!
But after a nasty letter from my mother...here we are, a new blog!
I did some painting back before Christmas, and the hot season started. This a mural for a 14 year old. And his little sister got one too.
Spruced up a ratty plastic table while dog sitting for Laqueta and Mike recently. It wont last, but looks a lot better, and a fun afternoon for me.
Also have been doing a bit of sewing, this was one of the first endeavors. A bag for Jerri's yoga mat. She can sling it over her shoulder while riding the scooter.
Another mural of sorts...the owner of the house and her cement workers made this "relief" for better word, and I painted it to bring out the full potential. Im not crazy about it, could have worked on it for days getting lots of fiddly bits painted on, but she was happy with it. ( beautiful pool area at this house!)
And some house signs Im not sure if I shared...
Almost too hot to do anything these days, the rainy season has started, but so far not too bad. Only getting down to 77F at night, and up to 88F or so in the day, lots of pool time and walks in the ocean breeze, because my little casita is hot hot hot. As a matter of fact, Im gonna have to move again, cant live couped up in AC for the next 2-3 months. So...stay tuned, the adventure continues!
Here in Ecuador Santa Claus is called Papa Noel, a little over a year ago we had some expats relocate from Texas, and they brought costumes with them. The little kids, and adults absolutly love it when they dress up, and these two had many many engagments. They went to five different schools, giving out bags of candy and taking pictures, did two (at least) parties in Centro and also went with my friend Leo and I to hand out food boxes to a very needy village.
Someone was having a birthday party the day we showed up, and word spread when Papa and Mama Noel drove up in a taxi!! The kids came running down the hill, so excited.
We had been a day or so befor and knew there were 24 families that lived in this village, and 38 children between 1-10 years of age. Since the birthday party was going on, there were more children than we had candy bags for...but they were so well behaved, and the older kids made sure the younger ones got one first. We also had brought toys, but again since there were more kids, we opted to give them to the school house, and the whole community could play with them. Everyone said thank you and no shoving. Even my kids in San Jacinto arent as well behaved...
Bringing smiles and a bit of joy to these families made the season worth it. We will certainly do it again next year, and maybe adopt another village also. We made $10 gift boxes with rice, lentils, oil, sugar, flour, coffee, milk, yogurt and tuna...not much, but $10 they can now spend on something else. Such a small thing, but so appreciated.
I will try to be a better blogger, I have been lazy...but it’s a new year so, stay tuned...the adventure continues!
North America is not the only place busy in the last months of the year, we dont have all the consumerism as the States, but busy it is. We recently had a new Cruise ship facility opened in Manta, what looks like a beautiful building to welcome tourists to our shores.
We also had the 6th annual Appreciation dinner held by Coacmes, the local Coopertiva Bank. The dinner is for the expats who choose to live and do business here in Manabi. A bus from Crucita, the town across the river and to the south brought a bunch of people, and it was a very nice free evening. Since I live very close to the hotel where the dinner was held, I had my “tribe” over for drinks first. The hotel actually owns my little casita, so I felt obligated to go, it was my first time, not disappointed. Food, drinks and entertainment was wonderful.
In San Clemente they always do a large Christmas tree in the center of town, this year it was made of plastic water bottles again, but different. We all joined after dinner one Saturday night to watch the lighting and erecting of the tree. Such a nice small town feel, that Im sure used to take place in the States way back when.
And it is still busy, I very recently got asked to help gather donations for the children of San Jacinto’s Christmas, a little late, as San Clemente has been collecting all year. We have 17 expats living in San Jacinto, and I was only able to collect $100...sad. Next year I will open an account at the Coacmes in town, and ask that people do a monthly donation of $10 all year so when we need it, it is there. (Many expats donated to SC, thinking they were collecting for ALL the villages, but alas...not the case)
We had our first rain last night, and yesterday was a very hot day, we can tell the weather is changing. But...Quito had snow a week ago...wow, better them than me!
As for Perry and I, we are busy with sewing and painting projects, house sitting, and trying to take off some extra pounds I somehow picked up...grrr. Biking to San Clemente today for bagging of Christmas candy and haircuts...so stay tuned, the Adventure continues!
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!
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!!
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!
