Our day in Porto Viejo

Wolf made me a doctors appointment yesterday, suggested he pick us up early and he'd take us around Porto Viejo and back to Supermaxi, so we did. We started off at the fruit stand, which we thought was about 2 miles away, he told us it was 10 miles! (Maybe we'll take the bikes) they had almost everything, and prices were great!

We got all this for $2.00, and found out on the weekend the next town over has a really good "farmers market" that we can get to by bikes, so soon we will be doing that!

Onto Porto Viejo, some sights I found interesting. Chicken vendor, outdoor sports arena of some kind, and pool hall.

Notice how clean the streets are, we've been very impressed with the cleanliness of the cities. Smoking doesn't seem to be very popular, I've only seen maybe 3-4 people smoking the whole time we've been in Ecuador, maybe it's the expense of it, but it makes for clean gutters. Next is a building under construction, notice the bamboo, they use it as scaffolding, and they build one floor at a time, then when it's finished they move everything up to the next. Sometimes this takes a while, as they may run out of money, and the Ecuadoreans are not big on credit. They do what they can, when they can.

This one is a "historic sight", Yikes! in the States the government would have this condemned! But they let them keep it here, for history, they don't have to tear it down, but the owner could restore it if they wanted to, or could afford to. Next is a government building, and just more around town.

Gasoline is subsidized by the government, at $1.48 gallon but when the average Ecuadorean only makes $6000 a year, it's still expensive, so many have scooters or motorcycles. They are everywhere, here is a popular place to park apparently. I'll revisit an earlier post about power lines turns out most of these wires are telephone, there are power lines in the mess, but it's not as bad as we first thought.

Now, on to Supermaxi, every bit as accommodating as the grocery stores in the States, they are in every larger city in Ecuador.

After we apply for residency we can get a discount card, and if we submit something at the end of the year, get reimbursed on part of the taxes we paid on groceries. More on that as I know more. After the shopping we went to the doctors, I've been cleared to start walking! He looked at my previous X-ray, said it was very minor, and to walk one week with one crutch and the boot, and then try to walk without the crutch. He said to wear the boot for another month, then I should be good as new. I could go back at the end of one month for new X-rays, but didn't sound like it was necessary. Luckily we had Wolf, because the doctor spoke very little English, but it was $40 and Mike and I feel good about it. I could have gone to a government run hospital for free, but Wolf said there are long waits and very crowded, as you would expect for being free. He also made the comment, " you get what you pay for", but for many it's the only option.

So there you have it, our day trip to Porto Viejo. Hope you enjoyed the photos, we are really enjoying this adventure, and bringing it to you. Now that I'll be walking, I can get to the beach!  Buenos Dias!