El Niño?

At my house the fishermen are my weathermen, when they move their boats, I know to watch for high water. This past week the ocean has been taking sand from in front of the house, it's constantly changing...

All these rocks used to be buried under several feet of sand, it's not that big a deal for us, but I'd think it would be dangerous for the boat guys coming in and out, in the dark especially.

We had a really big rain a couple nights in a row, and today the debris from the River has begun to surface on our beach. At the moment it's just dislodged water hyacinth plants and some bamboo, but from last year, I know there will be much much more.

Some photos from Facebook, to show what the ocean has been doing in other parts of Ecuador and SA...

Monsterous waves on the Coast of Chile

Above is Bahia, below is Crucita

Even tho the weather is warm, it is still Winter, and so these are our "winter storms"...won't really know if it's El Niño til it's over probably...but the bright side, when there has been lots of rain, the sunsets are even more spectacular!

Photo courtesy of Casa WF (above)

Note the difference in sand in this picture, none of those rocks in the first picture are showing yet.

Well, that's all for now, hope everyone stays safe from their "winter storms", stay tuned...the adventure continues!

Manta friends

I'm sure you all thought we had gotten washed away...almost two weeks since a post, lo siento! (I'm sorry, in Spanish)

Well, we survived the high tides, we had to do some sweeping, and shoveling of sand, but no damage. High tide coincided with happy hour, so we sat out with a drink and watched the water come closer and closer, and then slept well knowing we weren't going to drown! 

We invited our Manta friends, whom we met at the weekend of the air show, (a blog readers family) to have a day at the beach on Saturday. We had lots of snacks and a cool overcast day, good conversation and a very nice afternoon.

Our friend Felipe's cousin Soledad, here with Mike and I. She lived in the States for a couple of years, so her English is very good, and their daughter is learning English in school, so it was a fun mix of English and Spanish for the afternoon festivities.

The girls were very interested in all the crafty stuff I do, and we talked about Pinterest and all things recycled most of the day. They live near the beach too, but don't get the shells we do, they couldn't believe all the fun ones we'd found.

Later at low tide, the boys took a walk down to the Boca and Mike showed Rubelly and Samuel the Mangalar tower, little Samuel loved it! What a great place for a five year old boy!!

The day was a huge success, all the kids (even ours) were very well behaved, and we have plans for an outing after Carnivale. 

At one point the fishermen were coming in, so Rubelly went to help push the boat to shore, and was rewarded with fish and some small crabs. Our shrimp guy came by and gave them my "family discount" and they took home plenty of seafood for cheap!

They really enjoyed getting to hang with us, under the new shade, and right on the beach. We are so thankful for getting to visit with our blog reader Felipe, and for him introducing us to his wonderful family. Thanks again Felipe! Hope you are well, as for your family, they are doing great!

Carnivale is early Feb this year, and I'm trying to get some shell and painted driftwood things made for sale, so I've only got a couple more weeks, yikes! Then we will plan an outing with Soledad and Rubelly, either to a monkey reserve, or another beach community, Frailes...whatever we do, we know we'll have good food, and great company, so stay tuned, the adventure continues!

Time flies

Gosh over a week since my last post, where does the time go? The days just drain away, and next thing I know it's time for the fruit truck, or the egg man...what have we been up to this week? Let me look around...

We've been spending a lot of time outside, the weather has been getting hotter, so outside is the place to be. (Our little thermometer in the house said 90 the other day) I've been wanting to do outdoor shelves, and got this idea from Pinterest, had Mike help and we think they turned out good for first attempt.

Sitting outside with coffee the other morning, and had this visitor in the vacant lot next door. Never know what's going to turn up at the beach...

We took the bus to Bahia the other day, did some shopping "in the BIG city", bought another box fan, a new kitchen clock (because even tho we have little on our schedule, I still like to know what time it is) Mike got some new sunglasses, and I bought a couple sundresses with Christmas money. We had a good day, and got to see one of the new signs, apparently there is another one on the ocean side, next time.

That's about our life, lounging here there and everywhere...

We had an impromptu party out front with the fishermen the other day, enjoyed an afternoon talking with a couple guys we'd not spent time with before. We also invited our Manta family to the house for a beach day San Jacinto style this coming Saturday, looking forward to that.

Carnivale is next month, and I'm trying to get some crafty things made to sell to the tourists, so enough blog, I gotta get busy! Thanks for tuning in, stay tuned...the adventure continues!

Feliz Ano!

I'd forgotten since last year, but around here people just say "Happy year!". Whatever you say, hope 2016 will find everyone happy and healthy!

We are usually up and down with the sun, and New Year's Eve was no exception...we went to a pool party, and had every intention on going home early afternoon to nap, but it didn't happen. I woke up once at 10, and should have gotten up, but I didn't and the next time I woke was 12:06 to fireworks.

Not the first time, and probably not the last we have missed the ringing in of the new year, oh well.

The beach has been jumping for the week between holidays, but yesterday afternoon it got quieter and quieter as the out of towners packed up and headed home. And now, the beach is back to its tranquilo self, and we are happy to have it.

Last nights sunset didn't disappoint, I never get tired of this view! 

The next big deal is Carnivale, apparently in early February this year, so I have a little over a month to get some inventory made. I've decided to open a little gift shop in Centro (and by open I mean ask if the tiendas want to make a percentage to sell my items from there). I'll make some shell wall hangings, wind chimes and painted driftwood signs, guess I better get busy! 

We want to get together with our Manta people soon  and continue learning Spanish. Actually 2016 probably won't be too different for us, beach walks, collecting shells, fruit trucks, smoothies, cold cervezas, and sunsets. And if I want to sell anything at Carnivale, I know what I'll be doing for the next couple weeks, so stay tuned! The adventure continues...

Feliz Ano!