Road trip? Why not...

We have been invited numerous times to a friends hotel under construction in the jungle, and it was never a good time, well this time it was. With the demolition next door, the lake out front and Mike's shoulder the invitation, including dogs and a ride was perfect timing. I'm glad I didn't ask how far a trip until we got in the car, because if I'd known it was 6 hours, we probably wouldn't have gone! But I'm glad we did.

We headed north thru Bahia and over the bridge headed to Jama. The road was pretty good, except non of the bridges met up with the road, they had all been filled in from where the earthquake jostled them out of place. 

The grande mono in Jama has a new sign

But part of him got broken from the earthquake, I don't think you can climb inside anymore.

In Jama we got breakfast, a really yummy "clean out the fridge" type of "empanadas". It had egg, chicken, some veggies and interesting spices. I liked it, but couldn't understand what Serrano our driver called it.

After Jama we continued on thru Perdenales, more rubble, tent cities and lots of plastic sheeting! Saw a shipping container converted to restrooms, labeled mujer y hombres.

After sometime we ventured inland, and saw less and less earthquake damage, and more green! About half way we stopped for lunch in Concordia and they had the cutest little motto taxis.

Wonderful lunch, fill up the gas tank, and we're off!

Our destination, the little blue dot, literally in the middle of no where! No wonder nobody could ever explain where the hotel was! 

We thoroughly enjoyed the scenery, Serrano is a very good driver, but after we turned onto the dirt road (for the last 2 hrs) it was almost unpleasant. Amazing things we got to see from the road...

Steps carved into the dirt, I certainly wouldn't want to do that after a couple cervezas! We saw a ladder for the first part, then climb up the mud, yikes!

Wildlife, along the way, there was NO adult, anywhere around this kid.

All this to see, and we haven't even arrived yet!!

This will have to be a multiple post series, because there is just so much to share. Next post will be the property surrounding the hotel, and the hotel post will be after the Grand Opening weekend late July. So, stay tuned...The adventure continues!

Joffre's Wild Ride 2.0

After we left the cascada (waterfall-see how easy Spanish is?) we drove North for about 10 minutes and arrived at a hotel. Joffre had said we would look over a high cliff and see all the surrounding area, he really wanted us to see this, even tho he turned out to be afraid of heights.

We finally got the door to open and were invited onto the property, and wow! A really amazing place, that we were happy to get to experience. A lighthouse, swimming pool (empty), several observation decks, party rooms, game rooms, restaurant/dining room, and nicely landscaped property.

Joffre pretending he's not afraid of this height, but then the view from his perch...

The grounds have some antiquities nestled in the foliage, and a glass bottle art piece, that got our wheels turning...

The place was built years ago, and some of it has an "adult motel" feel, but not in a bad way...

Naked ladies in the mural, and this room had a stage complete with stripper pole, Bachelor party anyone? We didn't get to see any of the private rooms, but I'm sure they were comfy.

It was a long way down, and Joffre (and Mike for that matter) wanted nothing to do with it.

They had guests in these two common areas when we were touring, so I didn't get pictures, but these are from their website, Restaurant dining room with of course more fantastic views. For more info go to their website PuntaPrieta.com  Rooms started at $30 a night or so a sign outside the gate said...

We all enjoyed this stop on the tour, but by this time we were starving, so he got our driver to take us down to the small town of El Matal on the water for lunch.

The Malecon is very short here, maybe a mile of businesses, the rest was beach and boat parking. 

We said goodbye to our driver, paid him $25 for the time we'd spent with him, (probably close to 4 hrs) and went for lunch. We all had almuerzo, $3 got us potato and tuna ensalada, it was cool and refreshing, and came with wonderful fresh orange juice.

By this time we were dead tired, had had a big day and were ready for naps on the bus ride home, but where were we?! And HOW were we getting to the bus? We'd let our driver go, and this seemed a very sleepy area...but never fear, Joffre was on the scene. He spoke to people waiting on the side of the road, found out a truck would come by and for .50 cents a person would drive you into the town center. We found some shade, and waited, sure enough about 20 minutes later a truck came by, and we all squeezed in, Mom and Alan in front, and Mike, Joffre and I in the back.

El Centro was buzzing, being Sunday afternoon there was a market set up including flower vendors, and numerous food carts. Glad we got to see that, but no pictures, sorry. Another welcome sight, was the air conditioned bus, ahhh to sit and relax. Didn't quite nap, but got to sit and reflect on the days adventure, and boy was it! We did end up spending almost $100, with bus fare for 5, driver, and lunch, but what a day!

So, there you have it, our super fantastic, wonderfully exciting, amazing day with our favorite Ecuador tour guide and número uno amigo, Joffre!  Stay tuned, the adventure continues...

Joffre's Wild Ride

Joffre is our "Go To Guy" in San Jacinto, he was one of the first Ecuadoreans we met and got to know, and he's been our source of information and tourism for almost a year! When he heard my parents were coming, he wanted on the schedule! He loves his country and to show off all it has to offer, for some time he's been talking of "the big monkey", he knows the name King Kong, and said we needed to go to Jama to see it. We knew it was about two hours by bus, but that doesn't always tell you what the day will hold, fasten your seatbelts! Joffre's Wild Ride starts now...

We got an early start, met Joffre in town at 8am, caught a bus going past Bahia, across the bridge to San Vicente, there we changed buses to Jama.

Such a beautiful view of Bahia from this side of the bridge. Our first visit over into San Vicente, and it looked quite charming. Lots of street construction, which means it's a mess now, but will be very nice in months to come. The bus stop was infront of a very large Catholic school.

This bus was Muy frio, glad we had brought shawls, the drive was beautiful, as we traveled away from the coast the landscape got greener and more dense. We could see farms and plantations all around, the clouds hung a little low and it was magical, but darn that bus was cold! After some time we abruptly got off the bus...and behold!

The Negro Mono Grande...we had to ask Joffre why they made such a statue, and he said it was because they had many monkeys living in the hills of the surrounding area, who knew? ( he said just like the statue of tuna in Manta, and the fish statue in San Jacinto, makes sense)

Can you see it's made of Palm fronds, spray painted black? Pretty cool.

There are stairs (or maybe just a ladder) inside, and one person at a time can go inside. Joffre scampered up for the photo op, but then a bus of teenagers pulled up, so the rest of us didn't get to go...oh well. Joffre is such a joy to be around, he's really a big kid, and he delights in everything! 

We had come quite a way, just to turn around and go back, so Joffre found a tourism truck that was either $5 per person, or by the hour and he took us to a waterfall and to see a cool hotel on a cliff. This was the Mr Toads Wild Ride part of the day, especially for Alan and Mike in the back of the truck...

Past Cocoa, Banana, and Papaya farms, past a rock quarry and some road construction, and voila,

Yep, this was what we were looking for...but wait...a short walk later

Joffre was quick to lose his shoes and socks, and even pulled a towel from his backpack, he was prepared! I was more interested in the plant life, and per Joffre's urging brought some specimens home for house plants. (Maiden hair Fern, air plants, elephant ear and another Fern)

We got a National Geographic moment walking past these leaf cutter ants, they were amazing to watch, up and over logs and rocks, I can't believe they couldn't find the right leaves closer to their destination, but whatever! Fun to watch.

We headed back to the truck, not quite knowing what was next, but when we are with Joffre we don't worry, we are in good hands. The day was only half over, there was more to see...but I will save the second half of the day for another blog post...so stay tuned, the adventure continues!