Mompiche to Montanita....the beach is callin'

We had a spectaular drive along the coast of Ecuador today from Mompiche to Manta.  We stopped along the way at Pedermales.  (see pics attached).  Popped in to a bar on the malecon in Pedermales and enjoyed the beach and watched a friendly game of poker by the locals.   We have truly seen some of the most gorgeous scenery I have ever been lucky enough to view.  Skippy and I ventured into the jungle for a bit yesterday in search of howler monkeys.  Didn't see any, but we did find a great place to stay right in the jungle...it was only $2.50 a night to stay...YES..$2.50!  We will definitely try it out on our next visit.  We have driven over 1000km so far and have spent a whopping $23 on gas!!  Gas is $1.48 a gallon (not litre)!  Most people cook with propane and a 40lb tank runs abut $2 or $3 to fill and about $6 to have them delivered each month.  You can live comfortably here for six months on $1300!!!  Need I say more....

Today we head into Montanita and I will update with pics and news after arrival.  The temp is expected to be in the 40's...bring it on!

Cayembe to Cotacachi

So Cotacachi is by far on top of the list so far as a retirement location.  It is very nice.  The Main Street would be equivalent to Spring Garden Road at home as far as shops/restaurants are concerned.  The shops are amazing.  You can actually smell leather in the air when you get out of your vehicle as a majority of the shops sell leather products all produced in Cotacachi - from shoes, boots, purses and beautiful leather coats and jackets - and the quality and styles are amazing.  Not only are the styles amazing, but they are very inexpensive - leather jackets go from $80 and up. If you barter, like I like to do, you can score a great deal.

There are some amazing little restaurants to choose from, offering great cuisine with beautiful clean decor.  The drive into Cotacachi is beautiful as it is located in a valley with mountains on either side.  The air is clean and fresh and the people are very friendly.

One of the things that has stood out thus far about Ecuador is how clean it is, even in the larger cities like Quito with a population of 2.7 million people it is amazingly clean.  Cotacachi is no exception.

We are heading off to the coast this morning to Manta.  We will check in as soon as we arrive. 

Here are some pics of the hotel we stayed at Saturday in Cayembe, Ecuador...

Baptism Busters

Well what a nite we had after copius amounts of vodka consumed by myself and rum by Darrell we ended up at a baptism celebration at the hotel we stayed at.

Apparently baptisms are a big deal.  We thought it was a wedding when we first walked in as the banquet room was all decorated like a wedding reception.

So here we are in our shorts dancing in the center of everyone on the dance floor having the time of our life couldn't understand a word from anyone. Even the owner of the hotel was dancing with us.

Then it got weird as the owner motioned for us to come to the back of the hall where he introduced us to about six guys, with one guy standing there with one foot on a case of 1ltr beers.

He gave this guy 10 bucks and motion for us to do the same I said I had no money and so then Zip gave him 10 bucks. He then gave us a cup and we had to pour beer into the cup and pass the cup to each one of them. We did and then they would pass it back to us to have a drink, this went on for sometime. Then Darrell gave the cigars.

Then the owner motioned for me to go back to the dance floor with him and I proceeded to do the same of offering everyone on the floor a drink of beer and then them motioning to me drink as well, Darrell was doing the same with one of the guys from the back of the room. This went on for quite sometime.

Next thing I know Darrell comes up to me and says we gotta get outta here and I said why he kept sayin we gotta go. So I look at the owner of the hotel and said we have to go. He motioned no stay.

Anyway we left not sure what happened but Zippy figured the group of guys were mafiosa as they seemed to control the beer, which was weird cause the owner of the hotel was there. I think Zippy was nuts and paranoid!

Anyway were just getting organized to head across country to the coast.  Touch base soon..

Breathless in Imbaro

Well Darrel (aka Zippy) and I spent a good couple of hours this morning walking the streets of Quito. Its a big city 2.7 million population. We walked the streets in historic Quito- very nice with lots of colonial buildings with window boxes of geraniums. I will try and upload a few pics.

Then we hit the congested streets of Quito lots of traffic it took almost 1.5 hours just to get out of the city to make our way north to Otavalo and Cotacachi. The drive up into the mountains was spectacular winding highway with deep deep valleys below it was unbelievable.

So we are staying the night in Imbaro which is about 2.5 hours north of Quito past Otavalo and Cotacachi. We are about 8 ,000 ft above sea level higher than Quito so it takes some getting used to the thin air. It doesn't take much to get out of breath walking.

Tomorrow we are going to make our way to the coast to Mompiche and start our journey south toward Bahia Caraquez along the coast toward Manta.

Not sure what the drive will be like from Imbaro to the coast as the highway more or less comes to an end. The highway from Quito was awesome brand new with a couple of tolls along the way.

We will touch base later today and let you know how we fare!

Testing the Waters in Ecuador

After what felt like many years of planning, Reese is finally off on his adventure to Ecuador with Darrell Allinson!  It took five airports and 15 hours to get there with the present airline furlough in the US, but they have arrived and have hit the ground running.

Follow their adventures here as Reese introduces all of us to the wonders of retirement life in Ecuador....