April Showers bring May Flowers

 Hola familia y amigos!

Llevamos aqui doce dias y se siente como el paraíso.

Let me tell you about the showers in Ecuador; they are confusing.  At least to me they are.  First of all, hot water is considered a luxury down here.  Even the sinks only have one faucet for water, and it is cold water.  The dish soap is formulated for cold water.  The showers have "on demand" hot water heaters, which is a little weird looking shower head, attached to an electrical source, so that when you turn on the water it heats up.  Except, you have to have the exact perfect amount of water pressure and mercury has to be in retrograde and there has to be a virgin to sacrifice.  It's all very top secret.  To be fair, it does feel refreshing to take a cold shower after spending the day at the beach, so you get used to it.  :-)

On Friday, we looked at about 10 more properties in Salinas and Santa Elena.  Most of them were hostels with 7-10 rooms.  We did look at a few with 20+ rooms and there was one huge house that had 3 apartments and a studio that was absolutely stunning.  Salinas is a bigger city with lots of amenities, but it's also very hot and crowded.  We still keep thinking about the property in Montanita.  

We have a few more days (actually a week) here in Bolivar and then we are heading north to another area on the coast to look at a few more properties.  

Our Spanish is improving, if only slightly, and Marco's tan has him looking like a local.  Yesterday, we went to a "mercado" for some shopping, and holy smokes was it inexpensive!!  We got 2-1/2 dozen eggs, some veggies, rice, pasta and sausage for $3.50.  The weird thing about the mercado is that you can also buy "fresh" meat.  When I say fresh, I mean, this stuff probably had a heartbeat that morning.  It's a little unsettling for me to buy meat that isn't wrapped in plastic and chilled, so that will be another experience for another day.  

This past weekend was a holiday in Ecuador.  As far as we can tell, it's Labor Day.  The other night, we were at the apartment and a parade broke out right in front!  It was bananas!!  People in costumes, a band, and fireworks.  Yesterday, when we were in Salinas, there was a small protest with people carrying a cardboard coffin with the president's (of Ecuador) name on it.  

We hope that everyone is doing well and we can't wait to post about our next adventure in Ecuador!!

Con amor,

Kristina y Marco

They love their whales!

La Costa y las Playas

 The town of Montanita is one of the places that we are looking for property to invest in.  This place is wild!!  It's like if Micanopy and Daytona Beach had a baby.  It's small, but they fill up on the weekends and everyone is here to relax and have fun at the beach.  Two main seasons happen here; Summer, which is from October to April and then Whale Watching Season which is from June through November, so any property that we choose we will end up catering to both seasons.  Montanita is one of those towns that has a big surf presence and they are proud of it.  

The other popular thing to do is to watch the sun set on the Pacific Ocean.  It is absolutely breathtaking.  We've had to opportunity to witness it with out clouds and with a bit of cloud cover and they both really deliver in their own way.  

Our little AirBnb is right across the street from the beach.  So we just walk over to the restaurant and they have a staircase that leads us down to the water.  Also, our AirBnb host told us that we could climb up the hill behind the house and watch the sun set from there.  They made a staircase from dirt-filled tires and it's a pretty steep climb, but it's so worth it when you watch Mother Nature's art show.  Marco brought his fancy camera and his drone, so we've been playing around with those.  

On Monday, we met with a realtor and spent the better part of the day looking at properties in Puerto Lopez, Los Nunez, Olon and Montanita.  We had a favorite in Puerto Lopez and one in Montanita, but I am not joking when I tell you that we looked at a three story, 6 bedroom, 6 bathroom house with a pool and a huge kitchen and yard and the asking price was $155K.  Absolutely NUTS!!!

Tuesday we drove into Salinas and Checked out the scene.  Very Miami Beach, tall white buildings, lots of hotels on the beach and very tiny beaches.  We have a few places that we are looking at down there, but after yesterday's visit, they better be really good deals because I wasn't really impressed with Salinas.  It had lots of the amenities that we like; SuperMaxi, Government offices, City Water (lol), but it was too hot and no shade.  I like the more rural and jungly feel of the middle coast.  

Today, we hung out on the beach and I was a bit intimidated at first, but then I remembered that Marco is a freaking lifeguard, so I put on my big girl bathing suit and got in the water.  LOL.  I also built a sand turtle and a mermaid.  It was like we were little kids again.  

So, I think that I have you guys caught up.  Sorry that it has taken so long to get this up and running, but figuring out the internet/wifi technology is not my strong suit.  

If anyone needs to reach me or Marco urgently, we are on WhatsApp and of course, you can always get in touch with my mom or my sissy.  

Also, feel free to ask questions on here.  Comment on the posts, let me know you're following our adventures!!

Adios!

K & M

We aren't in Kansas anymore!

 Buenos Dias,  mi amigos y familia!

Sorry for the delay in updating this, but we had some acclimating to do.  The flight to Quito, Ecuador was uneventful.  After heading through customs and picking up our luggage, we attempted to purchase SIM cards for our phones.  No success there as my phone was brand new and not "unlocked" and for whatever crazy reason, Marco's phone wouldn't recognize the new SIM.  I think it was probably a miscommunication between the gringos and the young girl who didn't speak English.  We then went to the rental car desk to pick up our Rinault Logan 4-door (think Toyota Camry, except not) rental car.  The rental car package included a GPS which was good since we couldn't use our phones for that, but the street and house numbering down here was a little tricky to pick up on.  

We found our Hostal, the Don Quijote and checked in.  It was about what you'd expect when you hear "Hostal."  A room with a bed and a bathroom, but there was a restaurant two doors down and they provided us with a delicious meal that consisted of steak or pork, rice, avocado, soup and a drink for $6!!!

The next day, we headed to the mall to get the cell phone situation sorted out and were finally able to get a SIM card for Marco and we bought a burner phone for me.  The mall here was really nice, like probably nicer that the Oaks Mall in Gainesville.  I saw a Benetton clothing store which I hadn't seen since middle school days.  They even had a Burger King!

We also realized very quickly that our Spanish is absolutely awful.  Marco had a better grasp on communicating than me, but I was able to ask where the bathroom was.  LOL

Quito is the biggest city in Ecuador with approximately 1.5 million people.  The ones that are brave enough to actually drive are batshit crazy.  Just because the road has lines, doesn't really mean a hill of beans and if you are in someone's way, they will honk and pass or ride your ass until you pull over. 

Two nights in Quito was enough for us.  Quito's elevation is about 9000ft and I was experiencing altitude sickness, which was just mostly feeling winded, like all the time, and I had a headache and a little bit of vertigo.  Nothing some good ol' Ibuprofen couldn't take care of.  

We packed up and headed out to the coast.  This was the most beautiful scenery!  Mountains and jungle and rivers, we even saw a waterfall!  Now, if we thought the driving in Quito was crazy, let me tell you the driving on the mountain roads was absolutely insane.  Buses would pass on curvy roads, people riding your ass on a downhill, if I was driving, I would have been crying.  

Up until now, the food has been different, but still identifiable and edible.  Every meal, so far, has come with soup and rice.  Let me introduce you to a delicacy of Ecuador... cuy.  Cuy is Guinea Pig.  The cute little furry creatures that kids have as pets.  We stopped at a place for breakfast that had this on the menu.  Not only that, they had a little cage in the parking area where they were kept.  I guess it was sort of like, picking out your lobster at Red Lobster, but still a hard pass for me.  A few hours later we stopped at a road side for lunch and of course, soup was the first course, but this time, there was what looked like raw chicken in it.  Except, it couldn't be chicken because the bone was way too big to be from a chicken.  So we asked (side note: don't ask, if you don't want to know) and were advised that it was beef.  Baby beef.  So, it was veal.  Um, ok?  The soup part was delish, but we both "sampled" the meat and it wasn't for us.

We arrived at the coastal city of Montanita after dark and there was a very "Daytona Beach" vibe happening.  The place was packed and it felt very festive.  One thing about Ecuador is that almost everyone heads to the coast for the weekend.  Like, Every. One.  All those buses we saw in the mountains? Yep, headed to the coast.  Here's where we ran into some more small issues; the place that we booked, told us they didn't have our reservation and they were not even willing to work with us on this.  So, we both hit the inter webs and found another place that was close by.  It was much pricier than the other place, but they did have hot water (in these parts, this is a huge luxury) and a couple of cats and an adorable husky.  After driving for 12+ hours, we grabbed a shower, found a cute AirBnB for the next day and fell into bed. 

The sun came up on a new day and we packed up the car and headed out for some breakfast and to check things out.    

Check out the next post for the update!

When life hands you lemons...

Hey there Family & Friends!!

I am currently sitting in a hotel in Miami writing this.  In two days I am leaving on an airplane and heading to Ecuador!  My partner, Marco, and I are spending a few weeks (maybe months) traveling around Ecuador and this blog is being created to keep everyone posted on what we are up to.  

Even though we aren't leaving until Thursday, I came down early so I can get my passport renewed.  Tomorrow night, Marco is leaving San Diego and flying to Miami.  He lands pretty early and I get to meet up with him for the flight into Quito, the capital of Ecuador.  We plan on staying a night or two there, and then renting a car and heading south through the Andes to Cuenca.  There's a town about halfway between, called Ambato and there's some waterfalls and a national park that we plan on checking out.  

Fun Facts about Ecuador

1. They eat Guinea Pig and it's considered a delicacy, called cuy.

2. The Galapagos are a part of Ecuador.

3. Ecuador is the leading exporter of bananas.

4. Panama hats originated in Ecuador, not Panama.

5. Mount Chimborazo is the closest point to the sun on earth.

6. The top of Mount Chimborazo is also the farthest you can get from the center of the earth.

7. Ecuador is the orchid capital of the world with more that 4,000 species of orchid.

8.  The sun rises and sets at roughly the same exact time every day - 6am sunrise and 6pm sunset.

9. Ecuador is one of two South American countries to NOT share a border with Brazil.  The other is Chile.

10.  Ecuador has four unique geographical locations - The Amazon Jungle, the Coastal Region, The Andes and The Galapagos.

Some pics:

My brand new luggage.

Another new piece of luggage with a fancy charging port that I can connect to my portable battery.

I took the Big Red Bus to Miami. 

Stay tuned for more adventures!!

Love you all,

Kristina