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
