First Stop Machala

Dear Family and Friends,

We headed out for our vacation to the coast Saturday morning about 9:00 am. We were not sure how much traffic we would encounter being this is a holiday weekend, therefore we were pleased that the traffic was not heavy.

The road to Machala is real good normally. Right now there is a long 17km detour around a landslide. However, other than that our trip was a piece of cake.

Let me explain the next two pictures. You are well aware of how Chuck likes to take alternate routes. Well he saw a sign that said the road was the old road to Giron. Of course we had to take it. Actually, other than not being paved it was a great road. The scenery was beautiful.

Of course when we take the back roads we never know what type of traffic we may get behind.

Near Machala there are miles of banana plantations.

Which means there are banana stands along the side of the highway.

They also grow cocoa near Machala. And, they dry the cocoa beans along the side of the highway. You could be looking at your future Hershey bar below.

When we got to Machala we stopped at their shopping mall to have a snack in their food court. We found two stores very interesting. One was a food vendor....see their name is the Broken Bridge...Puente Roto. They specialize in Cuencana style food.

The other store of interest was this furniture store advertising Cuenca in their name. We, of course, know the most beautiful furniture is made in Cuenca.

After checking into our hotel we went to Puerto Bolivar for a wonderful seafood dinner. Chuck had fish and I had calamari. It was as good as we had hoped it would be. After dinner we drove back into Machala and Chuck and I went to turn my gambling tokens into dollars. It only cost me about $30 to get my $9 back.

Tomorrow Salinas

Have a good night.

Nancy (and Chuck)

We Are Off to the Coast

Dear Family and Friends,

At this moment we are throwing clothes in our suitcases and loading Puff Puff.  We are heading to the coast for a week or 10 days.

We are going to pretty much plan this trip in route.  When we get somewhere and want to stay a day or two, we will......working our way north. 

We are heading to Machala today.  I have some gambling tokens I have to convert to real money.  The last time I was at the casino in Machala, the machine dropped out coins.  I mistook these coins for dollars, put them in my pocket.  I discovered they were tokens when I went to pay for a cup of coffee with them in Cuenca.

My version of converting these tokens to dollars is to put them back into the slot machine. 

While there, we will drive out to Puerto Bolivar for some fabulous seafood.

On Sunday we will be driving to Salinas, and move on up the coast at our leisure. 

We are taking the camera and a net book computer.  I hope to be able to take you along with us as we travel.  We will see how that works out.

Have a great weekend.

Love,
Nancy and Chuck

Bolivian Entertainment

Dear Family and Friends,

On the 10th of August, besides going to the market, as I wrote about in the last post, we went to a Bolivian music and dance performance that evening with friends. It was part of the celebration of the independence of Ecuador.

Here is a happy group of gringos waiting for the culture to begin.....

It was a wonderful show. The music was great and the high energy dancing was exciting to watch. The costumes were spectacular.

Check out these photos of the performance.

Incredible as it may seem, this show was free. There is a lot of free entertainment here, including the symphony.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -TODAY'S NEWS - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

As you probably have heard, there was an earthquake here in Ecuador this morning. Since we live on the ground floor of our apartment building, we did not get to have as much excitement as our friends who live in the penthouse apartments around town. We did wake up to the bed shaking, but nothing else. This was one time I was glad we were not up high. Around town, the earthquake was pretty much the conversation topic of the day.

The earthquake was located in the Amazon region of Ecuador. This is not a heavily populated area. Chuck read online that there has been no loss of life, injuries or damage reported from the quake. Here is a map to let you know how far we were from the epicenter.

Thank you for the telephone calls and emails. We are healthy and well.

Love,

Nancy (and Chuck)

It's the 10th of August

Dear Family and Friends,

Today is Independence Day in Ecuador.  Today, August 10, 1809 Ecuador became an independent country.

It is quite common for streets, buildings and markets in Cuenca to be named after a special day.  For example the name of the street we live on is 3 de noviembre (3rd of November).  This is the day that the city of Cuenca gained it's independence.

One of the markets located in el centro (downtown) is named 10 de Augusto (10th of August).  So it was not surprising when we read in the local paper that there would be celebrations at the market today.

Chuck and I went to the market to see what was happening.

Here is a picture of the market from across the street.

 

We went inside and the first thing we saw was a pig being roasted just inside the door.  This, of course, was being done for the celebration.  They do sell roasted pig at the market but they don't normally cook them there.

By the way, this is the market that Brian (of Brian and Shelly) buys his roast pork each Sunday.

 There was a lot of food available for the occasion.  The food was typical food of Ecuador.

There was a big sign announcing that the market was 56 years old today.  It is a nice two story market with escalators going up to the second floor.  The main market is on the first floor with some vendors on the upper level, but the second floor is mainly for prepared food.  There are tables and benches and lots of places to buy a meal to enjoy.

I made my way upstairs to get a better view of the market below.  I could tell where the entertainment was going to be held so I bought some coconut juice and secured my spot at a table with a great view below.

 After about 15 minutes, the entertainment began.  Young people dressed in colorful costumes did folklore dancing.  They were a delight to watch.

There was a lot of twirling, over and under moves and circling.  A lot of fun to watch.

 The kids were having a great time dancing and the audience was having a great time watching. 

I had to leave earlier than I would have liked because I had to get back home to finish my Spanish homework before class this afternoon.

I have to get to my homework now.  I just wanted to share our fun morning with you.

Love,
Nancy

Meat Report

Dear Family and Friends,

Last week Chuck and I bought some meat at the Feria Libre market.  The meat that I cut into steaks I froze and we have not tried it yet.  The roast (Chuck referred to it as a standing rib roast), I cooked last Friday.  Although it was not melt in your mouth tender, it was not tough.  We had a nice dinner off it.  With what was left Chuck made a wonderful beef vegetable soup.  The most important thing is that we did not get sick from eating it.

Our friends, Barbara and Howard, who took us to the market, reported that their meat that they cut into steaks was not very tender.

I am not daunted, I will go back to the market on another Wednesday morning and try again.  I know you can get good tender meat there.  I have heard too many people comment about the quality.  I think next time we will leave at 6:00am and shop around more before settling on our meat.

Sorry I don't have a picture of the roast.  By the time I thought of my camera the roast was already soup.

At the moment we are planning a trip to the coast.  I'll share when and exactly where after we get the details ironed out.

Hugs,
Nancy