Exploration trip - day one

Before Emily and I decide if we're going to retire to Ecuador, we needed to visit to see if it was someplace we wanted to be!  We left on December 23rd; first a five-hour flight to Atlanta, a two-hour layover and a five-hour flight to Guayaquil.  Both flights were uneventful.  The flight to Ecuador offered breakfast, but I was surprised when it was offered at 1:00a, about an hour into the flight.  Landed in Ecuador at about 5:30a to perfect 70 degree weather.

The only hiccup we ran into was renting the car.  It took about an hour because the guy behind the counter couldn't get authentication for my AMEX.  Emily recalled later that it's quite common for businesses to want you to use Visa because of the lower fees,  but we just stood there and waited until the guy finally accepted the card.

We also saw that Budget had Garmins for $10/day.  We had thought that our maps would be good enough - ha!  We might never have gotten out of Guayaquil if not for our GPS.

Driving to Puerto Lopez was an interesting experience.  I learned that most highway speeds are 90kph and speeds in a town are 40kph.  Every town has either speed bumps or speed "ropes" (1" thick ropes) that they use for speed control.  The ropes are no big deal at highway speeds, but the speed bumps are definitely a first gear experience.  I also learned that people there beg for money, often putting the little kids out street side to beg.  One group was especially emphatic.  Five kids and an older man stood on one of the speed bumps and started banging their cups on the car when we wouldn't roll down our windows.  I'm willing to help out these people, but I'd be broke the first day if I had given a quarter to every beggar I saw.

It took about three hours to get to the Hotel Pacifico in Puerto Lopez.  We couldn't find the hotel in this town of 10,000.  Some streets have names (most don't), but street numbers don't exist.  We finally stopped at one of the beach restaurants to ask directions.  It turned out to be about two blocks away.

The hotel was clean - one of the nicest in town.  We had a great view of the ocean and street front malecon.

One of the peculiar things that we discovered was that you can't put toilet paper in the toilet - it clogs the septic systems, and they don't have the dissolving kind you use on a boat.  Instead there is a waste basket next to the toilet for throwing it away.  We thought this would be disgusting at first, but it wasn't that bad.  Here's a picture of the situation along with the Pacsafe bag that I used on the trip:

Most people here don't have much in terms of possessions.  Most families have a single vehicle, so if you're bringing the clan into town, they all have to ride on the family's lone vehicle.

We spent the rest of the day walking around town, followed by pina coladas on the beach.