Last Thursday, we packed up all of our things from our apartment in Guayaquil, loaded them into our new car and headed for the beach.
We thoroughly enjoyed our time at our apartment, http://www.elpatiosuites.com in La Fae (it can be revealed now), and I highly recommend them for anyone seeking a long term stay in Guayaquil. Delia the manager and Narcisa the housekeeper are very accommodating and took very good care of us. There are also many good shops and restaurants in the area with many interesting people to meet.
Here's the new car, a Chevrolet Grand Vitara SZ:
It's actually built by Suzuki and OEM'd by Chevrolet in Ecuador. The car buying process is so arcane to the US buyer (that would be me) that it actually requires it's own blog entry. That's coming up soon.
After we loaded all of the luggage and lockers, we still had plenty of clothes, kitchen items and other things that we put into plastic bags and stuffed into every available corner behind the two front seats (sorry - no picture here!). When we were ready to go, there wasn't a spare inch of storage in the back of the car. Emily even had to hold two backpacks in her lap during the drive. At 3:30p, we left Guayaquil and headed for the beach; it took about three hours to reach our destination.
We are renting a great two-bedroom cottage on the beach in Olón:
Cool - an authentic thatched roof! The thatch actually sits on top of corrugated cement board underneath and minimizes the sound from any rain hitting the roof. The cottage is fully modern on the inside, including a kitchen with all modern appliances:
Our hostess was even so kind as to make us feel at home in our new cottage:
To our good fortune, a friend of mine recommended us for this place. A former colleague of mine from Stanford Hospital had made the move to Ecuador almost three years ago, and he (and his wife) knew of an ex-pat couple looking to rent out this unit. They referred us to our new hosts and they accepted us sight-unseen. Our new hosts, who are very accommodating and generous, are also quickly becoming good friends.
I learned a fun lesson the first morning that we were here. At around 9:00a, there was a man on his motorcycle at the end of the driveway honking his horn and yelling that he had fish for sale. Our hostess invited him in, telling me that the locals are often trying to sell things but will never enter a property unless invited. She asked him to come in and see what he was selling. It turns out that he had three freshly caught fish for sale and that it was the last of his catch. (I didn't recognize either of the two species, but they were about 20" long and weighed probably 1.5 lbs each.) He started off asking for $20 for each fish, but, at the end of negotiations, she bought all three fish for $15. (That's a skill I have to learn!). That night, we all shared in the grilled fish, cooked to perfection by our host.
The next day, Emily and I decided to walk the beach to get an idea of properties that might be available in the area. Should we go south:
or go north:
We went north. We walked about 4km to where the beach meets the outcropping in the distance, looking at houses currently built and empty lots prime for opportunity. Now that we are on the beach, our house-hunting begins in earnest!
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