ECUADOR 9-10 2018

It’s been a nice couple of days.  Tuesday was spent driving to Las Olas, the community where we eventually will build a winter home.  We walked around the property, looked at some homes that are near completion, walked down to visit the horses in the equestrian area (they need a farrier badly !!) and spent time on the most wonderful beach !!  The water is close to 90 degrees and so pleasant to be in.  We didn’t take time to swim but we sure did enjoy splashing around in it.

The construction of the homes at Las Olas is quite something!  Very sound and very safe.

Our sales person estimates that we might be able to start construction of our home next year at this time.  How nice it would be to sit on the deck every evening and watch the sunset over the Pacific !

We drove to the project with other Las Olas owners, and coincidentally, Dean the sales person (and his wife) and Mark and Jan will be our neighbors on each side.  Dean is from Florida and Mark and Jan are Calgarians.  Here we all are on our beach area.

On the way there, we pass through San Clemente, another seaside town where some ex-pats live or at least spend winters.  As well, we see Ceibo trees in every direction starting their pre-rainy season growth.  They are such a magnificent tree and a protected one as well ! Much like the Saguaro Cactus in Arizona is protected.  I took a picture of this one the day we drove to Montecristi.  The trunks are an amazing lime green in color and they are huge !  Just google the Ceibo Tree Ecuador and you will see some stunning photos of this stunning tree.

We wrapped up the day with our Las Olas family at a wonderful Japanese restaurant back in Manta - Kobe Sushi Roe.  Yummy !

Wednesday is here and there is a cruise ship in the port.  This means that many vendors from many provinces in Ecuador bring their crafts and wares and set up an outdoor market with the hope of the cruise ship patrons coming to town for Ecuadorian souveniers.

We went to the market and were amazed at all the artisans and what they had to offer.  From Tagua Vegetable ivory carvings to alpaca blankets to hand made jewellery and the ever-present Panama Hat.  There were some hat weavers who were demonstrating how the hats are woven.  Here is a video and a photo of this process.  They have to assume an awkward posture, leaning on a towel over a rock from a standing position.

Joe and I fell in love with the ladies selling the Alpaca shawls and sweaters and weavings.  It may be a mother and daughter...  here they are... aren’t they just the sweetest!  They are wearing the clothes native to their area of Otavala which is a smaller city of 50,000 people north of Quito.  They had to drive many hours but it must be worth the trip when the cruise ships come in.  The Ecuadorian handicrafts from the indigenous people are truly a work of art.

Here are a few more photos of the market today.

In the last blog I talked about Tagua - Vegetable Ivory.  It comes from the Tagua tree that grows a huge, hard spikey pod..inside of which there is a seed as hard as ivory.  From this they carve things.  Buttons are amazing !  Here are some pictures of the Tagua carvings.

 Above is a photo of the pod - the seeds within from which the carvings come.
Below is how they achieve carving then painting the buttons.

After leaving the market, we walked through a nearby park called “Centro Iguqna Parco” .  Suddenly we are seeing great big Iguanas all around us. They have come down out of the trees to eat little seeds or berries on the ground that have fallen from the trees.  They had NO fear of the pedestrians or tourists.  I even stroked the tail of one as it rested, with its full belly, on a tree trunk.  Have a look at these photos and a video.

Well - it’s been a wonderful two days here in Ecuador.

Til next time....