It’s been a few days since I sat down to write. We have been laying low here in Manta with little activity. Today, we moved upstairs into our new digs. An ocean front apartment with a view. Sitting here drinking our coffee, we enjoy a constant fly by of pelicans. They just ‘soar’ by our apartment and one of these days I am going to get a video of them. A couple of frigate birds and a couple of turkey vultures make their presence all day long... the frigate birds are fishing and the vultures and looking for bugs, mice... who knows what ! In the country side, they eat road kill and a variety of lizards. To say the least, we love our new space!
We haven’t journied too far from home because Joe has been fighting a flu bug. Today I insisted we go to a clinic and see a doctor. I would not normally write that my husband is sick except for the clinic experience! We took a taxi to the new Mall Del Pacifico where we have been told there is a wonderful clinic. The advice we received was right !
Joe saw an amazing doctor who took well over 30 minutes to examine him thoroughly, check his current prescriptions and prescribe him some medicine to help with the flu issues. The entire bill for doctor consult and prescriptions ws $50.00 !! Yup - $50.00. We were stunned and asked if the bill was correct. The clnici didn’t recognize our BC Health Care or private travel insurance, but we sure didn’t mind after paying this bill for such great service in a great clinic. This clnic is associated with the University of San Francisco.
During the appointment, Dr. Bella noted that Joe ( on his list of medications) had allergy medicine. Joe said he doesn’t have to take it here in Ecuador. The Doctor told him nobody has allergies in Ecuador. The sea air makes sure of that .. So there you go. All of you people with allergies can move to Ecuador and discard the allergy meds !!
Yesterday, while driving to the airport to renew our rental car, we passed by a little old half town that was very weighted down with fresh tuna on ice !! I could not get over the size of the fish in that truck. I was able to catch a quick picture of it going by. I hope you can see that one big hunk of fish on the ice ! The truck box was filled with those big fish!
On Sunday, we drove out to Santa Marianita for a Sunday breakfast at The Donkey Den. You can google it to find out more informaiton about this very unique hostel on the beach. It is owned by an American lady who operates it as a hostel, a cat and dog rescue, and a breakfast restaurant. As you sit and enjoy your breakfast, you will often be greeted by a dog and always have a cat nearby checking out your plate or what you might drop. Joe was pleasantly minding his own business when a little cat stretched up and tpped him on the lap - suggesting a little tidbit coming his way might be nice. Joe didn’t offer a treat but did pet him a few times. Well, in a flash, that little cat juped up on Joe’s lap, grabbed a hunk of ham from the plate, and jumped down... faster than you could blink an eye !! We laughed our faces off at the stealth actions of this cat. Linda, who ownes the Donkey Den, said he is notorious for the grab and go activity!
If you look at the expression on his face, you know he is up to something ! This was when he was tapping Joe to get his attention...
On Tuesday, we made our weekly trek to the Central Market for our supply of fruit and produce. It turns out there was also some kind of street fair and the taxi could hardly get us to the market. All the little side stalls were open and everyone had something to sell. We saw dirty, tired old blenders and juicers to new clothes, to old used and worn shoes, and several little merchants with open bags of beans, corns, cat and dog foods, etc. I captured a photo of one such merchant. I love it when they roll the tops of the sacks down to display the items. We saw this years ago in a market in Croatia as well. It is attrative, colorful and in my opinion, artistic!
Thats it for this week. Next week we plan to go explore Puerto Lopez and points south of us.
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