New Day, New Experience, New Knowledge ...

As I sit here in front of our porch windows overlooking the confluence of the Rio Chone and the Pacific Ocean on another promising morning, I can't help thinking how far we've come. To digress a bit, the thought of selling everything back home, packing only one suitcase and a backpack each, and flying away from everything I knew and was comfortable with was not a big deal for me really.

In my past married life of 30 years, I had moved 8 times nationwide from state to state all over the country with 2 children. I had actually moved 30 times in 31 years (not military but corporate). And, then I met my current husband 13 years ago and within 3 months had packed up what I could stuff into my Ford Explorer, left everything I was comfortable with - friends, work, newly built custom home, 2 children, 2 grandchildren (who lived in different east coast cities than me already), and drove across country from Chattanooga, TN to be with the love of my life in Washington state. 

So I know something about starting over fresh. I know how to reinvent myself and merge into my new surroundings no matter where it is, no matter the new "language", no matter the new customs, no matter how I was treated as a minority and discriminated against. Yes, this happens often in the US too to Caucasians when they are perceived to be Yankees or Rebels or not Texans and have the audacity to move to someone else's territory! Not a laughing matter and very real.

None of it mattered as long as I had my family!  That was my "home", that was where my heart was. All else would take care of itself as long as I opened myself up to the possibility of failure. Yes, failure! For if you conquer the FEAR of failure, you will always come out a winner!

Along that path, you discover how strong you are, how resilient and versatile you are. Don't fight it or you will fail. You will never be able to change another culture to mold to the one you are most familiar with. Nor did I want to!  I wanted to be open to new life experiences and, thus, succeeded to establish a good life no matter where I landed. And, if it wasn't where I wanted to live for the rest of my life, I knew I could just move on at some point in time.

All of the moving and changes brought its own challenges and my children made sure I knew about them!  However, as adults they are some of the most resilient people I know. Change doesn't effect them.  They go with the flow and know there's nothing to fear.  

So with that past life experience, it was an easy decision to make to embark on this new life journey of "country shopping" to find a new place to call "home". 

Mike, however, had a totally different viewpoint. He had left his home roots in northern Chicago to chase his dream by attending college at the University of Idaho, Moscow and then began his journey of leading the free life by homesteading 34 acres in Northeast Washington state in the mountain forest on a beautiful river. That's where he spent 37 years of his life building a hand hewn log home, a humongous shop with every tool and woodworking machinery he could stuff in there, and several out buildings. 

Once I joined him there in July 2000, we set out to truly do justice to the beautiful surroundings Mother Nature gave us and expanded and renovated without losing any of the charm and character we loved. It was still funky, nothing square or plumb. But, we had the time of our lives bringing out the best of what we had!  This was his success, his heart and soul, the only place on earth he wanted to live, and he was going to take his last breath while on that property!

So when I approached Mike in December, 2011 with the possibility of moving outside the US and going "country shopping", I expected a resounding NO!  My presentation was done with precision, detailed research, and facts and figures. As both of us are now retired Realtors with over 60 yrs of combined experience, I approached it as a "Listing Presentation" with only one opportunity to be heard, so I had to make it good. To my dismay, after a very pregnant pause, he actually said it had allot of merit and we should continue the discussion. 

Mike and I both loved traveling. In fact, that was one of our "likes" that bonded us together. We had always had the dream of living 6 months at home in the US and 6 months outside the country. We're no different than many and our dream faded quickly with the economic shift in 2008. To protect what we had left and realizing that at our age we could not recoup what we'd lost without working ourselves to death, we decided that the rest of our lives were going to be full of adventure and exploration. We were going to take care of US because no one was going to do it for us. 

Thus began our journey. We have encountered so many different types of expats in our trek across Panama, Costa Rica, and now in Ecuador. We cherish you all and commend you for your tenacity to take the bull by the horns!  You each have done it for your own reasons and in your own way. Kudos!!! We expect that the same will be true for those we meet in the future in Nicaragua, Mexico and maybe Spain. 

In the same light and with the same respect that we embrace your way and your decision of where, please give us the same in return.  It saddens me when I hear the defensiveness and disdain in the tones used when talking to me if I don't embrace the same viewpoint or don't instantly fall in love with where you now call home. 

It is truly no disrespect to you only that this is OUR dream and OUR journey that we are trying to figure out in our own way. There is no right or wrong here - JUST DIFFERENT!  And, that's ok! Thank goodness we're all different. But, please don't disrespect me. That's not a good way to make me want to call your new home mine. 

Our journey north this week from Salinas to Bahia de Caraques, was really pretty uneventful. In all of my research on the bus system, I could only find one bus that left Libertad going north as far as possible to Porto Viejo. It left at 9:30am ish so that's what we aimed for. Our taxi driver from Salinas advised us that we would miss the direct express bus that left at 9:05am. Dang! So we took the slow boat to China but enjoyed our comfortable ride along the coast.

 

As I was still quite sick with my cold, I did take the opportunity to doze. However, once we began going north of Puerto Lopez, where we had already been, I wanted to stay awake to see everything. Once in Porto Viejo, a large inland city, we were scooted away by a bus "hawker" to buy our ticket to Bahia. The cost for bus tickets total from Salinas to Bahia were $8 each. We finally arrived in Bahia at 4:45pm. A long day!

The trip north was actually quite invigorating for us, as we love GREEN - trees, vegetation, flowers of all kinds and diverse terrain with hills and mountains. It reminds us of home!  We were not disappointed!  Our visual senses began to come alive again. Salinas did not give us that as it is truly the dessert with very flat terrain, very little vegetation, and very few green spaces. It just is what it is - just not what we're looking for.

Taking a taxi through town, we immediately could feel the reason this city has proudly been called the "Eco Green" city. It is beautifully maintained and the streets and buildings are easy on the eyes. We met up with our agent, Miriam Weaver, and she instructed the driver where our building was on the malecon right at the confluence point of the river and ocean.

 

Upon entering, we were instantly gratified with space, wide open space with vistas of glorious green hills and mountains, Pacific Ocean and Rio Chone views, and flat inviting beaches right outside our windows!  We went from a 550square foot, "cozy" 2 bedroom, 1 bath to an approximately 1,000 square feet 2 bedroom, 2 bath with enclosed porch. And, even though not new, it has character, is appealing to the eye, and has space!

 

A little unpacking and taking stock of kitchen ware, off we went to have dinner at an outdoor restaurant right on the malecon overlooking the river. A beautiful night to walk!  The weather here has been warmer enough so to feel I could put on summer clothes every day, still overcast, but the sky gets bright and there is always some sun every day, which is good for our souls!

One of the things we have had to become used to is being resilient and resourceful along our journey. After spending an uncomfortable nights sleep on our wonderful Queen bed (we only had a very hard double in Salinas), Mike and I took 2 of the trundle bed mattresses and put them on top of our firmer mattress. Miriam had brought a queen sheet set back from the US and left those with us, if we needed them. They are a god send!

Another thing we've constantly had to deal with is sheets that are too small and are very coarse. Nothing ever stays tucked in and you feel like you're sleeping on sandpaper. So, the new sheets had deep pockets and completely wrapped around both mattresses beautifully and they feel like silk!! Our sleeping has improved 1,000 fold!

It took us 3 trips to town at 3 different markets to do our grocery shopping. The mercado for all of our fruits, veggies, and meats; Tia for dry goods, dairy, staples. And, Yanina for what we couldn't find in Tia. Yanina will now be where we go first. Much better choices! We walk into town and take a bike taxi back for $.50.

I have been enjoying sitting in front of our open terrace windows every morning while drinking my coffee, checking email, Facebook, and the news. I get to enjoy the serenity of watching and hearing the ocean and river collide, as we are literally on the point of confluence. I get to watch all of the early morning walkers and joggers many of which are my Facebook friends and I get to make a shout out to them from our apartment. 

We also had the pleasure of watching dolphins eating right at the shore's edge our first morning here! Thank you Dave & Miriam for alerting us to it!

Every Thursday afternoon, there is a "Booz" run in front of Coco Bongo Hostal in town. A restaurant owner from across the river in San Vicente comes over with excess wine, rum, vodka, tequila, whiskey, liquors, etc. for very good prices. I was able to get an Argentinian Malbec that is quite good for a very good price here of $5.50. That puts it back in the Costa Rican price range. Wine here is expensive compared to Panama and Costa Rica even though we're closer to Argentina and Chile. Go figure!

Friday morning we met up with another expat couple, Susan & Karl Heer, at the Green Bean coffee shop and the most delightful visit!  After a 3 hour nap and still struggling with my cold, we were picked up by fb friend, Donald Murray, and transported across the river bridge to San Vicente and down river to his apartment complex. We met up with his wife, Diane, and new expat arrivees, Sandy & Tom Powell, who live in the same complex. 

After much great visiting and conversation, we all loaded into Don's jeep and headed back over the bridge to Coco Bongo Hostal for Trivia night. A beer and a wine here totaled $4. I made it through the first session of trivia but was fading fast with my cold. Don was gracious enough to drive me home even though it wasn't a long walk. 

So yesterday was a really bad cold day for me and I totally gave up trying to fight it. I took my first nap only a hour and a half from getting up and another mid afternoon. I do believe I'm finally heading toward total recovery but will lay low today, as well. 

Mike took a nice walk yesterday while I was napping and brought me back a beautiful sand dollar, which now adorns our new abode. And, took some pictures along his walk.

 

The sun has just broken through so I think I will head out poolside to rest on the chaises and heal. If all goes well, a walk will be in order this afternoon.

Well, I did sun myself by the pool and Mike took a walk along the beach. Brunch was made by Mike but I'm not feeling up to an afternoon walk. Looks like another nap instead.

Last week I promised to reveal our budget for our month in Salinas.  I've actually started to do some very in-depth analysis of every month's stay since we started but I'll address that next week in my blog.

So...for the month in Salinas, we spent $1,825 on true living expenses and spent $1,083 on "one-time" expenses including medical and tourism.  We did not find Salinas any less expensive than either Panama and Costa Rica for the way we are living.  Now, as I said, I'm doing a truly in-depth analysis of where our money is being spent in each location. 

I can already see a correlation to eating out more than we ever did at home by far! And, the number of times eating out looks to correlate with the kitchen furnishings of our rentals.  For instance, we have been here 5 days and have only eaten out once.  That's a big difference already.  At home, we ate out 6-7 times a month. Wait until you see my analysis.

Have a great day everyone!!  Our journey continues to unfold...

Tick, Tock, Tick, Tock ....

I have to start off by saying that right now I'm really not a happy camper!! I'm sick with a horrible cold and the worst sore throat I've ever had. So after writing half of this blog update, it went POOF!! Just gone !!  I tried recreating the scenario and I couldn't cancel or delete what I had written without being asked twice if I really wanted to delete.  So how come it's not there???!!! Argh!!!!

Ok, so noted and now to move on with the update...

This past week saw us visiting Montanita, up the coast, twice. Last Sunday we had hired a taxi driver through a mutual friend, to drive us north up the coast from 9am - 6pm at a cost of $50, which is the actual cab fare to and from Montanita/Olon.  If we had to do it again, we wouldn't have. Our understanding of what the $50 was "buying" and his understanding was completely different. So when we had plenty of time and wanted to go further north to Puerto Lopez, he ended up charging us another $20 because of gas. 

Gas is only $1.48/gal here, folks.  Our 2nd trip up to Montanita yesterday was a whole $3.75/ea one way, so $14.50 for both of us round trip vs. $50 and it only took us an extra half hour to get there on a very comfortable bus.  If we had wanted to catch a bus to go up to Puerto Lopez, it would have only been another $7 or $21.50 vs. $70 !!  We thought he was going to be a "tour guide" of sorts. But all he did was announce the name of each town, very loudly, as we entered each town. Even Mike couldn't draw him out in conversation much.

Needless to say though when we arrived in Montanita last Sunday, our hearts melted and we fell "in love".  The village is "eye candy" everywhere you look with its hippie flare of color, funkiness, character, architecture, and vibrancy.  Hostals, fruit and vegetable stands, souvenir kiosks, food stands, mobile bars, jewelry, clothing, etc up and down the streets.  All streets ended at the waterfront. When we say "fell in love", we mean only that it was charming but still not where we would want to live but a GREAT place to visit and enjoy!

The beach is off to the side of town and is lined with tons of colorful umbrellas and people sitting under them even though the weather was not cooperating and it had started to mist heavily. Now instead of avoiding the sun, they were avoiding the rain.  The stretch of beach and the river that runs into it is where all the higher priced hostals and hotels are.  The Dharma being by far the most spectacular and expensive.

Since walking in the rain wasn't all that much fun, we decided to go further up the coast to Puerto Lopez.  The topography changes drastically and you have to drive over a huge forested hill range with the highway winding up, down, and around many curves. Our driver, although in his 50s, had never been this far north! He drove white knuckle the whole way and never went close to the speed limit and had his foot on the break at every curve going no more than 20 mph. What made me nervous was all the traffic trying to pass us on those curves! Now, that was white knuckle!!

 But coming off the hill you saw this beautiful bay with tons of fishing boats of all different colors. Once getting down to the beach area, you could see how charming it was.  Now, I do want to describe that it's charm is not in its cleanliness or order. It's charm is in its hap hazard chaos and color. In watching all of the motorcycl taxis, which are probably better described as motoecycle rickshaws.  They were everywhere but we didn't find a need to use one.  They don't have them in Salinas, Libertad, or downtown Guayaquil. Don't know why.

 While Mike and I were trying to take it all in with the hope of finding a place to have a decent lunch, Julio, our driver, was busy studying our Ecuador country map.  We don't think he'd ever seen a map of his whole country. It was quite interesting to watch him explore it and look at it with awe.

Needless to say, Mike and I didn't find a place to eat as even here in small tired Puerto Lopez, all of the restaurants were priced too high, in our opinion.  That's to say that the dishes were in the $7 - $15 range and should have been $3 - $10.  Once again, proving that it doesn't matter how small or tired the town is, you'll pay more for a view of the ocean while eating.

So we decided, if we were going to pay the higher prices, we had better choice with better ambience in Montanita.  So off we went back over the hill with Julio not liking it any better than before.  Upon arriving in Montanita, we actually found our same parking space like it was waiting for us to return.  Parking is quite a challenge as there are only a few streets where you can park and no real parking lots.  We could only guess that most of he people arrived by bus in one form or another.

After looking around, we decided on Hola Ola, which is Hello Wave!  It took almost an hour for our meals to arrive but when they did we weren't disappointed!  So since our meal took so long it was time to depart back to Salinas to keep within our timeframe.

Monday brought a visit by some new friends, Bev & Mike. Since they only have a small room in the local hostal and no real place to just hang out, we visited at our place.  They, too, are trying to decide if they want to move to Salinas from Florida.  So we sat around talking about our likes, dislikes, and wish lists. We all agree that Salinas is way more expensive than we expected for what you get. (I'll post our budget results in next week's post.)

At this point, I'd like to ask NO ONE to ever get upset with my/our observations, feelings, or opinions in this blog. I make no judgment here!! These are only OUR thoughts based on how we see our world, our lifestyle, and what matters to US.  If where you live, fills your needs and you are happy, then I'm very happy for you - sincerely happy!  I hope we find ours.  There are no right or wrongs here in a collective sense - only what's right for each of us and that's sometimes different. That's what makes the world go round.

Not much but hanging at home on Monday and Tuesday.  Mike still goes to PT every day and his shoulder is feeling better and better.

Wednesday morning was the 2nd Ladies Coffee Klatch that I went to and will be my last here in Salinas. A wonderful way to meet new people and sit and catch up on what's going on in the area and with them. 

Thursday brought me a doozy of a sore throat! One of the worst I've ever had plus a headache so laid low all day and even took a nap, which is not my style at all! Mike also went back to the doctor and was told his progress was very good. He's supposed to continue PT until his arm feels 100%.  We'll see if he feels he needs to go after we move up to Bahia this coming week.

I continued to lay low on Friday even though I felt better.  Bev, Mike, Mike & me decided to go up to Montanita on Saturday by bus.  They had never been and we jumped at a chance to go back.

We met up at 10am, caught the bus to Libertad, walked through town, which was brimming with activity, on our way to the bus location to catch our bus north. Because there are competing companies, they have guys out there trying to persuade you to take "their" bus over the others. Quite an interesting atmosphere!

Once on a very comfortable bus, it only took a few minutes before we were on our way meandering the streets of several towns before picking up speed to our destination. Mike and I were able to play "tour guide" since we'd been that way before.  We were able to enjoy different sightings ourselves or to make other observations.

Arriving just a bit after noon, we lazily walked down the streets enjoying again the energy this town exudes.  Once we reached the beach area, we were finally able to walk the beach because the weather was much better even though still a bit overcast. Again, the vibrancy of this beach wrapped its arms around us. We all LOVED it!

 We headed back up the street into town and I ended up buying a great pair of extremely comfortable sandals from a street vendor! OMG, they are C-O-M-F-O-R-T-A-B-L-E !!!!  Can't wait to wear them!

Lunch was next on the agenda but we couldn't agree on where so Mike & Bev went their way and Mike & I went ours.  We chose Papillon, a crepe and other Ecuadorian food bistro.  We both enjoyed our lunches immensely!  Good service, great staff, and even better food !!

We met up afterwards and the sun had gloriously come out so off back to the beach we went.  Finding a table in front of a beach bar, we proceeded to roll up our pants, take off our shoes and bask in the sun! Oh, that felt wonderful! We've all been sun starved and our tans are fading fast.  The sun stayed out about an hour or so but then disappeared again.  A final stroll through town a different way and we were at the bus stop to head home.

 

By this time, I was not feeling well again, but we decided to make our way down the malecon to say our goodbyes to anyone who was at Smokin'.  I had a feeling that I wouldn't be out and about much more with the way I was feeling. So a quick glass of wine and we headed home where I proceeded to have the worst nights sleep during this whole month. There was a boom boom party until 4am, several car alarms that went off forever, dog and cat fights, and lots of traffic noise. I know I was more sensitive but it truly was a long night and my sore throat came back with a vengeance.

So today I've been taking care of myself and looking at what we've got left to eat in the fridge before our departure on Wednesday morning. Time to take stock and mentally start packing for our 6 hour bus ride north.

Hope everyone else had a great week and a better weekend!  Catch up with everyone next week in a new "home". And, so the journey takes another foot forward...