August 2017

Bill and I had on our bucket list a trip to the coast to watch the whales. We eagerly signed up for a road trip to the coastal community of SAME with our wonderful tour guides Milton, Patricio, and Bonnie.  We had two vans on the trip which was only for 3 days and 2 nights. This turned out to be a very long road trip of 12 hours before we reached the beach! Of course, we had several stops along the way that added to the time.

Lita Small Town

Our first stop was in Lita for a quick breakfast and then we traveled to an old abandoned railroad site that was destroyed in the 1990s by a storm.   The free-flowing river joins Imbabura, Carchi, and Esmeraldas provinces. It was somewhat eerie and reminded me of a ghost town. The bridge and tracks were only remnants of a past that used to be booming connecting the Highlands to the Lowlands. The area was hauntingly beautiful with rapid running and crystal clear water splashing along the rocks below.

San Lorenzo Town

The population is largely Afro-Ecuadorians descendants of colonial slaves. It is surrounded by a tropical jungle thick with mangrove trees. In years past the town was known for the export of tagua (Ecuadorian Ivory from a seed)  and balsa wood. The port river runs directly into the ocean but in this modern age quickly becoming forgotten.

Rio Verde (green river)

The river is nestled in a tangle of mangrove swamps where Ecuador’s blue crabs and black concha (more like muscles) call home.  Along the river boat ride, we saw a wide variety of native birds, especially pelicans.

SAME  Beach Community at Last!

Our next stop was in SAME the beach community. The water was clear and turquoise along with soft beige sand mixed with a little black crushed shell.  The beach had a few beautiful blue rocks and hardly any shells for those of us that like to collect.  However, a new friend taught me the beauty of the rocks and I quickly became a collector. I plan to add the rocks to my vases of flowers which will add to their beauty but alCoastalve to hold them in place.

 Isla del Sol Hotel

Seaside Fish Market

The next morning Bill and I walked along the beach very early and saw the fisherman arriving with their catch from the night. Their boats did not have motors and it must have been difficult. navigating the ocean at night. I never realized that when they unrolled their nets that their catch would just be caught up in the different areas of the net. So they had a system in place as they unrolled the nets slowly and retrieved their catch. They had an assortment of small lobsters, crab, red snapper, redfish, sting rays, and the unpopular blow fish since they destroy the nets.

Later in the morning, we went to another area called Tonchigue where the fisherman was selling their catch right off their boats. Then we proceeded to another fish market where I bought huge langoustines and redfish. The surprise bonus is the folks at the market will fillet your fish without extra charge.  So I took the langoustines back to the hotel and they were prepared for our breakfast. The redfish were taken to another restaurant and were prepared with garlic and lemon for our lunch after the whale-watching trip.

Pina Colada’s for Bravery on the  Whale Adventure

A video I took of the Pina Colada Bar

A video I took of the whales

 Cocadas factory (coconut candy popular in Esmeraldas)

Artisans in Borbon hand-woven items created by local artisans

Hugs to Family and Friends: come for a visit