We are currently staying at a hotel called the Canoa, which was owned by a wealthy family as their primary residence. My room overlooks the Malecon, the boardwalk and the pier where the tour boats disgorge their passengers from rubber pontoon boats or small water taxis. I have a balcony and a hammock which I use to hang my wet wetsuit and towels (fyi, the sea lions have a really pungent smell and when you go to the beach and put your towel down, you have eau de lobo marino on your towel for the duration until you take it to one of the local laundromats for the $3 wash/fluff/dry). As I type, I am waiting for the miracle of clean clothes--I´ve been promised 3 bags of laundry back at 5:00. I´ll check on my way out, since we have Spanish class at 4:30 with Paulina Ratty. She has come every weekday to our hotel for lessons and the crew has made terrific progress, learning words like patacones, vajilla, phrases like ¨Siga no mas¨, and the reason NOT to use ¨¿Mande?¨ I am used to it from Mexico and have to rethink it since it is such a habit. Apparently, it comes from the conquest when the Spaniards would expect the locals to come at their beck and call and respond with ¨what is it that I can do for you?¨which is about what the word means.
Internet cafes are common here. It usually costs about $1.50 to $2.00 an hour to be online. I have finally found one with a fairly fast connection and a keyboard that I can read, the letters not rubbed off from overuse. We come to the cafes as often as possible to check email and send our friends back home little notes about the day´s adventures. Right now, the music is a great mix of Latino sounds with Regueton which is totally danceable. You can buy a great boat of fruit and ice cream at this one, the Mockingbird. Next to me, working on his email and helpfully answering questions about Spanish words and local sites is Manuel, whose aunt owns our favorite coffee shop, the Patagonia.
We like to go out before breakfast to the Patagonia to get coffee and have a stroll in the morning sun or garua, depending on the day. The owner is a very beautiful and gracious woman, Janet, who lets us bring our own pastries if we want to. She serves a great cafe con leche--very hot, just like I like it.
Meals here have been wonderful and usually served in fairly random order, as our waiter/all-around handyman at the hotel runs back and forth from the open air kitchen at the back of the hotel, beside the pool, to our table, usually at the front of the large veranda overlooking the ocean. We have a palm leaf covered ¨gazebo¨where we usually stay dry from the garua (ok, for those of you who have forgotten what it is, it´s the mist that wanders in any time of day or night in this season and really acts as rain.) Breakfast at 7:30 or 8 is usually some kind of fresh juice (tomate del arbol, pineapple, orange, coconut), croissants, jam, butter, honey, fruit such as watermelon, pears and pineapple, and eggs, usually scrambled with diced vegetables. We have great Galapagos coffee. (Hopefully, we´ll get to visit a coffee plantation tomorrow.) Lunch at 1:00 is a big meal. Today, we had a molded rice cup with red beans in it, a pork chop with sauce, a green salad, and fresh tomate del arbol juice. No bread at this meal. Sometimes we get dessert of fruit or ice cream or pudding. Dinner at 7:30 is often fish or meat with potatoes and vegetables or spaghetti and garlic bread, depending on what we were served for lunch. We have had yucca served fried for both breakfast and the other meals.
Ok, time for Spanish class. Hasta luego. Hope the laundry is done.
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