Cruising to Canoa

Fantasy fulfillment time ... for Gary!  He really wanted to get to the coast in Ecuador so we perused the travel book that Michael & Erica lent us and decided on the town of Canoa.  It is about a 6 hour drive from Quito so they loaned us one of their vehicles, we packed our bags and took off for an overnighter just so Gary could fulfill a fantasy and surf in South America.  All well and good ... we thought!

 

The following set of pictures are of some of the towns we passed through on our way.  This is very typical of the rural countryside in Ecuador. 

 

 

 

 

 Here are some of the indigenous people who live in the rural area.

 Here's one of the most popular forms of transportation in the rural areas.

 A number of the houses were built on stilts because of the rainy season.

 

 

 On our arrival in Canoa we were greeted by this beautiful bush covered in these gorgeous orange-colored flowers.

Canoa is a pleasant, laid-back fishing village on the Pacific coast of Ecuador.  Popular with travelers and yet not overrun by them, it is an excellent place to chill-out for a few days on the beach or practice your surfing skills (Gary's fantasy).  It boasts 17 km of coastline/beach making it the longest beach in Ecuador.

 

Local stories and tales say that the natives of Canoa hid deep in the hills when they saw invaders approaching leaving the beautiful beach deserted.  100 years later, Jesuit priests arrived and along with Canoans, they celebrated the birth of yet another Spanish community.

 

In its beginnings, Canoa was called Pantaguas o Pintagua.  Juan de Velasco, a priest, was the first to include Canoa in a map of the old Reino de Quito (Kingdom of Quito).  At the turn of the 20th century, the beach was officially recognized and became part of the Canton Sucre (Bahia de Caraquez).

Welcome to Canoa's Wonderland Hotel!!

 
This is our hotel looking at it from the parking lot toward the beach.

This is Gary standing on the patio of our hotel room.

And look how nicely they made up our bed!

 
Here's a picture of the pool and jacuzzi at the Hotel Wonderland.

 To the right of the picture above is this path going straight out to the beach.  All we had to do was cross the street and we were on the beach!

 This is the same walkway but looking back towards the hotel.

Here's a picture of the hotel taken while standing in the street and looking back.

 This is the street that runs parallel to the beach.  Notice it is unpaved!  All the streets in Canoa are unpaved!

 
And here's the beach!

 

 

 My vacation footprints in the sand.

 Gary, cooling off his feet in the tepid water.

 Here I am on the beach with a resort in the background.

  

 This is the "bar" that was across from our hotel located right on the beach.

 The next two picturse below show a number of the businesses that line the main street on the beach.

  

 You know you're in a rural environment when the rooster is hanging out in the window of your retail establishment!

 Can you say vacation?

 

 

 

 This is the surfboard Gary rented for the day to fulfill his surfing fantasy. 

 The end of an era ... here's Gary sitting on the surfboard waiting for a wave.

 And waiting for a wave.

And still waiting for a wave. 

 
It actually wasn't that he was only waiting for a wave it was the end of an era because he was unable to catch any waves that came his way.  Between his bum shoulder and bad balance from the viral infection he had a couple of years ago, the fulfillment of his surfing fantasy ended up to be the end of an era instead of a cosmic surfing experience.  Sad, but true.  A moment of silence for Gary please...

These boats lined the beach in Canoa.

 

 Here are some boat owners getting ready to launch their boat.

  

  To get them into the water, it takes a village! You can see the two wooden rollers underneath the boat.  They put them under the boat, push it along on the rollers, and then pick them up to place them under the boat again continuing to move the boat out to sea on the rollers.

 They do that until they finally get the boat in deep enough water to get it successfully floating.
  

Once they are in deep enough water, then the motor gets put on the back and away they go!

 We left Canoa going south along the beach thinking we knew what we were doing ... we didn't! We ended up on this dirt/mud road that continued on for a very long time.  It was extremely rural ... I mean REALLY rural.  No automobiles in sight, just horses and donkeys and lots of chickens ... but then everybody in rural Ecuador has chickens and cows!  Every once in awhile we saw a sign with an arrow pointing to the direction for Quito so we kept thinking, "Okay, we're doing fine."  We weren't!

 I think these may have been rice paddies out in the middle of nowhere.

 

 

 

 

 Here are a couple of examples of the stilted houses in the middle of nowhere.

 

 And some wild turkeys on the roadside.

 

 A little community in the middle of nowhere.

 In some small Podunk rural town on our supposed way back to Quito, some guy rear-ended us when I had to quickly stop for a stray mongrel that ran in front of the car.  I wasn't going very fast, so this guy was totally tail-gaiting me. Here's the damage to Michael & Erica's car. 

 Here's the damage to the beater that hit me.

 Here we are on the street waiting for the police to arrive.

So, this dude (who hit me) says he wants $300 to compensate for the damage to his old beater.  I'm like, WHAT???  You hit us, dude, I'm not giving you anything!  Thankfully, Michael got us a friend's cellphone to take with us so I texted Michael ... "Call me; we got in an accident!" 

 

Michael gives us a call and I tell him the situation and then hand the phone over to the perpetrator of the crime.  Michael speaks fluent Spanish and explains we ain't payin' a penny.  So the dude tells him that the problem was that I was going too slow ... really???  That means I'm at fault for you hitting me?  They go back and forth and the guy finally says he's calling the police, which he does.

 

The police arrive and by now the guys is asking for $20 ... go figure! The younger policia officer says we should take the deal.  Michael is on the phone to the older, more seasoned officer, explains he is an official with the state department, the dude is at fault, and his parents aren't going to give him a penny.  The younger cop takes off with the police car (I guess he was disgusted we didn't take the deal) leaving the other cop with us.  Michael and the more seasoned officer have at least four phone conversations and are like best buddies.  The cop explains to the perpetrator he's not getting anything and to move on, which he finally does.  Then the cop asks us if we can give him a ride back to the police station, which we happily do.  You have to love small, rural towns.

 

Moral of that story?  It pays to be fluent in the language of the people of the country you are visiting ESPECIALLY if you decide to drive a vehicle.  We could have really been swindled if Michael hadn't been available to negotiate our deal.

 

It took us about nine hours to make the six hour trip home.  We were exhausted and wasted.  We were so very, very happy when we recognized landmarks close to where Michael & Erica lived.  It was euphoric ... I can easily say that.  We took the longest road possible home from Canoa to Quito.  But, we did our little fantasy run and all's well that ends well!

 

Isaiah 49:11-13

I will make all My mountains a road, and My highways will be raised up. Behold, these will come from afar; and lo, these will come from the north and from the west, and these from the land of Sinim.  Shout for joy, O heavens! And rejoice, O earth! Break forth into joyful shouting, O mountains! For the LORD has comforted His people and will have compassion on His afflicted.