Catch up and cutting out of Canoa

Our wonderful hosts, Jeff and Carole, having an early dinner with us on the beach in Canoa.

One of the cool things we did in Canoa before we moved on was the Beach Crawl on Sunday March 3. Five locations, 5 different drinks, 5 different appetizers and 5 different team challenges before moving on. The ticket prices and the "live auction" proceeds (at stop #5)  go to the local school for a variety of needs. We were welcomed into the large crowd of expats living in the area near Canoa that are part of this annual event. The forty-fifty people that were participating appeared to be connected as an expat community; but also committed to the local community as they supported the local school (among other projects). [Brief, bottom of photo captions, "narrate" the slideshow below when you hit 'play' in the upper L corner of photo]. 

During our stay, Carole had wanted us all to go to dinner at a new "French" restaurant on the malecon in Canoa. Our first (unsuccessful) attempt, was hampered by us not knowing the name of the place as we drove up and down the malecon looking for a french-looking place among the many available establishments on both sides of the road, both open and closed that were 50 meters from the ocean. The four of us dined at another beachside place. The second attempt, Jeff, Sha and I took a trip into town to pick up 'carbon', which is their form of charcoal, and drove the malecon on the way home to find the French restaurant. A local man on the road that was willing to share the menu of "his" restaurant and seat you right away, that Jeff recognized, ran down the street ahead of us when asked, directing us to the place down the road further that we had passed many times. He thought that they were only open Saturdays and (maybe, we were never sure) Sundays. Attempt number three was our last Saturday night at Canoa Oasis and the four of us eagerly anticipated that date, knowing the third time's a charm and all was good with the world. We laughed and joked about what was on the menu as we drove into town for dinner. The truck was really quite quiet as we rolled to a stop on the malecon in front of the French restaurant; that the four of us could see was quite closed, until someone snickered and we all started laughing knowing we had swung and missed a third time.

Our alternative dining choice became a recommendation from our cab driver from Quito, Deliciosa Del Pacifico.  We all thoroughly enjoyed our seafood meal there, and another amazing sunset. 

We enjoyed one last meal together at the famous Bambu, a hotel-bar-restaurant at the end of the malecon and it turned out to be fabulous. Cool, wood table and chair seating in sand, under covered open-air palapas with ocean views was a wonderful way to enjoy dinner and the sun going into the ocean. [Slideshow with captions below, hit the yada yada; you know what to do.]

We also attended Trivia Nite (last night in Canoa for us), at the Surf Shak, and as good as we were last week...we were not as good this go around. Meatloaf and mashed potatoes were the special this week. Good food and fun with another 30-40 people making up multiple group teams.

Last Night at Surf Shak for Trivia.











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The rain woke us up before the alarm the morning we were leaving for Puerto Lopez. The little rains we had seen here prior had been infrequent, overnight, and usually short duration. The rain continued as we watched the dot, showing our driver, on our location sharing app in WhatsApp, get closer to our property. I may have mentioned the difficulty we experienced upon arrival; well I ended up schlepping through the wet puddled sandy access road to go see if I "could see the driver's car" approaching the property. It didn't work out so great for BlogBoy as the small umbrella didn't keep all the rain away and my sneakers got abused in  the sloppy conditions of the flooded road. As I was giving up and returning to the property; slipping and sliding my way to stable ground, I realized our driver had arrived and was following me home. The rain continued as we loaded the bags containing 93% of our worldly possessions and said our sad goodbyes to Carole, Jeff and Buster. After 20 minutes on the highway going south, the rains stopped and it was smooth sailing to Puerto Lopez.

We will report the highlights of our road trip and arrival soon. Looking forward to exploring Puerto Lopez!

¡Ciao amigos!

Pura Vida!