Day 6 (&7) - La Ruta del Sol

We finally slept in & as bad as yesterday started, today was good. Slept 8 hours! Woke up to sunny skies, not a cloud visible. After stopping for some pan dulce & a bad cup of café (I haven’t found a Starbucks yet) we were off to Playa Olon, 76 Km north of Salinas along the “Route of the Sun” 

We got to Playa Olon at 12:30 and enjoyed a near perfect day on the beach.  This beach was much quieter than Salinas with a lot more natural beauty. The water was so warm and there were a lot more waves. For $8 you can rent a big “carpa”(which is like a canvas cabana with no walls) and 6 really comfy beach chairs. 

We got fresh “mojitos”-probably the best ever with lots of “muddled mint” – Delicious! The beach here is really clean and you can see the mountains in the background.

When you get hungry u just walk back to these little bamboo huts where they serve fresh ceviche and fish. We ate pescado apanado (breaded fish with rice and patacones) and shrimp ceviche with tons of lime and cilantro.

Wow! Really fresh and delicious!

We took a long walk at the end of the day and noticed all these round marks in the sand where the water had receded.  They were sand dollars, thousands of them just under the surface of the sand.

We saw our first sunset here in Ecuador and it was beautiful!

Aaron decided to use the 4WD on his truck to pick us up on the beach – the novelty quickly fled as he realized he couldn’t disengage it.  (I was gonna take a pic of that but I figured he was still licking his wounds from “boogie board gate”) They tried everything. Leah made the “ridiculous”  suggestion that the spare tire on the front right side may be causing the problem but like the macho men that we are we decided it was smarter to drive the 1.5 hours back to Salinas in 4WD-stressing and analyzing the problem along the way.  When we got back, Aaron jacked up the car and “voila” – just as all of us guys suspected it was because the spare tire had a smaller diameter than the others. “Someone” felt vindicated. I haven’t felt so stupid since owning my first car, a Plymouth Soporro.  For 3 days I tried in vain to get it started.  My mom asked me if there was gas in it. I looked at her like we looked at Leah.  After I put gas in it and it started immediately she looked at me like Leah looked at us. We ended this eventful day by hitting our new favorite BBQ restaurant before crashing for the night.

Day 7 – Back to Milagro

We said goodbye to Nicole (We really enjoyed spending time with Ani Tindal's family here in Ecuador-they were very hospitable to us!) and headed back to Milagro. Erik got his $2 hair cut & we went to the meeting in Milagro with Keila y Aaron at 7:30pm.

Keila, her grandma Violetta, sister Viole & mom Fabiola

After the meeting the friends stack up the chairs ( all the halls here so far use those plastic patio chairs) sweep the entire floor, mop and then put all the chairs back. They r like a well-oiled machine.

After all that work we were starving so we went to get a “snack” (or three).  First stop: street cart selling “morocho” which is warm drink that tastes like rice pudding.  We didn’t even get out of the car for that one. Next stop: BBQ Borrego con arroz, menestra, papa y ensalada (Grilled lamb with rice, beans, potato and salad)

Last stop: Sorbete (yes, again and we still haven’t tried all the flavors)

So our last night in Milagro ended like our trip began – FOOD FRENZY!  - We definitely haven’t lost any weight this first week, but we truly enjoyed expanding our horizons and our waistline (but we also haven't gotten sick yet, believe it or not).  Not to mention enjoyed our time with Keila y Aaron and Keila’s family – very hospitable!

Tomorrow off to Cumbaratza.