Leaving Canoa

Andrea and I with our Spanish tutor

Still in Canoa, Ecuador. We have just finished Spanish lessons yesterday. Hablo un poco espaniol, no mucho, pero yo tengo mucho tiempo estudiar.

That was all done off the top of my head, and it says (although maybe not as efficiently as a fluent speaker) "I speak some Spanish, not much, but I have much time to study." I am sure anyone fluent in Spanish would poke all sorts of holes in it. I feel pretty infantile when I talk in Spanish. Whenever I say anything, I always have to find interesting ways to say it because I can only use the small pile of words that I know. That being said, we have been reminded so many times of the importance of just talking, even if you suck at it. It's the best way to learn.

Cacao nuts

Two new experiences for me today:
1. Fresh ground peanut butter in a bag.
2. Cacao nuts.


Tomorrow we will take a bus to Guayaquil, Ecuador, and spend the night. The next morning we will fly out to the Galapagos. This will likely be the most expensive part of our trip, but possibly one of the coolest. We are looking forward to it! We have booked one way tickets, and have reserved 2 nights in the Galapagos, and will use the 2 days to figure out some better, cheaper accommodations. We will likely stay about 3 weeks there and then move on to Peru. The first stop in Peru will be the Inca Trail.



Cacao nuts

Bag of peanut butter

We'll tell you about the Galapagos next week! Can't wait!





Agua malo = jellyfish

Canoa beach jellyfish (agua malo)

Agua malo =  jellyfish

The direct translation agua malo means bad water and I must agree that is true, the bad water strikes again. Those who have known me (Andrea) for a longer period of time know that 13 years ago I was stung by a jellyfish in Thailand and still have 3 big fat scars on my leg from the sting. It ended up being quite disturbing with my ankle being the size of an elephant, barely able to walk on that leg, wounds becoming infected and oozy (get the visual?). I hear that rashes going up and down the leg are indicative of a blood infection...yikes? Those  nurses and doctors out there feel free to correct me. Now it was long ago since that sting but I must say I'm not too eager to jump into the ocean waters especially when I see agua malo's laying all over the beach.



Jellyfish - 2 points, Andrea - 1 point
(I once ate jellyfish)

Well 2 days ago Mike and I were studying on the beach as the tide was coming in. Every so often a wave would splash up on me but I wasn't too concerned. Mike had been playing out in the waves with no stings at all in previous days, I thinks his hairy legs protect him (survival of the fittest, maybe I should follow suit). This was one of my few times being in the ocean water on this trip and yet again I was stung. The pain was about 3% of that which I experienced in Thailand and it has not started to swell nearly to the same extent (no kankles this time folks!). I am much wiser this time, took antihistamines pronto, put vinegar on it (not pee as the Friends TV show suggests) and aloe vera. The tiny swelling is starting to come down but I still have patches of red bumps on the back of my right leg.

Word to the wise...jellyfish on the beach, jellyfish in the water. Happy swimming y'all!

Going Grocery Shopping

Off to the grocery store...

On the boat to Bahia de Caraquez

Market in San Vicnete

Here in Canoa, on the weekend and evenings we do our own cooking. From Mon to Fri our breakfast and lunch is provided for us at the hotel for a fee. As our food supplies were getting low we ventured out to Bahia de Caraquez which is the closet city to Canoa which is where we are staying. As Mike had previously mentioned, it takes way longer to accomplish anything here, like getting groceries! Here's the process for us to get to the Tia (equivalent of a Walmart Superstore but comparable square footage to 2 gas stations) and the market in Bahia de Caraquez. Our hotel is located off of the highway about 2 km outside Canoa. Bahia is much further south, and on the other side of a big bay. To get there, first we wait for a bus to come and flag them down outside of our hotel. We take this bus to San Vicente, then walk to the port.  Here we wait for enough people to come to the port to load the boat which takes us across the river, where we then walk to the market (about 45-60 min one way from hotel to the market/Tia). Then repeat on the way back.

Our groceries today include bags of milk, bag
of eggs, huge carrots and a small papaya

Here's a few odd things I have noticed about their Tia, market and food:
1) Cheapest milk comes in a bag, otherwise you buy it in a tetra pack. Milk and eggs are never refrigerated when you buy them.
2) Peanut butter is hard to find, we learned today that we need to go to the market in Bahia and they will grind the nuts for us into peanut butter. I guess the nut man is just next door to the sausage man in the market. The other options at small stores or hole in the wall places in Canoa is that they have often have a huge container of peanut butter under the till and when asked if they have the peanut butter they bring this out and scoop the portion you would buy into a little grocery bag!! I am reluctant to buy a baggie of peanut butter as  I'm not sure the main container has ever been sealed securely and that flies aren't laying their eggs in there.
3) They have enormous papayas! I finally found a pequena (small) one today about the size of a football. No joke, yesterday in the market these suckers were about 2' tall and the diameter of a 4L jug of milk
4) They really have no frozen processed foods in the Tia. If you want pizza then you either make it yourself or go to a restaurant, there is no Delissio pizza here. The packaged food here is also very expensive for things like cereal, brown bread, jar of jam or peanut butter.
5) They eat salty cheese and I have not found cheddar cheese here. It's more like a mozerella cheese consistency and color just salty. In the market a big slab of this just sits out unrefrigerated and not covered on a counter next to the unrefrigerated meat
6) Pasta sauce, what is that? We have had a curry sort of sauce on our pasta and when we went out for supper Mike's meal didn't even come with sauce! How odd

Today while in Bahia de Caraquez we hiked up to a giant cross on the hill which overlooks the city. We just threw all our groceries in our backpack, including our bag of eggs and bags of milk, and hauled them on up with us. The path we went up was in what I would guess is a poor neighborhood but seems to be on par for many neighborhoods I have seen so far in Ecuador. We try to find little free things like this to do when we can.

In a tiny town called Canoa.

 
                                                                     Hola from Canoa Ecuador!

 

                                                                                                         


The town of Canoa

Arrival

We Took a night bus from Quito to Canoa on our second day in Ecuador. The bus was cold and drove fast, making it impossible to sleep, as your head whipped from side to side on the corners, or rumbled as it hit the rumble strips on the side of the road.

The bus was to arrive at Canoa at 6:30am, at which time we would take a taxi 2km south to our hotel. After getting absolutely no sleep, the bus pulled in a few hours early. Usually that's a good thing. When we got off the bus, it was pitch black, and the town was completely deserted. It felt like a scene from I am Legend.



San Vicente - where we buy our fruit and veg

I felt like a deer in the headlights, just standing there, with my bags thinking "now what?" as the bus left us sitting deserted on the dusty street.

We ended up hanging with some American exchange students, wandering around until we were able to wake up some hostel worker and hang out at the tables just inside the gate until morning came, at which time we hitched a ride to our hotel.
 

Time, Time, Time.

 





Bahia - The Tia is the big supermarket

We don't blog nearly as much as I would like to. It seems between Spanish lessons, studying, the beach, chasing crabs,  going out to get food there is no time in the day! Oh and don't forget the daily ping pong match with out host! In fairness to do anything takes forever here. To go out means a 20 minute walk into town, followed by however long it takes to get to the restaurant in town. We are in Canoa, by the way, a little beach town.Well actually a few km out of town. To get fresh fruit or food or other items we go into San Vicente or Bahia. This means taking a 25 minute bus ride (usually buses run every 40 minutes, but not on a schedule so you just have to wait for it), to San Vicente, and then wait for a boat to cross the bay into Bahia.  Bahia is bigger and nicer and has a walmart esqe store. Its something you would expect in a small town in Canada.

 

There are 2 guys who live at the hotel, and one of them took the time to show us around the towns, how to hail a bus (they dont have "stops"), where all the shops were, how the boat works, where the safest place to pull out more cash is, safety tips, where the best fruit is and so on. It was VERY helpful!


To wash our clothes, its in the sink, I have some sitting there right now. Unfortunately only a few shirts can fit at a time. (by the way its not that warm here, usually overcast and around 20. Further inland you get into the mountains and its high in altitude, so high that travellers have a hard time breathing light headedness etc for the first few days, and so its not warm there either! who knew!)

 

So anyway, things take time here. We spend less time at the beach then you probably think, but we do spend some time there. Often I will bring my spanish books down to study while we enjoy the beach.

Yo hablo espanol?

 

I feel like an infant when it comes to learning Spanish. I have to look up almost every word, and my sentences are childish and often more like phrases. I cant talk about anything in the past or future yet. I guess what else would I expect. We get 4 hours of lessons a day, and I usually study for about 2 more, and am constantly just picking up my book whenever i see it to go over vocab. I probably know a few hundred words and verbs. Doesn't quite capture the things one might want to say.

I had my first Spanish conversation (I think of it that way because it wasn't just a phrase or two, or a question or two) last night. It was with a stranger while we were eating dinner, who owned the shop next door. We talked about where each of us was from, his kids, our lack of kids, dancing, and honestly probably not much else. It was about a 10 minute conversation and we really didn't cover much. But he liked to laugh and was impressed with us attempting to learn Spanish, as he would be pretty lost in Canada. Andrea has a lot of little conversations, but i cant speak much without looking things up. But that being said, she is not allowed to order for me or ask questions for me, because its to easy of an out for me, and I would never learn the language!

 

So that's what has been going on the last week. We have one more week here before we will move on! Likely south to Puerto Lopez, then to the Galapagos!

Her Packing List - South America  for up to 1 year

In the couple of weeks leading up to the trip I was going crazy thinking of ways to pack for all climates from warm to cold, while being a backpacker, hiker, student and wine connoisseur! How does one pack for this? What I learned was to pack multipurpose clothing. For example, running tights work for running, PJ bottoms in the cold, leggings with dresses, layers on a cold bus and comfy lounge pants. Quick dry verses merino wool, I decided quick dry for the most part, and am happy thus far but ask me in a few months time and I will do the stink sniff test to assess if merino wool lives up to it's self proclaimed stink free properties.

Many people say just buy more clothes along the way. Being tall and bean pole like, I already find it hard to find clothes that fit in Canada. How will I find clothes in countries where women are shorter and most likely rounder than I? The fear of wearing belly tops and baggy bloomer pants may have caused me to over pack, but I'm okay with it if it allows me avoid that public humiliation, or flogging that could succumb. (ok so I have a wild imagination...)

THE LIST!

Bags:
-65L women's Osprey Waypoint travel backpack (downsized 20L from last year's Thailand  which was for 3 weeks only)
-purse -MEC travel purse
-packing cubes - the only way to stay organized - a MUST pack
-money belt

Clothing:

Tops:
-wind breaker
-fleece jacket
-long sleeved black zip up (more athletic than dressy)
-long sleeved quick dry shirt
-T-shirts (5) - 2 quick dry, 2 cotton, 1 merino wool
-tank tops (4)  - 2 quick dry 2 not

-bras (3) - 1 athletic, 2 nice ones
-undies (10) - suggest to go for non cotton ones, they dry in less than a day in full humidity!
-socks - (4) double layered socks from MEC, and one pair of thick woollies for hiking in the mountains
-bikinis (2)

-dresses (2) - one beach dress and one nice one (Patagonia makes the perfect travel dresses!)
-skirt (1) black, looks great rolled out of a travel bag, shows no dirt and matches everything
-sarong

Bottoms:
-running tights Lululemon fit perfect
-3/4 length leggings
-travel pants (Lole makes wonderful travel pants called "travel pants" (yes self explanatory) in 35" inseam)
-hiking zip off pants - not cute but functional
-shorts (2)
-capri's (2) - more conservative than shorts for when I want to blend in or just be less gringo like
-pjs - shorts and top

-scarves (2), to spice up my wardrobe
-hat - for bad hair days
-toque
-gloves - a small pair
-chaos multi tubular head wear (hat, scarf, headband all in 1)
-necklace - will buy jewellery along the way

Cosmetic bag:
-eye cover
-ear plugs (many of them)
-toothbrush/toothpaste
-lotion with sunscreen
-limited makeup
-2 in 1 conditioner/shampoo
-body wash
-loofah and scrubby shower gloves
-1 year supply contact lenses, solution, glasses

Meds/first aide kit:
-don't forget your vaccine book and to get vaccinated months in advance, unlike us! On the other hand vaccines are way cheaper here, about 1/5 the price in the western clinics
-doxycycline (malaria meds), cipro, antihistamines, pain meds, gastrolyte powder (we relived the scene from the movie Bridesmaids last year in Thailand and couldn't keep any fluids in our body), imodium, sinutab, gravol, polysporin, bandaids, alcohol wipes

Shoes:
(at one point I had 5 pairs of shoes but narrowed it down to 3!)
-flip flops
-ballerina flats
-oboz sawtooth low light trail shoes

Misc:
-travel towel
-kobo
-plug converter
-ipod
-canon G15 camera - 2 extra batteries, hard case, extra memory card, gorilla tripod
-books - South America on a shoestring, diving log book - trekked this book from Jamaica to Thailand, now to Ecuador where we have to get our open water scuba certification so we can ditch this book! Spanish/English pocket dictionary, brain games (nerdy yet fun)
-sunscreen
-bug spray
-many extra zip lock bags
-deck of cards
-umbrella
-bag cover for when raining
-travel alarm clock
-head lamp
-sunglasses
-extra batteries
-carabiners - for attaching bags together on our lap when traveling on a bus
-pad lock and locks for zippers when traveling
-mini roll of duct tape
-spork - a fellow dietitian suggested I bring a spork (I laughed) for those emergency situations where you have a yogurt and no spoon. I have already used it! A dietitian equivalent of a swiss army knife, ready and prepared to eat at any moment.

Things I wish I had so far:
-cheap camera pocket sized for when in major cities and crime is a problem

Yes folks all of this DOES fit into a 65L bag (just barely) and weighed in at 35 lbs!

His Packing List for South America

Every travel bog will tell you less is more! You can wear the same underwear for a week before changing them! Socks, wash 'em every two weeks! Pants? Why even bother washing them... Seriously. I can't bring myself to think like that! How much do underwear weigh anyway?

Well on the final weigh in I came in at 43.5 pounds. I can officially put my bag on a plane without paying extra!

I think the biggest goal of mine was to try to have few redundant articles of clothing.

Here's how it breaks down
7 pairs of gynch. (3 of those happen to be nice sweat wicking athletic undies. Only the finest material for this tush)
8 pairs of socks
7 short sleeves (Come on people, they all have different purposes! 3 dri – fit shirts, one rash guard, 2 golf shirts, one cotton)
2 long sleeved (1 merino wool light weight, 1 fleece) It gets cold here. Heck we are on the equator and its below 20 degrees... There will be places where its sub zero.
3 cargo shorts, 1 pair of bball shorts
2 swim shorts (plus one speedo to go under the board shorts). And a MEC travel towel.
3 pants (1 hiker/shorts, 1 dressier golf pants (stretchy), 1 bike pants, to act as long undies)
Toque, light gloves,
sandals
trail runners - you can run, you can Hike. YAY!
Rain jacket, umbrella
Sunglasses
Laundry bag
bag cover
Baseball Cap

Thats it for the clothes, then theres the sleep stuff:

Ear plugs, Inflating pillow, sleep aid.
Washing stuff - I really just took minitures of everything and will replenish as we go.
Exercise band (is there anything you can’t do with your body weight and a band?) I count this as an important item to take. It takes up no space and weighs nothing.
padlock and leatherman
Dive log, certification card and manual (ditching the manual the moment we finish certification, why did we not get our open water to begin with!?) Just a note our scuba manuals are big dumb books that have been in jamaica with us, Thailand, and now Ecuador. They need to go.
Electronics:
11" laptop (290$ special) - so so important for research and communication! Also can store copies of all our id and health insurance here in case something happens.
ipod, kobo - this is such a must. I cant go too many nights without crawling into a good book.
Travel alarm clock, head lamp, converter plugs, chargers, diving camera, batteries, extra memory. Another note, purchased 100GB on my skydrive, so we could ensure our pictures would not be lost!
Meds:
Maria, antihistamine, and cipro.

 The early stages of my pack...

Leaving home.

Untying the tethers.

So. You spend all your life building security around yourself. Careers, house, revenue property, stocks, friends, family, wife. And in one fell swoop, you get rid of it all. (uhhh, except for the wife family and friends, that is… uh, sorry hun...)

Here's the thing: travelling was part of the deal when I married my wife. And not just a little trip. What can you see in a few weeks? Ya, not much. Go big or go home right?

But how do you go about travelling for a year? This is such a foreign concept to me!! (Its also a foreign concept to certain family members, who I think are having a hard time deciding if we have lost our minds or not) Couple this travelling thing with moving to a new city, and it has seemed like such a monumental task!

Here's how you do it:

1. Quit your jobs. Do they offer unemployment insurance to travelers who come home to no jobs? Anyone?

2. Sell you house. Actually in our case we had to sell two, oh and one was turned into a dump by our renters, and we had to reno it first. This wasn't the one week project I thought it would be. (Try 7 months from start to sale).

3. You need to hang out with all the friends that you will miss over the next year. I'm sure we missed many. (And I blame you, not me... jk. But seriously, you shoulda called. )

4. You need to pack a single year into a backpack. Seriously, while Annie is going for less is more, I figure whatever doesn't completely squish me will only make me stronger. (How much can you squat?)

You ever get that feeling that your forgetting something?

5. Say goodbye to family. Aww, warm touchy feely moments!

6. Plan the trip! Oh wait... Uh Annie did you plan anything? No? I didn't either... Uh... ok so forget the planning and get on the plane!

Going to Ecuador baby!