On Sundays, when the restaurant is closed, the cruisers are allowed to use the space for sewing projects. Our first Sunday in Ecuador I got started on making new clear plastic curtains for the cockpit to keep the cockpit dry in the frequent Panama rains. The old ones had served us well since leaving Mazatlán Mexico in 2001, but were ready for replacement. The next Sunday was Father’s Day so the restaurant here was open for a special meal for the dads – no cruiser projects! This last Sunday found 5 of us in the restaurant area repairing our sails. I was early – before others arrived – and got the luff of our working jib repaired before the tables and floor filled up with the other sails and projects.
Blue Bottle is getting its mizzen sail repaired after it got torn in a storm as they were leaving the Perlas Islands, Panama, while Gem is getting a new cockpit shade and another sail is being folded.
Saturday we, along with Shirley and Frank, made use of a local taxi. After making several quick stops in Puerto Viejo for various “needs” we took off to play tourist. We visited the Panama Hat town of Montecristi, not far from Puerto Viejo. This is one of the small towns where the Panama Hats are still made by hand. The taxi driver first drove us up the hill to visit a new museum and tomb to past Presidente Eloy Alfaro (1842-1912) . He was the president of Ecuador that instigated all the railway lines and rail service in this country in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
There was a great view over the city of Montecristi from the museum site.
Down the hill into the town we visited the church on the central plaza. Like most Latin American cities the plaza and church is the focal point of the town.
We spent some time shopping before we realized that we were all hungry. Since it was already after 2:00 PM, we hunted for – or should I say the taxi driver found – us a nice restaurant with tables just off the sidewalk. There we enjoyed roast chicken, rice and patacones. The food for all 5 of us came to just over $12, not a bad deal.
Sunday we took the ferry across Rio Chone to the farming town of San Vicente just across the river from Bahía. We took the car ferry over and walked down the beach to the center of San Vicente where we found the bus to take us the rest of the way.
There we caught a bus to the surfing town of Canoa, where we stopped off to visit boating friends who have now settled and built a real nice home there – we call it ‘the castle’.
Wayne and Cher have built, over the last three years, a very nice home on the beach. Cher has some very pretty gardens and plans for more flowers. She fixed us a nice lunch before we continued, walking along the beach, to visit Scott and his new home (still under construction) and then on to the beach town of Canoa. We arrived in Canoa in time to catch the last bus back to San Vicente and the people ferry back across the river and then home.
We have spent the last month on projects. Bill has spent much time on his computer getting our blog to talk to Google Maps so check out our position in Bahia de Caraquez. We will try to send daily updates as we travel on to Panama and Costa Rica so that our progress can be followed. Recently we have been working on boat projects getting Lanikai ready for another season of cruising. Our exit from Bahia is scheduled for early in the morning on October 30 and we are both looking forward to swimming and snorkeling in the islands off Panama before we head into Golfito, Costa Rica for Christmas.
Friday was another long bus ride; about half way thru the trip we crossed the border into Peru at Macará. The ride was thru interesting territory. Starting out from Loja, the road continued “at the top of the world” for several hours with unending mountain tops and blue sky on our left and a series of deep canyons falling off on our right. This was followed by a long winding downhill. The hills changed from green to brown as we dropped toward the desert. The border town of Macará is in a high desert; the most notable thing about it is that the airport is in the center of town, with the control tower on one side of the central plaza.
In Peru we continued down into the Desierto de Sechura, the northern Peruvian coastal desert. The bus dropped us off in Piura, Peru in the late afternoon. We got settled in a hotel – the Hotel Peru, $69 Soles per night (about $23 US) – before hunting for an ATM to get more Peruvian Soles and then ice cream and sandwitches.
Saturday we did some exploring of the city, checking out yet more churches before retiring to the central plaza to sit and read while we people-watched. The one museum that we wanted to see was “closed for remodeling”. Tomorrow we plan on heading to Chiclayo where we will first see interesting pre-Columbian ruins.
Navigation for the “Perú 2007” Series
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View “Perú 2007” Table of ContentsTable of Contents for “Perú 2007”
- Guayaquil, Ecuador
- Loja, Ecuador
- ⇒ On to Piura, Peru
- Chiclayo, Peru
- South to Trujillo, Peru
- Peru Pictures, part 1
- Ancient Adobe Cities
- Lima, the capital of Peru
- Peru Pictures, Part 2
- Pachacámac, Pre-Columbian ruins
- Museums of Lima
- On to Nazca, Peru
- The famous “Nazca Lines”
- Peru Pictures, part 3
- On to Arequipa, Peru
- Museums in Arequipa
- Convents, Monastaries and Churches
- Peru Pictures, part 4
- Nearby Arequipa
- Colca Canyon Tour
- Peru Pictures, part 5
- Three Islands of Lago Titicaca, Peru
- Lago Titicaca – Peru Pictures, Part 6
- Sillustani, Peru
- Puno, Peru
- Around Puno – Peru Pictures, part 7
- Puno to Cuzco, Peru
- Puno to Cuzco, the Tour – Peru pictures, part 8
- Cuzco – Peru pictures, part 9
- Inca Sacred Valley, Peru
- Ruins at Pisaq – Peru pictures, part 10
- Ollantaytambo – Perú pictures, part 11
- More “Sacred Valley” sites – Peru pictures, part 13
- Machu Picchu, Peru
- Machu Picchu – Peru pictures, part 12
- Cuzco Churches
- Inca Sites near Cuzco, Peru
- Cajamarca, Peru
- Pre-Inca & Inca Sites near Cajamarca
- Visiting a local Family
- Perú Travel Summary – July & August 2007
On Wednesday, June 27, we took the bus from Guayaquil all the way to Loja. The bus followed the coastal route to the city of Machala, there it turned inland. We spent the next 5 hours climbing into the Andes mountains. It was a wild ride as the bus driver seemed to be racing over the winding mountain roads; he would have done well in a Grand Prix race! For the last two hours of the trip we felt like we were riding at the “top ot the world”. After checking a number of very cheap and not-so-cheap hotels, we picked the Hostal San Luis, near Plaza Simon Bolivar, just $16 per night for a nice clean room, with hot water and cable TV.
Loja is a small city high in the mountains of Ecuador with several interesting churches and a very interesting city gate. It was much cooler there than it was at lower elevations and we even had light rain over much of our visit. On Thursday we followed the “tourist trail” thru the town stopping to enjoy coffee at one of the many small restaurants along the way. This small cafe had upstaris seating overlooking one of the many church plazas and we enjoyed several mokas while waiting for the rain to lessen. The trail passed thru the main plaza with it nearby cathedral. The cathedral has a golden altar that stands out in its ornateness against the more simple walls. We ended the walking tour on a street of older homes with wooden balconies overhanging the sidewalk.
Navigation for the “Perú 2007” Series
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View “Perú 2007” Table of ContentsTable of Contents for “Perú 2007”
- Guayaquil, Ecuador
- ⇒ Loja, Ecuador
- On to Piura, Peru
- Chiclayo, Peru
- South to Trujillo, Peru
- Peru Pictures, part 1
- Ancient Adobe Cities
- Lima, the capital of Peru
- Peru Pictures, Part 2
- Pachacámac, Pre-Columbian ruins
- Museums of Lima
- On to Nazca, Peru
- The famous “Nazca Lines”
- Peru Pictures, part 3
- On to Arequipa, Peru
- Museums in Arequipa
- Convents, Monastaries and Churches
- Peru Pictures, part 4
- Nearby Arequipa
- Colca Canyon Tour
- Peru Pictures, part 5
- Three Islands of Lago Titicaca, Peru
- Lago Titicaca – Peru Pictures, Part 6
- Sillustani, Peru
- Puno, Peru
- Around Puno – Peru Pictures, part 7
- Puno to Cuzco, Peru
- Puno to Cuzco, the Tour – Peru pictures, part 8
- Cuzco – Peru pictures, part 9
- Inca Sacred Valley, Peru
- Ruins at Pisaq – Peru pictures, part 10
- Ollantaytambo – Perú pictures, part 11
- More “Sacred Valley” sites – Peru pictures, part 13
- Machu Picchu, Peru
- Machu Picchu – Peru pictures, part 12
- Cuzco Churches
- Inca Sites near Cuzco, Peru
- Cajamarca, Peru
- Pre-Inca & Inca Sites near Cajamarca
- Visiting a local Family
- Perú Travel Summary – July & August 2007
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