Souvenir Photo Studio, by Al Bourassa: Monday January 22, 2018 Guayaquil-Salinas

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Monday January 22, 2018

The first thing I am going to do is apologize for not knowing my own equipment yet, specifically the Panasonic Lumix ZS60 which is bloody complicated… Honestly I am trying to take RAW format photos and managed to get 9 of those to start with, then the wheels fell off… Then I got 9 JPG format somehow before the camera decided it didn’t want to take photos, it would do 4K movies…ugh… So I stitched the movies I saved and put those on YouTube, eliminating the ones where I am swearing at the camera. Sorry, but we were all trying to carry as little as possibly so I left the big cameras behind.

So… Friday Dawn is all excited because 3 of her best friends are flying in for a week’s holiday to see some of Ecuador. We bought her bus ticket to Guayaquil in the morning and she was getting ready for a noon departure Saturday.

Then, on Friday evening Gustavo surprisingly came through on his double promise to drive Dawn so that made things easier. Things got more complicated when they decided and insisted that I come along. I needed a break so I succumbed to their begging. I got Madelaine Barry to substitute for me at Joes’, with Ken’s permission, then hurriedly packed.

We left around noon on Saturday in Gustavo’s Suzuki SUV and had a bit of a hiccup at Puerto Inca when the right rear brake was making noise and was very hot, the pads worn down to the bolts, scoring the discs. Thank you Dawn for hearing that. We found a brake mechanic who had to fashion replacement pads to fit. The fellow’s father was happy to show us his garden of fruit trees and actually climbed up a mango tree and lopped off 3 beautiful specimens for us. Then, off we went again.

We did a little sightseeing around the main cathedral and the Malecon in Guayaquil to kill a little time before having a lovely meal of Corvina (sea bass) nearby.

We had a heckuva time trying to find the BnB we had booked near the airport called Villa97 because the streets are actually narrow alleys, and all one-ways.. Great place though and very quick to the airport. The girls’ flight was delayed so we didn’t see them until after 11:30pm but they were quickly whisked to the Hostal.

After a couple of welcome drinks and travel stories the whole bunch went to bed around 1am, only to rise about 6:30 with the sun and had a lovely breakfast including the fresh mangoes.

After our disparaging remarks about the City of Guayaquil the visitors decided they would skip sightseeing here until maybe next Saturday when they depart. So, all 6 of us pile into the SUV, the 4 girls alternating in the uncomfortable forward positions, and head for Salinas on the Pacific coast.

The day starts off blustery but the wind eventually clears out most of the cloud so we get a lovely, hot, humid day. We have to wait before checking into the Chescos Hostal, right across from the beach on the Malecon, but we manage to park the SUV in a lot behind. Then we start walking from bar to bar, the girls and Gustavo trying different drinks as we enjoy the eye candy, both male and female.

So here is the stitched video to that point - https://youtu.be/qJQ1PEXEIio

Gustavo and I are hungry and the girls are still thirsty so we leave them and have lunch before we check in at the Chescos with 3 rooms, 2 on the second floor for the girls, and 1 above for Gustavo and I, where us guys try to nap and shower but the AC is not working. So, we get switched to a room across the hall where the AC was only marginally better but at least the room had a so-so view of the beach and ocean. Then the Internet Wi-Fi would not work so we had to get that fixed as well. Gustavo said he would be right back and I never saw him again.

By now I am getting cranky from lack of sleep, the poor amenities, and thinking about all the work I left behind at home. Also, I felt bad for the girls crammed in the back of the SUV and that made me feel bad for having joined in and causing that problem… I also don’t drink much, and bar-hopping hasn’t been my style for many, many years. Waking up with hangovers is not for me any more… And being a wet-blanket wasn’t how I wanted these lovely gals to remember me, or Ecuador, so I just quickly decided to do everyone a favor and just head home. I packed up, caught a taxi to Santa Elena to catch the Guayaquil bus and timed that just right,.. or did I..?? We got caught in a 5-mile traffic jam from an accident, with ambulances and police trying to navigate their way through. It took me 3 hours… Then I managed to catch the next bus to Cuenca really quickly, leaving at 9pm so I arrived here at 1am after those 2 very uncomfortable rides.

Today, I had to process Madelaine’s photos (thank you for helping out) and get them on Joes’ website and our 2 blogs. Google, as usual, was making my life very difficult to get that accomplished.

I had Cecilia stop by to take all the strange vegetables and sundries that Cristina purchased that I will never use.

I also arranged for Elizabeth to come and give the house a thorough cleaning from top to bottom.

Now, I just have to finish processing the trip photos and process this Blog so I can take a rest…………… Oh, how I need a rest….. alone, by myself… just one day is enough…

I hope you enjoy the pictures. That was the day’s excitement.

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