After working relatively hard for two weeks on the Rio Muchacho farm, we spent a well deserved couple days relaxing in the beach town of Canoa. From what we gathered, it’s known as one of Ecuador’s best beaches, if not the best, and is supposedly an up and coming town for both domestic and international tourism. Though neither of us would consider ourselves “beach people”, we had a good time there.
The first day and a half we spent most of our time with the friends we made on the farm. They were spending the weekend in Canoa before heading back to the farm for another week of work. First things first, we grabbed lunch at one of the beachside restaurants and indulged in some of the foods we didn’t have access to on the farm. Being near the coast there was a good selection of delicious seafood. My shrimp ceviche was excellent. Sarah doesn’t like seafood so she had some good old fashioned fried chicken and french fries. Can’t go wrong there. We topped that off with a tasty dessert drink called “Batido”, which is basically a milk shake. Instead of using a flavored syrup they use actual fruit.
At the end of the second day and after the rest of the crew headed back to the farm, Sarah and I spent the evening relaxing and walking along the main strip parallel to the beach. For our last dinner in Canoa we hit up a restaurant called “Surf Shak”, which I’m guessing was started by a U.S. expat, as it seems to be geared towards folks from the U.S. They make great pizzas and have NFL football games playing all day Sunday, both of which we enjoyed. After traveling for a while and not having access to familiar things, e.g. food, friends, places, etc., you find that you start to miss them more than you imagined. And when you suddenly have access to them again it’s very comforting to indulge a bit. Pizza and football were two of those indulgences.
Our time in Canoa allowed us to spend a little more time with our new friends and to rest a bit before heading further south through Ecuador. It was definitely time well spent. Here our some pictures from our short two day visit.
Tomas and Steffi (Germany), Sarah and Dave (you know us), Zach and Erin (Seattle, Washington), and Conny (Switzerland) grabbing lunch on the Canoa beach.
Shrimp Ceviche and plantain chips. Very good.
Sarah’s fried chicken and fries. The salad was left untouched to avoid any foreign bacteria.
Paraglider flying low along the beach.
Sarah enjoying a walk along the beach. The beach here is very large, especially during low tide. Also worth mentioning is that it’s pretty clean. This is noteworthy because litter is a big problem in many of the places we’ve visited in Central and South America. One of the local restaurants offers a free margarita if you collect a full bag of trash.
Zach and Erin pumping iron/concrete on the beach.
The hostel we stayed at–Amalur. Owned by a couple from Spain. Really nice place but maybe a bit above of our typical price range.
Sarah keeping safe from the mosquitos.
A morning walk with Erin and Zach a little further down the beach during low tide. Canoa really does have a beautiful beach.
Our go-to lunch food–bread, banana, and peanut butter–to save money and good for long bus rides. In Canoa the peanut butter was $1 per handful–a very accurate unit of measure. I love that the bread says “Molde”.
Ecuadorian volleyball should be considered a close cousin of the volleyball we’re used to seeing in the States. There’s a lot of holding and tossing of the ball. Sort of seems like cheating.
Pizza and NFL football at the Surf Shak. So good.
Peach and Bones 