Cuenca Travels: Salinas

We are in Salinas. Por fin, puedo llevar pantolones cortos y sandalias. Leaving Cuenca fue un poco triste. We were both listo, but there were some relationships and memories that were hard to leave. Our trip to Salinas was, actually very good. Our driver was not trying to impress NASCAR through the Andes. Also, I figured out that if I put my I Pod shuffle earphones on and turned the volume up as high as it would go, my brain would not worry about the road. Plus all the drugs helped (just kidding).

We are staying in an incredible condo, owned by an artist in Maine. We are on the 20th floor, with incredible views. I forgot to take pictures for this post, but will take some for the next post. This would be unaffordable for us anywhere else in the world, but Ecuador is still a real estate bargain. There is a condo/hotel going up fairly close to us (same builder as this building). Apparently, all the units are sold. Contrast that to the rest of the world - and you can understand why Ecuador is booming. We spent our first afternoon and day exploring and getting set up with provisions, etc. We have had a bit of sticker shock at the restaurant p,rices after Cuenca - but will be doing a fair amount of cooking at the condo, especially this weekend when the place will get crowded. Right now,the place is deserted. It is great. After Cuenca, we appreciate less traffic and congestion.

The condo owner referred us to a young man (Ramon) who will drive us to the airport for our final leg out of Ecuador. He is a budding guide who is actively learning English. He and another fellow, Chin (part Chinese) are going to school together and are partners in the fledgling guide business. We took a tour of the Salinas area today with Chin and a driver, Juan. We went to the Chocolaterra area first. This is an area on a military base. It was used by the US in WWII. It is called the Chocolaterra because two currents, in the Pacific, collide there and produce turbulence, and the rocks and sand, affected, make the water look brown. The ocean is very rough here. Quite a contrast to the calm bays around the area. Apparently, our troops dumped all their equipment (trucks, bombs, etc) in the ocean , after the war. Why, we don't know.

Nest to the salt flats. A huge Ecuadorian company runs a salt business here. They take the salt or sea water and process into salt for the table. It is quite a process. It takes many years to get the water from sea water to salt. There are miles and miles of ponds in various stages of evaporation. One of the offshoots of this business is that birds, of all types, come here to feed and mate. The water is pumped in from the ocean and contains shrimp and krill and other food for the birds. Some 125 species of birds come here to eat and reproduce. Fortunately, the company protects theses animals and the public can come and observe the aves. The highlight is the pink flamingos that come form Chile. They come to mate and eat. They were here - but very far away for pictures. It was the first time Becky or I have seen them in the wild.

Next, was a museo sobre la vida de Salinas muchos anos pasado. It was very interesting. It took life from the early indians through the Spanish Conquest. We then went to an Aquatic Museo housed in a hotel above the ocean. We had actually considered staying at this place. It is beautiful, but very remote. We will go up there for dinner, but we like our location better. The museo is very interesting. They have original and reproductions of very old Spanish life on the sea. The hotel and restaurant reminded us of some places along Route 66 in the US where people have obsessive collections of historical stuff. What they have at this place is incredible, but sensory overload. Tonight a new restaurant. Tomorrow, la playa.