The beach is cool

Saturday, September 2nd

Well rested, we got started today with a good breakfast. We ate an Encebollado at El Pez Azul in the Alborada neighborhood. Eating this plate on a weekend morning is a tradition for many Guayaquileans. The plate is a local delicacy made with fish, tons of onions and lime juice, and yucca.

What we have to look forward to today is nothing less than the beach. After breakfast and about 1h30m of a drive, we were in Salinas, the closest real beach to Guayaquil. Actually, we stopped by my brother's beach house to pick up boogie boards and towels, etc.. It was the afternoon already when we sat on the sand for the first time. We had gone a bit passed Salinas into the beach of Chipipe. I immediately went to the water which was actually quite cold. See, here in Ecuador it's what you would call winter. It's still sunny and hot outside but there is some cool winds and the water lowers its temperature. It was still swimmable nonetheless.

While we were there, I spotted my good friend Pablo Mario who is now a comedic star on Ecuadorian TV :) We enchanged a few words and promised to get in touch again as soon as I come back permanently. We drank and ate coconut on the beach and just plainly relaxed by the palm trees. My brother and I took a chance to catch up on business talk and what his ideas were for the future. I will be joining our company here soon so this was a great opportunity to hear what needs to be done and where I can help.

It had been a few hours since we got here to the beach so Fabiola wanted to take off back to Guayaquil. The problem is that she does not like to drive at night. We picked up our stuff and drove out to eat at the Salinas side of the beach. This was amazing!!! We had an increible meal!! Alexey had Octupus ceviche while I had the Oyster kind. We all shared then the succulent grilled mixed seafood or "Parrillada Marinera". Name the sea creature, it was there! Grilled octupus, crab, fish, clams, squid, prawns, lobster, etc. etc. It was a daunting task to finish the whole grill but we accomplished it!! Delicious!

The drive back was uneventful and at home we rested a bit. My sister in law, Fabiola, decided to stay home and my brother, Alexey and I got ready to go out. We met up my brother's friends, El Pollo and El Abogado, and my friends, El Chino and Joao at the infamous El Manantial in the neighborhood of Urdesa. We started drinking and without knowing it, we were down 7 pitchers and a few appetizers. El Abogado was completely wasted but he rest of us were still pretty sober. As a sidenote, here in Guayaquil, we end up most sentences directed towards guys with the word "maricon" which literally means "gay". Due to this, Alexey thought that all our friends thought of him as gay!!! This was certainly not the case and we all had a great time. I think our Spanish was a little too fast for Alexey but at least he will get some more practice by trying to make out what we are saying.

It was about 1AM and my brother remembered that a friend of his, who randomly enough is finishing his priesthood studies in Rome, was having a birthday get-together at his house. El Chino had a car so we all got in and drove toward this party. On arrival, we were welcomed into a patio where a few people were gathered around playing guitar and percussions. Some people were singing as well. It was weird to be drinking and smoking at the place of a saint man but heck, we were already on third gear. After devouring the pork sandwiches at the table, Alexey sat with the group to hear the singing. My brother took the stage and sang a few tunes. We were all having fun but after a while it was already 3:30AM so it was time to leave. We did so and headed for a small cart in the Garzota neighborhood (across the bridge from La Puntilla). This cart sold Encebollado which we gladly ate for a second time in the day. Joao and El Abogado took a taxi home while El Chino drove the the rest of us home. The night finally came to an end about 4:30AM.