As this town of Manta revs up for a crazy weekend of Carnival, we head back to Quito and then on through Bogota and to San Jose, Costa Rica. Yesterday was a lazy day around the pool, relaxing. Betty went with Justin and Angie over to meet her mother and sisters and brother. I stayed by the pool.
We went to a nearby Italian restaurant for dinner. Three tiny tables up a spiral staircase overlooked the main road with cars coming and going. Angie, Betty and I shared a pitcher of sangria. At a nearby table was a couple who just moved here from Miami and the guy, I think he is Ecuadorean, owns a bar down the beach where Justin and Angie have been. Their Canadian friend was visiting and then headed to the Galapagos. Justin is so gregarious they were practically best friends by the time we left.
He wanted us to meet Juan Carlos, his best bartender down at The Magic, a bar closer to town where he first started to hang out. He made an excellent margarita and caipirinia (my favorite Brazilian drink that I have in Puerto Morelos, with lots of squeezed limes!) We met Sid, a 15 year retiree who has a home in Miami but rents a 3 bedroom house here for, I think he said $250/month. So he was spending 5 months down here. He also lived in Michigan near Flint and Indiana.
Also working the bar were two lovely Venezuelan women. One had been an elementary teacher back home. There are many Ven. refugees all over Manta, many on the streets trying to sell anything to get by. Every stoplight has a handful of guys to wash your windows while you wait. These women said Venezuealan people want United States to come in an "fix" the problems there.
The last thing we did, until almost midnight, was go to a local Karaoke bar near Justin's apartment. He lives in a relatively new lovely apartment building, overlooking the pool, hot tub and then the ocean! It's a two bedroom, two bath with a deck on the second floor for $900/month.
The bar was filled with happily singing in Spanish crowd, out for drinks and selecting songs and passing the microphone around. I've actually never been in one of these bars before. It was fun to watch! We all sang New York, New York. Betty and I tried an Everly Brothers "All I have to do is dream" but it was difficult as I couldn't hear the music to sing along to. It just was a very loud place, but fun!
It's 5:45 a.m. and we're about to leave for the airport for our 7:30 flight to Quito - flying Aviance, a Columbian airline that Justin said is the best! On to Costa Rica!!
We went to a nearby Italian restaurant for dinner. Three tiny tables up a spiral staircase overlooked the main road with cars coming and going. Angie, Betty and I shared a pitcher of sangria. At a nearby table was a couple who just moved here from Miami and the guy, I think he is Ecuadorean, owns a bar down the beach where Justin and Angie have been. Their Canadian friend was visiting and then headed to the Galapagos. Justin is so gregarious they were practically best friends by the time we left.
He wanted us to meet Juan Carlos, his best bartender down at The Magic, a bar closer to town where he first started to hang out. He made an excellent margarita and caipirinia (my favorite Brazilian drink that I have in Puerto Morelos, with lots of squeezed limes!) We met Sid, a 15 year retiree who has a home in Miami but rents a 3 bedroom house here for, I think he said $250/month. So he was spending 5 months down here. He also lived in Michigan near Flint and Indiana.
Also working the bar were two lovely Venezuelan women. One had been an elementary teacher back home. There are many Ven. refugees all over Manta, many on the streets trying to sell anything to get by. Every stoplight has a handful of guys to wash your windows while you wait. These women said Venezuealan people want United States to come in an "fix" the problems there.
The last thing we did, until almost midnight, was go to a local Karaoke bar near Justin's apartment. He lives in a relatively new lovely apartment building, overlooking the pool, hot tub and then the ocean! It's a two bedroom, two bath with a deck on the second floor for $900/month.
The bar was filled with happily singing in Spanish crowd, out for drinks and selecting songs and passing the microphone around. I've actually never been in one of these bars before. It was fun to watch! We all sang New York, New York. Betty and I tried an Everly Brothers "All I have to do is dream" but it was difficult as I couldn't hear the music to sing along to. It just was a very loud place, but fun!
It's 5:45 a.m. and we're about to leave for the airport for our 7:30 flight to Quito - flying Aviance, a Columbian airline that Justin said is the best! On to Costa Rica!!
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