At the equator, the sun rises and sets at about the same time every day and in just about t
he same spot every day, year round. The Sundown Inn sits on the beach which faces directly west so we have the sunset straight out from the terrace attached to our room. The beach is a very gradual slope into the water and the water temp is very comfortable, not the freezing Pacific we’re used to in So Cal.
The Sundown Inn is a small family owned and operated enterprise about a 20 minute walk south of Canoa. The on-site family consists of Juan Carlos, his wife Maria Elena, their 2 children and the watch dog Marley. They offer the option of having 2 meals on site each day for $6 per person per day. The breakfast and dinner are varied and very tasty. This pretty much takes care of our food for the day except for a small snack mid-day. The guests can store food and drink on site in the refrigerator and use the kitchen as well. I’m almost embarrassed to tell you that for our room and 2 meals per day we pay $22.50. Seriously. We’re encountering lots of nice fellow travellers here in various stages of their own extended visits to Ecuador and other parts of South America.
You can imagine that 50 or 60 years ago, there were little towns on the California coast like Canoa. It’s less than 10,000 people with mostly dirt streets. The street that runs along the beach is lined with open air restaurants and bars on the side opposite the beach and with a series of small thatched roof huts on the beach side which offer dining and drinking on the sand. It’s the kind of beach experience you can’t get in the US anymore due to safety, health, environmental, liability and any of a dozen more regulations and zoning restrictions. Yesterday at one of these huts, Valerie and I shared a large bowl of Sopa Marinera, a rich soup with lots of shrimp, fish, clams and crab. It was delish. During the week, Canoa is low key and pretty quite. On the weekend and holidays, the buses arrive with Ecuadorians and other travellers looking for fruity drinks and a fun beach getaway. The activity and music gets cranked up a few notches.
We were at one of the enterprises across the street from the beach, the Surf Shak, when a man rode up on a pony. He dismounted and went in to the bar for something, came back out, got on his pony and rode away. This is Canoa.
We’ve uploaded some photos from our week at the Sundown Inn and Canoa. We’ll be here for another week.
Second Act 
It sounds sooooo relaxing. The town looks like it is out of a movie from long ago. You must meet a lot of interesting people with interesting travel stories. How is your spanish coming along? It looks like things are written in english and spanish. Keep safe and have fun.
Canoa has a bit more English speaking due to the vacationers but otherwise, not so much. We are meeting several people in Ecuador for extended visits.
Thanks for all the great photos. Don’t get too used to the laid-back lifestyle, you’ll never return to the US. Are you finding people that speak English along the way?
What’s with the knee brace, Kevin? I don’t think you want a knee replacement in them thar parts. Hopefully, it’s a transient condition.
The food looks really good, can’t complain about the price.
One question, what is Marley doing in that large hole, did he just dig out under the cement wall? Also, are you going to have to make the same return bus trip? When do the Spanish lessons start?
It’s about 15 degrees here. They’re predicting snow tonight, and off and on all week. Oh, spring, where art thou?
Keep on having fun!
Love y’all,
NGC
Hi, Nancy. There’s some English speaking people in Canoa since some of the place cater to English speaking vacationers. But not much otherwise. The knee brace is no big deal. I have occasional problems like when I ski, but I think it’s that we’re doing a lot more walking than I’m used to. Also, walking along the beach. I think Marley is just finding a cooler spot in the hole.
We’ll be returning to Quito by a different route. Should be shorter. If my Spanish had been better we would have taken that route coming this way as well. We have finished our first week of Spanish lessons and are going to take a little break to assimilate before taking more lessons.
Hang in there, spring will eventually arrive. Hopefully, this is the worst of it.
The pictures look like postcards, the sunset is amazing! You both look and sound like you are having a great time and are enjoying learning again- brain stimulation is a good thing! Yes, the snow has hit Kentucky, but other parts of the country have it much much worse. Our corporate office in NY said they should get a foot tonight. My dad in Ohio said that they have over 24 inches! We love the updates, keep them coming. We are jealous that you are probably too warm! Love, Us
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