Tiene sueltos? Do you have something smaller?

$10s are almost as bad as $20s
I've even had a $5 turned down

¿Tiene sueltos?

You get that question just about every time you try to spend a $10 or $20 dollar bill.  Merchants, restaurants, taxi drivers, etc., just do not seem to have change.

Unfortunately the ATM spits out $20s, so I often have a $20 in my pocket.


First, let me say I know that I am lucky to have enough money to live comfortably here in Ecuador. I am thankful for that.

But one day while riding the green bus to Quito (with a $20 in my pocket) I got to thinking: I worry more about will I be able to use my $20 as opposed to do I have enough money with me. You find yourself planning your day by thinking about which places will take your $20 and trying to go to those places first.

Could not take my credit card and
did not have less than $5.00 in change
when I paid for an airline ticket.

At the end of my sailing trip from Salinas to Bahía, I had to buy an airplane ticket to get back to Quito. I had brought along my credit card just for this one purchase.

When we got to the travel agency, they said “sorry we cannot take credit cards today because our phone lines are not working”.

The cost of the ticket was $85.58. I just happen to have $90 with me, and so I paid in cash, and guess what? They did not have change. First, the two employees looked in their purses for change and then finally one when next door to the police station to get change. I was amazed!



So, always be on the lookout for a place that can take your $20 so you can get change.  Because if you do not have change for the next place you visit, more than likely they will not be able to accept your $20.

La Casa del Suizo

In eastern Ecuador you find headwaters to the Amazon River – one of these rivers is Rio Napo where you will find many tourist lodges and resorts. The one we stayed at is “La Casa del Suizo”.   Our guide told us that La Casa is the best of all.

On our 15 minute canoe ride

We arrived on Saturday after a 4-hour taxi ride (see blog post: “All Hollywood stunt drivers are from Ecuador”) coming down out of the Andes from Quito.

The last 15 minutes of the journey is a canoe ride down the Napo where you finally find the resort.

View of Rio Napo from  our room

The package includes three meals a day (which is excellent) and daily guided tours of surrounding attractions (butterfly farm, indigenous pueblo, a small zoo).

Gabriella & David

One interesting story happened one day when our guide told us of the following morning’s activity. It was all in Spanish, and I was translating. Unfortunately I missed the important part that we needed to bring entrance fee money for the zoo. 

When we arrived the guide pointed to the sign that said it cost $3.50 to enter. Uh-oh!  Luckily a young couple (Gabriella and David from Quito) paid our way in and later we repaid them and bought them an after dinner beer.

At the Quichua pueblo we got to sample some food and drink. 

We ate worms and drank chicha de yuca.

An uncooked, wiggling worm

The worms cooked in a banana leaf

Janet eating a cooked worm.
Just like in the Lion King:
"pecans with a very pleasant crunch"

Joe drinking chicha de yuca 

Relaxing on our patio

The main building at the resort

Warm enough to swim at night

All Hollywood stunt drivers are from Ecuador

During Janet’s visit to Ecuador, she found out first hand why all the Hollywood stunt drivers come from Ecuador.

$0.25 ride on bus verde

On her first day here, I introduced her to the “green bus”. Almost all the buses that run through Cumbayá on their way to Quito are green. I do not know why. 

One could take a taxi to Quito for $15 or one could ride the “Green Bus” for $0.25. Obviously one is much cheaper, and as you will see below, it is not clear which is safer.

4-hour taxi ride to Eastern Ecuador

On Saturday (13 Oct) we took a 4-hour taxi ride to eastern Ecuador. 

This ride takes you up and down mountains and around curves, and there are few straightaways. 

The destination was La Casa del Suizo which is in the jungle and at the headwaters of the Amazon river.

Some definitions of Ecuadorian driving:

• Going 120 k/h in a 60 k/h zone? Don’t worry the radar isn’t working.
• Yellow lines? That doesn’t mean anything (even if there happens to be a line painted in the road). 
• Passing while going uphill and approaching a curve? Normal business! 
• And as you can see in one photo: Passing with oncoming traffic? No problema!

Below are some pictures of how Ecuadorian driving affects Janet

The last picture of Janet was taken as the taxi driver executed the following maneuver (below).

Passing with oncoming traffic - No problema!

But as you can see, Janet sobrevivía!

Middle of the Earth - la Mitad del Mundo

Janet & Joe - One leg on each side of the equator

When you come to Ecuador there is an unwritten rule that you have to visit the equator and stand with one foot in the northern hemisphere and the other in the southern hemisphere.

View from the top of the monument

There is a very nice museum in the monument with the globe on top and we were lucky enough to have our own guide, Ximena Ortiz.

Joe, Ximena (our guide) and Janet

Ximena is the sister-in-law of my host here in Ecuador and just happen to be the person who set up the museum and ran it for three years.

Joe & Janet - view from on top of the monument

So the next time you are in Quito, take the short drive north to the equator and stand on the equator.

My Mission: Sail to Bahía!

Sailboat "Suitt" - Docked at Salinas Ecuador

Professor Bruce Hoeneisen of USFQ is within a year of retirement and he wanted to upgrade to a bigger sailboat. He plans on doing quit a bit of sailing.

As Bruce puts it, "I either could have paid for a psychiatrist or buy a sailboat. I decided on the sailboat".


As of Friady (28 September 2012) “Suitt” is now his sailboat. Bruce bought the sailboat from a former commandant of the Ecuadorian Navy, Comendante Martín, who had the sailboat in Salinas. Salinas is a 24-hour sail away from Bahía where Bruce has a small second house.

Nicholas, Joe, Comandant Martín, Bruce, Matico

The Former Owner

The Commandant gave us a 2-hour ride from the Guayaquil airport to Salinas, then had dinner with us, took us to the yacht club (multiple times), helped us find a captain for the trip, took us to his apartment for lunch, and so on.

I’m thinking that this sailboat was a member of his family and not just another business transaction.

Humpback Whale

The Trip
The five of us - Captain Pablo and first mate Ricky (his son), Bruce, Joe and Nicolas (Bruce’s grandson) - left Salinas at 5 a.m. for a 30-hour trip to Bahía.

Along the way we saw:

• whales,
• dolphins,
• cargo ships, 
• islands, 
• diving birds (for fish), and 
• lots of water, and waves.  

Our arrival

Dolphins

We arrived at Bahía at 5 a.m. the next morning, sailing straight through the night. I got to take the tiller (i.e., drive) for two of the 24 hours, from about 1 a.m. to 3 a.m.

However, the port at Bahía has a narrow inlet channel that can only be navigated at high tide by a boat Bruce’s size. So we had to wait until 3 p.m., i.e., an 8-hour wait.

Unfortunately, there was no place to anchor the boat that was not in at least 1.5 to 2 meter high waves. So we anchored the boat a kilometer or so from the beach and waited.

Oil Freighter

La Isla de la Plata

The boat rocked constantly, and all we had to do was sit there and wait. At many points I thought about putting on my swimsuit and making a swim for the beach.




The Broken Rope
Sometime around Noon to 1 p.m., two big waves hit the boat and this broke the anchor rope.

We think a 7.1 earthquake that occurred in Columbia at about that same time might have generated these waves.

The boat quickly headed toward the beach, and if it were not for some quick thinking by Captain Pablo, I believe the boat would have been beached and most likely lost. Pablo started the engine and we proceeded to drive around further away from the beach area for the next two hours.

Joe, Captain Pablo, Bruce

It Was a Great Trip
The seven to eight hour wait at the end of the trip was a big pain, but I new tomorrow would come, and made it through.

Immediately after getting to shore, I could feel that as each minute passed, the trip became more and more priceless.

The "Survivors"! - Ricky, Pablo, Nicholas, Joe, Bruce
Having a beer at Puerto Amistad - Bahía Ecuador

Kicking back, at about 10 hours into the trip