Let the Good Times Roll

August 10, 2011

I have died and gone to gringo food heaven again. We spent a good part of last weekend in Salinas to attend a really fun “surprise” 60^th birthday party for a friend of ours.  We booked a room at “Hostal Aqui/Score’s Sports Bar” on the Salinas Malecon for the Friday night of party, and checked in around 2PM.  We spent the next couple of hours pigging out on some of the best meatball sandwiches I’ve ever had, along with some killer hot chicken wings, French fries, and chatting with the owners (William & Wendy) along with some other local Salinas regulars and had the greatest time!

Will and Wendy have (hands down!) the BEST gringo food (and some awesome versions of native ingredients & food) along the peninsula, and they are great, down-to-earth folks to chat/hang with. I almost didn’t want to leave the bar food and company to get ready for the party we were scheduled to attend. We stayed in a “standard” room, which wasn’t exactly “fancy”, but comfortable, close to the bar/restaurant and included a warm shower and plenty of closet/drawer space. It also included a “full-length” mirror to view the whole party get-up dress or outfit, (you might be surprised how scarce this little amenity is around here – I installed one on our bedroom wall when we moved in)...Not to sound vain in anyway, but it’s always nice when us gals can check out the whole outfit before heading to a party.

The expat folks we met during our stay at Will and Wendy’s were an interesting and varied bunch, and many are involved in making a difference in the community. Wendy and William have helped spearhead efforts to raise funds for local kids in need of surgery and in particular, one lucky little girl who was born with a malformed GI tract and had to have a colostomy is now in the process of having several successful surgeries to reconstruct and reverse the colostomy, so that she might lead a more normal life.

We met a contingent of Salinas locals at another nearby hotel to take a private bus to the Guayaquil Malecon for party that was to start with a boat ride along the river.  It was fun to meet or see again folks that we’ve “chatted” with so much. I like what my friend Susan from Ocean Hideway once said: “Ecuador is the smallest town you will ever live in”. That is so true….here, we all know or know of each other (expats or expat wannabees). Usually that’s a good thing; sometimes it can be an annoying, but no different than any other small towns where I’ve lived in the past.

The boat was large (several floors) and the ride was remarkable and interesting! As we boarded, several baskets were at the entrance which were filled with masks, fun costume glasses and headbands, feather boas, (which we all donned) and noisemakers, etc. We were all pretty much aboard when Mike Sager (the birthday boy) got on. We’ve known Mike and his wife Andrea for four years now, when he sold our Olon house to us. Mike was featured on the first Salinas, Ecuador Househunters International show. You can view his available properties at Ecuador Home Sales or Ecuador Properties.

Mike and Andrea spend most of their time in Playas now, but still own a home near to us on the beach and we see them often. We met many more fun people, enjoyed the river tour (which included an open bar and a most excellent dinner meal). Great live music played throughout the whole party, and by the time we disembarked, we all had become old and new great friends.

Our tour guide,
Gordo

We then next boarded a waiting bus around 11PM for a road tour of Guayaquil. The top level was an open air space, where we had an infectiously fun tour guide (Gordo) pointing out the various GYE sights, and acting as MC. More music was playing and we danced and laughed, all while being served copious amounts of beer during our site-seeing. I think these party buses are fairly popular in Guayaquil, and we waved to friendly pedestrians who waved back. We stopped at several places to replenish refreshments and the birthday cake was served. At one point we stopped at someone’s house (I have no idea whose, but I suppose someone associated with the bus company), where around fifteen of us women hopped off and this family graciously let us use their john.

There is suppose to be a video below - I hope it comes through. I'm not sure I was able to upload it completely:

Mike’s wife, Andrea made all the arrangements for the party, and once our party bus ride was over, another bus was waiting to take a bunch of us back to Salinas. I suppose we got back to the hotel around 4AM in the morning, and we collapsed into bed.

We spent a relaxing morning and early afternoon at Scores/Hostal Aqui enjoying their famous and delicious hamburgers and fries, then grabbed a $2 cab ride to Super Maxi to get a few groceries and then on to the mini Terminal Terrestre to catch a chicken bus back to Olon ($1.50 per person).

Todd and I had a great time; it’s an easy trip to make and we plan on spending a lot more time in Salinas at Hostal Aqui with the great folks there.

Only one small incident: as Todd and I were getting off the bus in Olon, loaded with luggage and groceries, Todd tripped on the bottom step (there is a little bit of down slope at that stop) and I had to laugh as I watched him tumble down the hill, with a several cans of beans rolling down behind him. Fortunately, he wasn’t hurt and he got a good chuckle out of it too (as did most people watching from the bus).