Playing house

One of the first things I love

about being in Curacao for a while is

PLAYING HOUSE.

 

I love going to the supermarket

(and I do love foreign supermarkets)

to get our supplies

and then convert them into a yummy meal.

 

While travelling and eating different stuff and styles

I made a list of things I want to try and make myself.

 

I love making our little place into a cozy home.

Of course the resources are limited...

But I try,

and fresh picked flowers/weeds are of course part of it.

 

 

Michaela, I dedicate these flowers to you,
because I remember how you used to brighten the room
in Santa Rosa with your beautiful bouquets.
Next to the flowers: platanos.
A thick kind of banana, grilled in the oven.

 

 

 

Did I die and go to heaven?

We arrived in Willemstad, Curacao Wednesday evening 22nd of August.

It took me this long to get my act together and post a blog...

 

We had an easy travel time,

(our second flight was even slightly too short

to finish the movie on board)

a warm welcome pick up at the airport...

and from then on, it kept getting better

and weirder...

 

I feel like I stepped through a door

that took me to a place that has all the best things in life...

 

Too much for one post though...

stay tuned!

 

COLOUR!!!

 

 

 

 

 

Goodbye Ecuador!

Corner in Hotel Andaluz in Guayaquil

We spent our last two Ecuador days in Guyaquil
and are all prepared for our flight out Wednesday early in the morning.
We
* filled our bellies with Chinese food
* had a nice coooooold shower
* are pretty much packed
* stocked up on healthy snacks
* got our taxi reserved
* counted the last of our money and made sure we have enough to pay that taxi
* have the alarm set
* are excited, nervous and sooooo ready for this next adventure!

Curacao... Here we come!!!

Art in Hotel Andaluz in Guayaquil

Cheap food on pretty plates

We are back in Montanita, on our way down to Guyaquil to catch our flight to Curacao.
We are here for the
people watching (basically the yummy surferguys and pretty girls in iniminibikini's)
AND the yummy food.

We are living off
self catered breakfasts,

fresh lime in our tea to fight off our colds

''almuerzos'' (the Latin American lunch deals,
which are soup a main of rice, fried banana and some type of meat and a juice) for $3

pretty plates

and vegi set menu diners for $2,5.

pretty tables

Where do we sleep?

On Monday, these chairs were empty...
When we arrived Friday evening there were no free seats...
and no free rooms in any of the hotels in Canoa.

 We weren't informed about the holiday weekend.
And Canoa was all booked up.
''No hay habitaciones'' signs everywhere.

Thank god, a lady saw us walking down the street in despair
and asked us if we needed a room.
"It's not luxurious..." she said.
No... it wasn't.
It was a little shack in the backyard of a house.
And it broke my heart that people have to live like this.
But we had a bed (sort of) and a roof above our head (sort of).
So we took it.

When the weekend was over

and the Ecuadorians went back home,
the hotels opened up,
and we got ourselves a room

and a bathroom (halleluja).


We enjoyed Canoa,

its lovely beaches

and all the great Spanish food

we seemed to keep encountering.

Puerto Lopez, you were great!

You gave us:

~ beach time and ice cream sanwiches

~ a wonderful bike ride to the national park ''Agua Blanca''

with it's pretty nature, a facial mud mask and archeological finds

~ a bumpy tuk tuk ride

~ a hair cut for my baby

read about it on his blog

http://vagabondurges.wordpress.com/2012/08/09/welcome-to-the-man-shack/

~ trips to the foodmarket, hippiemarket,

 card games and yummy street food

Wet and dry

From Puerto Lopez,

my favorite beach town in Ecuador,

we took a day trip to

Playas Los Frailes.

An hour walk on a dry, dry path

through a dry forest...

where after every step we took,

little lizards skittered into the plants.

And every green bush or colourful flower

looks so much more green or colourful against the dry plants.

We got to the wet part...

The gorgeous beaches,

black sand,

no garbage

but pretty ocean things scattered around.

Nature is brilliant!

Ecuadorian nature is brilliant!

This country just has it all!

Wet and dry...

Love for my birthday

What more could I have wished for for my birthday,

then spending it in a wonderful place like Puerto Lopez Ecuador,

with the love of my life?

Maybe having my dearest godchild to wrap her little arns around me?

Maybe having my sweet family to get excited and toast me?

Maybe having my lovely friends around to have a big party with?

I missed all of these things,

but felt all the loving energy being sent my way.

Creepy stuff in Olon

After the craziness in Montanita,
we went a couple km north, to Olon...

Not much there

but a chilly beach

a creepy cemetery

and a beautiful church shaped like a ship, overlooking the ocean.
It was dedicated to the holy virgin (a little statue)...
who had cried blood a number of years ago.
CREEPY!!!!

Where were we?

Oh right, in Montanita Ecuador.
This tourist/hippie beach town didn't feel like the rest of the country
and was somewhat of a strange place...

But we enjoyed it!
We walked on the beach,
stayed in a hotel that stank like the river that ran by it,
ate delicious and cheap veggie set lunches,
stayed in a hotel that had no water,
went window shopping in the cute hippie stores,
people watched (and boy there were things to see!),
watched the Olympics on the giant screens in the fancy restaurants
and got drunk off our free cocktails with dinner.

The people watching was the best!