Dec 2-4
The owners of the Bahia Bed & Breakfast are David and Sofia,
David is a long lost Canadian and Sofia is his lovely Colombian wife. David has
been travelling since he was 18yrs old and has now settled in Bahia for many
reasons. The two of them have great vision for where Bahia is going and how it
will soon be an international destination for tourism, vacation homes, and
expat living. There is already a large number of Canadians in the area and
apparently the Canucks have bought up all of the available coastline. The rules
are very favorable for expats, all it takes is a $25,ooo bond or property purchase
to secure your citizenship, the first two years you are only allowed to leave
for a total of 3 months but from the 3rd year on you are allowed to
leave for 18months at a time. So in basic terms by the third year you do not
need to keep track of your time as you would if you were in the USA or many
other countries. Another guest at the B&B was a lady named Elizabeth, yes she
is a Canadian expat, but she lives in the Amazon jungle and was in Bahia for
business. She is a very ambitious lady who grows a very specific and unique
type of Cacao plant that is used to make the world’s best chocolate, which is
Ecuadorian not European. The geographic location allows for some of the most
ideal growing conditions allowing the production of this unique product. We
spent some time with her and she invited us to “her” jungle to see her farm. We
agreed that this would be a wonderful way for us to see the Amazon, and taste
some great chocolate as well. So now we have to make way over the Eastern
side of the country before we go into Peru. Busy, busy, busy. The B&B is
very comfortable with a nice energy about it. David, Sophia and Elizabeth are
all into health and Longevity so Brenda had lots to talk with them about. As it
turns out Elizabeth has known one of Brenda’s idols for over 20 years. She knew
David Wolfe before he was the nutrition and longevity guru he is today. This
sparked all kinds of talk about the great things that grow locally in the
jungle, like Noni, Goji berries, wild almonds, and various other ancient plants
with medicinal properties, not to mention the grass fed beef and free range
chickens. This place is like the source of most of the items in our pantry at
home, and it is fresh, and wild which means free if you put in a little effort.
We have found that some things are about 1/3rd the price of home. While
gas is $1.45/gallon or almost free at 0.38/litre, and the produce is also very
affordable, last night we bought 6 bananas, 10 mandarin oranges, and a papaya
the size of a football for the grand total of $1.25. I tried to give the vendor
$1.50 but he would not take it without giving me the change. I will state the
obvious and say the fruit is incredible tasting, nothing like being able to
see the farm when buying the produce.
Anyway, David and Sofia took us all on a little tour of the
area and we got to see Heart Island, which is a mangrove forest in the shape of
a heart. The mangrove serves as a bird sanctuary as well and we could not help
but think of friends who are bird watchers, this would be a great chance for
them to see 50 different species in about 2hrs.
From there we went up the coast
a little ways to a fishing village with a few beach restaurants. We had
the best prawn lunch ever; the prawns were the size of Brenda’s fist. Once we
were done feasting we went to the town of Canoas and walked the beach with Sofia
while David went to look for a surfboard or something. It was nice to chat with
her, and yes she speaks English so there were no charades. We talked about all
kinds of things from expat living to tradition Colombian weddings. She and
David are getting married later this month. Before we knew it, it was time to
head back to Bahia, Brenda and I went for a brisk walk up the stairs to the
Mirador in hopes of catching a great sunset and take a few pictures. The sky
was cloudy so the sunset was not very dramatic but we did manage to take a few
shots of Bahia from the elevated lookout point and then walk down through the
Ecuadorian neighborhood, it never ceases to amaze us how happy the people seem to
be with so little.
We had discussed with David about taking some mountain bikes
down to Chiriqua, which is an archeological dig site/ tourist attraction. There is a nest of petrified dinosaur eggs at the exhibit, they were found in a
hollow on top of the highest peak in the area. We opted out of the mountain
bikes as it would have taken all day and David had some work to do in the
afternoon.
This excursion also allowed us to ride our motorbikes down the
beach, another first for the trip. The motorbikes also allowed us to explore a
bit inland where David owns some raw land, which they want to develop into a
retreat and rejuvenation center. I said they had vision. The land is nicely
located next to what will be a world class golf course, so that will be good
for values and of course access and amenities will improve as well.
The plan was to stay in Bahia one more night but upon return
to the B&B we found that they needed the room for a large group so we would
be displaced for the night. This was no big deal, we packed up the bikes and
carried on with our travels, it was a late start but did not care how far we
got, maybe we will go to Montecristi and buy a Panamanian hat from the factory.
Ya, that sound good, lets go.
We said our good-byes, Sofia is so cute she almost started
to cry when we left. What great people they are and we count our blessings for
having met them. We made our way to Montecristi via some not so popular roads,
we started off on the main highway but as things go we ended up on a small
secondary paved road that wound its way through what appeared to be...nowhere.
There were some funny looking trees that had fat trunks and knurled up branches
but no leaves. We were told that when trees are all twisted up like this it is
a source of strong masculine energy. Not the kind like Viagra provides but the
metaphysical kind. Anyway, they looked very strange...
and then it started to smell
very bad, very very bad. We are used to smelling all kinds of stuff but this
was something else and as we rounded the bend we came across what we guessed to
be a fish or seafood processing plant and not unlike our feed lots the waist
product is staggering. Good news is that it was quickly replaced with all kinds
of garbage aroma, hot festering garbage. This seemed to be a bad route choice
but you can’t win them all but soon enough we were spit out of the trash heap
and into the outskirts of Montecristi, not a very good introduction to the
place I must say.
The accommodations were basic but conveniently located
within walking distance of the city center and the shopping district.
 |
| Tiny but a tough negotiator. |
As
mentioned this is the location where the famous Panamanian hats are produced.
These are the woven hats that can be rolled up and not loose there shape,
perfect for travelling and stylish too. We looked in a few shops but could not
decide on the right hat for me, there are lots of options to choose from. A
friendly salesman working the street asked us in good English if we would like
to visit his shop, which seemed very typical of the Ecuadorian culture to be
courteous and polite. It turned out we had already been to his shop however
this time we had an English guide to help us out. He explained the whole
process of how it takes anywhere from 30 days to a full year to make a single
hat. The price and quality vary in relation to the time it takes to complete,
so the 30 day hats range from $25-$45 and the 12 month hats can be as high as
$800-$2500 depending on the weaver. The weaving is done by hand with the hat
maker spending 8+ hours a day leaned against a totem. The totem supports the
hat makers’ chest (similar to a massage chair) and also holds the hat at a
comfortable height during the process. Unfortunately the old school guys are dying
off and with them a level of quality and skill will also be lost, the younger
people just don’t have the patience it takes to produce these elite hats. I
found a hat I liked but realized that I am just not a hat guy, I rarely wear
them and when I do it is usually doing yard work or in the shop. In the end I
decided not to get one but enjoyed the history of the hats.
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