To The Beach!

Our vacation moved from the Andes to the Coast!

Here is a picture of Guayaquil.  We stayed the night in one of these hotels on the Malacon.

After shopping for groceries, we arrived at Bob and Rox's with lot of hugs and smiles.

Coquita was so excited to see us!  She is just the best doggie and so darn cute.

It was WARM!  We needed the warmth from all that mountain cold.  Nice to be at sea level, too.
Pretty close to perfect weather for the visit.  It rained a bit one day, but even that was nice.  Rain keeps the flowers growing.

We haven't visited the Coast in quite awhile, but happy to report the ocean is still there and still beautiful.  We always have such a great time when we visit family there.

We walked in the sand and collected shells...

We had to check out all the changes in the 'Hood.

Rox checking on us,  probably reminding us ''it's
5 o'çlock somewhere."

Lorraine the Parrot is still there, still whistling, coughing and chatting up a storm.  George had fun with that.  This was George's first visit to the Coast and he was loving it all!

A whole bunch of baby sized parrots arrived. Being green, they blended right in.  You almost didn't notice them, until the ground  'moved'.  It was a little hard to get good pics.  We're sharing what we have anyway.  So fun to see them.

The iguanas came down from the trees when it got warm enough.  We didn't  get pics, but they were fun to watch, too.

Here we are in Montanita getting lettuce and tomatoes for the burgers.

Thank you to Carol and George for all the wonderful cooking!  CA Kitchen style breakfasts and other tasty treats.

Thank you to Bob and Rox for excellent food, as always.  Yum! all around.

 

 

 

 

It was Rich's birthday, so we had to celebrate!

A superb steak feast!

 

 

The brothers.

 

Birthday Cake!

 

Thanks so much for the wonderful hospitality, Bob, Rox and Coquita!

 

A Grand Finale to our Most Excellent Vacation!!

 

 

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In case you missed it, see Bob and Rox's blog entry on our visit, here:
http://bobnrox.squarespace.com/journal/2014/8/8/too-much-fun-is-just-enoughas-we-welcome-rich-nancy-and-geor-1.HTML

 

 

Scenery Part 2 (+ More)

Another side trip from the Train was to visit the oldest Christian Church in Ecuador in the town of Colta.

It's called  Balbanera Church, originally built in the 1500's.

Details are lovely.

Thick walls.

In one of the little towns, President Correa was there!  Because of security, our train was delayed coming into the station.  As we walked to a nearby crafts market, we saw the President making a speech.  Here's the quick picture.

Afterwards, he came onto the train and greeted everyone.  (We didn't get a picture of that.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our fantastic guides and staff for the trip.

 

One of the legs of the Train travel was the stretch known as the Devil's Nose.  It's famous.  A real engineering feat.  The track zigzags down several meters.  The views are spectacular.

The following pics are some miscellaneous ones from the train trip. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

An opened cocao pod below.  As we headed down to the Coast, the scenery and temperatures changed.  The lower the altitude, the warmer the temp. 

Different crops, too:  sugarcane, bananas, cocoa, coffee and more.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now to the Coast!