Bahia de Caraquez, Ecuador
Lat: S 00.36
Long: W 080 258July2006
Sailing to this country occasionally was difficult and we had our fair share of exciting moments. The ten day passage included rough seas, sloppy seas, going no where, and going fast to no where and even a calm day of sitting waiting for wind, conserving fuel on this 800 mile trek (our longest stint) was a major goal. And no passage is without its boat damage tale of trauma. So, we were enormously happy to make our arrival in Ecuador.
Trauma: While under way and under sail, we dealt with the shearing of our stem head fitting . The crash of the head stay and roller furling as it fell to the deck and over board was a huge gunshot "boom". Luckily, no one was on deck and there was no personal injuries. Upon assessment, damage to the boat was not as severe as it could have been. Our jib was damaged (luft tape), the stem head fitting was sheared, the steel deck and rail are damaged, a hole was punched in our fiberglass rowing dinghy and cracked the frame of the butterfly hatch. We were lucky that we did not lose our rigging or the mast in this episode. What this triggers is a re-organization of our rigging and reinstatement of the roller furling. Perhaps, this will be an opportunity for us to repair some design flaws in the boat. We continue to count our blessings that no one was hurt. The force of this break was tremendous. Of course, everyone showed their fortitude by pulling their weight in managing the recovery and getting Encanto back on track. What a momentary fright when we were out there on the blue seas, alone.
We were able to pull all of the jib, the rigging and the furling mechanisms aboard, bind them to the deck and then proceed under power. We had the supplies to repair the rigging, but elected to proceed under power the last one hundred miles.
We arrived in Bahia de Caraquez on June 17, 2006 at high tide. A pilot boarded our boat at 0800 to guide us over the sandbar. Often the pilot takes the helm, but this time, he did not and Captain John drove Encanto over the sandbar into the estuary. We were fortunate, as the window of entry was limited and the weather prediction for the next few days, anticipated rough seas and prohibitive entry. As it was, with our keel drawing seven feet, at high tide, we clearer the sandbar by three feet. A little momentary tension at the helm, but we made it.
In the three weeks that we have been in Ecuador, we have found the people friendly, the climate comfortable, and the pace of living quite to our liking. We have been here for less than a month and it feels great. I am, especially "in love" with this country.
When we crossed the sandbar, we were expecting a sleepy fishing village. We read the Lonely Planet, like some read the bible. What we saw from the sandbar were many coastal high-rise condominiums, modern in their architecture and style, which deceived us. We were to find out later, that many of the high rises were abandoned, closed or empty. They were built on speculation or a rush of the wealthy class pre-earthquake that had chosen to move here to follow the then president. Since then, the wealthy only come occasionally or do not come at all. Thus, the sleepy coastal village has returned to the small town residents and the buildings stand as relics to a time gone by.
Bahia de Caraquez has its own cruisers "hang out". Francisco ('Tripp') (a USA ex patriot cruiser) and his wife, Maye (a Columbian who ran the cruiser Yacht club in Cartagena) own and manage "Puerta Amistad" (Doors to Friendship). It has took them about a year to secure the permits and another year to renovate the facilities. They provide the services of a dinner restaurant and a clean, well run, excellent cruiser hub. Puerta Amistad assist cruisers with services like providing moorings ($150/month), boat watching ($5/visit), bottom cleaning ($1/ft LOD), deck washing ($20), dinghy dock, clean and hot showers and toilet facilities, access to a book trading library and to their hammocks, yard, tables and chairs for activities like repairing a sail or building a dinghy or holding a swap meet. Use of the facilities is reasonably priced ($45/month). Six days a week, there is a call placed for pick-up and delivery at your boat of: laundry service (.35/lb), pura agua ($1.75.vidon), tap water ($.50/vidon), diesel ($1.25/gallon), and propane ($6/tank up to 25lb). For cruisers, this is a luxury we are not use to being offered. Laundry service to our boat! Yahoo!!! Do they do dishes, too?
Puerta Amistad are whom you hail when desiring a pilot to assist you over the sand bar. They act as the interface with the Port Captain and they will act as agents when you seek assistance with the necessary permits to visit the Galapagos Islands. The knowledge they offer has been of tremendous help to us. In addition, their staffs are all very friendly and accessible. And everyone is helping us learn how to speak Spanish by not speaking English. This is gently forcing us to be conversant in Spanish in a town where English is little known or spoken and even the Spanish can be poorly spoken. The literacy of the general populace is low, although this will change with the next generation, as all children of school age were in uniforms and attending classes.
As this was our first port of entrance to the country, we are required to present our boat papers, exit papers from Panama, passport and immunization cards to the Port Captain in Bahia de Caraquez. Then, we had to take a taxi to the larger town of Manta to submit the same papers to the Immigrations Office, where we were given our 90 day VISAS. As we have done in other Latin American countries, guided by cruiser friends who arrived before us, we befriended a "local" man to assist us in our travels. We have made the acquaintance of a local taxi driver, Geovanny and his family.
Manta reminded us a lot of La Paz, Mexico. Geovanny knows the town and can take you to many of the specialty shops, especially those serving the needs of cruisers. The town is full service yet not modern or ostentatious. It has a simple modern mall, several super markets, hardware stores, lumberyard, and as a special treat-- a top quality meat shop (Casa de Carne).
An ex-patriot, who came to Ecuador, over 30 years ago as a Peace Corp volunteer, owns Casa de Carne. Now, a citizen of Ecuador, William married an Ecuadorian, raised two sons and runs a business that serves the country with some of the best-aged beef known. Of course, we had to try some and it was delicious. We hadn't had meat like this, ever. That was a huge treat since we haven't had good quality tender beef meat since we lived in California.
The ninety-minute drive up and over the mountains, south to Manta from Bahia Caraquez provided us with glimpses into the varied and diverse landscape of the coastal region. We went pass rice fields, foothill scrub zones with gigantic ceiba trees and teak trees, acres and acres of agricultural fields of beans, vegetables, fruit orchards, and an occasional bamboo forest. Geovanny would point out the parrots, eagles, bird's nest and birds of prey. It wasn't long before we were spotting heron, egrets, colorful tanagers and many birds that we didn't recognize.
Ecuador is about the size of Nevada or the United Kingdom, but it offers three regions of geographical diversity and climatic diversity; the Andean range, the coastal lowlands and the eastern jungles of the upper Amazon Basin. There are volcanic mountain ranges, virgin rain forest, and restored coastal mangroves.
Major economic sources follow the regional sectors where there are export quality fruits (bananas) and flowers (roses) from the coast and the central highlands, gold and minerals in the south, textiles/weaving throughout the country, oil and petroleum to the south and north, coffee in the highlands, shrimp farming along the coast, and of course, tourism is abundant and not just in the Galapagos Islands. However, with all this economic diversity, the country remains poor and economically challenged by foreign debts, inflation, and distribution of the wealth among the lower class.
Just the mention of corruption in the government brings on much animated conversation among the locals. Elections are in October 2006, but not many are optimistic that this will help those in need. Although, there are the rich homes side by side with the bamboo sheds, the people in general are healthy, content and well fed. We have seen only a few homeless men and children. The local church feeds breakfast to over 200 children. We toured one school where the uniformed boys are poor, but happy. We have not toured the girl's school. School supplies are welcomed so the cruisers have dug deep into their storage to retrieve school supplies or purchase them at the shops and markets.
OUR VISIT TO A LOCAL SCHOOL
Our school visit was to view and praise the life of a one-hundred year old land turtle named, Miguelito. Miguelito came from the Galapagos Islands 75 years ago. How he came to the mainland remains a bit of a mystery, yet in the 1990's, he was discovered wandering the public mercado (market building). At one point, he was moved from the neighborhood school yard near the mercado to a zoo. At the zoo he was very unhappy. His unhappiness brought him back to the school to which shares his name.While living like a homeless person, in the Mercado, he was feed scraps. He ate something that made him refuse to eat or drink. He was lethargic and sick looking. So, local veterinarians and doctors from the Galapagos ran test and eventually, identified that he had intestinal difficulties and had to be given medicine and purified water. Under doctor's orders, he is not over feed, gets water massages and showers and is only feed his favored foods: bananas, cucumbers, watermelon, babaco and papaya. We had brought some babaco (which is a squash that looks like a papaya) and he loved slurping it up. He has a big mouth and it was intimidating to feed him from our hands.
During the 1998 earthquake, the school shook and turned to rubble. For days, no one saw Miguelito. Days passed and he was found in the Mercado amongst the rubbish, hiding. Some young boys cared for him while the school was rebuilt. Henceforth, he resides in the patio of the school, where the boys feed and bathe him and teachers, some with 40 years of friendship with Miguelito, care for him. We were told that when school is out of session, one may find Miguelito pacing, waiting for his friends, waiting for the school bell to ring. Obviously, he is happier at the school than at the zoo. As he loves the interaction and attention with the children and teachers.
His 95th birthday was celebrated with a cake and a huge pile of fruit. He certainly looked happy in the photographs.
This species of Galapagos land turtles will live to 150 years of age. So, Miguelito will enjoy the company of many generations of Ecuadorian boys and teachers in the years to come.More to come as we venture further into this land of diverse and beautiful people and landscapes.