Fruit, furniture, and properties going and gone!

The last few days have been very busy and exciting with lots of travel to Bahia and legal errands to run etc... The two lots we recently purchased and closed on this monday were spoken for before I got them up on our website (!) and we have one more coming available in the same area but further removed from the river and closer to town - hopefully we'll close on that this monday.  Details to follow once we've closed.
At the roadside Ecuadorian equivalent of a US lemonade stand.... the neighborhood kids set out the local harvest of Chirimoya for sale...  I got about 8 of them for $1.00 and didn't feel the need to try and bargain any lower...

These are the most delicious fruits... kind of tastes like a hybrid of an apple and a pina coloda!

I spent much of yesterday riding around on the motorcycle calling on fallen down for sale signs and talking with locals about properties for sale and things in general. Hopefully something will come up soon... since we sell at very reasonable prices... things tend to move quickly and we're about out of properties!
Today I spoke with Miguel, the fellow who made the furniture for our house. We talked about a few new designs, the potential of adding bamboo to his repertoire, and working together to build/distribute the wares. This would be excellent because Miguel makes a high quality product using local materials and local workers. So satisfying to see this handcrafted work and know that its having a positive effect on the community!
Here are some of our chairs...

and here they are with the cushions Lynn added to make them comfortable... we're also working on finding some local suppliers to make nice comfortable cushions for Miguel's wooden and soon to be bamboo designs!  

Miguel and his wife also did the woodwork on our balcony and we're very happy with how it turned out!

Celebrating a long hard day

Today was full of travel, negotiation, meeting new people, and getting things done. I went to Bahia and closed on another piece of property (details forthcoming). To celebrate, I went to my favorite beachside ceviche stand in Bahia and had a huge ceviche mixto (that's shrimp, octopus, calamari, mahi-mahi, oysters, and more shrimp drowned in lime juice, cilantro, and some hot sauce)... My mouth just watered writing about it.


I've noticed that they are re-surfacing sections of the road between San Jacinto and Bahia making travel between the two areas even more pleasant.

Lynn is already off in Quito getting ready for our field work (see www.intrepidmotion.com). It will be great to be back in the rainforest again... As this blog has become more of a default "Tom and Lynn and occasional properties for sale" blog I'll try to keep it going as much as possible while in the field. Lynn was a little sad to leave the coast as the frigate birds are beginning to show their red neck pouches and its just plain fun to watch the season change (even if ever so slightly) here on the coast. We can't wait for the whales to come!

Long day at the house... nice evening on the beach

We kept busy today on laptops, phones, and getting... count 'em... three! grub-driven compost bins set in motion. It was great to be around the house but we still needed to get out and enjoy the evening on the beach to explore its natural wonders. It's not hard to find peaceful entertainment
in the shells...

soft sand...

aesthetically pleasing foam (I've never really thought of foam as aesthetic... but this foam was very much so)

and the colorful geological past of the Ecuadorian coastline...

All amidst the waves and setting sun.

Thanks world.

Ode to the Ceibo

Not really an ode, but a really nice photo we took of a local Ceibo. We think that Eduardo and Paula (see services) should compile a tour of the best Ceibo's on the coast... stopping for fresh fruit drinks, ice cold coconut waters, and some nice local Manabi snacks under their shade. Sounds like a high quality day to me!

Flowers, designs, and teasing it out

We've been busy around the house, on the computer and on the phone... It's amazing how miscellanea accumulate so quickly when immersed in the full clip hustle of everyday life for years at a time. We've been dedicating serious time to combing out the dreadlocks of to-do's in hopes of a smooth future. It feels good. In the meantime, we're also taking care of our yard... Lynn's out watering right now.

Here's our Bougainvillea starting to bloom in the front...

and out dulcamara growing heartily on the side yard...

I ordered and received the plans for our new catamaran, an SC435! We're going to start simple and work our way up the design ladder to more complex critters... but this looks like a great and fun start and a fun payoff... here's a video of a fellow in Croatia that built one: click here for you tube video. 

Intrepid Motion

I recently published our barebones website for our science-related work!  

Seed planted... begining to grow!

Please check out: www.intrepidmotion.com

Straight from the horses mouth

This a photo of a horse tooth Lynn recently found on the beach near our home. I found a cool overview of horses (click here if interested in horse teeth) and it looks like this might be a horse that went extinct toward the end of the last ice age... more research required but fun all the same.

In other news... our first chili pepper came in and...

draft videos from a Rapid Inventory (with the Chicago Field Museum) I participated in as a soil/water/rock scientist have just been posted to the web. They'll probably be pulled off vimeo soon and placed at a permanent "expeditions" exhibit on the museum website. This was an amazing inventory in a very remote region of Ecuador and Peru and took place in 2007. The first video is an overview and the second is my bit... Thanks to the video editor for pulling this together.

Video#1 Rapid Inventory Program from Billy schmidt on Vimeo.

Video #4 Geology & Water from Billy schmidt on Vimeo.

Catamarans, sunsets, and composting miracles

Today was a very busy moto day. I started by completing the next steps for acquiring a new investment property that we've decided on. I met one of our past buyers and helped set him up with a cartaker for his new property and checked on the home of another past buyer. 

I also spoke with the local Ecuadorian Coast Guard regarding license requirements for small sailing craft. Turns out that it should be quite easy with minimal paperwork required in Bahia (about 30 minutes away). 

As fate would have it, I ran into Walter, a boat-builder/fisherman in the midst of building his own fiberglass fishing boat. Excellent. Over the next couple days we'll be coming up with a plan for building my first beach cat! I'll be hunting down suppliers for rigging/sails and am very excited to create a small business that employs locals, builds a regional coastal sailing community, and provides high quality beach cats to those who are interested! 

Here's a photo of Walter with his fishing boat under construction.

Last night lights went out again as the road to Crucita gets finished up... an impromptu candlelight dinner was a very nice result

This evening on the beach we found some soft coral that had washed up and was particularly well lit by the...

setting sun.

Tonight became  particularly exciting by Lynn's discovery that the creatures turning our food scraps into rich compost are black soldier fly larvae!!! That's exciting because alot of folks have found that these larvae are incredible composters, the flys aren't attracted to humans or human homes, and the crazy little larvae harvest themselves from the compost... i.e. they walk a plank into a container where they'll wait to be fed to the neighbors chickens!  We've spent a good chunk of the evening exploring their virtues.... motivated by the fact that they do best at temperatures above 68F... which is where we stay most of the year here on the coast.  Check out this video and prepare to be really impressed... best not to do this while snacking on pasta, rice, or any other size/color-related food... or really any food....

Fossil hunting and, of course, food

The food fetish continues and I can't say I'm not really really deeply happy about it! This plate came out after we decided we had nothing in the house to eat!! Gotta love a thorough fridge search and resulting culinary success.

For our late afternoon break from our laptops we wandered on the beach especially because right about now low-tide and evenings are beginning to mix in such a pleasing way. We played with the rock layers including this telling grey layer... ashes from an ancient massive volcanic eruption way in the highlands... You can even see the sulfur concentrated as a yellowish tint in some sections... beautiful and hauntingly powerful.

We proceded to grab onto hunks of sedimentary strata and drag them away from the looose slopes to pick through them in search of ancient shark teeth, fossil shells and fishes, and whatever interesting thing we could come across. We found one fossil fish candidate and decided that we'd need to return with some serious tools and give it a proper search through another evening. Here's Lynn picking through the layers...

The stroll back was wonderful with a good strong wind blowing (too strong for paragliding today). Again, we had the beach to ourselves until we crossed the path of two nice ladies who appreared to have shown up for the evening from Portoviejo. Back to laptop grinding and hopefully some good eating!

Headed south

After the paragliding... I landed and Lynn and I met up with our friends Eduardo and Paula (see www.ecuadorbeachfrontproperty.com/Services.html) to head past Manta and enjoy the coast a bit. We stopped on the drive for a "coco helado" which is an ice cold coconut full of coconut water.
We had the vendor chop it open for us so we could get at the coco-meat. The coconut experience cost 70 cents and was delicious.
We then continued along the road between Crucita and Manta (which can use some serious work in some places). The military has a base in the area and own most of this area. It's actually quite an amazing landscape covered in Ceibo trees, purple flowers, and low brush.

South of Manta we stayed along the "Ruta del Sol" through the towns of Rio Cana...

Santa Rosa...
and the town of Cabo del San Lorenzo

Overall it was a great drive. We can't wait to get our own vehicle around here so we can continue to explore the ins and outs of coastal Ecuador.

Blue Sky Saturday

Saturday started out bright and sunny!  The sun heated up the land, the heated air over the hot ground began to rise, and the cool air over the ocean was pulled onshore to replace it...  That gives us a wonderful breeze here on the coast... especially on clear sunny days.
All I had to do was head up the hill and pull a few pounds of fabric up into the air and I got to take advantage of all that free energy moving around!

Here's a shot just after launch. 

Here's a shot after I starting rising up into the atmosphere!

Then getting up higher and higher... the red shapes below are three other wings that just launched. The wind stayed strong and constant and I stayed in the air for about an hour and a half before deciding to come down.

.
Other highlights include a delicious beet salad that Lynn made...
A lobster dinner with Eduardo and Paula (Fresh lobster costs $3/lb!).
and a nice simple breakfast with platano, granola, and some fruit...

Letting the pot stew

Yesterday was decidedly less-mobile, which was also nice. We started with some juice in the morning and spent the day around the house catching up on home and computer work. I spent about an hour in our 6 foot deep cistern cleaning it out... Lynn watered the garden and planted another round of cilantro, arugula, and a variety of hot pepper seeds she dried from a mountain of mixed spicy peppers we bought a week back.

Lynn began to focus on doing some writing about our past adventures in the world and I caught up on phone calls with local business partners and potential future contacts. Low tide was around 1PM and I headed out for a run on the beach and had it all to myself. The mid-day heat and humidity combined with the running gave the experience a good sweat lodge purifying feel. I drank massive amounts of water with lime! 

We both headed out the beach to enjoy the sunset, which was quite nice. The evening found us organizing our computer files and talking about the future... Slow days are much appreciated by the two of us!

Exploring the coast from above

We are having continual power outages for 2-3 hour blocks as a new 4 lane road to Crucita is being finished. The electricity was out but the wind was working. A quick hike up the hill behind our house and into the sky I went. Here are some views first to the south, then back to the north toward Crucita, and one above at my trusty paraglider...

Tide is rising and at high tide will reach the base of these mountains. At low tide, there's a vast expanse to play/land on! Lynn went walking up the beach and after flying around for about 45 minutes, I landed to meet her for a swim!Aside from paragliding and sailing, you can kayak up the river near the boca, kite surf, mountain bike, and jog on the compact sand at low tide. A friend of ours does Tandem flights here in Crucita. Be sure to come by and get up in the air. Quite peaceful and very freeing!

It's alive!!! (evil laugh).

http://www.ecuadorshare.com/

Internet, construction, and tuna

Today was a day of motoing around, moving forward on projects, and continuing to eat well...

I ran into a blue-footed boobie on the beach today right near the Boca... it was just sitting there passively watching me... I snapped a couple photos and left it to its beach.

Samuel, our preferred internet provider helped get one of our past buyers set up with internet at his house near the Boca today.  The installation took a little while but he has a 100% signal which means there is excellent service available in the area!  Service will cost approximately $50/month and Samuel is willing to turn off service when its not being used... quite nice for those who come for a few weeks or months at a time.

I also met with a builder/engineer team based out of Charapoto to see their work.  It's looking like we have a great local contact for new constructions in the area.  They were very excited that we're looking for local suppliers, builders and workers for these projects, instead of bringing in construction teams from Quito or Guayaquil.  Take a look at photos below of one of their projects underway, a very nicely built 120 square meter home (5 photos inside and out).  You can click on the slideshow to see higher resolution photos.  Tomorrow we'll meet again to evaluate a few potential projects in the area.

I was back in Crucita in time for a late lunch.  Lynn and I were headed downtown to eat a ceviche when we ran into some fisherman along the beach just sorting their catch... and darned if we didn't find a beautiful fresh yellow-fin tuna... for $3!  Sold!  Back to the house for sashimi followed by a seared teriyaki tuna with a fresh arugula salad...  I didn't have the heart to freeze the remaining fresh tuna, so we had it for dinner (this time garlic butter seared and accompanied by wasabi garlic potatoes...).  I really really like it here.

Bananas, boats, and EcuadorShare.com

I don't know if I've seen a smile as big as the one I saw on Lynn's face yesterday!  She came to the gate beaming as I came back home...  

"The coolest thing in the world happened today... we've got bananas!!!!"

After watching our banana trees go fruitless since we arrived in 2006, it was a quite a remarkable discovery!  So far they're looking tasty to me.

We do enjoy our small plot of land here where papayas, maracuya (passion fruit), mango, and watermelon grow readily.

Lynn took advantage of our basil again and made a great chili pesto.  More mmmmm...

We lost power for 4 hours in the middle of the day so I had good reason to head outside and throw some bamboo onto my rigged version of a tri-maran... I'm hoping for the first sea trial  tomorrow .  If that works out, its on to the sail!

The other project we've been working on is EcuadorShare.com .  The idea is to create a ecuador-focused community that shares information, experiences, research, questions, pictures, contacts, and the like.  The nuts and bolts are now up at: http://www.ecuadorshare.com/forum  

You can already join as a member, post questions, etc... We'll be designing a prettier face in the next couple days for the now blank ecuadorshare.com.  But please, check out the forum and let me know if you have any ideas for structuring the website!

Lot 3 sold! and another day on the coast

Today we sold lot #3 just a couple days after we put it back up for sale!  Tomorrow we're off to close on another lot so make sure to send me an email to hear about the next round of beachfront property that becomes available.

In other news... when we bought our small place here in Crucita... it came complete with a fiberglass kayak!  I've just finished cleaning it up and checking it for leaks in our friends pool.  Now I'm hungry to turn it into a sailing trimaran!  

The coast here is too perfect for sailing from one beachfront town to the next to not have a boat at our fingertips.

I'm hoping this project will tide me over while we start building our first catamaran... a 20 foot beach cat!  I've been scheming over the designs and finding materials suppliers in the area.

If the prototype is a success... We may begin to train and employ locals to build them to rent/sell to newcomers, hotels, and locals who want to get out there and enjoy this amazing coastline!

I'll post more photos as the builds take shape.  Please send any comments and/or advice to : tom@ecuadorbeachfrontproperty.com! 

Back along the lines of food....    Mmmmmmmm  tasty cheese and avocado sandwich, potato salad and nicely blended pineapple/orange juice.  It's so nice to be spoiled!

"Settle-in" services coming soon

We spent this afternoon with Eduardo and Paula, two good friends of ours that we've known since we arrived in Ecuador a few years back. The four of us headed out to the Boca around low tide for lunch. 

On weekends, vendors set up on the beach and serve delicious food including fresh ceviches, fried fish, shrimp, fruit drinks, and the like. Delicious, inexpensive, an unbeatable view and multiple hammocks to choose from for a little relaxation after your meal.

Over lunch, we discussed with Eduardo and Paula about working with us to offer services for new-comers to the area.

Where to get a cell-phone, how to pay the water bill, the phone number for the fruit truck, where to buy a vacuum, how to use the local bus transport, where/how to buy a car and register it, how to get your Ecuadorian drivers license, etc... will all be part of the services that they and our other local counterparts will provide.

It's a fast-track to getting settled-into your new Ecuadorian life that bypasses much of the awkwardness of getting to know a new place, new customs, and (for many of us) a new language.

We'll get more details up on the web soon as we sort out the pricing structure and detail the services.

Here's Paula at the third fruit/veggie truck that came by today... We bought 60 limes for a dollar to feed our ice water with lime addiction.

Trucks of joy

One of my favorite things to discover about living in one of the local communities is that the services are great! Everything arrives by truck including refrigerators, deluxe pillow-top mattresses, and all kinds of food and cleaning supplies.

This morning, we've stopped the plantain truck and the pinapple/orange truck. We bought a large bag of plantains for 50 cents and 5 pineapples for a dollar!



















We've had completely perfect weather the last couple weeks with blue skies, nice afternoon and evening breezes, and temps in the high 70's and low 80's. Our home has a great shaded area so the yard stays relatively cool during the day. Water temps are beginning to drop (ever so slightly) as colder waters from the south move up the coast.

Not related to property... but we're getting into blogging!

Other recent highlights include Lynn getting our nephew's custom-created first birthday book underway!

and lunch!!!! More mahi... it's hard to get sick of fish when it tastes this good!

Lot 3 back on the market! We bought next door.

Just today, Lynn and I secured the last lot next to the river at the Boca!  See the Google Earth .kmz file to get a feel for the area I'm talking about (http://www.ecuadorbeachfrontproperty.com/Lot3.html).  We'll keep that one... so now, the lot right next door (Lot 3) is once again up for sale! 

Lot 3 has 12 meters of beachfront (That's just over 36 feet) and the price will stay at $10,000.  Lot 2 was spoken for earlier this week so we expect this one to go quickly!

Thanks!

It's great to read the responses to our survey at: www.ecuadorbeachfrontproperty.com/Survey.html

I'll shoot to put up a summary by the end of next week.

Saludos a todos.

Mmmmmm Mahi for dinner!

Lynn went beyond all expectations with a roasted pepper hot sauce and fresh basil and walnuts.  The basil came from our garden and Mahi is expensive right now... $2.00/lb.  We saw the fish get filleted and had the first pound with friends as sushi!

Hoping to have better luck with photo links this go 'round. Lynn and I have been busy finishing up negotiations on a couple more lots. We should have them online by next week. In the meantime we've been enjoying Ecuador! The fruit-truck came by the house this morning and we got re-stocked on oranges (there's also a fish truck, a shrimp truck, a milk moto, and a number of other assortments of mobile vendors). 

We spent the night on the porch at our friends freshly renovated home at the "Boca" for Lynn's B-day. We had a nice moonlight walk and the place was all ours!

Here's the sun on its way down yesterday...

and here it is rising again this morning at the river mouth...

Who are you?

As Lynn and I sit here in Ecuador we're wondering who you are. We've met some great folks already by having made the decision to relocate to Ecuador. It takes a certain person to be attracted to life on the beach in a foreign country... so far we've had a great time with those kindred spirits we've had the pleasure of coming across.

Who else is out there and what are they looking for???? I made a crude survey to try and get a feel for who else is out there, on their way, and what they're after. We'd like to help you make the leap.

I promise to give a synopsis of the results... so we can all get a feel for who's there and we're all after here in Ecuador.

Participate! -- >   http://www.ecuadorbeachfrontproperty.com/Survey.html

"The Boca" come sundown

Worked on the website a bit today then headed out on the moto in the evening to check on some house renovations going on for a previous buyer.  It was low tide when I pulled up.  Couldn't help but go for a stroll on the beach to watch the shore birds working on the exposed tidal flats.

Quite a beautiful sunset with the sun dropping its rays through the clouds. I shared that beach with one other person, a local fisherman wandering the coastline... I think he was grabbing oysters from a nearby outcrop while the tide was at its lowest point.

Here's Bill's place nearing completion! He has the nicest down to earth place on this stretch of beach. I'll be sure to post some "before" photos soon!

up and at em....  round two of testing continuing as we prep to get this blog up to speed

Two lots just filled and one more available high up on the hill!

We now have three properties available in the San Jacinto area!  Two are at "The Boca" where the river meets the sea and one is up on the hill a few hundred meters from the ocean with a great ocean view!