Heading down the coast in search of sunshine we stopped at Puerto Cayo a fishing village and a tourist destination. There was a lot of fishing for sure with traditional boats hauling up catches onto the beach whilst dogs and frigate birds attempted to steal some pickings.
Apart from a handful of local families there was no one there at all, a few half empty beach restaurants and that was it. The temperature was warm but as it was grey and over cast the beach wasn’t very enticing. We thought maybe it was quiet because of the winter season when sunshine is quite a rare commodity but we met an ex pat who said the only time it gets busy is New Year and Carnival, the other 48 weeks it’s deserted. We had a great rental house and we were joined by our very own dog family so the plan was to explore from there and hope for a spot of sunshine.
Our plans were scuppered by Ecuadorean electrics. We woke up Sunday morning to a few strange noises, no lights and an ominous burning smell coming from the fuse box. We called our man in town who came round very quickly with his friend. They flicked switches inside and out but no joy. They rigged up an extension line to next door so that the water pump worked but as the fault was apparently with the transformer we would have to wait for someone else. Given that it was Sunday in S America we weren’t too hopeful and decided to call it a day at the coast. With a sad goodbye to our dog family (although we did feed them all our leftover food) we turned around and headed back to the Andes. The coast to the South is pretty, and it’s definitely quiet but the weather in August is grey and there are definitely better places to visit.
It is worth mentioning that when Geoff and Drew went horse riding in Canoa they passed a man doing some electrical welding but instead of the welder being plugged into a socket it was connected to the external overhead power lines by 2 crocodile clips so its not entirely surprising they get the odd fault!
Pirate Travels 