a brief hello from bahía

hello from bahía de caráquez... where the internet is slow and i can´t log in to my canada.com account...

we are just hanging out for the moment, trying to get in touch with the powers that be before we make our daily journey in search of lunch. eating out is a wonderful practice here, a sojourn of sorts that begins and ends at the local cevicheria. um, that being raw (or slightly cooked) fish swimming in a broth of onions, cilantro and lemon juice. a nice helping of clifles (thinly sliced and fried plantains) on the side and you are set... all for a dollar (with juice!). okay, so i do not indulge in such a tradition and instead opt for the menestra de lentejas... or lentil stew with rice. very tasty indeed but it draws the looks of waitresses who try to prod me into adding a hunk of chicken or beef.

bahía is a nice place, if slightly less than awe inspiring. it´s basically a rich resort town with gleeming empty towers just waiting for citizens of quito to drop by for a weekend or two a year. the streets are mostly empty in the downtown core, except for the occasional bicycle taxi (part of the ecocity image). went swimming yesterday and really it wasn´t so bad, apart from the salt part which was unpleasant. lauren managed to get entangled in a jellyfish which they call ´mala agua´here, basically ´bad water´.... funny stuff. now she has this mark all the way around her leg that looks like she was flogged or something.