Crowds at this beach

Sunday – and my thoughts from yesterday about how popular Salinas is for vacationing Ecuadorians was reinforced today. Our hotel is just across the street from the beach and from the “Happy Park,” a play area for children with blow-up bounce houses and other kid-friendly attractions. Happy Park is apparently sponsored by Pinguino which is the predominant ice cream company in the area. Ice cream is very big here with vendors under tents, with a cart, or carrying an insulated bag of treats about every 20 feet along the beach. 60 cents for a delicious coconut ice cream bar.

One of our favorite attractions at Happy Park was the water balls, actually air balls with kids inside on the water. We stood on the sidewalk and loved watching the kids (who were lined up for their turn) roll around in these huge plastic balls in a big blow-up pool of water. You can see one child inside a ball and another, on the right side, getting in before the attendants blow air back in the ball to inflate it with the kiddo inside. Then they roll the balls around, or if the child is big enough, the child throws themselves against a side to make it roll in the water.

Before I leave the Happy Park water ball picture, note the boats in the top  left. That is the Salinas Yacht Club, which we didn’t visit as it had gates and guards. I thought the beach just went to the Yacht Club – the picture to the right is the beach near our hotel. However, today, we walked left past the yacht club, and came across another beach, just as crowded with families enjoying the sand and water. At this second beach, Phillip bought a coconut from a vendor who put a hole in the top and stuck a straw in it for us to drink the coconut juice. They had been on ice, so the juice was cool and refreshing, but not too heavy on coconut flavor. Notice the crowds of tents behind the vendor. And, here’s Phillip drinking the juice. He did share with me, and as the vendor told us, once the juice was gone and we were back in our room, Phillip broke open the coconut and we ate the coconut meat…. bebida y comida! (drink and meal)

A little bit more about our hostal, we can hear the frequent car alarms, sound that isn’t  because of car burglars as we’ve heard and seen them go off without anyone around. Maybe humidity, maybe because the owners like the sound. Last night, I did hear them a few times, although I think Phillip slept thru them. For the front view of our hostal, see left. We usually sit at the table under the last blue umbrella on the left to use the Internet. We try to get on Skype and don’t want to bother other people.

Here’s the view from “our” table of the other tables on the patio. It’s a relaxing place, and we’ve found another brand of beer, Brahma beer. I think I like the taste of the Pilsener better. This Brahma beer tastes more like American beer to me. The prices of food and beverages are higher along the beach. We walked a block off the beach and bought food and water for half the beach prices. Just like you’d find in Miami or South Padre Island. Some things are international.

Speaking of that block off the beach, yesterday for dinner, we went back from the beach and came across food vendors who had a grill on the sidewalk and tables under a metal awning. I guess it was a real restaurant, as they had a menu and a waiter. Phillip ordered shrimp fried rice (a huge plate) and I just took the waiter to the grill and told him…. una de este y una de este, …. (one of this and one of this….) The left picture is the food piled awaiting the orders. Some of it, like the banana with cheese, was already grilled, but the corn and meat were grilled to order by the cook at the end of the line. I had the grilled corn, which came with a white cheese sauce to roll it in, the grilled banana stuffed with cheese, and a skewer of grilled shrimp and sausage. Try getting that in Burleson for $3!

We are enjoying our time in Salinas, but the crowds are a bit much. We enjoy it and wanted to see this resort area; however, I’m glad I only booked two nights here. Being here on the weekend really shows us how crowded the resorts can get.