Olon, Ecuador - Day 5
Saturday, February 26
We packed up and said good-bye to our beach house in Olon today, but not before making a stop into town one last time.
Saturday morning are always a fun time to visit a town because many locals are busy running their weekend errands — very similar to what most people around the world do on Saturday mornings. There’s a great energy about town on Saturday mornings as produce vendors spill out of markets selling food and lines form around the block for the bakery. We arrived in Olon around 8:30am this morning, and set off to find something to eat for breakfast.
Andi was craving a good cup of coffee and read about a place called Olon Espresso he wanted to try. We found ourselves a table inside the small air-conditioned cafe and ordered two coffees, one hot chocolate, a German pancake and avocado toast to share. Andi said it was the best cup of coffee he’s had in all of Ecuador. So good, in fact, that he bought two bags of coffee to take home with us.
The owner of the cafe was very friendly and shared some information with us about her business and the town of Olon.
After breakfast, the four of us walked toward the beach. Olon is a town of about 25,000 — larger, but much quieter than its neighbor to the south, Montañita.
There wasn’t many people on the beach this early in the morning. Vendors worked to set up gobs of umbrellas and chairs in a long row along the beachfront, so I imagine crowds of people were on their way for Carnival festivities. Carnival is Ecuador’s version of Mardi Gras and is celebrated with the observance of a long holiday weekend the days leading up to Ash Wednesday.
It’s popular in Ecuador to have shaving cream and silly string fights on the beach and in the streets. Tory was deeply afraid of being caught in the mix of all of this, but obviously most of ruckus happens in the evenings after a full day of partying & not at 9:00 o’clock in the morning.
After we walked along the beach, we returned to the main street in Olon to buy groceries for the next few days. Later today, we’re moving onto a town called Ayampe and the airbnb owner there cautioned us that there isn’t a good place to buy groceries so best to bring them with us when we arrive.
In Ecuador, as in most places outside the USA, grocery shopping requires several stops. The “super market” in Olon sold packaged foods like chips, crackers, yogurt and rice. They don’t carry any fresh produce or meat. A man with a pickup truck on the side of the road sold a variety of fruits, and a produce stand down the road sold vegetables. We also stopped by the bakery in town to pick up a loaf of French bread.
There was also a woman on the side of the road cutting up raw chicken, but I couldn’t bring myself to stop at her stand. The sun was already beating down on the day at 9:00am and the woman had no refrigeration for the meat she was selling. Andi and I decided to forgo meat and piece it together when we got to Ayampe.
The four of us hopped in a taxi and rode 15 minutes back to our airbnb outside Olon. We gathered our bags together, tidied up the boathouse before our departure, and then took another 20-minute taxi ride to our new airbnb for the week in the town of Ayampe. On the map, the distance from Olon to Ayampe didn’t look far, but there was a windy, jungle road between the two towns. We all expected a longer, more nauseating journey than it turned out to be.
We arrived at our new airbnb in Ayampe around 11:00am. This house has two levels — a kitchen, living room, bathroom and master bedroom on the ground floor and two additional bedrooms and a bathroom on the upper level. Unlike our last place in Olon, the Ayampe house is located in town and two blocks from the beach. It’s a toss-up because Andi and I really enjoy the tranquility of staying outside town, but without a car it is much more convenient to stay in town where we can walk to restaurants and activities. The downside is, of course, the noise. Neither of us sleep very well in noisy places. We’ll see if we regret our decision to stay in town during Carnival weekend.
Ayampe is a classic beach town with only a few unpaved streets that interconnect to the beach. For being a town of only 400 people, there’s a surprisingly number of restaurants in town and several hostels and bed & breakfasts.
The beach was packed with locals and tourists alike on Saturday afternoon. The four of us found a restaurant along the sandy shore for lunch. Tory was practically melting by this point. Poor girl is not a big fan of tropical weather.
Andi ordered fish, I ordered grilled chicken and Aden had his usual fried shrimp for lunch. Tory said she wasn’t hungry, so she and I ended up sharing my plate.
Now it was my turn to be the one not feeling great. The four of us rested in our airbnb for the remainder of the day. Only the bedrooms in our new airbnb have air conditioning and it was so stinking hot in our house, we thought we might sweat to death.
Later, Andi and Aden walked to pick up dinner to-go. They returned with six empanadas (3 cheese, 3 beef) that they bought from a street vendor for a total of $5. Hoping Andi and I feel better tomorrow so we can enjoy the rest of our time in Ayampe.
