El Oro is the Southernmost of Ecuador's coastal provinces. the word Oro translates into English as gold, and the region takes its name from a past of important gold production, in present day it is one of the worlds largest Banana exporters, obvious from banana plantations as far as the eye can see.
Machala is the capital of the region, however I stayed in Lucy's family house in the town centre of Santa Rosa, another principal town of the province. A small, fairly run down house with a couple of leaks and in need of sorting out, but at least it had beds, a bathroom and a tv.
The first thing you notice about this area of Ecuador is the heat. As we descended the mountains in the car it quite quickly got hotter and hotter and hotter to the point which my entire body was glistening with sweat. Yeh, glamorous I know. The locals don't seem too phased by the heat and take life slowly and keep it all together. I on the other hand, looked like a red in the face foreigner much more used to the not quite to hot climates of England, which of course I was. 38 degrees is an outrageous temperature anyway. I was just about managing the day in the knowledge that surely, like the desert, at night the temperature would drop and I would feel somewhat less like a roast turkey. This knowledge turned out to be something i'd entirely made up in my own, desperate brain, and it dropped to a mere 28 degrees in the night. This led me to sleeping sprawled out like a starfish, no covers, with a fan to try and maintain a stable temperature as not to boil dry. It's also nice to take a cold shower, which is good considering the shower in the house had no hot water (very normal in the hot parts of the country).
-Saying this in regards to temperature, I did sleep pretty soundly due to the 10 hour drive that going to Santa Rosa entails (there are in fact no trains in Ecuador, except a tourist train that doesn't actually go very far and costs an arm and leg) and flying internally also isn't an economical solution.
The food from the Coastal regions of Ecuador is renowned for being the best in the Country. Humitas, Tamales, Ceviches and a host of other Mariscos are genuinely delicious and I certainly had my fill. I'm lucky to get all these dishes in my home in Quito, because Lucy is from Santa Rosa and an excellent cook. Maybe i'll write a post in the near future talking about Ecuadorian dishes to everyone knows what i'm talking about.
They also do pretty good ice cream in Santa Rosa, pretty much expected from somewhere this bloody hot. My favourite flavours are the chocolate and the Mora, or Blackberry, flavours. At one point at about 8 o'clock at night we sat outside the heladeria (ice cream parlour) with ice creams in the pitch black and 28 degree heat. I will always remember that moment as it was blissfully tranquil. For unknown reasons the power to the entire town had gone out, there was no cars, no lights, no noises, nothing. They only sound was the crickets (I can only imagine they are giant crickets, all the bugs are giant here).
I will interject and say the hospital has it's own generator. The sick people were ok.
As part of our little trip to El Oro we drove down to Hauquillas, on the border with Peru. On one side of the river sits Hauquillas, and a small bridge connects it to Agua Verdes, on the Peruvian side of the border. The two towns have a free trade agreement meaning both nationalities can pass freely, and there are controls further inside both countries which check people aren't transporting prohibited goods (or drugs). We did witness a car being pulled apart piece by piece, the police suspected there were concealed drugs.
Due to this free trade, both towns are pretty crazy and there are massive amounts of shops and stalls, selling everything you could ever wants, and people take advantage of products that may be cheaper on the other side of the border. There was also an entire street full of red onion vendors. Weird.
Many parts of Peru are pretty much desert and this was obvious in Aguas Verdes. It's very dusty and there are lots and lots of cactus'. Some of them several metres high. This is in quite a contrast to only slightly further North in Ecuador, where it's very green and humid due to the abundance of tropical rainforest. In Aguas Verdes we ate the regions famous dish. I can't actually remember what it was called but it was essentially lots of shellfish, and fish, cooked in it's own juices, seasoned and served with rice. I'm not sure how they make it so delicious but they do.
I really enjoyed this part of Ecuador, yeh it's pretty hot but for this reason everyone takes life pretty easy and pretty chilled out. Thats a life I can't knock, in comparison to the hustle and bustle of many of Britain's towns and cities.
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| So many bananas, am I going bananas? |
The first thing you notice about this area of Ecuador is the heat. As we descended the mountains in the car it quite quickly got hotter and hotter and hotter to the point which my entire body was glistening with sweat. Yeh, glamorous I know. The locals don't seem too phased by the heat and take life slowly and keep it all together. I on the other hand, looked like a red in the face foreigner much more used to the not quite to hot climates of England, which of course I was. 38 degrees is an outrageous temperature anyway. I was just about managing the day in the knowledge that surely, like the desert, at night the temperature would drop and I would feel somewhat less like a roast turkey. This knowledge turned out to be something i'd entirely made up in my own, desperate brain, and it dropped to a mere 28 degrees in the night. This led me to sleeping sprawled out like a starfish, no covers, with a fan to try and maintain a stable temperature as not to boil dry. It's also nice to take a cold shower, which is good considering the shower in the house had no hot water (very normal in the hot parts of the country).
-Saying this in regards to temperature, I did sleep pretty soundly due to the 10 hour drive that going to Santa Rosa entails (there are in fact no trains in Ecuador, except a tourist train that doesn't actually go very far and costs an arm and leg) and flying internally also isn't an economical solution.
The food from the Coastal regions of Ecuador is renowned for being the best in the Country. Humitas, Tamales, Ceviches and a host of other Mariscos are genuinely delicious and I certainly had my fill. I'm lucky to get all these dishes in my home in Quito, because Lucy is from Santa Rosa and an excellent cook. Maybe i'll write a post in the near future talking about Ecuadorian dishes to everyone knows what i'm talking about.
They also do pretty good ice cream in Santa Rosa, pretty much expected from somewhere this bloody hot. My favourite flavours are the chocolate and the Mora, or Blackberry, flavours. At one point at about 8 o'clock at night we sat outside the heladeria (ice cream parlour) with ice creams in the pitch black and 28 degree heat. I will always remember that moment as it was blissfully tranquil. For unknown reasons the power to the entire town had gone out, there was no cars, no lights, no noises, nothing. They only sound was the crickets (I can only imagine they are giant crickets, all the bugs are giant here).
I will interject and say the hospital has it's own generator. The sick people were ok.
As part of our little trip to El Oro we drove down to Hauquillas, on the border with Peru. On one side of the river sits Hauquillas, and a small bridge connects it to Agua Verdes, on the Peruvian side of the border. The two towns have a free trade agreement meaning both nationalities can pass freely, and there are controls further inside both countries which check people aren't transporting prohibited goods (or drugs). We did witness a car being pulled apart piece by piece, the police suspected there were concealed drugs.
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| Spot the tourist Welcome to Peru |
Due to this free trade, both towns are pretty crazy and there are massive amounts of shops and stalls, selling everything you could ever wants, and people take advantage of products that may be cheaper on the other side of the border. There was also an entire street full of red onion vendors. Weird.
 |
| Many Onions |
Many parts of Peru are pretty much desert and this was obvious in Aguas Verdes. It's very dusty and there are lots and lots of cactus'. Some of them several metres high. This is in quite a contrast to only slightly further North in Ecuador, where it's very green and humid due to the abundance of tropical rainforest. In Aguas Verdes we ate the regions famous dish. I can't actually remember what it was called but it was essentially lots of shellfish, and fish, cooked in it's own juices, seasoned and served with rice. I'm not sure how they make it so delicious but they do.
I really enjoyed this part of Ecuador, yeh it's pretty hot but for this reason everyone takes life pretty easy and pretty chilled out. Thats a life I can't knock, in comparison to the hustle and bustle of many of Britain's towns and cities.
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