Workaway #3: Puerto Cayo (Part One)

When we arrived at Casa Anna, Anna was at the gate to greet us and show us to our room. The property was composed of a worker’s house (two rooms, each with two beds, and a bathroom outside), a guesthouse, their main house, a toolshed, a "bodega," and a large outdoor kitchen area. Three other workers had arrived a few days before us (a couple from France and Australia, and a retired police officer from Pennsylvania). We spent that afternoon unloading our gear and making ourselves at home. That evening we were introduced to our first Puerto Cayo sunset. Each evening, Anna, her husband (Steve), and all of the volunteers point their chairs towards the beach and watch the sun go down over the water. Each sunset is then given a rating from 1 to 5 (all of them seemed to be a 4 or 5 in our books, but Steve and Anna were much harsher critics after seeing so many of them). It became one of our favorite traditions!

The next day we woke up early and made eggs in the outdoor kitchen. While we had brought some groceries from Quito, we didn't have much that was not in a package. Luckily, before work started that day we made a group trip to the a fruit/veggie stand that comes into town once per week (every Wednesday). We would learn that, in addition to the fruit stand, a fruit/veggie truck also comes to the house twice per week, so that we never had to go more than a couple of days without access to fresh-picked, awesome local produce! When we got back from town, it was time to start work. On Wednesdays, Steve and Anna's gardener, Paulo, comes to the property. On those days, as we would learn, we would help Paulo out with whatever was needed. This particular day that meant weeding, and there was a LOT of it (all of the Workawayers weeded for their shifts that day). Later that day we were also introduced to the Banana Bread Wars. Steve and Anna had bought a (ridiculously) large bunch of bananas and plantains, still hanging on a branch, and we were all tasked with trying to use them before they went bad. This meant that everyone had bananas for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and, to be more creative, we started mixing them into batches of banana bread. By the time we had arrived, the couple (Ollie and Lidia) had already made a batch that turned out kind of rough, especially because they did not use baking powder (Steve and Anna let us all know we could borrow whatever we needed from their kitchen after they learned this). It was Leanna's (the former police officer) turn this time and it was delicious (note that none of us had access to a full oven, all bread was baked in a toaster oven in cake pans or small metal trays).

Side note: During sunset that night we also saw dolphins swimming near(ish) to the beach!

The next day we woke up early to walk the beach with a cup of coffee, and we were off to work again. This time we were split up. After both of us carried some supplies to the beach area, Nicole went off to clean the main house (as would be her weekly task on Thursdays) while Kyle continued onto a partially finished knee-height fence along the path from the house to the beach. The fence was comprised of old bamboo posts that had been cut down, and Kyle drove them into the sand with the back of an axe. It was sweaty, blister-filled work but made for an enjoyable day. We spent that afternoon playing around in the water and getting to know the dogs! One of the major issues in South America is the amount of abandoned dogs, or strays that keep breeding. Because of this, you see dogs running loose everywhere. Anna and Steve will periodically adopt one of these dogs off of the street, and when we were there they had three of them. Blackie (we didn't pick these names) was the oldest and largest, he had been around for 5ish years and was the grumpy old man of the group. After having Lobo as a pet, though, we were ready fro how to approach a grumpy dog and he quickly grew on us. BooBoo was a shy female, who you often would not see during the day but who would always show up, not inconspicuously, around meal times. And Tucker was the youngest, smallest, and definitely most mischievous. He would spend all day stealing your work gloves and shoes (and occassionally sunscreen bottles while you swam, and tools while you worked), would dig sand all over your beach towels, and took out his puppy teething phase on your ankles. However, every night he would all asleep in your arms and you'd forgive him for all the troublemaking.

Every Thursday night in Puerto Cayo, there is an informal "Gringo" get together for all of the expats from Canada and the US who live in the town. The get together also involves some awesome fish and chips and a trivia game, so we decided to join. We pregamed the party by using even more bananas for banana-rum-shakes (again, there were TONS of bananas to use). We were picked up by a retired school teacher from Florida who had moved to Ecuador 9 years ago and, along with a couple of others, went to the new spot that was hosting. It was a recently renovated (actually still under construction) hotel. We introduced ourselves to everyone (there were about 15 in all) and toured the building, and then sat down to some great food and drinks and the game. The trivia theme for this particular night was 60s and 70s music, so it wasn't really in our wheelhouse but I'd say we held our own. While this really wasn't the type of crowd we typically hang with while we travel (we do our best to find locals and more open-minded travelers, while these were more of a tight-knit group living in an insulated bubble), we still had a great time.

Our project on Friday was to change the hinges out from the front French-style doors as they had rusted to the point where the doors where not opening correctly, and not closing all the way. As those of you that live close to the sea know, but that we didn't fully appreciate, is that EVERYTHING close to the water breaks, or seizes, or corrodes. We thought changing the hardware out would take 20-30 minutes at most, but it ended up taking up our entire shift. Every screw in the ground/doorframe was rusted out and had to be complete drilled through to be extracted. The door itself even had rusted out where the hardware connected, so we had to measure out a new aluminum framing piece from scrap metal, angle grind it to the correct shape, and rivet it into the existing door just to have a place to mount the new hardware. It was a frustrating but, finally, rewarding experience when we finished. That afternoon the "fish guy" came by. He comes by once per week, riding a bicycle with buckets full of ice and just-caught fish from the sea. This day he had some fresh dorado and we cooked up a pound (after borrowing some batter from Steve who, it turns out, is an amazing cook who makes almost everything completely from scratch), for dinner.

On Saturday, the fruit truck arrived again and after buying a few more things, we went on a morning run past town to the "flat rock" area. This is an area of large stone outcroppings that only reveal themselves during low tide. They create small pools that families swim around and have picnics in, and it's also an amazing place to seashell hunt, so we brought back bundles-full to the house. We then went straight back into town with Leanna to get some ceviche (on the weekends they catch fish especially to make into fresh ceviche batches) and watched the sunset. On our way back into town, we passed by a soccer tournament in the town square and decided to get a few beers to watch with. We ended up staying for a couple of hours (with one mishap where a stray shot hit our small pile of glass bottles and shattered them all).

On Sunday, we went back to the flat rock area to seashell hunt, and took our turn baking banana bread (FYI both Steve and Leanna also baked banana bread that day, so there was plenty to go around). There was no sour cream anywhere in town (Kyle's grandma's secret ingredient), but we think our batch was right up there with the others. We also, on a trip to town, "accidently" got ceviche again, and it was even better the second time around (this place added a peanut sauce that was perfect, and at only $3 it was the right price too). We lazed away the afternoon with some pina coladas and learning a new card game, and were thoroughly enjoying our new beach rhythm and Workaway experience.