South America 2006: Canoa

I arrived in Canoa on Monday afternoon after a hot and not so comfortable bus ride. The ride was at least improved when I bought some homemade pan de yuca, fresh from the oven, from a vendor on the bus. I arrived at about 4:30 PM and walked down to the beach...before long I had found Coco Loco hostal, a new place owned by a couple from Belgium and Holland. Shelley and Mark were already there, and a dorm bed was reserved for me.

Canoa is a small touristy town on a beautiful beach. The hostal I am staying at is right in front of the beach which is excellent. There is very good food at the hostal, including great breakfasts with homemade lemon curd and homemade soups for lunch. There are also 9 6-week old puppies, which makes things very fun. It´s a puppy infestation. At other places in town there is seafood...really good shrimp, fish, calamari. Overall pretty awesome. I spent Tuesday through Thursday with Mark and Shelley. We swam, read, threw frisbee, played lots of Risk (along with Rika and Frans, the owners of Coco Loco), hung out. Very relaxing...the ocean is really great. Nice waves, sandy bottom, warm water, no jelly fish. Right now Canoa is super small, but there´s definitely a fear that it could and maybe will become more like touristy towns like Atacames or Montañita in Ecuador, or places like Puerto Vallarta in Mexico. Currently it´s still a small fishing village.

Canoa is just north of Bahia de Caraquez, a small city on the coast...I am in Bahia right now to use internet, and I came here on Tuesday too...to get here involves a 15 minute car/bus/pickup ride followed by a 10 minute boatride across the bay. Mark and Shelley left today, and I was planning to leave today too. Last night, however, I decided against it.

I am currently staying in a town where I have my own room at a comfortable hostal on the beach, I eat breafasts of homemade crepes, fresh juice and fruit salad, lunches of homemade soups and bread, dinners of coconut shrimp and fried plantains. At happy hour at the bar down the road, I can drink my fill of banana daiquiris or caipiriñas or whatever and play ping pong and snack on fried calamari. At the beach I can swim for hours in the perfect water, lay in the sun, throw frisbee or relax in my hostal with the hammocks, puppies, Risk, etc....all of this for less than 15 dollars per day! As Evan would say, Canoa is cheap and best. Staying a few more days sounds like a good idea...