Simón Bolívar

Many people, even if they have heard of the name Simón Bolívar, will not know much of him. I did not either, until recently. In order to improve my Spanish and understand the nuances of Latin America, I tried to watch some Latin America based movies recently.  One of them was The Liberator. (Picture above is a snapshot from the movie). It is based on the life of Simón Bolívar. I read that this movie was the movie that six countries in Latin America had been waiting to see. So, what's so special about Simón Bolívar? Well apparently, this dude "fought over 100 battles against the Spanish Empire in South America. He rode over 70,000 miles on horseback. His military campaigns covered twice the territory of Alexander the Great, But his army never conquered – it liberated" . That’s why he got to be known as the Liberator.

Since, I am also planning on visiting/staying in Medellin, Colombia I also watched Escobar: Paradise Lost. It is not entirely a true story of Pablo Escobar. For some reason, they decided to revolve the movie around a fictional character.

UPDATE: This post ends my posts on Ecuador. Moving forward, I will be posting using Wordpress that allows you to sign up with your e-mail so that you are automatically notified each time there is a new post. The link to the new site:  https://thehappyminimalist.wordpress.com/

MY APARTMENT for now

I have uplaoded a video taken with my camera phone. I get to see both the sunrise and sunset from the apartment.

Click here to view the video of the apartment

BUS RIDE ALONG THE CURVY COAST

I had always wanted to live in a place with a view & sound of the ocean. I found such a place in Olón . It is nice to be greeted by the waves of the ocean when you enter your room. It is even nicer to be lulled to sleep with the sound of waves and wake up to its sound as well.  Olón was my first stop along my coastal trip – which has now landed me in Bahía de Caráquez. I did not do the entire ~ 200 km/ 124 miles in one stretch. I stopped along the way to check out some of these towns along the coast. 

Olón is the one with the red dot. Virtually all of these places are under developed by Western standards. But of all the places along the coast that I stopped, I liked Bahía de Caráquez the best. So, I have just arranged to rent a penthouse with a view of the Pacific Ocean for two weeks. All the pictures that I have taken of this place with my phone's camera did not do justice to what you actually see. So, below is a picture from Wikipedia on  Bahía de Caráquez.

If any of you feel like making a trip here –  you will enjoy free lodging besides the view J

OFF TO THE COAST

Picture above taken during a morning walk.

Among the “interesting people” that I got to meet while here is Buddy Winston. He is a former staff writer for THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JAY LENO. An American couple who recently had bought a property in Vilcabamba invited a few of us to their place. On the way back home, I shared a cab with Buddy and we had some good laughs with some of Seinfeld jokes. Buddy is among the several Americans who have relocated to Ecuador. Apparently, Matt Monarch, CEO of The Raw Food World lives in Vicabamba. Besides Americans, the next largest group here appears to be the Germans.

Tonight I’ll be taking an overnight bus to Olón – a beach town. After about 1.5 months in Vilcabamba, it is time to explore other parts of Ecuador.

COST OF LIVING - PART 2

Someone asked me via e-mail what is the typical food here. I hope the above gives an idea. Plus the earlier post on cost of living also provides an idea on some of the foods that are found here. With globalization, one can almost find anything anywhere. 

I have lived in Vilcabamba for more than a month now and hence have a better sense of what my monthly cost of living here is. It is 30% of what it was in Santa Clara.  That is considering that I had some unexpected onetime costs while here.  A typical lunch as shown in the picture above which consists of soup, rice with meat and vegetables and a drink will cost US$3 (US$ is used in Ecuador).

There is a laboratory here that is able to do all kinds of blood tests, poop tests etc. I was actually impressed that they were able to do that given that Vilcabamba is such a small town.  In fact, when I was in Singapore the last time, I wanted to do a fasting insulin test and the doctor told me (in a condescending manner) – “There is no such thing as fasting insulin test. There is only fasting glucose test”.  Of course you can get this and others tests that I am looking for in the US. But they cost more. If a cost of a test is $100 in the US – it is $20 here. Yes, medical tests costs based on the specific tests that I am looking for are 20% of that of the US. In any case, I did some of these tests since I have not done them before.  Some of the results are ready that very afternoon and the others I have to wait three days. I am positively surprised by the results I have received so far. They are not just good. They are exceptionally good. :)