Update on Visitors

As I sat down to review our last several posts I realized that we had begun most of those posts explaining how busy we had been.  After our friend Janie’s two month hospital stay was over we offered our home as a place where she could stay while she recuperated.  So about five weeks ago Janie and her caregiver, Alexandra came to stay at our home.  It was a joy watching Janie get steadily better and to get to know Alexandra better.  Last Sunday, Janie felt that she was recovered enough to return to her home, so we said goodbye and have been working most of this last week getting things back to normal around the house.

During that time we also had several visitors and interesting experiences that we will try to catch up on in the next few days.

About three years ago we met Rob and Diane from Canada.  They had put money down on some property (a condominium project) here in San Clemente that they hope to have as a retirement destination in 2018 when they retire.  We enjoyed their company so much that we have stayed in touch ever since.  A few weeks ago they came back for a visit to inspect the progress (and earthquake damage) on their property.  We were able to do many things together during the week that they were here.

We went to the mercado in Charapotó.

Picture taken by Rob.

Went to a fish festival in San Clemente

(Thanks to Javier Aguila for the photo – Also pictured is our friend, Jackie)

and spent a great day souvenir shopping and eating in Montecristi.

As with most visits the time we spent together seemed to fly by and our friends left to go down to Salinas before heading back to Canada.  Hasta año proximo (until next year) Rob and Diane!

Then two days after Janie and Alexandra left we heard a new visitor announcing his presence in our back yard.  Each morning we are greeted by the sounds of wild birds and neighbor’s roosters welcoming the day.  Usually the roosters are blocks away and we have become accustomed to their crowing, but this morning the sounds seemed much closer to home and much louder than normal.  When the rooster crowed again after we were up Mary and I both went out to see if the gallo was in our yard.  We could not see the bird, but it sounded like he was on the Vistazul condominium property behind our back fence.

Then Friday morning we saw this guy strutting around our front yard picking up bits of popcorn we had strewn out for the birds.

I went for my camera and found that the rooster was not alone.  He had the whole family along to share in the free food.

I went out to see if I could get some better pictures, but the family scurried off.

Not to worry, this morning Mary stepped out onto the patio and called to me that the chicken family was back.

If you look closely you can see Mama pollo with Papa gallo and ten pollitos foraging for food in our front yard!

Here is moma herding her brood over past our front gate.

Papa is taking his time following, but you can see another floral visitor who just opened up a couple of days earlier in the foreground.

Our beautiful Parrot’s Beak Heliconia plant is flowering on the ledge by our patio.

Mary went outside to feed the family some spare corn chips and popcorn and the group only edged away, seemingly more comfortable with our presence during this visit.  We are sure to see this family many more times in the coming weeks as the little ones grow.

Some day one of our neighbors will track down his missing rooster and hen and escort the family back home, but until that time, they are welcome to visit here anytime where…

Life is good in Ecuador!