Note: Sorry, but we don’t have new photos to share. It’s been raining, and we haven’t gone out.
In researching this area, I came across this page on TripAdvisor listing the points of interest to tourists who may be staying in or around Manta, Ecuador, an hour’s drive from here. Based on the remote location of this holiday home, there really isn’t anything nearby that we can experience from the car.
Although I started exercising a few days ago, it’s still too early for me to expect to be able to walk long distances. Only time will tell, and it could be weeks before I am strong enough to tackle any such tours. Actually, in reviewing the activities listed on the above site, we aren’t interested in any of these since, in 2017, we visited Manta while on a cruise. At that time, we toured some of the events listed.
Instead, we’re staying put at this house until we head back to Manta in less than three weeks to return the rental car for another and buy groceries at the Walmart-type store Mega-Maxi, the locals told us about on Wednesday night. It will be interesting to shop at this big store.
As we’ve run out of some foodstuffs in the past few days and with the need to keep purchasing water, we’ve been going to the tiny market here in Mirador San Jose, owned by a friendly French Canadian, Gilles. Thank goodness, we got plenty of cash at the ATM in Manta when we were last there on October 26 and shopped at a market downtown that didn’t work for us.
The locals said they enjoy shopping at Mega-Maxi, where we will find everything we want to round out our meals and supplies. We’ll still buy some produce from Raphael, the local vegetable guy, when he stops by every Tuesday. The question is, can we go another 19 days without going to a supermarket? Right now, in the freezer, we have enough meat to last for six dinners and multiple cans of wild-caught tuna, with which we can make tuna salad with rice and vegetables on the side, making it a total of eight days.
With leftover ribs for Tom and seafood for me, for this evening, we have enough food to last for nine more dinners, taking us through November 15, considering we’ll be dining out every Wednesday. You may ask, why don’t we go to Manta now? The answer is simple. We don’t feel like sitting in the car for over two hours round trip to the grocery shop any more often than we have to. Doing so on the day we return the rental car and get a new car is an ideal scenario.
Next week, we’ll return to Puerta Cayo, a tiny town with a meat market, Carnisariato San Isidro. It will be interesting to check out what they have and see if we can purchase enough to last until November 22. The little shop in this gated community has only a few meat options. We already tried the filet mignon, but it was very tough.
We laugh now over how we grumbled a little to each other while in Marloth Park that we had to drive 20 minutes to the Spar Market in Komatipoort. We’ll appreciate that short distance all the more when we return. Plus, their selections were vast, and we seldom left with items we couldn’t find.
But we have truly settled in and feel more comfortable here as we roll into an easy routine. It will be especially lovely when the sun comes out, and we can use the pool. It’s been raining off and on most days. We’ve had one sunny day so far. The house itself is fine, and the extra exercise I am getting going up and down the stairs to the bedrooms several times each day.
Each day is a new challenge as I continue rebuilding my fitness and health. Today is only day three, but I have already developed a routine to get me up and moving every 15 minutes. I start when I get out of bed and continue until 5:00 pm, when I stop to make dinner.
In time, I will lengthen the fast-walking period, hopefully enabling me to walk long distances eventually. Right now, the number of steps I am doing is working, and I am not going into Afib at the current pace. If I walked too hard and fast, I know I’d run into an Afib event. I remember, only so well, when my grandson Miles and I were leaving Target Field after the Minnesota Twins baseball game, and trying to keep up with the crowd’s pace left me in Afib for hours that night.
It’s a dual purpose: the exercise improves my heart health and also my ability to walk longer distances. This is a huge motivator. I realize now that I am active again how much I was stationary each day, fearful of triggering an episode. Most likely, being stationary exacerbated my condition. I am hopeful but prepared for potential setbacks that won’t deter me.
Again, thanks to our reader, Gary, for spurring me on to do this rather than whining about my limitations.
Be well.
Photo from ten years ago today, November 3, 2013:
You two are putting things together nicely. Good to see you’ve designed a fitness plan and found a group to socialize with. It will pay dividends down the road. Your protein /meat needs might be resolved by purchasing a Yeti type cooler. Fill it with meat from the butcher shop. When you get back to your condo put 3 days of meals in the frig. Put frozen in cooler which will stay frozen for a week or more and transfer new purchases to freezer. Eat out of the frig, then the cooler , and then eat what’s remaining in the freezer. Managed properly you should be good for 3 weeks. Life is what you make it and you’re slowly fashioning a tolerable plan.
I don’t consider Ecuador a third world nation but we sometimes forget how good we have it in the states.
Gary, we have plenty of space in the freezer so no need for the Yeti plan. Plus, if we purchased one, we’d have to leave it behind in 65 days when we leave. We don’t consider Ecuador a third world country either but there’s lots of poverty and lack of products and services. Now, its got load shedding here every day of the week for the same reasons we found in South Africa. Actually, we are in a house, not a condo and it is proving to be fine for us as we’ve settled in.
Thanks for your input.
Warmest regards,
Jess & Tom