Reporting from: Barcelo Miramar Colon Hotel, Salinas, Ecuador
Day 3 proved to be even more eventful than our marathon travel day on Wednesday! After a night out on the town in Mantanita, we rose early and made the 1 hour drive to Salinas. Our route was essentially south down Ecuador's version of the Pacific Coast Highway. We arrived shortly after 11am in Ecuador's most popular beach resort town with no hotel reservation. We proceeded to the best place in town: The Barcelo Miramar Colon.
The first picture posted is the view from our balcony. This place reminds me of Miami or some place like that. It is a bustling little town and apparently will get pretty jam packed this weekend, as it does every weekend. Our rooms cost around $150 per night which for down here is horrifyingly expensive. For us, the price seems about right. You just cannot get this type of place in high season in the US for this price.
We then met Andres Cordova, a lawyer/real estate developer/visionary, from Quito. He is the mastermind behind a new project in Punta Carnero (just south of us here in Salinas). The idea is to build a very upscale condo building. Pat is an investor in this project, and this is one of the reasons we are here: to view the land for the proposed building. Check out their website: www.aqualinabythesea.com
Andres took us on an almost 4 hour tour of the areas just south of Salinas, to Punta Carnero and Anconcito. Perhaps the highlight of our day (certainly mine) was visiting the Hotel Punta Carnero, which is basically deserted. We were the only ones there. This place is just amazing and the Government owns it because the owners went bankrupt, then the bank that took over the property ceased to exist. It is just an absolute waste of a beautiful site. This picture is taken from a balcony bar over looking Punta Carnero.
What a contrast Punta Carnero is from Salinas. Whereas Salinas is jam packed with people, there are basically miles and mile of empty beach in Punta Carnero. My remark to the group was "Why is this place not developed yet?" This is where Andres comes in. His vision is to develop this area into a more smartly planned version of Salinas.
Our final stop of the day was in Anconcito, a small fishing village just south of Punta Carnero. Andres warned us that this place looks a liitle "rough around the edges" but has "enormous potential." I agree on both fronts. However there is a 50 acre piece of land with 180+ degrees view of oceanfront. Our third picture today is me standing on a rocky ledge that juts out into the ocean where I was happy to have ocean spray soak me.
What an excellent day of touring the Salinas and surrounding areas.
Tomorrow we drive four hours north up the coastal highway to Manta, where we will be touring various beach and inland properties for 5 days.
So that is all for today. I hope you have enjoyed the first 3 days of following our Ecuador blog.
Did you know: Gas is $1.48 per gallon and Diesel is $1.03, in Ecuador. Only Venezuela is cheaper in South America.
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