Busy Weekend

We started out Saturday morning with an extended beach walk timing it to a low tide. Walking south we passed the fishing village and crossed from sand beach to rocky beach. Locals were hunting through the rocks, exposed by the low tide, for juvenile octopus. Xavier, the manager where we are staying, says it is his favorite food. The young octopus feed on the tiny shrimp giving them a flavor prized locally. I have seen it served a few times and can't get passed the appearance of a whole grilled octopus and so will rely solely on his word as to the flavor. There are a dozen hard to see people in this picture - click to enlarge:

 
 Saturday afternoon was the regular expat lunch in Manta at a beach-side cafe. As mentioned before lunch is a long social affair.

 On Sunday Linda invited us to join her in a trip north to the small town of San Clemente. We wound our way through Manta filling the car with various other folks before leaving town. The San Clemente beach was not as nice as our beach, but that is a relative term. We had lunch at an open air cafe run by a German expat and after lunch we were led by the owner through a locked door behind the cafe where various items were available for purchase. Being a man of simple tastes I left with a fine bottle of dark rum which cost me $3.50.
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 On the trip back loaded with people and purchases we encountered a police roadblock. De Anne's first comment upon seeing the checkpoint was an expletive deleted; however, Linda calmly waved and drove right on through. I admit to being a little tense, but when no warning shots were fired or chase started I calmed down quickly.

 We got home right at sunset as the last of the folks enjoying Sunday on the beach were leaving