La Bella Crucita, Sunday, 02/24/2019

“It’s raining! No laundry today, unless we hang them up to dry indoors. Are we going to Maria’s?”

“Don’t know – the malecon will be muddy. If we do its a tricimoto for sure.”

“Aventurero says he’s waiting until the rain slows before going out.”

“I should make some tuna fish salad. The alternative to the celery salt we bought yesterday tastes pretty good. I’ll add diced scallions and celery to the mix.”

“Nilla, they’re testing the emergency public announcement system, good to know that they are safety minded. I’ve been told they do it every Sunday at noon.”

“Jackson, the skylight is leaking again, dripping on the stairs.”

“Nothing we can do about it. Next year the Ts will be renting another property, better and well-maintained for sure, just not in Crucita.”

“Besides making tuna fish salad, any other plans for today Nilla?”

“We have to come up with a topic for the blog. Do you want to discuss the stones on the beach or save that one for later?”

“Don’t know. Was thinking about something to do with horses, but there doesn’t seem to be anything on the internet about equestrian groups or clubs in Manabi province.”

“You would think that there would be mention of the event somewhere. All those horses and owners don’t just appear, someone or some group had to organize it.”

“We can still keep that topic in mind. There might be someone involved in the other carnival events that can provide some information.”

“I’ve been wondering Jackson…we haven’t seen squirrels along the coast. I can understand they might not be ‘beach goers’ but even when we’ve traveled inland to Montecristi or even in the parks, lots of birds but no squirrels.”

“But there are squirrels Nilla, we just haven’t seen one. ‘Ardillas’, The Guayquil squirrel lives in the trees and eats seeds, flowers, mushrooms as well as some insects. As their name suggests, they are found in the wild in the southwestern Ecuador and northwestern Peru. The body length is on average seven to ten inches and the tails are just as long.”

“What color are they?”

“Toward the head they tend to be dark gray while toward the tail a rusty brown.”

“Are they nocturnal, is that why we haven’t seen them?”

“No, they are active during the day, are very adaptable and can live in cities, but that is not very common.”

“So it’s unlikely we’d see them scurrying around a city park in Manta, Portoviejo or Guayquil. What about nesting?”

“They build their nests in trees – they are not particular about what type of forest to live in – from arid to humid conditions.”

“Are they endangered Jackson?”

“Not at all. Some of these squirrels may carry Chagas disease.”

“That’s not good.”

“It’s stopped raining. Aventurero, Diego and Guradagatos – Los Tres Caballeros – are at Ramblas.”

“Do we really want to go out onto the busy malecon and deal with people, traffic and mud?”

“That’s nothing new, come on.”

“The mud tossed up by cars and tricimonto wheels reminds me of runny milk chocolate being tossed around on a mixer beater.”

“Where did Diego and Guardagatos go?”

“They went to Rimini, got tired of waiting – they’ll be back.”

“Tuna for the Ts and chichuron for Aventurero, looks delicious Nilla.”

“Guardagatos and Diego are back – there’s a parade of casanovas coming!”

“Nilla, you’re really not thinking it is a parade of passionate, handsome men are you?”

“Isn’t that what a casanova is?”

“Agustin Casanova is the mayor of Crucita, there is a political parade coming down the malecon. They plan to stop in front of Ramblas and we might get to meet him.”

“Traffic is going nowhere on the malecon. It’s as bad as it was last night with the horses!”

“They should just prohibit vehicular traffic on the malecon on weekends when these events are scheduled.”

“Hey, there’s Agustin Casanova and Clemente Vazquez – stopping and shaking hands with folks on the steps of Ramblas.”

“Look at all the young people – absolutely passionate about their candidate. So Agustin is the mayor – what office is Clemente running for?”

“He’s a lawyer from Portoviejo and running for assemblyman.”

“Apparently same political party – ‘numero 6’. Vote on March 24th!”

“Compulsory Jackson.”

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“Now that all the excitement has quieted and the ‘sanitarios’ have picked up trash it’s time to let Ramblas close up – before the police come by. We don’t want the restaurant shut down because of a violation – that’s what happened next door I hear.”

“Time to watch the Oscars anyway.”

“The Ts have seen several of the nominated movies this year Nilla.”

“Jackson did you see that?”

“See what?”

“It’s too late now – it’s squished – the largest spider I’ve ever seen – it’s body about the size of a nickle! HUGE!!!”

“Probably coming in from outside, escaping the wet and the rain. Spiders of that size are usually ground spiders.”

“How did it get in Jackson?”

“Probably under a slider next door then under the doors in the connecting hallway. Venomous or not, it’s dead now. Even when it’s crumpled up it still is the size of the Ecuadorean fifty sent piece.”