The weather has been absolutely beautiful for the past several weeks but both Saturday and Sunday were overcast and I even put on a light sweater in the early evening because the breeze off the ocean was darn cool for me. We have spent several afternoons a week at the beach just watching the waves, enjoying the fresh sea air and letting our minds clear. Today I did my running in the morning with laundry pick up, a stop at two different pharmacies, a trip into the bank and then on to Tia for some bottled water, wine, coffee and a very small food order. Then I told Joe I was going to cook up some fresh crab cakes and we were heading for the beach.
Most days we see one of several vendors that sell the fresh coconuts. We gulp down the coco water and then he will cut out the fresh sweet coconut meat for Joe and I to share.
This gentlemen told me he was 89 years old, still walking the beach each day. He is mentally 100% I wish I was as spry as he is. He introduced me to his son who also sells the fresh coconuts along with Dad every day on the Playas beach. I hope I am able to walk the beach each day when I am 70 God willing, can’t even imagine being 89.
Finding our Paradise in South America 
Pingback: Morning Update – Tuesday, June 26, 2012 « South of Zero
He not only walks he also carries his bag of coconuts.To Live Long Live in Ecuador!!!
Hi Joe, so happy to hear from you and hope all is well. Thanks for your comment. Nancy
In Cuenca I saw elderly women in the city waiting for the bus to return home in the evening with a basket in one hand and a small tank of propane in the other! These people are short and strong, and very quiet : ). They come to the city early morning from the mountains by bus to sell their baskets of fruit and produce. Some of the younger women bring their babies with them. In the evening they line up at the bank to deposit their sales revenue, shop for what they need in the city to take home, then catch the bus with their propane, basket, and baby on the back.
Leon, it is amazing how hard these folks work, look at this guy 89 and still selling coconuts, I am just amazed. I have never seen a small tank of propane, what do they use it for? All we have here is these larger size tanks, I think maybe they hold 30 lbs because what we had back in the states for our BBQ was 20 lbs and this is at least one and a half times bigger…I know I cannot carry it even when empty it gives me a fit…thanks for your comment, Nancy
Coconut water is the new big-time revenue beverage here in the U.S. as the major companies have bought out foreign coconut-water firms to stake their claims on this niche of the bottled water market. It is marketed primarily as a “hydration” beverage, with the premium brands having no added sweeteners or other ingredients. Coca-Cola, Pepsi and others are conducting their coconut water wars through brands line Zico, Vita Coco, Naked, and Pure One. The prices are high: a small 8-oz tetra-pack will usually sell for $1.60-$1.80. One Ecuadorian coconut ($1.25) will probably make about 6-8 of these packs. It appears that these major brands are using Brazilian coconuts for their water.
Leon, we got started on Pipa (what they call coconut water in Panama) when we were living in Dolega, Panama. In David you can get an 8 oz cup for as little as .30 cents….Joe would get two I would drink half of mine and give him the rest. It is excellent for helping with kidney stones which Joe had issues with for years. Now he takes Chunka Piedra a herb that we can find in capsules here. You know that the soda companies want to control everything that you drink, why not coconut water? Thanks for commenting. N
The Coco man is our favorite person in Salinas beach. During our stay there, we spent most of our morning and afternoon on the beach and at the same time drinking/eating coco. I don’t know how much it costs in your place but we paid $1.25 each in Salinas.
Hey Rolie, Our guy charges us $1.50 per coconut…inflation or skin tax ja ja whatever we still enjoy it and will continue to buy from him. Have a great day, Nancy
Nancy, the first time we bought coco was in Chipipe beach and the coco man actually charged us $1.50…but we made friends (up to now exchanging emails) with condo owners from Quito and Guayaquil and told us that they only pay $1.25 each. Same thing happened the first time we went to Paseo… the taxi driver charged us $2.50 but our friends told us that we should have paid only $2.00.
Rolie, I will need to just hand the man $1.25 and see what happens. Some taxi’s tried to charge me $3 but I knew what I should be paying and just gave them $2 and walked away. Thanks for your comments, Have a great day! Nancy
its a quarter. get over yourself
Sharon, thanks so much for your comment, not sure I feel it was justified but you have a right to how you feel just like I do and I do not want to feel as if I am being taken advantage of! I am going to email this response to you as well as post it on my blog.
To explain a bit about overcharging in a poor country, the quarter is not going to kill me, you have the right, but overcharging me because I am an Expat is like overcharging me because I am of Polish descent, or black, or Asian. It is making me different from the locals, we are and always will be different from the locals, but we are trying to be more like them, be accepted by them and hopefully treated the same as they are treated. When we are overcharged for fish, or bananas, or a coconut it is sadly unfair. Again, it makes us different, personally I don’t want to be different. Please look at it from our side, if I go into a store to purchase a refrigerator why should I be charged more because I am an Expat, do they assume I have more money, even if I did have more money is it right to charge me more?..I don’t feel it is just…when living in any foreign country I am responsible to know what things cost and if I do not like what I am being charged I can walk away and buy from someone else. I have done that in the public mercados right in front of the person who attempted to take advantage of me, this sends the message that I will not be taken advantage of. It is a good and just message. I know “life is not always fair or just” but again I have control of my life, what I buy and whom I buy from…if I allow someone to overcharge me what message am I sending, what will happen to the next Expat? Or even a local? I want to pay with is fair and just, nothing more, nothing less. Have a wonderful, blessed day, Nancy