The three Quayaquil cross country winners at the press conference at the Olympic
center just before we left for Canoa. (Photos by Belinda Boulter.)

Raul said that there was a new road from Guayaquil to Canoa. Maybe he meant that
it would be new as soon as it was built or maybe it was new to him. The new
parts of the road were under construction or reconstruction and we couldn't yet
drive on them. The old road was gone, having been taken apart. Fortunately
they don't stop you from driving through all the construction. No need too slow
down it seems. Four foot drop off's on one side as we race along into incoming
traffic.

No lines. Three to four lane roads at times with no markings. I had no concerns
about passing while there was traffic coming the other way, as there was often
plenty of room for at least three abreast.

Speed bumps all through all the towns along the way, big speed bumps. Then speed
bumps every 100 feet on one dirt/gravel road for twenty kilometers.

This was the interior road. There apparently is a coast road that requires a
ferry ride twenty two kilometers south of Canoa. We missed that. Looks like that
is the way that we will go home.

Well, there were a few spots of good pavement. I'm quite used to the Ecuadorian
way of driving in two "lanes" at once (I guess just in case you want to take one
or the other at some point). And every one squeezes in from the right or left
when driving on the multi-lane (or single lane) roads. And they all use their
horns mostly in a friendly fashion to tell you that they are there, so you don't
move into them, or so that they can overtake you.

We arrived in Canoa around 8 PM to a nice hotel/cabana on the beach (Canoa's
Wonderland - you can find it on the web). There must be twenty five of us here
from Colombia, Venezuela, the US, Australia (or is it LA?). We are all staying
at the hotel and eating together (reminds me of the Santa Cruz Flats Race).

Canoa is a small tourist town in the middle of no where (of course, next to the
beach). The tourist area is maybe three blocks long with the town one block back
from the beach. The beach area is pleasant for us tourists and the town is dusty
and rundown, in general, poor, as we've seen in Ecuador so far.

The Minister of Tourism is coming out to visit us and bring her son who got a
trike ride the other day. She may come for the whole weekend or just for Monday.
We have Jackie from the Ministry with us. She was helping out in Guayaquil and
has joined us at the hotel for our competition.