About a 20 minute cab ride ($8 fare) south of Manta is the tiny village of Santa Marianita, known for its windsurfing. We typically spend lazy Sunday mornings there, stopping at the Donkey Den (yes there are donkeys) to meet friends for breakfast, and then retiring with our coffee cups to "church", where we relax, trade stories, watch the windsurfers, fishing boats and the occasional whale. 
Here's ken hanging out at "church" to the right. Church is basically a big thatched roof gazebo loaded with hanging chairs and hammocks where we (literally) hang out after finishing our breakfast.
Sometimes our lazy mornings extend into lazy, sunshiny afternoons, forcing us to hang out on the beach where we treat ourselves to fresh coconuts, fruit or ice cream from one of the vendors carts. 
On one such occasion we met up with our friends Fred and Carla and Carla's cute Chinese Sharpei puppy. Yes Carla is just as beautiful as she looks, but it's impossible to hate her because she's equally beautiful inside and out.
When a friend of Carla's joined us with her equally adorable English Bulldog puppy, we just had to have an impromptu arranged marriage and wedding. Here's me practicing to become a grandmother should Suri and Pita's union prove to be fruitful.
It's a tough life, this retirement business, but we're learning to embrace it!
If we had a home I'd buy a couple of the hanging chairs. They're so comfortable! Safe trip home - you'll be missed!
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