Pedernales, Ecuador, a beach town with a population of around 22,000. Back in April 2016 much of the town was leveled by a 7.8 magnitude earthquake. Much of the town has been rebuilt. Though there was the sidewalk I walked on, alongside the old cemetary, that appeared to be still in its earthquake condition, as did the cemetary (see the photo in the photo gallery). That earthquake killed at least 233 people and injured another 580. There were more than 135 aftershocks, some of which registered as high as 5.6. There were reports of it being felt all the way into Colombia.

The climate is very pleasant with an average monthly daytime high of 80°F (26°C) and average nightly low of 73°F (23°C). Humidity hangs around 83% all year round. The city has a new malecon (boardwalk) along the beach and a number of high-priced hotels also line the beaches. There are the mangroves and other natural areas around the city as well.

First thing I noticed when I walked from the bus terminal across town to my hostal: the streets are clean. Unlike El Carmen where the streets are filthy. Like many beach towns even in North America, there are many unpaved roads but they are in the residential areas. The town has a central plaza/park with the central business district all around it and a church on one side. The beaches are a few more blocks away.

The hostal I'm staying in, Hostal Miramar, is located a few blocks outside of the center of town on a deadend dirt road, which means it's quiet here. The hostal has a pool and a shared kitchen, but no laundry room so I took my laundry into town. The woman who owns this place told me that it was destroyed during the earthquake of '16. When they rebuilt, they build only two stories, rather than three as had been pre-earthquake. She said this was common for many buildings in Pedernales - previously 5-story, 4-story, 3-story buildings were rebuild with one or even two floors less than before.

Yesterday, I walked the beach south a couple of miles to a fishing village called La Chorrera. There are many restaurants that, of course, specialize in seafood, and I stopped at one called La Serenita (see photos in the photo gallery). The people there are very friendly, and even showed me the fresh-caught fish in their freezers. Two of the men at the restaurant had gotten just back that morning from 3 days at sea. I had a fillet of Dorado, and it was delicious! Highly recommended. Then in the evening I wanted pizza. It's been a long time since I last had pizza. I found an Italian restaurant and asked about pizza and the guy told me they only heated up frozen pizzas, their specialty is in Italian pasta dishes. The guy could speak very good English and had lived in New York for 5 years, he has two brothers, one now in NY and the other here and learning English so he can go to a university in New York. Anyway, he told me about a pizza place a couple blocks away, one I hadn't seen, yet. I went there and the pizza is very good, it's called Pizzeria Italiana Open World. I highly recommend it if you visit Pedernales.

So, my impressions: I like this little beach town. It's easy to walk the entire town to do your shopping, the beach are clean and extensive, here in Pedernales the beach is almost 5 miles long. In fact, almost the entire Pacific coast of Ecuador is walkable beach.

This is my goal: to find a new place to live. So to reach that goal I am traveling most of South America, visiting the countries of Ecuador, Perú, Bolivia, Chile, passing through Argentina, visiting Paraguay, passing through a bit of Brazil, and finally visiting Uruguay. I have a list of towns, about 70 towns, that meet these qualifications: Cities with average day temperatures of 22-28°C (72-83°F) and night temps of 14°C (57°F) and higher; and a population between 28,000-330,000. I analyzed climage and population data of around 700 towns in the above mentioned countries then pulled out the ones that meet the previously mentioned criteria, which leaves about 70. My preference leans towards towns of less than 100,000 people. Of the 70 towns about 20 have populations of 100,000 - 300,000. And, now that I've been here on the coast for a few days I've decided I will probably want a town more inland. I love the beach and walking in the warm water, but, getting sunburned is just too easy, even on a cloudy day. At least, here in Ecuador.

Next up: Canoa, another fishing village around 90 kilometers (56 miles) south. I've heard great comments from several people about this tiny town.