Vamos a la Playa

When the end of the teaching cycle came, I finished grading exams, turned in all my paperwork and teaching materials, packed up and headed home. 

After a wonderful two weeks back in the states with my lovely family, it was time to say my goodbyes- which stung a little more this go 'round. I won't return home until August and I'm not sure if anyone will be able to visit. (Everyone is invited! Come see this awesome country for yourself! :p) 

A very small portion of my family.

When I came back to Quito, my plane landed around 10, I made it back to my apartment around 11:30, finally got to sleep around 12:30, and found the energy to wake up at 4:30 to head to the bus station to begin my coastal journey. 

Fish ceviche. Just one type found on the coast of Ecuador.

After a 7.5 hour bus ride, I met up with some friends in Portoviejo, which is the capital city of the Manabí province and a short drive from the coast. Luckily, a friend let Jackie and I stay at her house and we got to experience the hospitality of her abuelita (host grandmother).



 She prepared fresh, homemade ceviche- which is a soup that tastes a lot like salsa and contains raw fish. If you know me, you know I've always hated seafood... But I've been trying to branch out while I'm here. 

After we enjoyed our ceviche and some good conversation, Jackie and I headed to the bus station to travel to Manta, the first stop on our coastal tour. When we arrived in Manta, we were both glad that our hostal was actually a little bit outside of town. 

From what we saw, Manta is a little run down. In actuality, evidence of poverty is clearly visible in most places on the coast. We walked a few blocks and found a camioneta, which is like a shared pick-up truck taxi where all passengers pile in the back and each person pays $1.00 for the ride. The camioneta took us about 15 minutes outside of town to a little village called Santa Marianita. Since we had no idea where our hostal was (and the locals didn't either... go figure) we had to wander around for a bit, but eventually found our way to The Donkey Den- just in time for sunset. 

The next day, we spent a few hours on the beach (I should have reapplied sunscreen a few more times than I did... Yikes. Estoy pelando) and soaked in the sunshine. Santa Marianita is in a very dry and windy area of the coast so most of the day was fairly breezy. In the evening we hung out in the hammock chairs at our hostal and enjoyed the warm weather. 

On Monday, we packed up, headed back into Manta, and caught a bus a little farther down the coast to Puerto Lopez, a fishing village with soft sand beaches and dirt roads throughout. From the bus terminal, we took a moto-taxi to our hostal. This is like a motorcycle with a covered wagon on the back... Very interesting. We walked along the beach and explored the town.

We discovered Puerto Lopez to be in even greater disrepair than Manta, but definitely saw potential. Anyone out there looking for community development and improvement projects, we could give you plenty of ideas. The town had a very charming river walk with beautiful bridges, trellises, and bright flowers, but the water was electric green. It was difficult to take in and understand the stark contrasts we saw in different parts of town.



In the evening, we headed to the beachfront cabanas to have dinner and watch the sunset. We enjoyed some delicious food and hung out on the beach long after the day faded away.

Tuesday, we got up early to eat breakfast, observe the local fisherman selling their fresh fish on the beach during low tide, and head to La Isla de la Plata- an island which is commonly referred to as the Poor Man's Galapgos. After a 1.5 hour boat ride, we arrived to beautiful deep teal waters and rocky cliffs. We hiked a few miles around the island, taking in the stunning views of the Pacific Ocean. We saw many blue-footed boobies and fragates (another type of bird) and also saw Palo Santo (Holy Wood) trees, which have a long history and strong cultural influence in the coastal region.

When we finished our hike, we all got back on the boat to travel a little further out into the water to catch a glimpse of the many sea turtles swimming around our boat. Afterwards. we traveled a little further down the shore and went snorkeling. The bright tropical fish and sea urchins were fun to watch. We finished up our underwater adventure and began the journey back to Puerto Lopez. 

Wednesday came and after breakfast, we moved on to our third beach town: Ayampe. I was instantly charmed by this little village with bright tropical flora. The bus dropped us off at the top of the main road and we walked about two minutes down to our hostal. We headed out to the beach after dropping off our bags and had no problem finding a spot to settle in as the beach was sparse on people. The clouds cleared and made way for a bright (scorching) sunshine while the relentless waves offered relief from the heat. To top off a great day on the beach, we witnessed an absolutely incredible sunset.

Ayampe, Ecuador

Thursday, we changed locales once again and headed further south to the famous town of Montañita. Most of the Ecuadorians I have met highly recommend this beach. We checked into our hostal (a completely charming beachfront bungalow) and went out to explore the town.  There were more people here than anywhere else, and the town had a very unique vibe. 

On Friday, we explored the tide pools along the cliffs in Montañita (I totally nerded out here and was probably too fascinated by this) and stayed on the beach for countless hours. We saw another beautiful sunset (although nothing could top Ayampe) and went back to the hostal to get ready for dinner. We ran into some friends in town and spent a little more time on the beach before turning in for the night. 

The "Cliffs" of Montañita

Saturday, we stayed in our hostal as long as we could enjoying the tranquil atmosphere and beachfront views before checking out and making our way to Guayaquil. Since the bus tickets were all sold out, we ended up taking a taxi; which I'm sure was more fun than the bus would have been anyway. We jammed out to all of our favorite songs and thoroughly entertained our taxi driver. 

In Guayaquil, we explored a little, experienced a very strange/interesting dinner, and saw hordes of giant iguanas before finally boarding a bus and making the journey back to Quito on Sunday.

I feel like I express the same sentiment often, but I never cease to be amazed by all of the marvelous things that God has created in the world and how incredibly blessed I am to have the opportunity to see them. We laughed, we danced, we sang, and we took each moment as it came. Every experience was not a peachy one, but life is all about how you look at it, right? A quote from our trip: "When life gives you lemons, you gotta laugh. You gotta laugh at those lemons."

Live and love
Katey <3

Psalm 95:4-5