SPRING BREAK: PART III, Montañita: My new home…for life.

I read in Lonely Planet (among the most popular of travel guides) before I departed for Montañita, that European and American tourists often visit Montañita with the intention of a weekend getaway, and upon arrival fall in love with the tranquil little surf town, fall in love with an Ecuadorian hippie, and fall in love with the idea of never leaving. I managed to fall in love with two of the three by the time I walked from the bus stop to our hotel.

Montañita is just that: a tranquil little surf town full of hippies and dreadlocks. While strolling down its dirt roads, one is embraced by the sounds of Jack Johnson and Bob Marley. The streets themselves seem to be a manifestation of a doodle that a surfer drew in his notebook one day while dreaming of his ideal getaway.

When I think about Montañita, I don't really think of stories. My "memories" consist of me feeling extremely happy for five days straight. We didn't do much more than wake up, eat, go to the beach, eat, go back to the beach, eat, watch the sunset, and then get some drinks at night.

Here are a few pictures of the town. Yes, the sky was always this clear and blue. It's a very small town, with two main roads of about four blocks each filled with restaurants, bars, clothing stores, and of course, surf shops.







Here's my friends and I making our daily walk to the beach...which was just a two minute walk from our hotel, which was right on the coast.

Almost every house has a straw roof, just like this one! And below, a typical street in Montañita: palm trees, dirt road, thatched roofs. There's Jack Johnson playing in the background of this picture, too, but you can't hear it ;)

One day when we were sitting at lunch, a stray dog (they're everywhere) came up to our table outside. I FREAKED OUT because it looked just like my little Roxy!!! I started getting all emotional and missing her and petting it, and my friends didn't really understand. Also, they told me that I should probably stop petting it because it probably had fleas. So I did. Eventually. Even though THEY didn't understand, I think you will once you see this little collage I made. Top pictures are the stray, and below, my real Roxy. Yes, Roxy is a lot cuter and lot cleaner and fluffier and her fur isn't darkened and flattened by dirt and other "things" of the street, but I'd say they are probably related.

On the way to dinner one night, Sarah and I noticed a new addition on the side of the road: a "cocktail stand"...haha. We turned to each other and laughed at the fact that only in Ecuador would there be a random cart that pulls up to this spot at night to sell shots of various cocktails.

So in the true traveler's spirit, we paid a dollar each (probably 1000% it's worth) for a shot of Caña Manabita - the provincial alcohol. Yes - PROVINCIAL. Province: Manabi; Provincial Alcohol: Caña Manabita. Each province in Ecuador has a unique alcohol that one can generally only purchase in that province, and it's custom to try the provincial drink when you're visiting. May I note that Caña Manabita is among the most disgusting things I've ever drank in my life. Cheers!

















The environment about Montañita was why I liked the city so much. Because it's such a relaxed and small place, it has a much cooler vibe than the cities. Obviously in a scarcely populated town full of hippies, nobody is going ot care about which "club" you're at, who's there, or what you look like. Rather, the scene was very laid back with restaurants that had live music, clubs with more talking than dancing, and lots of places to just sit down and converse with people - all of which I prefer. For me, it was more or less the perfect type of environment. Here's a picture of the group that came to Montañita at dinner one night, left to right: Christine, Sarah, myself, Becky, Jake, Nate. Buena gente.

Me with my best friends here, Christine and Sarah, on the beach.










By far, my favorite thing about Montañita was watching the sun set over the ocean each evening. It made me think about how powerful nature is (the sun and the ocean are two pretty large, unstoppable natural forces) and at the same time that this is intimidating, it's somewhat comforting that there is this system of regularity that is inevitable. As though, even though man can't control nature, there are some things so certain as night and day that remain orderly because of it.

Another thing I loved about the sunset was that Montañita locals came out to see it every night, and it was just as important to them as to the tourists. Our hostel owner always took his baby out to watch the sunset on the hammock outside of our hostel. It made it even more valuable to me, that the people there don't take sometihng so beautiful and natural for granted.

Beautiful. And that, my friends, is Montañita.

SPRING BREAK: PART II - The Return of MANTA!

Me Ecantaba Manta SOOOO much that I had to return to it once again!

But the trip to Manta officially begins at the bus station in Esmeraldas around 9pm, Thursday.

Esmeraldas: A little shady, to say the least

One word Ecuadorians have a hard time comprehending is the American use of "Ghetto", and its versatility. Ecuadorians who already know a lot of English, who are learning, or who simple hear "ghetto" in movies and rap songs, etc., don't understand exactly what it refers to because there is no Spanish equivalent. As you probably know, "Ghetto" has a racist reference that begins in WWII, if I'm not mistaken, that dealt with the Jewish neighborhoods and the negative connotation that Anglos associated with them.

But it's difficult to explain to Ecuadorians how loosely, non-racist, and differently we can throw this term around (also a bit of a politically correct thing, if you bowl down the PC lane). Here, it's most closely related to the word "cholo", which is a negative term for people from the country (similar to the U.S.'s "redneck"), and also applied to all things of lower quality and intelligence. Anyway, as we tried to explain to Sarah's host parents, we would refer to the actual city of Esmeraldas as "GHETTO" with caps.


It doesn't feel safe. It's generally dirty. You clutch your purse a little tighter, you walk a little faster, you "stay with the group" because every normal street resembles more of a sketchy ally. As far as being a "city" is concerned, nothing appears to be established. Lots of broken down buildings and cheap construction decorate the streets. Nobody's dressed up for work or appears to have much direction or purpose to where they are walking. Rather, it reminds me of a county fair or "Taste of" city event, in which the younger ladies of lower class bare their middrifs and the men sit on corners and steps to watch them pass. So far, this city best aligns with any stereotypes of so-called "third world countries" that you might have. Very little establishment, very little infrastructure, weak systems, and not many signs of growth. I would've taken a picture, but I was fearful for the wellbeing of my camera and...myself.

We were all a little "sketched-out" about having to wait at the Esmeraldas bus station. Last time our friend Sarah took a bus from Esmeraldas, her purse was robbed right off of her shoulder in broad daylight with her entire host family (including her fairly intimidating father) standing at her side.

In Ecuador, nobody does anything when there's a robbery. Hence, it's not uncommon for robberies and violent robberies to happen in broad daylight on the most populated streets or on a public bus. Within the first few weeks of staying in Quito, 5 out of 12 students from one of the other programs were robbed; and four out of the five were violent robberies (a.k.a. threatened with a knife or gun, or both). Luckily, my program was a little bit luckier. Nevertheless, I've had two of my phones robbed...well, this is another story in itself...which I will tell at some other point, haha...

So, we got to the bus station in Esmeraldas at night and dragged our bags as close to the ticket window as possible. We made it safely onto our bus after sitting in the equivalent of the Chicago Greyhound station (I've been there for hours as well - probably the worst experience of my life, no joke) for an hour. The Esmeraldans made us feel extra special by staring extra hard at us because Christine and I have extra blonde hair and extra white skin. That helped.

It made me a little more comfortable when there was a random police check of all the passengers on our bus on the way out of town. Thus began our rocky, 10-hour bus ride to Manta through the night. May I mention that we were all a little nervous because of the landslides and flooding that had caused one-too-many busses to crash in the preceding three weeks. Somehow, I managed to get a little bit of sleep.

Hello, Manta!

We arrived in Manta around 9am on Friday morning. My host uncle (Carlos's dad) was extremely hospitable and let us stay at his house once again.

This time was different, however, because Miriam, Said, Gabriel, and Said had also ventured to Manta for the weekend. No, I didn't accidently write "Said" twice. Said is not only my host father. There's now, Said, my 26-yr-old brother who had just returned permanently to Ecuador from the states, where he lived for 7 years. They were in Manta to visit Said's parents (my host-grandparents), who I got to meet for the first time. Carlos was also in Manta for his spring break, and a few other cousins were there as well because the majority of my host family grew up and still lives in Manta, and it was Easter weekend. That's Said on the left, Miriam, Gabe in the sunglasses, and Said my host dad on my right side. I'm the gringa in the middle :)

Thus, we went to the beach with my family, hung out at the grandparents' apartment, relaxed in my uncle's pool, ate ceviche, and then repeated this routine for the next three days.

Because it was Easter weekend and Semana Santa, there was a lot of activity on the beach and a lot of tourists from other parts of Ecuador visiting Manta. The beach was busy, windy, and hot, so the pool was a nice alternative. That's Christine (l.) and Sarah (r.) chillin with my host dad in the pool. They've basically become his other two host daughters.

OCTAPUS: CHECK!

On Saturday, we went to eat lunch at a restaurant across the street from the beach and I opted for the Ceviche de Pulpo rather than my usual Ceviche de Camaron. Cameron is usually a sure thing (shrimp), but I wanted to go off on a limb and try the pulpo (octapus), which was a good recommendation (thanks to the kid - yes, kid - who works there). The little tentacles freaked me out a little bit at first, but I trudged through the mental hesitation and let me tell you, it was vale la pena. A little tougher than other seafood I've had, and very good.

More Manta!

Other than pulpo and pools, the highlight of Manta was primos (cousins). This trip was pretty family-oriented, and we spent a lot of our free-time hanging out with my brothers and cousins, and their friends (some of Carlos's are pictured). I also got a chance to finally talk with my new brother, Said. My family just keeps getting bigger and bigger...

I like Manta a lot because it's really tranquil. It's a smaller city, not a large metropolis like Quito. It's like the difference between my private middle school of 250 students and my high school of 2500. Everyone knows each other in Manta. When my cousins drive around, they know tons of people on the street. The people of Manta are like a giant family that fell in love with the city and never moved away.

And did I mention how beautiful it is? I leave you with the sunset view from my uncle's roof:




Next stop: Montañita!!! (The best of all stops!)

SPRING BREAK: PART I: Esmeraldas! (I'm ready to move to Cali...)

I could not be more enamoured with the coast! After 13 days of fun and lots (LOTS!) of sun, spring 60's and 70's accompanied by cloudcover and rain in Quito is making me slightly depressed (but only slightly...you know I can't stay sad for long :)

I'd go back to the beach in a second. But apparently there's this word that means "study" in this thing I'm doing called "Study Abroad"...something along those lines...it's all a vaugue memory.

Where to begin...

I have a lot in common with my two best friends here, Christine and Sarah. One thing we found that we also had in common was that none of our friends or family had made plans to visit us during our largest break: Semana Santa (a.k.a. "Spring Break"). Which left the next step preeeeeety easy: "To the coast!"

Private Beach a.k.a. Heaven, Esmeraldas



I'm not going to lie: we got the hook-up for Spring Break. Sarah's host family is building a hostel on a private beach in Esmeraldas, on the northern coast. Although it's not yet open to the public, her family invited us to spend some time there.

Road Trip!

Our trip started out a little rocky. Being extremely generous, Sarah's host-grand-parents offered to drive us there. We thought we'd leave around 6 in the morning and get to Esmeraldas just in time to enjoy the afternoon on the beach. However, they didn't wake up until 10 because they forgot to sent their alarm clock. Hence, we didn't leave until around 11, after we spent an hour packing their pick-up truck full and i mean FULL of random things to bring to the hostel, including: a patio set of 4 chairs and a table (heavy metal, not plastic), a full-sized stove, numerous heavy garbage bags filled with things that are probably too heavy to be put in garbage bags, numerous boxes, an ab-machine, and - o right - all of our luggage. Plus tarp, plus bungee cords. Done. And have I mentioned anything about the dangerousness of the traffic in Ecuador? It didn't make me feel any better that grandpa couldn't see out the back window.

And then we got "situated" in the pick-up truck. Grandpa, Grandma, Sarah's mom, Sarah, Christine, myself, and Sarah's two overly-energetic and overly-adorable 6-year-old, identical twin host brothers. Whoaboy. That meant that in the back seat of the pick-up, Christine would sit on the floor with her back against the door and her feet across the floor, I sat against the door with my feet on the back of the driver's seat or across everyone else, Sarah and her host mom next to me, and a twin on her mom's lap.

The grandparents felt the need to stop in what seemed like every small town we passed through to get "the best ice cream" or "the best cheese" in Ecuador. At first, we were annoyed and wanted to get to the beach as fast as possible. But after the first four hours and the various stops, we realized that, just as with everything else in Ecuador, we needed to let go of our American instinct to "get the job done as fast as possible" and just enjoy the experience for what it was. So, we enjoyed some cheese and some coconut ice cream (my favorite :) and most importantly, each other.

The most notable of the car ride was the boys. They're ridiculous. Tomas and Mateo are two of the most outspoken, clever, bright, and animated young fellows I've met. They have a sarcastic comment to say about everything and, like all children, love attention: positive or negative. We wrestled with them for our expensive digital cameras, tried to get them to stop trying to jump out of the truck at stops, and yelled at them for pouring chips in our purses.

Funniest was when we stopped for some cold Pilseners (Ecuador's beer). After about 4 or 5 hours of driving cramped-up in this backseat without air-conditioning toward the tropical environment of the western coast, a cold cerveza sounded like the perfect refresher. Apparently the oasis in our minds was situated in front of the fact that when you buy a bottle of Pilsener from a store in Ecuador, you have to return the bottles to the establishment. The last thing we wanted was to stay in that backseat longer than we needed to, so we drank our beers as fast as we could. So Sarah burps, because she just drank a beer pretty fast, and the boys FREAK OUT! hahaha. It went something like this:

Mateo: "QUE ASSSCO SARAH BROOOOWN!!!!!!!!!"
(HOW GROSS SARAH BROWN!)

Tomas: "QUE ASCO!!!!!!!"

Mateo: "QUE HICISTE! QUE ASCO AHHHHHHHH!"
(WHAT DID YOU JUST DO! GROSS! AHH!)

Tomas: "DONDE APRENDISTE ESO!"
(WHERE DID YOU LEARN THIS?!?!)

Mateo: "QUE ASSSSSSSCO!"

Tomas: "ESO NO ES RESPECTO PARA DIOS!"
(THIS IS NOT RESPECT FOR GOD!!!!!)

Mateo: "ESO ES MAL EDUCACION!"
(THIS IS A BAD EDUCATION!)

Tomas: "Que ASCO!"

Mateo: "NO HAGAS ESO EN FRENTE DE MI PADRE!"
(DON'T DO THIS IN FRONT OF MY FATHER!)

Tomas: "AHH!"

Annnnnnnnd that went on for a long time. Christine got it on video, but I have to get it from her. I'll put it up as soon as possible. We then went on to teach the boys some "street" English phrases, such as "What's poppin' playa?", "You's a NASTY girl!", "What's up?", and other funny things that become much funnier when the cutest 6-year-old you've ever seen is repeating them. Also have videos of these. Just wait...just wait.

8 O'clock rolled around and they told us we were a half-hour away from the hostel. We were SO excited and then...we had to stop for dinner. Excruciating. Yet, I got to try some of Sarah's shrimp...but not just any shrimp, a huge shrimp that I had to break open and eat like a crab. And speaking of crabs, when we finally pulled up to the hostel, they were walking around EVERYWHERE! A huge crab side-ways-walked his way into the hostel and we could see and hear them scuttering around in the sand.

After we unpacked our bags and ate some food (Christine and I bought groceries before the trip to save money), we took a walk to the beach. Crabs: still everywhere. And then we got there.

Miles of empty beach
clear sky
moonlight reflecting off of the sand
and the ocean
calmest ocean water I've ever seen
rolling onto the flattest beach I've ever seen
we dip our feet in
to the still-warm water
and stop thinking

To attempt to explain in sentence or paragraph form would've made the simple and serene far too complicated.

We spent the next few days on the beach and around the hostel, with nobody in sight for miles. I realized that I was laying on the beach probably the closest I'd ever be to the Equator and the sun in my entire life.

Esmeraldas was a great first stop for our coastal vacation. The privacy and beautiful scenery helped us get off to a very relaxing start.

Some more pictures:










Mateo, my new favorite friend.













Around the hostel:






The beach stretches on forEVER!


Wish I had the time and energy to finish the whole trip on the blog tonight. But I do not. Next stop: Manta :) Hasta luego...

Que PENA!

Ugh. All the pictures I put up worked last night and do not seem to be working today. They're really beautiful and I wish I had time to upload them now but....I have class and then have to pack and prepare for Spring Break! I leave tomorrow with my friends Christine and Sarah for our 13-day, 4-beach extravaganza. It's going to be great, but, probably no pictures for the last post until I get back, unfortunately. However if you can for some reason see them and I cannot, please do me a favor and leave me a comment so I can try to figure out why they suddenly stopped uploading.

In the mean time, here's my latest painting to cheer you up and keep you company. Thanks, chao, un beso, un abrazo, que todos tengan un Spring Break fantastico!

Que bonita es esta vida!

Oh MAN it's been a long time. Sorry for any of you awaiting photos and stories...here they come...

We went on a trip to Otavalo three weekends ago.

On the way there, we stopped in a small town known for it's bread, and had the opportunity to watch people make it. A little ways down the road, we stopped to take a few pictures of Volcan Imbabura (not the one that had been erupting, if you happened to hear about that), one of many volcanoes in Ecuador. Unfortunately, the clouds covered its crest, but they didn't stop us from getting some beautiful pictures of this truly majestic work of nature.



Volcan Imbabura

The drive was scenic, to say the least. Mom and Dad, I know you always love to take the "scenic route" on vacations. You would've loved this one. Since I arrived, I've thought the views here remind me of Ireland's landscape. I thought I might just be comparing the two most beautiful places I've been because, well, they're both so beautiful. But an Ecuadorian actually told me once that the landscape is reminiscent of Ireland's. Recap: 1. I'm not crazy (at least not this time) 2. Beautiful Views (but driving here is synonomous with "suicide", so don't feel too bad Dad, pictures are safer anyway).




We eventually arrived in Otavalo, which has the largest indigenous market in Ecuador and is known for its hand-crafted goods, which include: blankets, scarfs, bowls, plates, incense burners, paintings and drawings, purses, hammocks, jewelry, socks, slippers, gloves (made of alpaca - super soft!), instruments, mini-guitars with absolutely AMAZING craftmanship and woodwork - many featuring expressive faces carved into the body, guitar straps, wallets, etc., etc., etc.

The market occupies a very large area of streets and stretches thoughout the center of the city. We spent about two hours walking around. Of course, the vendors assume that gringos have money and tried to charge me way too much for everything. Luckily, I'm not an idiot and I'm a good bargainer, so I got the right price for everything I bought (which I later confirmed with our Ecuadorian guide). If I got the vendors down to half or a third of the price they initially asked, I knew it was a fair one. I can't blame them for asking more, and they didn't mind that I was freindly and knew what I was talking about. I bought un MONTON de cosas (a TON of stuff). Mostly gifts. Get excited, friends and family...there is much to be given to you. However, I'm a little afraid about getting it all back to the states. I'll find a way - it's worth it. My favorite purchase is a replica of Guayasamin's "Los Amantes". Oswaldo Guayasamin (1919-1999) was an Ecuadorian artist who you can learn more about here: http://www.guayasamine.com/. I unfortunately cannot find an image of the work I bought anywhere online, but it's of two lovers embracing eachother with exaggurated hands. It's important to me because my host family has a replica as well hanging in their family room and I will always remember that. Thus, although I really like it anyway, it'll be a little piece of the memories with my family that I can bring back with me and hang on my wall as well.

That night, we had the rare opportunity of being invited to an indigenous wedding. One of the boys in my program, Justin, has some friends from the university who are Otavalan and were in town for a family wedding. They invited all of us to accompany them - what are the chances! Of course I wanted to go - and I did. It wasn't the actual wedding ceremony we attended, but the first day of the celebration. Yes, that's right - the first of three days of family parties to celebrate the wedding. The first is to celebrate the bride, the second, the groom, and the third, the couple and the joining of the families, if I remember correctly. There were at least 100 people in the basement area of the house, where the live band was playing traditional indigenous music and everyone was dancing.
The family offered us food (the soup had a straight-up chicken's foot in it) and the "most prominent woman of the family", as I was told (an elderly woman, I'm assuming the grandmother or great-grandmother of the bride) was floating around the dance floor, drunk, and continuously demanding that my friends and I take a shot of the MOST DISGUSTING alcohol I have ever had. It was in a green, glass bottle and was warm (yuck!) and tasted like the Pajaro Azul we had in Guaranda for Carnaval, but warm. Eww. But Justin's friends informed me that I'd be insulting her and the family if I didn't take it, even though I tried to refuse it after the initial taste. This crazy old man danced with me for quite a while and I had to stop him because he tired me out! He had sooo much energy and I have no idea what rhythm we were dancing to, but he "really knew what he was doing" so I followed his lead and laughed all the while.

When we left the wedding, all ages of people were stumbling home and into taxis. It was hilarious, especially because we knew they were all family and the majority of them were well over 60 years old. We took off to the center of Otavalo for some food and dancing. It was only 8:30pm.


While eating some dinner in town, our conversation was interrupted by music and shouting in the street. We ran outside to see what was going on, and there was a huge wedding procession marching down the street - at least 200 people, pick-up trucks full of fruit and food blasting music, everybody dancing and singing and shouting, people carrying things to the wedding celebration, etc. But MOST ridiculous was the LIVE GUINEA PIGS HANGING, SQUIRMING from their FEET THAT WERE TIED TO STICKS that the people were carrying them around on. Hahahahahahaha. You can see them in the picture above. They're gonna cook those guys later and eat them. I still have yet to try cui, but trust me, it's going to happen.

After we went back and finished dinner, we went to a discoteca, where there was a live band playing yet more traditional indigenous music. We were exhausted around 12:30 and went home to rest up before another big day.

Sunday was a hands-on, educational day. We first went to a small house where a couple demonstrated for us how they make the bags they sell at the market.





Next, we drove to a music shop - where they make the musical instruments which are also sold at the market. A man showed us how he makes some of the instruments, what they are called, and how to play them. Notable are the armadillos they use to make guitar bodies and the sheep toenails that they tie together and shake as a percussion instrument.

Just a few bunches of sheep toenails....



Before we headed home, we went to an absolutely beautiful natural lake called "Laguna de Cuicocha". We hiked around it for about an hour, and then the clouds started pouring over the mountains and fogging up the beautiful view (literally the clouds were just sitting on the lake), so we headed home.




A few more notable pictures from the trip:

An illustration on the wall in the hostel we stayed. It makes me smile.














Amy Gurka? or an Otavalan heartbreaker?

My best friend on the trip, Christine, and an alpaca. You never know what kinds of animals you're going to find here, or where, or why...or who they belong to........







Damn, Dad! Look at that woodgrain! I thought this looked like Brazilian Rosewood and I asked them if it was, but they said no. So I asked them what it was, but I don't know what they said. I think it's Brazilian Rosewood and they just didn't understand what I was asking.









Colorful instruments hang on the wall of the music shop we visited. I figured out how to play Darth Vader march theme from Star Wars on the blowpipe-type thing. Haha.



After we took pictures of Volcan Imbabura, these young ladies accompanied us on our bus and sang songs in Quichua (Ecuador's second language after Spanish and most populous indigenous tribe). We tipped them for their performance, and then had the chance to purchase some goods they had made and were selling. I bought a really pretty scarf for SOMEONE (it's a secret!).

We visited this waterfall...one of many we've visited. Couldn't exactly swim in this one...haha. We also hiked around it.
















Que bonita es esta vida!






Futbol is a pretty big deal here. I tried to play with him but I think he needs to get a smaller soccer ball for his height...hehe.

If you can make out "LA NATURALEZA ES VIDA!!!!!!!" That was painted on the curb as we drove into the park to see the georgous Laguna de Cuicocha. Nature IS life! It's true! Haha.