as promised

This past weekend was girls' beach weekend--thirteen of the female international teachers from my school went to Manta to spend a relaxing weekend at the beach. We arrived Friday night, had dinner on the boardwalk, and then woke up Saturday morning to perfect beach weather. As the beach in Manta is more of a city beach (translation: dirty) we decided to hire a taxi to take us to a more secluded beach 15 minutes outside of the city. We spent all of Saturday on what was nearly a private beach, enjoying the sunshine and warm waves. We stopped for lunch at one of the two hostels on the beach, where we enjoyed fried seafood and beer out of teacups. (Side note on the beer: this weekend was Ley Seca, which means alcohol was not supposed to be served due to the election being held on Sunday. However, we managed to find a few places that would serve us, and this restaurant would serve us beer in teapots so as to keep it low-profile.) Our taxis returned at 4:00 to take us back to our hostel in Manta, and so we spent a relaxing evening hanging out on the hostel's porch and ordering pizza. On Sunday, a few friends and I decided to make the 10 minute trek to Montecristi, a small town outside of Manta that is famous for making Panama hats. We stopped first at the government building where the latest constitution was written, and which also is home to Eloy Alfaro's mausoleum. (Eloy Alfaro was a very famous president in Ecuador. The street I live on is named after him.) There was also a train on the grounds, and so we had a good time snapping pictures with the train. We then walked through town, stopping in plenty of shops selling everything made out of straw. We tried on lots of hats, though didn't buy any, and made a few small purchases. Then it was time to return to Manta, have one last lunch on the boardwalk, stroll along the beach, and enjoy the hostel's cable tv until it was time for our flight. It was, in all, a nearly perfect beach weekend.
p.s. Special thanks to Carrie for all the great pictures!

drinking our "tea"

the mausoleum for Eloy Alfaroplaying damsel in distress (I couldn't resist)this is not a good look for me!one of my purchases--you never know when you'll need a fan!