la playa

Well, I'm back from the beach and don't know quite where to begin. First of all, I love flying Ecuadorian airlines. My flight was only 30 minutes each way, but they still fed us coming and going. It was quality food, too: little sandwiches on fresh rolls on the way out, and empanadas and kebabs on the way back. We arrived in Guayaquil (which is kind of flat and boring, compared to Quito) and hired a taxi to take us to Montanita. We drove 2 1/2 hours to get to the little surfing village, and passed so much poverty on the way there. I saw so many homes with only three walls, or homes built out of sticks. The roads were extremely bad, and often times muddy, and we had to get out of the low-riding taxi several times so that our driver could make it over the speed bumps.

The town where we stayed was cute and funky. There were lots of street vendors selling everything from fresh juices to empanadas to jewelry to clothing. My favorite, however, were the men selling ceviche from carts on the beach. Ceviche is a cold seafood soup, and the man would break open a new oyster for each bowl of ceviche. It was really fun to watch.
The weather was cool and overcast for almost the entire weekend, but we did have 3 hours of sun Sunday morning, and of course I got scorched. Being so close to the equator, the sun is definitely more powerful. We found ways to amuse ourselves even without perfect beach weather, and I hiked around the cliffs and saw some really beautiful rocks and lots of tiny crabs. Saturday night we made a bonfire on the beach, with found materials, and we were pretty proud of ourselves. Sunday morning, as Hannah and I danced in the improved weather down to the beach, we were rather surprised to find not only the sunshine out on the beach but also a small herd of cows. Yes, cows.
So, even with the less-than-fantastic weather and too-low taxi, I had a great weekend. I have a little color (red) to show for it, and I got to stick my feet in the ocean. Definitely a success!