Coastal Adventures continued

Puerto Lopez was a charming medium-sized fishing town on the edge of Machalillas National Park. After hopping off the bus (still carrying our left-over milk) we walked across town to the beachfront hostels. We found an adorable bungalow called "Hostal Playa Sur" that reminded me of a beach house I went to as a kid. We bought some fancy ($8 bottle instead of $5 box) wine and cheese and sat on the second-story lanai to enjoy the sunset on the bay.

Puerto Lopez turned out to be our favorite place, with its fun but not overdone waterfront, amazing calamari, and friendly locals. There were lots of vendors selling giant conch shells and jewelry made from "spondylus", another big shellfish.

In the morning we walked down to the fish market, where the fishermen had recently arrived with the day's catch. Some guys were rolling their boats up the beach on two parallel logs (photo above) or cleaning fish, but most of the people there were just hanging out. Of course it wouldn't be complete without cumbia and reggaeton blaring from the speakers that ran off of generators.

The fisherman brought in all kinds of fish, from tuna to snapper. It was fun to see how the fresh seafood we'd been eating first got to shore.

I noticed this driver around town a few times; no door and no shirt seemed pretty ideal for life on the coast.

After Puerto Lopez, we headed 3 hours north to Manta, the capital of Manabi. It was a big city focused around the gorgeous beach and waterfront development. Kent and I had a fancy sushi dinner to celebrate his graduation from his masters program, and as a last hurrah of our coastal vacation. I have many fond memories from just a week, and realized once again what an incredibly diverse country Ecuador is. The 10 hour bus ride up to Quito took us through dry scrubland, deep green valleys carved by muddy rivers, and misty cloudforest. By the time we emerged through the clouds and glipsed the familiar Andes, I was completely entranced.

The first week back in Otavalo has been fine, nothing too notable. We played Jeopardy with the 5th and 6th graders as a review, and tried a more complicated coloring exercise with the 1st and 2nd graders. With two weeks to go before summer vacation, I'm looking forward to teaching the high-school kids and adults in July because I think they'll be more motivated and we'll be able to get into more complex topics.

As for the host family, half of them have what they jokingly refer to as the "gripe cuchina" (swine flu) but hopefully is no more than a common cold. The mama cat is due to give birth soon, which I'm excited about. I've started embroidering a shirt in the traditional style (lots of flowers and ruffles) for the Inti Raymi festival coming up in a few weeks. It will be a miracle if I finish in time. I'm just not sure if I'm ready to quit my day job to embroider full-time.

I miss you all and hope everyone is doing well!
Love,
Lauren

Going Coastal

Kent and I just got back from a week-long adventure on the coast. From Guayaquil to Manta, we thoroughly enjoyed the warm beaches, thatched bungalows and delicious seafood. It was just the break I needed.

We spent a night in Riobamba to break up the long bus ride south. It's a lovely colonial city with lots of beautiful architecture and the best lasagna! Maybe we were just hungry after travelling...

The Hotel Tren Dorado "Golden Train" was right across the plaza from the train station from which departs the famous Nariz del Diablo "Devil's Nose" ride.

The next morning we walked around the city and spotted many fresh chanchos like this one.
The six hour bus ride down from the sierra to Guayaquil was long and hot but afforded gorgeous views like this one.
Guayaquil was much safer and more attractive than I expected. We found a reasonable hotel close to the Malecon, the fancy boardwalk/urban development project the city carried out in 2000, and enjoyed shrimp dinners and...McDonald's sundaes for dessert. So decadent.

The Malecon streched for several kilometers along the river, and had many statues, lookout towers and sailboats to go along with its restaurants and stores.

Back at the uber-modern bus station, we boarded an air conditioned bus for Salinas, Ecuador's most famous and fancy beach resort area. The water was indeed crystal clear, the mansions tasteful, and the seafood excellent. We stayed in the Hostal Los Cocos in a nice second-story room. The only downfall of Salinas was the painful bee sting that I got on my finger while collecting shells on the beach, and the guy on coke that kept trying to get money from us (in a non-threatening way) after dinner.

A few hours farther north, we checked into one of Montañita's many hostels and Kent finished his master's thesis in a hammock. Yay! I ran into Zac Wass, a classmate of mine I hadn't seen from high school. It was fun to catch up with him and his Peruvian friend Adrian. The next morning I took Kent out for a private surf lesson, and he stood up! The waves were fun and the people were friendly.


In Las Tunas, we stayed in an Eco-Lodge called Azuluna, all bamboo with great kitchen where we made ourselves breakfast. It was also home to huge, incredibly soft dogs. We met a group of Canadian women finishing up a teaching practicum and some volunteers who were just finishing a wall as part of a water system for the town. The owner of Azuluna was also the president of the foundation that had connected all of the volunteers to the community.

Here I am with the milk we saved from breakfast and carried on the bus to Puerto Lopez, only 20 minutes north. Of course I spilled some on myself getting on the bus.

To be continued...

Haba Harvest in the Campo

Last Sunday I went with my host family to harvest "habas", a large bean with a distinctive flavor. We left the house at 7am with big blankets for harvesting and carrying down the habas, and some popcorn and beans packed for lunch. We ended up with several large sacks called quintales, which will be a major part of our diet for the next few months. Toasted habas, haba soup, mote de habas--you name it, we'll eat it. I think they're pretty tasty and full of protein.

On our way up, we met this friendly guy having a snack (from what I can tell that's all they do all day). The Ecuadorian news has been telling people to watch out for the swine flu by keeping their pigs far away, which doesn't make much sense since only the first case would have passed from pig to human. My family isn't worried about the swine flu, because they say that if you're afraid of an illness, you're more likely to get it.

After walking uphill for about half an hour, we arrived at the family's property where they had grown corn and habas. Papa Santos had already been up there working for an hour when we arrived, a work ethic that is very characteristic of him. If everyone in the family didn't contibute and work hard, it would be impossible for them to make ends meet. We spent about 4 hours winding our way up and down the rows plucking the habas off of knee-high plants, trying to keep time with each other so we could finish whole sections together before moving on to the next. At first I kept getting told to hurry up, or that I was leaving some on the bush (lose-lose situation) but then I got the hang of it and could hold my own.

The walk down went by faster than the walk up, even with the harvest on our backs. The same pig was still doing the same thing.

Once we got home, we sorted out the tender ones from the dry ones, then relaxed and played monopoly for a few hours. It was a fun day, and I really like the fact that my family grows and harvests most of the food they eat, even if it sometimes means lack of variety. I'm also glad they're so willing to let me participate and help them with daily activities, because that's how I begin to understand what life is really like here.

Weekend Adventure to Chota

Less than 2 hours north of Otavalo lies Chota, a dry, sunny valley inhabited almost exclusively by Afro-Ecuatorians. Decending thousands of feet in the bus, we saw orchards and steep valley walls with a river running through the center. Next we hopped on a bus to El Angel, climbing back up into the high paramo.

In El Angel, we stayed in this charming little hostel. There were about three restaurants in town and we had delicious roasted chicken at on of them.


The main cathedral in El Angel was impressively large for such a small town.

The next day we went to the nearby "El Calderon" hot springs, which were only lukewarm. The setting was incredible though.

We spent the second night at "Aruba", one of the many hotels with swimming pools lining the Chota Valley. There were tons of Ecuadorian tourists (and maybe some from nearby Colombia)

Back in Otavalo, we ate a second round of fanesca (the special pumpkin soup with 12 grains) with Kent's family. Kent and his host siblings Kuri and Kami are eating some ice cream the family made to sell in their adjacent store.

Out back, I got to hold one of the baby bunnies.
The stairs from Otavalo to Kent's house in Rey Loma are steep.

Otavalo from above, with Cotacachi Volcano partly covered.