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