Mancora - My saving grace

After crossing the Peruvian border, I was really hoping the rest of Peru wasn´t anything like the shamble of a town that welcomed me to this highly anticipated country. With just a two hour bus ride from the border (on top of my 6 hour bus ride from Cuenca) I arrived in Mancora. The hostel I stayed at was just the place to relax, meet lots of great people, and participate in a number of activities.

The hostel had a on site cook that dished up some of the best grub I´ve had on this trip. I posted some pictures of our Beach Olympics. It had a number of events and made for a good time. Most of the people there were either Aussies, Kiwis, or Brits and once again I was the lone American. With that the case, I did learn how to play a good game of Cricket.

Last night I took the overnight bus from Mancora to Huanchaco. This little fishing village is know for their reed boats that the locals still make the traditional way. Tomorrow I am planning on visiting the ancient ruins of Chan Chan just near here.

Terminado con Ecuador

Well my last week in Ecuador has been outstanding! This city is picture perfect with it´s cobblestone streets, historic buildings, museums, galleries, and quaint cafes. Yesterday after school, I stopped off at this beautiful cafe right on the river. From my table, I had the perfect view of the afternoon thunderstorm rolling in across the mountains. The clouds here are absolutely unreal. I could sit and watch the sky for hours, its simply mesmerizing.

My family has been more than perfect. Every afternoon we have a grand ¨almuerzo¨ with Rita, Jaime, Mama Eulee, two of Rita´s sons (Jaime Jr. & Javier) , and Javier´s one year old daughter. The conversation makes for great practice with my Spanish. The food is outstanding and at the same time very different. For example, yesterday for dessert we had melted cheese (which in Ecuador their cheese is very salty, I´m not a huge fan) drenched in syrup made from Sugarcane. Hmm....

Tomorrow, I am going with my teacher Carmen to eat Cuy! This typical dish is an Ecuadorian specialty. Cuy is more or less a fried Guinea Pig... I will let you know how it goes.

I also posted one of my favorite pictures from Cuenca. I took it from the rooftop of my school looking across the city. The video is obviously from the Galapagos. It was taken after snorkeling. We got of the water to find several Sealions had taken over our little beach spot!

Cuenca

Rita and her husband Jamie were there to greet me as my bus pulled into the station. Even though it was late, they insisted on taking me on a grand tour of the city, which actually helped a great deal when walking around today. We live in a beautiful home right on one of the four rivers here in Cuenca. Along with Rita and her husband, ¨Mama¨ Eulee (who is Rita´s grandmother) also lives with us. She is a ripe old 103!! I would have never guessed. I will have to ask her what the secret to life is...

The school here is beyond words to describe. It is an antique building with much of the original wood and brick. There are huge skylights that fill the whole building with natural light from above. It has a natural calming effect that really helps me absorb the things I am learning. My teacher, Carmen, is very helpful and I am learning so much!

I ended up having to buy a new camera... but the good news is that I am not without! The first few pictures on this post are from the Boardwalk and Las Peñas in Guayaquil. The rest are around the streets of Cuenca, with one of my house here. Enjoy...

New Pictures

So the pictures I posted below are of my family in Manta and the house we lived in. I also posted one with my professor Antonio.

Moving on

Its goodbye Manta, hello Cuenca! So I am on my way to Cuenca, with a stop in the country's capital, Guayaquil. What a beautiful city it is! They have an a amazing boardwalk along the river that runs the whole length of downtown. It is filled with shops, gardens, and an occasional cafe. I spent all of last night covering the entire thing!

The boardwalk ends at the bottom of a small hill community know as Las Peñas. There are stairs that lead all the way through the colorful houses and cafes up to a quaint church and lighthouse. Supposedly this is where they used to fire cannons to protect Guayaquil from pirates. They still have some on display, which are still fired for certain holidays.

My last night in Manta, I made my family dinner, well kind of. I decided to make crepes, so I guess it was more breakfast than anything. They loved them! I wish I had photos to show, but my camera is having difficulties at the moment. I am hoping I just need a new battery, because cameras down here are about twice as much as they are in the States! I will keep my fingers crossed.

So I decided it was about time to take my chances getting my hair cut. I have been afraid of it being butchard with no mercy, however, I found a great salon in Manta that did an awesome job! I was so impressed! And all for a grand total of $5!!! I told my teacher at school just how much I paid, and he thought it was far too expensive for just a hair cut. He said he doesn't pay over $1.50. I think if I had his hair style, I would be better off cutting my own hair and saving the $1.50 :-)

I will try and post some pictures soon...

Random thoughts...

- Unleaded gas here in Ecuador is only $1.48 per gallon and Diesel is only $1.03!


- Coffee is one of Ecuador's biggest exports, yet the entire country drinks nothing but instant Nescafe.


- The U.S. dollar is the country´s official currency... which is nice considering I never have to calculate any conversions.


- It is mandatory for each resident to vote. When they do, they receive a card which allows them to apply for important things such as loans and visas. Maybe the U.S. should consider such a policy and we´d have a better turn out at the polls.

- While I was in Quito, every night I would have the most vivid and intense dreams I´ve ever had in my life. It was almost like I was exhausted in the morning. So strange! But talking to other travelers they have been experiencing the same phenomenon. Weird huh? We can´t decide what exactly it is, but my best guess has to be the altitude, 9400 feet.

That's all...

A great weekend retreat

After spending a week in Manta, I was ready for some excitement. The students at this school aren´t really social and for the most part keep to themselves. So I spend my days at the beach or swimming some laps at the pool, which sounds nice but not so much when your doing it alone. So Friday after class I was bound and determined to get out of here!





I caught the first bus heading south and planned on staying the night in Puerto Lopez. Reading about this town in my travel books, it sounded so quaint and picture perfect. I soon found it was the total opposite. I had never seen so much trash along the side of the streets! All the roads were tore up and most of the buildings were falling apart. It was such a surprise since this was a hot spot for tourists to view Humpback Whales during their mating season (which just ended).





I tried to make the best of it, but didn´t have much luck. The people at my hostel were again anti-social and didn´t seem to have much spirit about them. I was in desperate need of some interaction, so I went on a stroll of the boardwalk (by myself) and enjoyed a few batidos or milkshakes made from fresh fruit.





Sleeping was the next problem. The mosquito's were on a mission to terrorize! Laying there with a mosquito net over my body didn´t give me a warm fuzzy feeling of comfort, rather that of claustrophobia. I managed to prop the pillows just right so I had a sort of canopy going on. Let´s just say, I really didn´t get much sleep.





The next morning I walked down to an American owned cafe where I enjoyed some banana pancakes. I really needed a taste of home to keep me going at that point. The cafe was right on the beach, and it was pleasant watching the fisherman come to shore with their morning catch. After breakfast, I packed up and headed out for Montañita. I was desperate to see Natalie and Kristen!





From the moment I stepped off the bus, I knew I was going to love Montañita! The streets were packed with young Ecuadorians, and there was music echoing from the beach. I arrived a few hours before the girls (who were traveling 7 hours from a city in southern Ecuador) and decided to check out the town. There were so many hippies, surfers, gringos, etc... this town had it all. Strolling down the beach, I was surprised to find my friend Robert from England, what a small world. He and I both traveled the Galapagos together.





Around three in the afternoon, the girls arrived and the rest of the weekend was spent in bliss. The ocean water was so refreshing and amazingly clean! Natalie and I spent most of the time body surfing or just rolling in the oncoming waves. It was heaven! Some of the others spent some time surfing and did quite well. I wish I could have been out there with them, but my foot is still in shambles.





Sunday night was a cool experience. Ecuador was playing Chile in soccor and the whole town was watching. We grabbed a table at a corner restaurant, and joined in with the mass for an amazing showdown. It was so surreal. Ecuador ended up winning 2-0.





It was an great weekend (minus Puerto Lopez) that I desperately needed to get me through this next week. Now its back to studying Español.

9 hours later

After an intense ride through the steep mountain passes of the Ecuadorian Andes, I arrived in the coastal city of Manta. The nine hour journey was filled with countless switchbacks, near misses of oncoming cars/buses, and great views of the mountain drop-offs we were teetering. The bus drivers in Ecuador are down right crazy! I can´t imagine having their job, but at least they seem to enjoy it. We were whipping around the mountain passes so fast that some of the passengers couldn´t hold in their lunch! I was lucky enough to only get away with a small headache from the twists and turns. Luckily, we arrived in Manta safe and sound.

Manta has just under 200,000 people and is a drastic change from the mass chaos of Quito. I do, however, miss my host parents, Susana and Marco. I really thought of them more as my grandparents than anything. Such a nice couple. They did tell me, ¨Mi casa es tu casa¨ and to call them when I get back in town from Argentina. So I am planning on officially telling them goodbye at the tail end of my trip.

My new host family is much younger. Javier and Dana are a young couple (the same age as my oldest sister Kami, 35) with three kids, 2 girls and a boy. They both work during the day and a maid (Maria) comes to cook the meals and do the cleaning, laundry, etc... I heard before arriving in Manta that the costal people like to talk.. alot! Maria is solid proof of this stereotype. She has attitude and loves to be in conversation. So I love to sit and talk with her, it is such good practice! Except much of the time she speaks so fast I get lost in her words. So I have to tell her to slow down.

One of the girls reminds me so much of my niece Amber. She is turning eleven on Saturday and is so excited about it. Today at lunch she was joking around with me and helping me with my Spanish.

Yesterday I had my first day of class in Manta. I was so worried because I was pretty much the only student in the school! But today I had class in the morning and it was filled with many people. What a great relief!

So my foot is still causing me stress! I am so fed up with it. I really don´t know what else to do. I can´t play soccor, volleyball or go for a run on the beach! Its driving me crazy! I am halfway tempted to find a Shawman and have him work his magic. Natalie and Kristen want to can go to the market in Iquitos, Peru (where they sell many strange things from the Amazon such as medicine, fruit, animals, etc..) and find a cure.

I guess I will just hope for the best.

devin

Just call me Charles Darwin...

So I am happy to report the Galapagos are one of the most bazaar and unique places in the world. The four days and three nights I was able to spend in this extraordinary place will forever be one of the most amazing trips of my life. Not only are most of the plants and animals unique to this part of the world but also the weather. Each island can have up to five or six different climate zones. Its simply amazing! Rain and sun, hot and cold, humid and dry, you name it they have it.

For the most part we sailed around on our yatch visiting up to three different islands each day. Each of these having their own significant species. The water was on the cooler side but it didn't stop us from enjoying some of the best snorkeling I have ever experienced. Seriously, where else in the world can you swim with Penguins? The sea lions were by far the highlight for me. They were so unafraid and curious of us. Most of the time they just wanted to play, so I dove down deep and spun around with them for a while.

I was the solo American in our group, along with four Germans, and three hilarious girls from Ireland. Together we had a blast sailing the seas and seeing the flora and fauna of the Galapagos. Now it is back to reality... well not really since I'm still on vacation, but I do have a language to learn and a move to prepare for.

Sunday I will be heading to the coast for the remainder of my stay here in Ecuador. After getting a taste of the sun this past weekend I cant wait to get back to the ocean and work on my tan.

Hope all is well

devin