Christmas Beach Vacation

We headed to the beach (finally!) for Christmas. We rented a little house right on the beach from a fellow teacher at the school and our friend Graham joined us for 3 days. And, the best part was that this 5 day vacation cost us a total of about $400 including lodging, food, beer, and gas! Try to spend that on a beach vacation in the states. It was a great little getaway and another fun adventure in Ecuador! 

The adventure was both good and scary. You see, we bought a car last month so that we could be more mobile and explore more parts of this awesome little country. Unfortunately, despite our best efforts we still do not have all the necessary paperwork complete to establish ownership of the car, and we also don't have Ecuadorian licenses, which means we don't have valid insurance. Oh, and our visas are STILL in process and the visas that we came down here on have since been cancelled. So, needless to say we were not the most legal tourist car headed out on this 6 hour trip down to the beach. An area that commonly has police stops checking for paperwork and such. Spencer was a little stressed, but we ended up making it just fine!

Heading to the beach of Ecuador, I had many expectations based on experiences I've had on other beaches in America and internationally. In most other countries, the coast is a major tourist port and is highly developed to accommodate us. Not here. The further we got from Quito, the less developed it became. We literally entered a world where people commonly travel by horseback. It was crazy. But, eventually we made it to the little cabana that we called home for 5 days nestled on a tiny little peninsula surrounded by shrimp farms and a few other small cabanas 15 minutes from a "town" called Jama that was a dirt road and a few tiendas. 

 

Our view from the outdoor dinning room / kitchen towards the water. 

 

Maia enjoying the view and tranquility. Spencer and Graham soaking in the view. 

(We did a lot of sitting and soaking in the view.)

 

Spencer and the son of the caretaker who loved to come and hang out with us.

 

The sunsets were amazing!

 

The beach stretched on for miles and miles with nothing in sight.

 

I can't choose my favorite photo, so you get to see them all!

 

Just more shots of the amazing beach stretching for miles in every direction.

If you haven't seen enough beach yet, check out this video:

  

Dancing at night with our little friend while his mom prepared our dinner.

 

This tiny little car pulled up to the neighbors house and a surprising number of people climbed out. We thought it was such a funny little car, we had to get a photo.

 

These chickens and their babies liked to taunt Maia, but she just wasn't quick enough. 

I found these goats on the road into town, they were awesome.

More relaxing. I took this photo while lying in a hammock. It was a tough week.

Lunch at a "restaurant" near our cabana everyday. $5 per plate for some amazing food! 

(Thankfully it was good, because it was our only option!)

 

Festive even at the beach. I think this chair is the Ecuadorian version of a homemade high chair. 

How many of you would let your little one sit on this?

It was a great vacation, but a good lesson in "Too Much of a Good Thing". We wanted beach and we got beach! But, nothing else. We actually got a little bored and left a day early. It was TOO RELAXING! There was no stimulation - no TV, no wi-fi, no restaurants, no life, nothing to explore in the area. The sun was so strong on the equator we had to be careful lying out. After 5 days, we were ready to pack up and head back to civilization. We would definitely go again, but we'd be better prepared with more supplies and probably more people!

Merry Christmas from the beach in Ecuador!!!