Day Trips are Awesome

Sorry for the lack of posts this month. We've been really busy for since New Years, but not with anything blog-worthy. We did have a chance to take a great day trip recently to a beautiful park and waterfall we discovered just outside the city. This amazing spot was exactly one hour from our door. These are the moments I love living in South America. Here are some photos:

 

Took these photos on the 30 minute hike to the falls. As with everything here, we walked straight uphill for a while and then straight downhill. I will never take flat Rhode Island for granted again!

Spencer got a big kick out of this sign directing us to the waterfall that we could see from this point 

(note it in the distance).

  

We've arrived! As with so many places here, it was just beautiful. Totally worth the hike in.

 

I got a big kick out of the "Area Fotografia" sign. Thank you captain obvious.

One of these days I want to do a whole post on "Things that are not meant for people Spencer's size"

The clouds rolled in on they way back. It's soooo beautiful when this happens.

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!!!

Feliz Anos Nuevo!!!!

We were so happy to be here in Ecuador for our first New Years eve!! While it was not the event that we expected, we managed to have a great time. The traditions for this iconic evening here are quite different from the states. Sure, there's the standard booze, staying up late, and fireworks, but there is soooo much more!

Our first hint that it was going to be a good time came around mid day when we started to notice young men all over the city in drag. I continue to be amazed at the dichotomy between this religiously conservative country and it's wild side. To see the young men of the city dressed in drag frolicking in the streets as their family stood by cheering them on was a riot. Apparently, the idea is that they are dressed as widows. They are all over the streets and even go to work in full drag (fake boobs, high heels, padded butts and all). They tend to stand on corners and on streets and will block traffic begging for money. I wish I had taken tons of photos cause it was hilarious and a great time, but I only got this one:

The other major part of the day involves something called Muñecos. A muñeco is a small effigy of a person (some are recognizable and others are nondescript) made from old clothes and stuffed with whatever convenient material is available; straw, newspaper, old shoes, etc. At midnight, the muñecos are set on fire in the streets symbolizing an end to all the ills of the previous year and a fresh start for the new one. We noticed the sales of these 'dolls' everywhere for about a week. I don't understand how Bart Simpson, Thor, Captain America or Yogi Bear represents someones ills and issues, but we saw lots of them!

 

We had been told by several people that these muñecos would be set on fire at midnight as part of a giant celebration on Avenue Amazonas (one of the central streets that runs nearly 20 miles through the city). So, after dinner we headed out with our friend Graham to hit the streets and find the party to ring in the new year. Quickly, we ran into a family burning their muñecos in the middle of a huge street. Graham ran in for a photo and they loved it so posed their remaining muñecos with him:

 

We thought this was a good sign of the huge party to come, but our expectations were way off! As we continued toward down towards Amazonas the streets got more and more quiet. It was strange because this part of the city is usually jam packed with people day and night. As we got closer, we asked a few people where the party was and they said there wasn't one and maybe we should head to the Mariscal, which is the tourist section to find people. So, off to the Mariscal we went only to find that it was relatively quiet as well! It was very strange, but we quickly made the best of the situation and found ourselves at a Shawarma restaurant where we enjoyed some beers, shisha (tobacco smoked out of a water pipe), and great conversation with some very nice Pakistani men. Here's a blurry photo of me with the owner and the giant shisha pipe. 

Despite the very different scene and unexpected company, we had a great time and hung out until midnight when all hell broke loose. All of a sudden we started to notice guys setting out some fireworks right next to us and Graham urgently suggested that we leave our table immediately. Next thing we knew, we were literally in the middle of a giant amateur fireworks display right in the street! At one point some guy actually picked up a burning firework and started chasing people. It was crazy and very dangerous, but luckily we made it out without a scratch but with a great memory.  Again - NEVER in AMERICA!!! It all happened so fast and we were just trying not to get burned so we couldn't take too many photos, but we got this one at the end.

Once it was a little safe to move again we started to wander and see what else was happening. We found more burning piles of muñecos, like little bonfires everywhere:

Eventually we stumbled across a group of people who were taking it to another level by jumping the flames. Here's a video, notice Graham at the beginning and Spencer at the end taking the leap into the new year:

It was a great night overall!  

HAPPY HAPPY NEW YEAR to everyone!!! We miss all our family and friends stateside and hope you all had a great holiday season.

"Safety First" Photo of the week

This is a good one, check out this father / daughter biking home today down a crazy busy road about to cross a huge intersection.

Merry Christmas from Ecuador!!

Guess who played Santa!

  

  

  

We're heading to the beach tomorrow, we will be disconnecting for a week as we will have no internet access and possibly no phone! It's pretty cut off on the coast here. hope to have some great stories and lots of fun photos when we get back. 

So, Merry Christmas from Ecuador!!!!