Ecuador

Eccie Eccie you so fine ... you so fine you blow my mind: your ultimate shittiness, your surfing, your locals and most of all your countryside!


I fell in love with this country. I am convinced I could live here. You know how when you get old you buy a retirement ¨winter¨ place ... this is where mine will be! 


Border Crossing (Peru & Ecuador): fml ...
OMG. This border crossing was one of the worst. The bus ride from Mancora, Peru to Tumbes, Peru was horrendous. I got stuck at the back of the bus between the bathroom, some creeper and a rotting smell. Half way through the ride the creeper found a rotting fish carcas behind MY seat. He opened up the window and it was gone ... to bad the smell lingered.


[annoying thing about SA: EVERYONE LITTERS EVERYWHERE ... throwing garbage out the bus window is no big deal ... its part of life here! YUCK]


Anyways, all I could do was laugh :) At least the coastal drive was a beauty!


Upon making it to the border - I discovered it was Carnaval in Ecuador. Crap. Only gringo in the humungo line of Eccies (despite being on the ¨gringo trail¨.. I rarely see any other gringos at borders. I always seem to be the only flipping one!). 


My bus driver on the other side was getting pissed because I was taking so long (my process is a bit more grueling than the locals of course)... she was screaming at me to hurry up in Spanish ... so I was so thankful when a group of Eccie girls took me under their wings. The next thing I knew I was being grabbed out of line ... pulled up into the front ... inside the immigrations officers office. Eek. I my bus driver slip him a $5 bill and I understood. Gotta love SA. 


[fun fact: According to a local Ecuadorian at the border, Chinese people are not allowed into Ecuador ... but for a fee of $5 they can. Haha I don´t know if this is true. But I laughed anyways]. 


After that - it felt great to be in Ecuador staring out the window at 100s and 1000s of banana trees :)


Cuenca: you were just what I needed ...
Arriving in Cuenca felt good. The bus ride was pleasant & very ... wet. Because it was Carnaval - according to tradition during holy week - no one can shower ... except on the last day when everyone bathes.
I happened to arrive in Ecuador on the last day ... aka: water fights EVERYWHERE. I lost count of how many times we got hit by people on the side of the roads! It was hilarious!


We arrived really late to Cuenca - so thankfully the Eccie girls got their brother to drive me to a hostel. They said it wasn´t safe for me to get in a cab alone. Anyway ... there were 7 of us squished into a VW golf ... blaring the tunes, driving a million km´s an hour. 
I really couldn´t thank them enough ... we said goodbye and then all 6 of them kissed my cheek goodbye  :) & that was it.

The next day I woke up ready to explore. I walked for hours around the city just people watching and taking it all in. I was lucky because everyone was still in party mode from Carnaval ... so lots of people were on the streets out and about! 


Cuenca was a dose of reality after Mancora ... it felt really good :)


Guayaquil: you scared the poop out of me ...
The only nice thing I can say about this city is that the drive there - through the Caja National Park was beautiful. Unfortunately I got stuck beside an Ecuadorian man who wouldn´t be quiet ... (unless you´ve been to SA and have experienced an Ecuadorian man this sounds horrible - but they DONT give up). When someone asks for your contact information for the 10th time ... after you´ve already said no .. it gets frustrating. I ended up just pretending I didn´t hear him with my earphones on. Opps :)


A friend told me to spend basically zero time here. So I listened. Bye bye :)


Montanita: you are my sunshine...
As soon as I arrived - I felt at home.The people were so friendly. The beach was amazing & the vibe of the whole place was just wonderful. A bunch of hippies just trying to have fun :)


That night I discovered ¨Cocktail Ally¨... & got really silly with some friends ... something I wouldn´t have done  if I had known I would be awoken at 4am by a screaming guard yelling ¨WAKE UP TSUMANI ... TSUNAMI!¨ 


I have to be honest. I had no idea what was going on. I thought it was a joke. But when he was knocking at my door I realized he was serious. I was able to make out ¨get to high land¨... oh crap. Is this a joke?
I frantically packed a little backpack - took all my money and passport and threw my pack on the top bunk (like that would have done anything hah). Everyone from the hostel ran up the hill ... and we just sat there in the pitch black, waiting to hear something?
It was so bizarre. A bunch of people were crying and starting to call their parents ... saying goodbye? ahaha - me and another Canadian guy just started laughing and watched the sunset - we were high enough we´d be fine ... right? 


We stayed up on that hill for the entire day and night. It was bizarre. We finally got access to a computer - so we could get an estimate of when the thing was supposed to hit. Got some supplies and just chilled. It was a bizarre day. I didn´t know if I really believed it was coming. No wonder. It didn´t ... which was a relief. 


Anyway. The Tsunami afterparty was worth the 24 hours on the hill. It was like 1989 :)


The rest of my time spent in Montanita was much less exciting and a little more relaxing. I did yoga, jogged on the beach, surfed every day, got stung by 100s of jellyfish (including on my butt cheeks = ow), burnt my feet every single day on the sand (your shoes got stolen if you wore them too the beach - even our towel got ripped off), made some good friends, took some spanish classes, swam a lot, and partied even more. 


It was hard to leave Montanita ... but I knew if I didn´t I would be like the rest of the people there and get stuck! 


I will be back :)


Coastal Journey: you were b-e-a-utiful
A friend and I made a spur of the moment decision to go to Canoa, another coastal town in Ecuador. She had been in Montanita for 2 months and had 1 week to go before she had to leave ... and I just felt like seeing the place - so I was in. 
We hopped into a local surfer boys truck with Gabriel & Marco (sorry mom and dad aha) and made off for the 5 hour journey - which turned out to be one of the best parts of my trip so far. Being with locals is such a different experience, it is amazing. In a matter of 5 minutes Gabriel asked us if we wanted to plow through to Canoa ... or take our time and see the coast .. of course we picked the latter. I was so glad - because in a matter of minutes I was:
- sitting in Ayampe, a small little fishing village, eating the best Corviche on the coast (PB, fish & plantains), in the biggest hole in the wall ever
- looking out over the coast from a secret lookout
- eating the best grilled fish in Puerto Lopez
- sitting at a secret beach in the Machailla National Park (we hiked 20 minutes through the forest ... in bare feet!) 
- experiencing Manta, Ecuador (a big town on the coast where the boys are from) 
- & last of all Canoa ... through the eyes of a local :)


Canoa: your so laid back ...
As soon as we arrived, we went to dinner at a restaurant on the beach ... and started drinking Pilsners (the Ecuadorian kind) and eating the most wonderful grilled fish in coconut milk, with plantains and rice ... and drinking more Pilsners whilst I kicked butt at pingpong and fusbal (yeah right I lied). 
We ended up partying all night long. 
It was an awesome time :)


Unfortunately because I have to be in Carpurgana, Colombia for the 29th my time in Canoa was cut short - but from what I experienced I will most definitely be back! 


I spent the next day back and forth trying to figure out how to get to Quito. The bus just decided it didn´t want to come to Canoa that day (haha gotta love SA) ... so I hitched a ride to the nearest town with a bus stop 30 minutes away and found a ride for that night! 

Quito: I liked you more than I thought I would...
Other than arriving at 3am, at the South bus terminal ... 30 minutes drive away from the center ... I actually liked Quito a bunch!
So many people told me so many horrible things about this place and really scared me - but I was pleasantly surprised! I actually enjoyed the little time I spent in Quito, touring the old town, people watching, eating and trying to take pictures of the army men with machine guns just chilling out. 


Ecuador was a blast. 
I will be back. 
Certainly 


...Now off to Colombia :)