Boomer!: Why sometimes, I've dreamed up 6 impossible things before breakfast

Six impossible things before breakfast.

That takes a lot of thought every day, but one thing is for sure--I have yet to have met a stranger since I have been here in Ecuador. Those of you who know me know how much I love people. It's refreshing to be surrounded by so many people with the same wanderlust as myself.

Once again, I'm in back in Quito. Oh the wonderful world of the city. Lolz, not. Okay don't get me wrong, I like Quito, but it's tough to spend 5 days on the coast and willingly drag yourself back to a city full of nothing but buses, public transit, ladrones (robbers), and smog. I'm happy to be back with my host family and her wonderful meals all the time, but other than that...well, take me back to the coast already.

The adventure started over a week ago when I was scrambling around to find a bus ticket. Carnival is busy and everyone is traveling, so tickets sell out fast and they don't have more buses running just because it's a holiday. Nonetheless, I got up early last Wednesday so that I could go to the office of the bus company in northern Quito. A short cab ride from where I stay, it wasn't too bad. I was dressed nice because I had a meeting at the embassy afterwards, but I was planning on taking the bus. When I came out from my room for breakfast, my host mom immediately said "Por favor, no lleva eso a la oficina del bus; la oficina es en un parte de Quito que es más peligrosa de aqui." In other words, please don't wear that to the bus office, it's in a part of Quito that is more dangerous than here. Needless to say, I took a taxi instead. My driver took me to the office where I was told they were sold out of tickets for Thursday night through Sunday morning. Well how in the world was I supposed to get to Puerto Lopez?! I had reservations for Friday night until Tuesday morning and now I was about to be there for MAYBE one night max. Obviously in panic and slowly cursing under my breath in Spanish all the way back into the cab, my driver was trying to calm me down. Tranquila, mija! Calm down, baby! So he took me to another bus office. This one was even more intimidating than the last, but turns out they didn't have any either. My only option was to go to Quitumbe, in the southern part of Quito and about 45 mins to an hour away. Taxis are cheap here but I didn't have the time. Still panicking in the backseat, my driver is hammering me with questions about when my meeting is and I'm just trying to cry by myself or something. Long story short (not really that short) he's nice enough to accept a copy of my passport and drive all the way to Quitumbe to purchase a ticket for me! He called me about an hour after I left my meeting at the embassy and told me he had my ticket and met me back at my apartment. It's a beautiful thing.

Happy to have met a few awesome people at the embassy in Quito and to have a bus ticket, my Wednesday went pretty well last week.

Thursday rolled around and I had class, so went to school, came home directly after and packed up to prepare for my trip, and took a taxi to Quitumbe. Since my ticket was bought alone, I had to travel alone. Which is fine! But nerve-wracking all the same. The taxi ride is kind of lengthy with a little bit of traffic so it was about 45 minutes there. My taxi driver asked all kinds of questions. I keep getting asked if I have a boyfriend and if my boyfriend is the one who taught me Spanish, which is kind of funny all the same. Anyway, I got to Quitumbe and after wandering around a while, I met a nice boy named Milton in the bus station and he helped me find my way to my bus. Milton, if you're reading this, I owe you one! I ended up next to a really wonderful lady on my bus too who knew quite a bit about the coast. A VERY long, humid, ten hour bus ride to Puerto Lopez, but I made it. Upon arrival, everyone except me seemed to have a place to go. Did I mention it was 5 AM when I got to Puerto Lopez? And still dark outside? Clutching my things, a little Ecuadorean man named Don Maca approached me. HOLA, GRINGITA! What are you doing for your holiday here? Who are you waiting on? Want to go to Isla de la Plata??!?! At five AM, the only Spanish words I felt I could muster were SALE. Sale, go away. Nonetheless, he provided some entertainment til my friends got there about 45 minutes later. We paid a $10 down payment to go to Isla de la Plata for the following day. Most of Friday we spent wandering around the beach, lounging in the hammocks, and relaxing and settling in. We headed that night to Galvan's. Galvan is the husband of Sandra, who runs the hostel that we stayed in. The man can cook and ALL of the fish was amazing and fresh. Needless to say, Friday night was a blast. We met a couple of guys from the Outer Banks, NC and they showed us around a little bit.

Saturday started early with la Isla de la Plata--also known as the Poor Man's Galapagos. DEFINITELY worth the $40 trip to get out there but boy was it hot. With no shade. And only a slight breeze. Nonetheless, we happened onto some blue footed boobies and sea turtles. Hot, exhausted, and sunburned, we wandered down to Galvan's for dinner again. Basically raw tuna/flash seared, SO good though. Then we enjoyed some black marlin. Never heard of it but wow. You wouldn't believe how good it is. Also a wonderful thing? Pilsener is a dollar and Ecuadorean rum is $8 a bottle. 2 liters of diet coke? $1.50. Bonding with others from our hostel, we also met a random fairly timid man from Playa Ayampe as well. Roberto. He was entertained by Laura and I, hahaha. We left Galvan's around 12:30 AM and headed in to sleep. We woke up late the next morning and hit the beach, where we also enjoyed those frozen coconuts. In case you were wondering, those are ONLY frozen coconuts. They pull them out of the freezer, use a machete to hack off the top and carve a small hole, and then stick a straw in it. Hydrating nonetheless. We headed back up and showered, only to realize how sunburnt we were from la Isla de la Plata. Exhausted and sunburnt, we took a nap and headed back down to Galvan's. More seafood. No complaints from me. Fresh as usual. But no drinking that night, absolutely exhausted and chugging water from the morning til we went to bed at about 10 PM, Laura and I were sufficiently hydrated come Monday morning. We decided to stay out of the sun so we hammocked all day and enjoyed the people we were surrounded by while Sandra taught us how to make Colombian arepas (best things in the world). Returning to Galvan's for our final night, we enjoyed yet another great meal and met even more people. Sufficiently happy, induced by a little bit of Pilsener and rum (how else would it be on the beach?) we returned to the hostel with Jeff and Ben (Outer Banks guys) and Graham (random tall surfer from New Hampshire who has a striking resemblance to Michael Phelps...) to find the hostel owner (also named Sandra) and Sandra (Galvan's wife) sitting on the porch by the reception desk with a few people. Needless to say, Laura and I got the party started. Bringing home some diet coke and Ron (the rum) we had the entire hostel sitting on the porch, chatting it up and enjoying each other's company. Belen and Andrea were my favorites; they are from Guayaquil and so great. Then Matias from Argentina of course. Others started showing up from surrounding hostels and I quickly realized how thankful I was to be somewhere as wonderful and open as that. Galvan returned to a party on the porch after he finally got his restaurant cleaned up, only to continue to drink and be merry with everyone else.

HAPPY CARNIVAL!

Because there's no better way to spend it than with a bunch of travelers on a beach somewhere, right?

Laura and I dragged ourselves to bed around 4 that morning after venturing to the beach for a little bit and continuing to meet people. Rolling out of bed around 9 AM the next morning, we were the first ones awake at the hostel aside from Galvan, who happily cooked us breakfast. Slowly moving around to get packing Tuesday morning, our friends started to wake up. A mixture of groans and "how are you feeling?" on the way to the water jug was the typical morning greeting. Spending the day with our friends and meeting another new traveler, Paul (from Germany), Laura and I were sad to leave. Dreading the ten hour bus ride, we sadly said our goodbyes and promised to return, maybe for la Semana Santa. Galvan said goodbye and gave us purple agate as a thank you for being so great during the trip. Ten hours on a sticky, humid bus back to Quito and we arrived around 4:30 to Quitumbe this morning. Alas, we are back, but I miss the beach and our new friends already. See you soon, Playa Ayampe. Until then, school and more school and other things because there is a reality outside of studying abroad. By the way, those of you that have been asking, I only have class twice a week! I have a four day weekend every weekend to travel, so I have been taking full advantage. Especially because hostels average only $10 a night here.

Enjoy the pictures and I'm sorry there aren't more to share!