We travelled to the coast of Ecuador to celebrate South American Carnaval. Many people use this time to vacation, as schools and work places are closed Monday and Tuesday. Since we had 4 days off from school we chose to take on the adventure of the beach!
Early Saturday morning we hopped on a plane to Guayaquil, which was only a 35 minute ride. If we had taken a bus, it would have taken over 11 hours in total. We were picked up by a private van to drive us from Guayaquil to the beach. Parts of the drive seemed like we were in Florida, other parts – the desert. There was traffic on a road before a toll, but we were entertained. There were people trying to sell us food, beach mats, sun hats, and other things. There were also people dressed up in costumes and face paint. This made the 2 and a half hour ride a little better. It was extremely hot, much different from Quito. We finally arrived to our hostel, which was super nice. It was built like its own little village, with private cabanas. We took a few minutes to settle and headed to the beach.
The beach was different because the sand was very dark and VERY hot. The waves were much bigger than I’m used to, which is why the town is so popular for surfing. We walked down the beach until we reached the town center, about a 10 minute walk away. It was SO hot! We found a place to have lunch, then had fresh pina coladas made street side. The girls and I headed back to the beach and found a place to lay our towels. There were some interesting characters, including some guys who wanted to sell us brownies! Strangely, the tides were very drastic and we almost got washed away! We were all wet and sandy and went back to the hostel to shower for the night.
Kelley and I got ready and walked back to the town center. We tried to be alert and avoid the foamy soap kids spray at unsuspecting people to celebrate Carnaval. We walked around looking at all the jewelry and found a place to have drinks: 2 for 1 happy hour! The other girls found us all we all enjoyed cocktails and dinner. I ordered pollo de pina, which was pineapple chicken. It was probably the best food I’ve had since I’ve been in Ecuador! YUM! After dinner we went to a hookah bar, but called it a night pretty early because it had been a long day!
The next day I spent lying on the beach. The sun is much stronger here, plus I had NO base tan. I put on plenty of sunscreen, but still ended up super burnt. Some of the girls and I went to have lunch at a cute bar with a pool. The only pool in town. It was awesome! I returned to the hostel and had a nap before going out for the night. We did dinner and drinks again, and went into about 4 bars before finally realizing we were too exhausted to drink the night away. I couldn’t spend much more time in the sun, so the next day was pretty boring, especially without my phone or computer. I was happy when it came time to go out. We did the same things as the previous nights, I even ate the pineapple chicken again! I was able to enjoy myself a little more because the sun hadn’t taken all my energy for the day.
We woke the next morning and had to pack, but not before complimentary banana and chocolate pancakes. Our bus driver wanted to leave early, guaranteeing there would be a lot of traffic back to the airport. However, there was none. We actually made great time, but this meant we had to wait around the airport for over 3 hours. It was finally time to fly back to Quito! Our flight was going smoothly, but then we hit really bad turbulence. Because I haven’t flown a lot, I knew it was scary but didn’t realize how bad it was. When we got off, the girls who have flown a lot said it was the worst flight they’ve ever had. It definitely shook us up, but I was happy to be home!
Although Quito isn’t necessarily cold, it is much colder than the coast. I had a hard time sleeping last night because of a sore throat and I couldn’t breathe through my nose. It might have something to do with the temperature changes, but I’ve been feeling sickness coming on slowly all weekend. I stayed home from school today because I wanted to take some medicine and relax so that I wouldn’t get sicker. It is a professional day, so I’m not actually missing any time with the kids. Hopefully I will feel better tomorrow so I can get back to teaching!
Steph Goes Abroad 