Sept 13 Our last day!

Today satrted off very early and felt like and incredibly long day. Now that it's all over and Im looking back at everything we did, it's no wonder I'm so exhausted!

After our night out with Carmen, Xavier and Andreas I didn't sleep a wink. No more pop before bed... Needless to say when the alarm went off at 6 am this morning I had a really didn't want to get out of bed. By 7 am Abbi and I had all our bags packed up and ready at the door, waiting for our ride to the city.

Carmen came down to meet us and unfortunately had some bad news. She would be joining us on the drive to guayaquil as one of her family members had passed away in the night. She was dressed in all black  and was a bit quiet. We didn't want to ask too many questions, so Abbi and I tried our best to keep the conversation light while we waited.

Xavier and Andreas were a little late to pick us up but we were on the road eventually and on our way to the city. I felt so bad when we finally arrived in Guayaquil because the hostle was impossible to find. We stopped and asked for directions about 10 times before we were successful.

When we arrived at DreamKapture our new friends were so cute and helpful as Abbi and I signed in. They helped us with our bags and helped me orgainize with the front desk staff a taxi for 5am the next day. They even came into the dorm room with us to make sure everything was up to snuff ;) They were all so concerned with our well being and safety and we really appreciated thier care.

We said our good byes to Carmen and Abbi and I arranged to get picked up at 3pm for a tour of the city with Xavier and his mom!


A little bit about Xavier:
He lives and works in Switzerland with his father and brother. His mom lives in Ecuador, she is retired and runs a coffee and pastry shop in Playas. Xavier is very passionate about Ecudaor and is involved some how in a government marketing plan to stimulate tourism in his home land. I found out later in the day that he wants to open and manage an eco-friendly hostel in Playas. His knowledge about the country is expansive and very impressive. I believe that he will succeed greatly with his goal and will be a great contact to have in the future!

Anyhow... after our goodbyes etc, Abbi and I had some free time. We had breakfast in the hostel and the lady who served us was incredibly rude and slow. I practically had to beg to get any service. Its such a change of pace from the little towns to the big city, you notice it right away.

After breakfast we decided we should venture out of the confines of the hostel and check out the scene near by. It was very different in Guayaquil this time around. I felt a new sense of confidence as I walked past the people on the street. Don't get me wrong though, everyone was still staring at us like we were from another planet, but i feel I understand how things work a little better after being here for one short month. I didn't have as much fear and stress going on as I did the first time I walked around the city.

After our walk, abbi had a nice long nap but unfortunately girls were coming in and out of the dorm constantly, so I didn't manage to catch up on any of the sleep i missed the night before :(








At 3:30 Xavier arrived to pick us up. When we climbed into the car he quickly outlined the plan for the after noon;

1.   the market
2.   a giant jesus statue at the top of Las Penas
3.   the old streets of Las Penas
4.   a quick stop to visit someone??
5.   a double decker bus tour of the city

I though this was a pretty tall order for one afternoon and there was no way we could fit in all in but none the less, off we went!

The market was amazing!  Wall to wall and floor to ceiling, there was everything there you could imagine from clothing to art, to jewelry to fabric etc. etc. etc. Before we got out of the car Xavier told us to point out what it was we wanted to his mom and she would do the bartering for us. She got us the most amazing prices, we payed 1/4 of what we would have paid for our souvenirs if she hadn't of been there. I managed to get everyone exactly what I wanted to bring home. Up until this point I hadn't been able to find a single thing that was worth carrying all the way back. I was so pleased with the market that just going there would have been enough to make it a great day but the day was far from over at this point. ( pictures to come )

Xavier took us next to the giant jesus statue at the top of the 151 steps of Las Penas. The views of the city were unreal from the the summit.









Next stop was old town Las Penas. Xavier told us about the fires that had destroyed the homes and community there about 100 years prior. We learned that the government is rebuilding the area and trying their best to restore it to the way it was originally.  The cobblestone street the we walked along had to be ripped up so that new water lines could be installed and the amazing thing was that when they rebuilt the road, the placed every stone from the road back in it's original position! There were quite a few art galleries and restaurants along the way that we rebuilt using the original style of architecture that existed before the fires. This area has become the pride of the city and a more affluent place to hang out. When we came to the end of the road Abbi and I were surprised to realized that we were in almost the exact spot that we stayed at a few weeks prior, the night before we flew out to the Galapagos.


Our next stop was to visit some place that Xavier wanted to research as a model for his hostel. To my surprise it was the Manso Boutique, where I spent my very first night in Ecuador. So funny how things work out and come full circle... I end up randomly on my last day exactly where I started out! I was happy that I got to show Abbi where I had spent the first night. While Xavier went and met with the owner of Manso, Abbi and I sat down in the diner and ordered some food from the 100% organic menu and took a small tour of the property. By the time Xavier had finished meeting with the owner and ordered his dinner it was getting a bit late. We had only 15 minutes to make it to the bus station for the double decker tour.

I was absolutely starving at this point and was quite angry when we decided that we'd better get the food to go if we wanted to make the last  bus. I payed for our dinner as a thank you to Xavier for showing us such an amazing last day in the city and then we RAN to catch the bus. We made it just in time and when we arrived at the station, Andreas was there waiting to meet us.

We climbed the steps to the open roofed bus and ate our dinner before the tour started. The food was the best food of the whole trip! Fresh quinoa burgers with an olive and basil salad on the side. Andreas got the bus driver to run across the street and buy us some beers and before long the bus was rolling out of the station.

It was a perfect time for the tour. The sun was down and there was a nice breeze blowing as we drove along the Malecon. We saw the mayors office, a few important historical monuments and few other points of interest along the way. By the time the tour was over I was exhausted and ready for for bed. I think I was going on over 24 hours with no sleep by that point.

The guys dropped us off at the hostel, we said our good byes and thanked them for being such great tour guides. Without them, our last day would have been a lot less eventful and we wouldn't have learned so much about the city of Guayaquil. Abbi and I really lucked out with these friends. They were able to shed a new light on the culture of the city and the people for us. They showed me a new appreciation for things a otherwise wouldn't have understood on my own. Thank you Xavier and Andreas!




Now it's off to sleep. There are three alarms set so I don't miss my taxi at 5am.

Good night Guayaquil and Ecuador. I've had an amazing and eye opening adventure. I hope to come back some day and see how you ( and I ) have grown and changed.

<3
Muchas Gracias

Sept 12 Last day in Playas

abbi and i couldn’t have asked for a better day :)


we woke up this morning with high hopes of sitting on the beach for our last day but alas, the sun had different plans for us. it was very cloudy when we woke up and was the same after after breakfast. we sat on the patio with our coffees and tried to figure out how we would pass the time.

in a split second we decided we should catch a taxi to the next town called puerto el morro. abbi had heard of a little eco tourist place called los delphines earlier on her travels. she showed me a brochure that outlined a few different tour options.

we thought it would be nice if we invited carmen from upstairs with us since her plans from last night were a bust. while abbi did the dishes i ran upstairs and invited her to join us. i managed to invite her using all spanish and i was quite impressed with myself! she was excited when she accepted the offer and 1 hour later the three of us were in a taxi to el morro.


when we got to the port we were a little disappointed because they told us that they needed 8 people to have a tour of the mangroves in one of the boats. so we decided that we would wait to see if anyone else would come... no one came :( we were about to give up when one of the boat drivers approached us and offered us a deal on a private tour. how could we turn it down we had come all the way here.

the driver strapped us into our bulky life jackets and were on the water in no time. it did int take very long at all before we saw a few pods of dolphins. we followed them for an hour or so. they were much bigger than the dolphins I’ve seen in canada! carmen as well as our taxi driver. i forgot to mention that on the boat was abbi, myself, carmen and our taxi driver. carmen had asked him to come along for protection. whatever that means... im not sure what she though was gonna happen to us out there on the boat. but he got a free tour out of the deal... and so did carmen!

 abbi and i were really grateful that we got to share that experience with carmen. we've never heard her make so much noise. she's lived in playas for most of her life and never been on the dolphin trip. carmen sang and made dolphin noises and got really excited at all the wildlife we saw on the boat. she also sang along with the salsa music in the car all the way home. we were happy that we had made her day by inviting her along.

the driver dropped us all off at home at around 130 and get this.. he charged us extra for the time he'd spent with us on the boat! you'd think he would have been happy with the free dolphin tour but i guess not.
the ripping off of tourists routine is getting pretty old to me at this point in the trip.


anyways, abbi and i head to the local empanada restaurant for lunch and had the best ones of the trip so far.
we walked the beach for a while, then came home and had a nap.


as we were packing our bags and cleaning up the apartment, the company that was supposed to show up last night appeared at our door. it was havier and andreas, the son of carmen's friend and his cousin. they invited us upstairs to hang out for a while. we told them that abbi and i wanted to go for dinner at 7pm but we would join them for a short while.


a short while quickly turned into hours! we had a great time hanging out with them as they both speak some english and they could translate for for carmen. they talked a lot about the history of playas, guayaquil and ecuador in general. they boys were really impressed with abbi's wealth of knowledge that she learned in her classes earlier in her trip.

carmen played old classical spanish music for us while we all chatted. she seemed very excited to share it with us. her house is really cool. she has a million little trinkets that she has collected over the years. she showed us some gigantic oyster shells that she found in puerto lopez, i've never seen anything like them. they were incredibly heavy, one was purple and one was orange and both were beautiful. her house is all dark wood with lace curtains that blow in the cool breeze brought in by the ocean air.



 by 930, abbi and i were starving.i had accidentally asked the three what they thought about  president correa. bad mistake. we learned early in the trip that this topic always starts a heated conversation with any ecuadorian, so we had to change the subject as the argument was dragging on and we needed food pronto.

we hopped in the car and drove around for a bit before we found a place to eat. i decided that i should be brave on my last night and try the ceviche. it was pretty good, but way too much food for me because havier ordered me a whole other plate of food to eat afterwards. it was rice and shrimp and veggies AND FRIES.

holy god, i couldn’t finish!

they drove us back home and we went to bed after we'd decided on a pick up time in the morning.  havier and andreas will be driving abbi and i to guayaquil tomorrow, right to our hostel. this means we can leave playas early and have a whole day to spend in the big city. this will also save us some money which is always good at the end of the trip :)

... not related at all, but i lost a toe nail at the end of the night. normal vacation stuff for me. always something with my feet.

abbi and i are both getting excited to be at home. we've had an amazing time but we miss our family and friends (and devils) a lot!

Sept 11 2nd last day in Playas - beach day

when we woke up today the sun was shining through the clouds and it looked quite promising. i got out of bed first and packed us a picnic to take with us.

on the way to the water we stopped and watched a children's marching band that was playing in the street. they were all so cute. they even had a group of little salsa dancers with them. it seems like the salsa rythem is given to these little girls at birth. man can they dance!

by 11 am we were at the beach taking in the sun and watching the people. it seems we are always up and active before most people around here, we always have a good selection of beach chairs to choose from when we get to the beach.


we spent the whole afternoon taking turns cooling off in the water and watching our bags. the water was so nice today and the current wasnt as strong as normal which made the swimming easy. there were police officers wipping around on atv's doing wheelies all day too, so funny to watch. way to set a good example ;)

we bought a few snacks and drinks from a few of the many vendors along the beach. this included another coconut  but it wasnt nealry as good as the first one we had. i dont think it was ripe enough and the meat from the inside was soft and almost geletain like. we ate as much as we could in front of the sweet old man who cut it up for us but as soon as he wasnt looking we had to through it out.

abbi was told that we were invited for dinner at carmen's house but we saw her a few times after we got back from the beach and she never mentioned it, so we assumed she forgot. we have to use up all the groceries we bought anyways so we made ourselves dinner of quinoa and fried mushrooms. it was disgusting. the worst meal of the trip, but hey at least we are not wasting food right?!

when we were chatting with carmen today, she told us that she was having company over at around 8pm and she'd love for us to join her. so abbi and i got dressed up whatever we could find that looked semi pretty, and we even put make-up on. we havnt worn make up for weeks! unfortunatly carmen's guests never showed up. we felt quite bad for her so we spent a little time with her before we gave up on waiting at 1030.

tomorrow is our last day here... i cant beleive it. its gone by so fast. we are hoping for more sun :)

Sept 10 Chill.....

today was so nice and relaxing. its such a different pace around here than in the big city.

 we woke up at 830 and made breakfast in our simple kitchen. scrambled eggs and toast with coffee. by 1030 we were both back in bed. abbi slept while a read a whole book from start to finish. i've never done that before!

at 300 we ventured out of the house and into town for our daily trip to the market. since we skipped dinner last night we decided to have an early meal today. we scrubbed all the veggies and made pasta primavera on the hot plate. so yummy! its nice to cook for our yourself here at the house. its seems so much healthier than all the fried food sold everwhere. its no wonder that most people here are over weight.




after we cleaned up , which also takes alot longer than normal cause we have to boil water for washing, i booked us a night at dreamkaptuure hostal in guayaquil for out last night in the country. since my flight leaves so early in the morning on the 14th, i wouldnt be able to make to the airport from here in time. i could catch a night bus but we have been advised against it.

with all the things i had to do today taken care of, i had a nice long nap while abbi sorted out her classes for the up coming semester at U of C.

there is one more book here that i havent read yet, i guess i'll give it a shot tonight. its jimmy buffet and its the last one left for a reason....

back to abbi and the beach :)

i've made it back now to our little house on beach. an uneventful trip minus the car accident on the way to the airport in quito...


i checked out of the hostle at 11am after saying good bye to julie and the staff. i flagged a taxi and was on my way.

the car pulled up to the lights at a busy intersection and i watched the motorcycle in front of us swerve into the next lane right in front of us. it had 2 small children balanced on the back seat. my taxi driver hit the brakes to give them some room and then BAM! we got smashed hard from behind. the car hit us so i hard that at first i didnt realized what had happened. i sat in the back seat and watched the scene unfold in front of me in slow motion. i think my neck and head got whipped around so fast and hard that it took me a minute or two to clue into what was going on. all of a sudden i snapped out of mini shock and opened to window to hear what was happening.

thankfully the children on the back of the motorcycle we fine and the only damage was to my taxi. the 2 drivers were yelling at each other in the middle of the road. eventually my driver got back in the car and yelled something at me that i didnt understand fully but assumed it was him telling me i had to get out and catch a different taxi. he pulled over to the side of the road and i climbed out. in the middle of the freeway. it took about 10 minutes before someone stopped and picked me up! holy stress! and my neck hurt to top it off.

i didnt really leave enough time in my plan for this and make it to the airport in time! i manged to check in right at cut off and sat in the boarding lounge. i took some aleve for my neck and hoped for the best...

the plane ride was less eventful, thank god, and by the time we landed, my neck felt fine.
i caught a taxi to the bus terminal, bought my ticket and some lunch and was on the road by 2pm.

i arrived in playas at 430 and abbi was waiting for me at the bus stop :) we walked home, i unpacked and then we headed to the store to get stuff for dinner.

we still havent cooked anything and its now 930pm. its just too hot to eat. now we dont have to shop tomorrow at least and we can concentrate on beach time!

im glad to be back here at the house and i think abbi is glad to have some company again. the time apart was good for us!
tonight i'll start book number 4! who knew i liked to read so much ;)

until tomorrow, ciao for now.

Sept 8 Quito walking tour... finished with an amazing night at la ronda.

today i managed to sleep in a little bit despite the loud street below our window in the hostel. i was up and showered by 830am... hah! imagine if i was able to have that much accomplished by then at home :)

after our stand-up breakfast of yogurt mixed with cereal and tea in the shared kitchen, julie and i hit the streets. we walked up the hill to the massive gothic basilica first. it was incredibly beautiful inside with its shining gold railings and brightly coloured stained glass. we all no im not one for religion but it was hard to not be taken back by the beauty of that space. after we had taken it all in from the inside, we bought tickets to climb the two towers that stand tall like soldiers guarding the entire structure.

it was quite a hike to the top but the views of the city made it well worth the effort. i am finding that here in quito even a simple set of stairs takes the breath out of me due to the high altitudes. we are currently at about 2800 meters above sea level! the top of the volcano near the hostel rests at 4100 meters.

after some pictures and a rest we walked all the way back down to street level and headed towards plaza theatre. to be honest there wasn’t much going on there... just some people milling about looking at the souvenir shops that are all filled with the same cheap nick nacks, the kind of stuff you buy, and wonder what the hell you were thinking when you unpack it at home.

we walked a bit further down the street past many old homes along the steep cobblestone streets until we came across plaza grande. this is where the parliament building is located and wouldn’t you imagine our luck; the president of ecuador was just arriving for some meetings with other important delegates. all the locals were gathered around the building taking to snap photos. the balcony where he entered was quite high of the ground so it was hard to get a good shot of him. there was a marching band playing upon his arrival along with 2 lines of guards in full uniform along the hallway to the entrance of the building. this was all very cool to witness so we sat around in this plaza for a while and watched as the other delegates pulled up to the building in flagged black limos guarded by many police cars and motor cycles.

after all the commotion of plaza grande we headed over to plaza san fransisco. this square was much bigger than plaza grande but far less busy. we found some children playing with the many pigeons that wait in the square to feed on the seeds that the locals buy and share with the birds. they were kinda creepy to be honest but it was entertaining to watch.

we needed to make a restroom stop on our walk and julie was kind enough to pay the 15 cents needed to use the facilities and for a few squares of toilet paper. how sweet i thought! no one's ever paid for me to use the ladies room before ;)

by this time it was lunch so we headed back to the part of town where our hostel is located. we found a little restaurant and ate almuerzo ( the lunch special) for $1.80. the special included a large bowl of soup that had an amazing broth, followed by a huge plate of rice, beans and chicken. oh and a drink was included in the price too- what a steal!!

back at the hostel we had a chance to catch up on our emails and get messages from home. i love hearing from everyone! we hung out on the roof top patio and listened to the sounds of the city and got some sun. the hostel seemed very empty today so we basically had the whole place to ourselves, our own mansion nestled high up in the mountains.

the next adventure was to help julie find the hotel where her tour of the rest of south america starts. we hopped into a taxi and showed the driver her map of where the hotel was supposed to be located. he dropped us off exactly where her map showed but was we walked around the block we found out that her map was wrong. after getting directions from 2 old men that we couldn’t understand at all i took her to an internet cafe to look up the exact address. as it turned out we were only about 10 blocks away from the spot we needed, so off we went, cruising the streets again.

i was relieved when we got there because i was starting to get frustrated, it’s hard to be lost and have EVERYONE staring at you like you are an alien while you try to find your way.

we got julie all sorted out, she met her tour guide and set up a time for her to meet the group the next day. yay! mission accomplished with just a few minor bumps in the path along the way. once again, somehow it all worked out. the next challenge we faced was pretty minor and it was just to make it back to the hostel for happy hour.

now here we sit, writing in our journals, listening to music on the roof. since it's our last night together in quito we plan on hitting town. there is a place called la ronda that is way more authentic than were we were last night. there is apparently live music on every corner with lots of options for food and drink. the good news is that is way safer than where we went last night.



LATER THAT NIGHT...

what an amazing place we stumbled upon at la ronda! i had the best night of the trip so far.

we walked all the way to la ronda which was quite a bit farther than i thought it would be and it was cold!

it was about 9pm when we arrived there at the narrow street overflowing with yellow light. we walked right to the end and were served to cups of canelazo. we had no idea what it was at the time. it tasted like hot cider and i was pretty sure there was no alcohol in it. i found out later i was wrong. its a traditional drink here in quito made of orange juice, cinnamon and sugar cane alcohol. it was nice and warm so we sat and drank it in a little door way and watched all the people walking by. while we sat we were approached by two ladies who asked us to come to a party. i thought to myself uh oh, what kind of party?! she gave us a flyer and it turned out there was an ecuadorian music festival going on, and it was free! she said that it started in 10 minutes so we told her we would finish our drinks and meet here there.

we walked a ways down the cute little street that was lined with shops and restaurants and found the address we were looking for. at first glance it looked like we were walking into a tiny little place but after we ducked through the doorway and headed down a narrow hall way we were totally surprised. the hall way opened up into large outdoor theatre! who knew such a place could be hiding behind such a small subtle entrance way.

at the there was a set of stairs that led down to a room filled with ecuadorians watching a band on stage. the music was beautiful so we headed down the steps and joined the crowd. on stage were 3 men who were singing their hearts out and playing guitars. the music was infectious. before long julie and i were clapping, tapping our feet and bobbing our head to the music i couldn’t help but feel incredibly happy with what we had stumbled upon. i couldn’t stop smiling from ear to ear. this was real ecuadorian life and we were right there in the middle of it with no other tourists to be seen.

there was a group of ladies dancing away behind us and before long they had julie and i up and dancing with them. they openly invited us into their dance circle, took our pictures and kissed us on the cheeks and hands. it was magical. we could see all the other people in the theatre looking at us with big smiles on their faces. i felt like they were flattered to have us there with them and grateful to share this moment with us :)

once the band was finished, we gave the musicians a standing ovation before heading up stairs to the restaurant for nachos and empanadas. julie and i both were ecstatic about what had just gone down.

it was getting late at this point so we thought we'd better head back before too many weirdoes came out of the wood work. on the way back to catch a taxi we came across a one man band playing away under the yellow street lights. he had given a few tambourines to some children who were watching. they all danced around like no one was watching. what a way to end the night. what a place! it was the best last night together we could have asked for.


tomorrow julie and i say good bye and i head back to abbi at the beaches. im ready for some rest and relaxation for these last few days of the trip. i can’t believe its almost over already!

Sept 7 Quito day 2

i´m really enjoying quito.

today julie and i were real tourists as we decided to be brave and take the feared public transit to la tuda mundo ( the centre of the world aka the equator )

we started our journey with a walk through park arameda. we have been told to avoid this park at all costs at night time which seems weird because its so beautiful during the day with its flowing fountains, statues and young couples kissing on the benches.

we found our bus stop near the basillica ( of which i´d like to climb to the top, maybe tomorrow ) anyways, we stayed on that bus for 40 minutes while vendors hopped on and off selling fruit and sweets. we had to tranfer busses at ofelia station which was a bit confusing but we manged to locate the right bus and we were on our way.

we arrived at la tuta mundo about an hour later and walked towards the giant monument. it was funny to be there and know that the real equator is actually 100 meters alway from there due to a slight miss calculation way back in the day. none the less we did the tourist thing and took cheesy pictures beside the monument and along the yellow lind painted on the ground.

we found a cute little restaurant and had empanadas and for lucnh, looked at the gift shops and hopped back on the bus. the wrong bus!!

after an hour ride we got kicked off the and we had no idea where we were. we walked for bit before we decided it would be safest to hail a cab back to the hostle. when we got in it turned out that we were only 10 blocks away from where we were supposed to be! everything works out in the end. i really think i have a horseshoe up my ass sometimes!

we chilled at the hostle for the next little bit, read books and shared some beers before we headed to mariscal sucre.  we caugh the bus there again, it was a bit more sketch this time as it as very crowded. we hung in tight to our bags so we didnt get pick pocketed, a common occurrence on the public transport.

we made it to the busy plaza and found a nice place for dinner. poor julie had tried every bank machine we could find to try and get money out before this with no luck. this was not a cheap place to eat either so thankfully they accepted credit cards. there was a nice mix of locals and gringos in the plaza. turns out ecuador was playing soccer so we got to watch the match and the bar. we each had a mojito and a thai salad for dinner which were not thai at all but still very yummy.

we talked for a long time about our lives at home, work, boys etc. we had to take a taxi back home becuase its too dangerous to take the busses that late.

now we are back at the hostle. there is great music playing at the bar downstairs; amy winehouse, lilly allen, sia, florence and the machine etc. there are also a few people hanging out playing the guitar and singing in the lobby area. this are all nice sounds to hear as i fall asleep.