Mountains on the Coast

The night before we left for Las Tunas, Elena and Ricardo took us to dinner with their oldest daughter Priscilla. She is coming to the states, Northeastern University, for college in the fall. We got to talk with her a little bit about college and what too expect. Right before dinner, to kick some of the recently acquired calories, we walked up 500 stairs to the top of the original start of Guayaquil to overlook the city. Shortly after was when we drove to a traditional restaurant for some yummy food. It was an enjoyable evening and we feasted on a ton of food.

Our bus to Olon (the last bus stop before Las Tunas) left out of Guayaquil at 7am. Once again, Elena willingly drove us to the bus station to catch our early bus and make sure we were safe and sound. It was a much more enjoyable experience this time.

Driving out of Guayaquil was a peaceful exchange with chaotic rush hour traffic and calming countryside residents. The area isn't what you would expect right outside of the city. It was obvious the people here live a very different lifestyle than I do back in the States. I am learning a lot about human nature and contentment with simplicity on this trip, and I was very happy to witness the morning lifestyles of tiny eclectic markets and children playing outside. It was quite a site to see and makes me realize how little I truly need in the world we live in. Our definition of "need" in America is far different from those on the Equator.

Driving to our beach house from the bus station

Fernando (Julie's husband) met us at the bus station in Olon to drive us the rest of the way to Las Tunas. Arriving on the coast was incredible. You can't beat summers on the equator AND in the mountains. We were able to stay at a family used beach house and it had an awesome view of the ocean. Sitting in a hammock off the coast of Ecuador isn't a bad set up!

The view from our humble abode at sunset

View from my hammock during the day. Cows, roosters and horses galore!

We headed out with Fernando after dropping our stuff of at the beach house. First we went to el Parque de National on Los Frailes close to where we were staying. We hiked up to a viewpoint on the beach and then to a small black sand beach that looked like crystal sand and felt like satin between my toes. On top of it all, we were swimming between the islands and off the coast of the Pacific Ocean IN the mountains. We had incredible

 

We had an adventurous day and then were very good at taking naps on the deck of our little house. Michael in particular seemed to manage two, 2.5 hour naps over the whole weekend. In addition to our long nights rest. But that's exactly why we were there so it was well deserved!

For dinner, we walked down the beach to a little restaurant close by for some seafood and a cabana atmosphere. It was pretty quiet and we could hear the crash of the waves in the background of our meal. Among all of this I keep forgetting we're in Ecuador and far far away from home. This isn't Galveston for sure.

We woke up yesterday morning on Sunday to start our morning adventures at 9am. The activity for the day was kayaking and snorkeling, all in one trip. We helped Fernando unload the kayaks from the truck and piled in our kayaks to paddle out off the coast to a little island close by. Fernando is a scuba instructor and we were so thankful for his schedule that he created for us on our trip to the coast. We never would have had this opportunity had it not been for him. We kayaked out to e island and got ready with masks and flippers to see the coral and fish off the island. The water wasn't as great as we could have hoped for, but we still got to see some great things down on the ocean floor.

We also forgot to recognize that the sun is a bit closer to us on the equator and Sara ad I were a bit fried when we returned to the shore. Michael was quite alright, but Sara and I are slightly resembling the color of a lobster on our backs. Oh well, the trip was quite worth it! We were pretty tired after kayaking and took a little siesta after returning to our house. Fernando made us a pizza for dinner and we enjoyed it at the house with some great company. I don't know what we would have done without the family while we've been here. They have been too good to us!

 

Did I mention that Michael has been really great at extending the length between the times he showers...it's pretty hilarious what he could do with his hair after 3 days of not showering. Hilarious or gross? I'll let you decide. I should also mention that we had a little friend in our house lat night too. It was a ginormous spider bigger than the palm of my hand crawling on our wall. Noises coming from that house during the time of its capture we're quite humorous. That alone is a story to tell about the beach.

We rested easy last night and got up this morning to travel back to Olon and ride back to Guayaquil. The coast was also very good to us! Thank you for all of your help and hospitality Fernando!!