Beach time

I’m back. Here goes over a week of what I’m been doing. I’ll try to break it up accordingly and add as much interesting stuff as possible, but I’ll probably forget some really cool stuff. Like I’m finally remembering to tell you that guinea pigs originate from here. They call them cuy(es). People used to keep them in their house, and if they freaked out when a person entered the house, that meant that said person had bad spirits with them or something. Also, people still believe today that if you’re sick or depressed or something, you should go and get some sort of “cuy cleaning”… I’m pretty sure they rub cuy over you like a live sponge or something. And finally, they eat them. Yes. Guinea pigs are very popular for special occasions. I don’t know about city people, but country/suburb people are definitely into eating cuy. Also, I’ve been forgetting to mention that I’m pretty sure Ecuadorians don’t use washcloths. Z doesn’t have any, there haven’t been any in ANY of our hotels OR in the jungle. I just think it’s a little weird.
Finally, THE BEACH. Not really. After my last frantic blog we drove over to the market, which is kind of like West Side Market but almost better simply because this is Ecuador and they sell fruits that don’t exist anywhere else. On the outside, they sold packaged things that weren’t as interesting, but on the inside there was meat and fruit. I looked at all of this amazing fruit, sad that I couldn’t buy any because you HAVE to wash things well before eating them, and I was going straight to the beach. The fruit I remember best comes from Otavalo; it’s big, green, soft, and supposedly tastes like vanilla. It’s called Chirimoya, I think. Next time I remember I’ll ask Z about it. I talked a little with Ana María. There was an altar thing in the middle of the market, and AM told me that the vendors maintained it. They even have Mass there and stuff. But she said that the relationships in the market are really special; it’s like a cooperative. All of the vendors are in it together, and they’ll watch each other’s stands and kids and stuff. (Quick note: I’m writing this at 10pm on a Friday and I’m pretty sure there’s some sort of street race taking off below my window. Just a guess). Sadist that I am, I went straight to the meat. There was an eating area as well, where they sell food ready-to-eat, but I stayed clear because even though Andrew Zimmern says that the best way to get to know a people/culture is through the street food, other sources tell me the best way to get to know the inner workings of your digestive system in more detail than you would ever care to care is also through the street food. I contented myself with looking at beef tongue (when are you going to make ours, Dad?) and heart, huge fish, live crabs (I had to keep Felicia from yelling EW! too loudly so as not to offend the vendors), anchovies, octopi, and other delightfully squishy stuff. And chicken feet. There was a yarn stand and a wood goods stand, and a lot of fruit. I spoke to a couple of vendors briefly. I also found another altar-looking thing which was extremely puzzling because there was an angel and TWO babies that looked like they were supposed to be the baby Jesus. I have no idea why there were two, and when I asked AM about it she didn’t understand me. Next we took a look at flowers. After oil, flowers are Ecuador’s biggest export. It sounds weird, but I’m serious; I’m pretty sure only Colombia has a bigger trade. Therefore, flowers here are ridiculously cheap compared to Giant Eagle or any real florist. A huge, beautiful bouquet was $3, and the vendor almost died when we told her that a dozen roses could sell for $25 in the US. No one really bought anything because most people were going to the beach, but some kids bought some coca tea and AM got the hottest chili peppers she could find in order to give them to a friend. Charlie ate one and had sinus problems for the next half hour or so. It was actually kind of funny. The bus dropped the other kids off at the station Shirys, and the rest of us waited for them to leave. I couple of buddies for the university came with us: Nick, Chris, and Fran. They proved to be lifesavers because they obviously speak better Spanish than us, and therefore could explain things that we had trouble with.
The bus ride was fun. It started out kind of quiet; nearly everyone took a nap. Later we got out from the city and into the mountains. Amazing. I’ve developed this weird fetish for looking out the window, and that’s all I did until it got dark. There was a lot of forest and a lot of mountains and clouds and cows, if I remember correctly. As the night wore on fourish hours turned to six turned to seven or eight because we stopped so much for snacks and bathrooms that usually didn’t have toilet paper or soap. That said, this entire week was pretty darn disgusting. I don’t think I was properly clean but once. Anyway, the hours went fast because we played some music and danced around a little bit1; I was so glad we rented a bus from the university instead of taking a sketchy public one. I have a bad history with buses, you know. We got to Hotel Cielos Azules kind of late and divided into rooms (me with Margoh, Maddy, Abby, and Alana) and settled in. It wasn’t five stars or anything, but it was cute and bungalow-y, and right on the beach, plus there were hammocks! We relaxed a lot and some of the kids talked about going out, but the general consensus was more hunger, so a few of them went out and brought back pizza. Meanwhile we check out the beach (in the dark) and sit by the pool talking; Nick brought a guitar and I’m pretty sure some singing happened alter on in the night. I enjoyed my pizza and the powwow; it reminded me of Ridgeville parties because it was so chill (all we were missing was a fire). I went to bed at 2, but most other people stayed up a few hours later.2 In the morning I laid in my hammock. We got a breakfast (eggs, bread, hot chocolate and juice) with the room and I began taking malarial medicine, Malarone. I went out to walk around in the waves a little and then sat by the pool. A little later a couple of kids found out that there was this banana boat thing for $5, if you wanted to ride. I was a little low on cash, but I ended up going anyway because it was actually only $2.50. I got my first unofficial run in running to and from the hotel in order to drop off some belongings so they wouldn’t fall in the ocean. We got life jackets and got on this huge floaty thingie. When I got on it, I felt something snap in my knee and it hasn’t been the same. Not sure what happened, but it’s a little depressing. Anyway, a speedboat dragged us through the water and toppled us over about three times. It was pretty darn fun, especially when I finally figured out that there was no trick to staying on… the boy who worked on it jumped off before it tipped over. The experience warmed me up to the water a little bit (and got me used to the saltiness) and I spent some time swimming in the waves. Sorry, but ocean is so much more fun than lake. I love the waves. I didn’t get to enjoy it too long because Chris knew a place in Casablanca with a better beach and good, cheap food, and we packed up a few things and got on the bus for about 15 minutes. By then it had gotten really hot, and we had to walk for a good 15 minutes because otherwise the bus wouldn’t be able to turn around. Casablanca is basically a resort, and it was pretty cool to see. We stopped in at this little store where I should have bought water, then kept walking. We hit the beach, and kept walking; by this time my knee was making me feel whiny. We finally made it to this literal beachside almost-restaurant. I ordered ceviche de shrimp, a classic soup dish in Ecuador. We waited forever for our food; luckily they brought out salty fried plantains as an appetizer.3 While waiting, we say a dog that was spray-painted purple and were serenaded by this creepy man with a unibrow. The ceviche was okay, but it was cold and had some sort of mystery fish (Fran called it concha) in addition to the shrimp. I drank Coke because Chris know the owner and he gave us two 3-liter bottles for free; I was too cheap for water and was dying of thirst. Once everyone finished almost everyone went to swim. Like I said, so much fun. There were less people at this beach, too. A crowd of Ecuadorians began a game of soccer on the beach, and a couple of our guys played, too. I just watched, and swam some more.4 Eventually nearly everyone migrated to the sand to watch the game and wait for the sun to set.5 One of the kids, Ben, was in running club and decided to just go and run along the beach. Charlie runs to, so he went with him, and despite my knee I decided to go too because it was too good an opportunity to pass up. We ran along the waves without shoes of course, talking about the book Born to Run and old track and cross country workouts. Pretty iconic, if I do say so myself. The sun was starting to set, so we took one more jump in the ocean and rejoined everyone else. After saying that the sky looked pretty, we tried to get everyone together. We began to walk back, and I loved seeing the little (and not-so-little) crabs that had begun to infest the beach. I talked with Abby, and she loves to run too! I know I’m a little obsessive, but I’m just super glad to meet all of these potential running club people. Like I said, it took nearly forever to get everyone together. We went to swim at the pool but it turned out to be private, so we had to leave. We stopped at this little tiki bar and nearly everyone ordered these really gorgeous-looking coconut milkshakes. Yum. On our walk back Chris found a hermit crab. I still don’t like them. After our long trek back we made it to the bus, and got back to the hotel. Everyone dressed and we went out, looking for food. We got pizza again (surprise!). Everyone else stayed out to take a peek at the nightlife, but a couple girls and I were tired (my knee was killing me) and so one of the Ecuadorians walked us back to the hotel. Like I said, those guys are my heroes.6 I woke up in the morning and hung out in the hammock again, and ate the same breakfast. Some kids wanted to go to another beach but everyone was tired and quite frankly a little crabby, so we eventually packed up and got on the bus. Although I liked the beach, I was happy to leave. It was beautiful, but I felt REALLY disgusting because sand was everywhere (somehow some got into my water bottle, as I discovered later in the jungle) and there had been no shampoo so my hair was disgusting despite m valiant efforts with the soap, plus I hadn’t yet packed for the jungle. My knee still bothered me and my throat did too, probably from lack of sleep and water. We stopped at a restaurant for lunch; luckily there was a small plate for $2 which was all I had if I was going to take a taxi back home; beans, rice, fried plantain. The ride back was pretty chill; I opened a window all the way and took naps while doing my favorite thing: looking out the window and chatting it up with everyone, lamenting that we were going to be split up in the coming week. I took a taxi back with Maddy and Brenden, and Z and Enrique were at home. I took a shower which was the best feeling in the world: to have clean hair and to clean the sand out from under my fingernails. As always, Z had dinner waiting for me. So good. I skyped Mom and Dad (back from Canada) while packing things like a headlamp, scrubs, bug repellent… I didn’t get sunburned at the beach, which was super nice (Charlie looked like a legitimate lobster. Then I slept. For a few hours.