Don't hate the Playa, hate the game.

A seven hour bus ride later, we were in Atacames, a beach town on the northern coast, the closest beach to Quito. We arrived at 7 am, passed out at the hotel for a few hours then headed to the beach. High tourist season only lasts through the beginning of September leaving the town fairly quiet. Our hotel was a 10 minute taxi ride away which was the best part of the trip, because they utilize mototaxis. They more or less consist of a dirt bike engine and seat attached at the front or back to a small bench with a roof and open sides for up to three passengers.

Atacames is popular for being the most convenient beach for Quiteños, because it's definitely not very aesthetic. I thought it looked more like Misquamicut than Florida beaches, which is where my beach experiences max out. We also only got a few hours of sun, on Friday afternoon, for the entire weekend.

Despite the lack of sol, it was hot and perfect to just lounge on the sand and go swimming. I'm so spoiled from growing up with Manasota beach - I don't like crowds, and I got annoyed by the vendors every 5 minutes trying to sell us sunglasses, hair wraps and braiding, fruit, coconut milk, etc. There was plenty of beach beyond the hotels and bars, but it's dangerous to stray away from the action, especially as six very obviously American girls.

The northern coast is especially famous for its seafood. For lunch, we went to this wide alley off the main road that was lined with grills and small food prep areas. Each was owned by a different family, and could serve up to 10 people at a time at their respective picnic table. The food was delicious. The first day I had a rice dish with shrimp (Ecuador's 2nd largest export to bananas, not counting petroleum which is #1 over all), and on Saturday shrimp and fish cooked with coconut milk. Everything was served with fried plantains, and big portions for $4. They made everything a few feet away from us, and you could watch them pull the plantains from huge green bunches hacked straight from the tree. Later that night when we were out at the bars, they offered amazing 50 cent snacks of roasted choclo (a type of corn on the cob) and plantains covered with cheese.

I bought some cheap jewelry made from coconut and tagua (a really hard tree nut that resembles ivory) and some coconut candy to bring to my staff meeting at the colegio Monday. We also enjoyed huge batidos (shakes) made from milk, fruit and ice for $1 apiece. The best part was they filled our cups, then when we drank about a third of the way, they refilled them to the top, so we got almost an entire blender's worth of shake. Not bad. Again I failed in the picture-taking department.

We caught a bus home to Quito at 11 pm Saturday so we could avoid paying two nights at a hotel. I got home around 6 am, went to sleep, woke up at 11 and my house was full of people. Apparently we were having a barbecue - just like Real Home, no one tells me anything around here. I was exhausted but I had to suck it up and mingle with Ecua family and neighbors, some of whom I had met and some new ones. I get really confused with names and relations here.
Today there was a big rival futbol game versus Liga, the Quito team and Barcelona, the Guayaquil team. Some of the fam is from Guayaquil, who lost 4-0, so a few (male) cousins were a little cranky. They had been whining for 15 minutes about how their team blew it, when Ibis's aunt Albertinita, who is very much on the deaf side, asked, "Who won the game?" José answered, "Liga," and her response was a casual, "Oh, ¡qué bueno!" I couldn't stop laughing, it was priceless.

Excited for my last week of 7 a.m. grad class, not to mention last week in Septiembre..chuta.


By the way, I really have no idea who all is reading this, so don't be afraid to leave a comment once in a while. I'm curious about how efficient my promoters (otherwise known as Real Mom and Real Dad) have been.



-B