Woke up at 7am for breakfast at 730. I opened my eyes to my mom eating the chips ahoy chocolate chip cookies I had been saving for an emergency (most likely for lunch today since the Russians we met last night said the sandwiches were tuna and vegetable...gross). I was like, WHY ARE YOU EATING THE COOKIES I´VE BEEN SAVING!?!?!? "Because I´m hungry and wanted a snack" was her reply...I was not a happy camper because now I was most likely going to go without food for the majority of the day. At breakfast I met a local Ecuadorean and shot [View Full Entry]

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Well, needless to say I didn´t get much sleep last night...about an hour and a half until the phone rang informing us Javier would be there at 830/9am and the girl wanted to know when we wanted to have breakfast...I told her 8am. We had your standard Ecuadorean breakfast with fresh fruit, juice, tea, bread, jelly, and cheese. After breakfast we waited around a few minutes until Javier and his taxi driving friend picked us up. We headed into the highlands (I took a quick nap) to see the giant tortoises on his family´s property. 60 years ago when his father [View Full Entry]

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We woke up at 6am to grab breakfast at 6:45...fruit plate with some bread, cheese, juice, and coffee. After breakfast we headed to SCUBA Iguana for our dives today. We had to be there by 7:20 to make sure all the gear was ready. We met everyone else in our group of 8, hopped in the cabs, and headed to the other side of the island (near Baltra) to hop on the dive boat and head to Isla Beagle. After a 30 minute car ride, a 1.5 hour boat ride (which included naps by all) we finally made it to our [View Full Entry]

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Continued from the last post... Sure enough, an hour into our trip, around 3:30, the bus pulls over again, this time at a National Ecuadorean Police Station where everyone is asked to get off the bus, show their passports and have their bags searched. Again, I was dead asleep and had trouble prying my weary eyes open for another midnight jaunt. I hopped out and waited in line with everyone else from the top deck...it looked like there were still about 8 people below sleeping who weren´t leaving the bus. Everyone handed over their passports one at a time, had their [View Full Entry]

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That is the question I´ve been considering all night and morning. I woke up around 8 to start figuring out my route north. Every bus and bus driver I saw I asked if they were going to Tumbes, all said No Passe, No passe. So I headed to the internet cafe to call Aunt B for a credit card number to book a flight somewhere...I have no plastic on me and she´s my go-to person while my mom is indisposed. I checked the flights from Piura to Tumbes and they are 500-600 bucks...REDICULES! I also checked into a bus to Lima [View Full Entry]

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What a beautiful last day! I checked out of my room at 11 and dropped my stuff behind the front desk of the hostel. After, I grabbed lunch from the birdhouse, the bacon, turkey, guacamole sandwich with potato salad...I´m kinda getting bored with American food! After lunch I laid out on the beach for a couple hours until it was kitesurfing time. Around 2 I met up with Rein and he gave me a kite, harness, and bar and said he would supervise me today...along with the other kid (Matias) who was also a beginner and needed supervision. We set everything [View Full Entry]

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Chuchaki is Ecuadorean for Hangover! I´m not feeling too great today. I woke up around 830, chugged some gatorade, had some water and then went back to sleep til about 11. I got up and went to the beach to get some sun...it´s sooo hot here. I grabbed lunch at the Birdhouse, NC bbq and potatoe salad...very good. After lunch I headed to the beach. I was sweating my but off. I waited around til 2 then went to find Rein for some more kitesurfing today. He was doing a lesson already and the boys were in Lobidos practicing for the [View Full Entry]

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Woke up today around 930 and decided I needed some funds so I hit up the Bank and recieved some funds I was transfered...now I can sit pretty the rest of my time in Máncora! I went to pick up the Canadians around 1130, the plan was to visit the local market...Raya needed a bra and everyone could get super cheap stuff there. Braeden had a terrible night...he´s still sick...so we decided to skip the market and head to the birdhouse for breakfast/lunch. I had the buffalo wings, a salad with pulled chicken with a delicious honey mustard dressing, and a [View Full Entry]

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Last night I hit the sack around 1030 and around 11 a live band started playing at one of the restaurants on the beach. I had my window open for some fresh breeze and it was pretty loud...but it was decent latin music so I managed to sleep on and off until 4am when they called it quits. I woke up around 1030 feeling pretty good...a lot better than I thought I would. I went and knocked on the Candian´s door to see how they were...Raya was pretty sick and Braeden was feeling better but still not quite 100 percent. They [View Full Entry]

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Another early morning...time to see if I can get in some kitesurfing today. Rein promised to find stellar wind, so let´s see what happens. While waiting for him to show up, I grabbed breakfast at the bird house...eggs, bacon, homefries, and tea. After breakfast I met up with him and he said the wind here was slow today but we could go to Los Orgenos or Cabo Blanquil to kite. The waves were pretty big this morning (yesterday he said waves like to eat kites up...which is why I wasn´t able to ride...if you break it, you buy it) but they [View Full Entry]

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