Diveferfun

We were up at 530am for our boat ride back at 6am. This boat was a bit bigger, but still packed to the gills with people...even little kids sleeping on the floor of the boat! I was in the back corner of the boat, so the minimal up and down wave action, so I prob wouldn´t get sick...we also took some sea sickness pills around 530...so I think we´ll be good. We also met a couple people from Calgary (again with the Canadians) on the boat ride that were at our hotel too...but hadn´t talked to them until now. They were on a 6-month world tour and were in Asia a week ago. I did my best to nap most of the time and was doing a great job without my ipod until I heard someone ... read more

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 moved here, he asked the town where he could set a house, and they told him to go up into the highlands and claim a piece...FOR FREE!...so he picked up 200 hectares of farmland and ... read more

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 bags checked...it came to me, and I handed the girl my passport, and just waved me forward....didn´t even check my camelback I was carrying...and the whole while the cops are checking every nook and cranny ... read more

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 up and launched our kites then headed down to the beach. I felt like I was riding into the wind, but apparently I was just riding FAST downwind. My main objective today is to ride ... read more

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 hurricane! After lunch they decided to head to the market while I was just going to lay on the beach. I ran into some girls we met in Montañita so I invited them to join ... read more