Blogs from Atacames, North, Ecuador, South America
Matkan viimeiset rannikot - Ecuadorin Same
Published: November 8th 2010South America » Ecuador » North » Atacames
November 6th 2010
Juhlapäivien vietto jatkuu loputtomiin Olimme jo yhden viikonlopun seuranneet kolumbialaisten Halloweenin viettoa ja ajattelimme, että eiköhän se nyt kohta jo lopu kun arki koittaa. Toisin kävi, vielä maanantainakaan ei ollut normaali työpäivä ja meillä lentolippujen hankita Ecuadoriin hankaloitui entisestään. Nykyisellään taitaa olla aika normaalia, että liput ostetaan netissä - etsitään siis sopiva lento ja maksetaan lysti sitten yksintein kun sopiva on löytynyt. Täällä kuitenkin kaikenlainen turvallisuus ja ulkomaisten vieroksuminen on viety aivan omaan luokkaansa kun lentojen ostaminen ulkomaisilla luottokorteilla on jokseenkin mahdotonta. Onnistuimme ensimmäisen lennon Cartagenasta Medelliniin hankkimaan netistä, mutta siinäkin meille tehtiin varmistussoitto ja kyseltiin muutama tarkentava kysymys, että olemme varmasti ulkomaalaisia ja että ... read more
February 26th 2010
Knowing I'd soon be returning to the hectic schedule of hotel management, I decided to spend three weeks on one of my favorite beaches, Playa Escondida, with some of my favorite people!! It was a wonderful, relaxing time. Lots of R&R -- sleeping 10 hrs a night (wish I could save up sleep credit!), playing Scrabble with Shana, reading several books a week (Jodi Picoult writes some bizarre stuff, I loved The Wild Trees and The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind). I had the time and mental tranquility for working on an art project, catching up on email and blog entries (the last two entries were published within 2 wks!) I was fortunate to have the use of a friend's fabulous beach house, Casa Encantadora. Thanks Susan, for allowing me stay there!!! I took long, ... read more
March 23rd 2009
Maya, Aviv, and I went to Atacames for the weekend since pretty much everyone else was in Mindo. It's on the north west coast of Ecuador and is basically just a beach party town. It's really far away from Otavalo (9 hours on bus) but it was worth it. We took the bus Friday overnight so we were there by early Saturday morning. We took the bus to Quito, arriving at 9:30 so that we could get tickets for the last bus to Atacames, leaving at 11:30. We then had an hour and a half to kill. Not long enough to leave the terminal because everything's pretty far away, so we had our own adventure. There's a supermarket type store in the terminal so we decided to get some snacks. We only tried stuff that we ... read more
September 13th 2008
Hey guys, Hope you are all well, thanks for all the messages it is lovely to recieve them! I had a lovely weekend at the beach in Mompiche, it was nice to see a bit of sunshine, but the mossies were a nightmare and I now look like I have the plague.. hence only the one photo of me this week!!! We were taken on a boat tour of the bay around Mompiche which was absolutely wonderful. I drank coconut juice from a fresh coconut off the tree (I really hadn´t realised that they wren´t usually brown!!) And sat on the beach and relaxed. I saw the sun set over the pacific ocean which was beautiful. We then made the 13 hour (7 hours of which were during the night, hence the mossie bites!) trip back ... read more
August 1st 2008
After the whistlestop tour of South Ecuador I was back on the road on my own and I decided to head to the coast for some R&R as I hadn´t had a good long lazy beach session since Australia. I booked my ticket with Trans Esmeraldes ( USD 8 for a 6 hour bus journey) which left at 6.45am the next day. The plan was to head to Tonsupa first following a recommendation and maybe Atacames after depending on how everything was going. For Tonsupa the only hotel in the guide book was the Playa del Sol which had a good location on the beach and nice big cabins for USD 30. Tonsupa was once a small fishing village and its now built up into a pleasant resort. It was quite strange though as there were ... read more
July 3rd 2008
After Colombia we decided we needed a little rest and relaxation in the form of sun, sea and surf. Well, sun and sea for me and watching the others surf. Spent a couple of days at Las Peñas (absolutely impossible to get to - I understand fully why it isn't even mentioned in the Lonely Planet). Absolutely beautiful and amazing seafood (add to that I was the only non-Ecuadorian there) and it was very relaxing. Next we headed to Tonsupa (quieter, smaller version of Atacames a ten minute motortaxi ride away) in search of a hotel and a cocktail after the long journey. Spent a day just hanging out on the beach touring the line of grass-roofed huts serving as cocktail bars and topping up my tan on the beach interspersed with frequent food and drink ... read more
December 19th 2007
Playa escondida Dies war mal genau das, was ich nach 3 Wochen ununterbrochen gefeierten Partys gebraucht habe! Super tolles Hostel direkt am Strand. Da es kurz VOR Weihachten ist, hab ich ein ganzes Bambushaus fuer mich alleine, also zumindest den oberen Stock. Ein amerikanischer Schriftsteller weilt unten, aber vom oberem Stock hat man eh die beste Aussicht. Das Wetter koennte nicht besser sein und ich kann mal richtig wieder Energie tanken. Je nach Ebbe und Flut wandere ich stundenlang am Strand entlang, endecke die Kueste, meditiere, renne, werde braun, sehe den zahlreichen Krabenscharen zu, oder beobachte verschiedene Voegel(Kolibri, Pelikane,...) und ne meter lange bunte Echse hab ich auch gesehen! Wenn ich ins naechste Dorf einkaufen gehe, natuerlich am Strand entlang und barfuss, endecke ich intressante Details der entbloessten Kueste! Erst beim Dorf, 90 min zu Fuss, ... read more
November 26th 2007
I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! Our celebration was actually really fun, very different from typical Thanksgiving, but enjoyable. I brought mashed potatos and Gladys brought a noodle salad. Her two friends came with us and Vanessa to the party. They even had a big turkey there! All of the food everyone brought was really good including the deserts. We all had to introduce our families on a microphone and it took forever because there were so many people there. After the presentations they turned on some salsa music and I danced with my friend Sarah who is super good at Salsa. My host sister, Vanessa, asked for reggaeton, THE popular music here, and we danced lots and lots. I couldn´t believe it was Thanksgiving and we were dancing like crazy people!! But it was ... read more
October 23rd 2007
Wochenendausflug nach Atacames und Tonsupa mit vielen Kollegen aus dem CRN- ans Meeeeeeer!!! :)... read more
Atacames, Esmeraldas, and Elections!
Published: October 3rd 2007South America » Ecuador » North » Atacames
September 30th 2007
Hello Everybody! Chris and I are safely back from Atacames, and we returned to Quito over the weekend, and now we are moved into Cuenca! Atacames was amazing! We really had quite the adventure. After being on the bus for 6 hours, trusty blue broke down and we were stuck in the middle of Esmeraldas, without a map and being the only English speakers around. Luckily, with broken Spanish we found another girl on the bus also going to Atacames, so she shared her taxi with us. So then, there we were in the middle of Atacames at 5am, without a map, without a hotel and being the only English speakers around. Luckily the little tourist town spotted the gringos and every hotel owner came out to beckon us into their hotel. Needless to say, we ... read more
