Blogs from Atacames, North, Ecuador, South America

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

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

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

Wochenendausflug nach Atacames und Tonsupa mit vielen Kollegen aus dem CRN- ans Meeeeeeer!!! :)... read more

I return to you now at the beginning of a new chapter in my journey. The time I commited to working for the better of others has run dry, and with an emotional departure beneath both a full moon and the flashes of lightening on the horizon, I set off in the same old pick-up truck that arrived at 9 to steal away all the other volunteers that departed over the weeks I have been here. Watching the bodies of the families I have come to know well, fade away as the red glow from our tail lights could no longer touch them, was the last line in the last chapter of my journey. Now I must mould my own adventure alone. I didn't wake up this final morning, until the sound of eight little ... read more