Blogs from Montañita, West, Ecuador, South America - page 13

It is hard to belive that it is almost Xmas. As the weather is hot and sunny I tend to forget the day is quickly arriving. There are some people who have their trees decorated and on their balcony, but other than that there are not many signs of the festive season. Today when i woke up and was still in a dazed state, I thought it was going to be a beautiful spring day. The birds were singing and what I thought was the rumble of traffic....which turned out to be the surf....just reminded me of spring back home in the city. For the last two days I have seen Manta Rays Flying above the water. Yes, I know rays are fish and swim in the water but they also fly. When you look out ... read more

The sun has finally come out! It has been cloudy and over cast since I got here and (I can´t believe I am saying this) cold. It has been about 15-20c but the wind has made it colder. Everyone is laughing at me, being from Canada and finding it cold. I am beginning to settle in nicely here. I have been able to discuss what my job will be and basically, for those of you who remember the Love Boat, i am Julie McCoy! Pretty easy job. Just making sure that the guests are enjoying their stay, that they know about the day trips and encouraging them to go. If I want to, which I do, I also get to go on all of these trips. I know, tough job but someone has to do it! ... read more

So I finally made it into the waves yesterday, and failed miserably I might add, but today I am getting some more help. I am slowly picking up some more spanish words and today have made arrangements to practice my spanish with someone. In the meantime, I am "conducting" my own spanish/english lessons. These lesson consist of me going into the kitchen with two of the guys that work there and holding up items, sayning the name in english, they say it in spanish and we both repeat it. Obviously, these guys are trying to learn english. This morning we covered butter, marmalade and the ingredients for pancakes. It is always good for a laugh! Yesterday, after the attempt at surfing and meeting a few of the locals, I walked up the road to a look ... read more

#4- The Southern Coast of Ecuador- Friday, September 16, 2005 On from Quito to the large, busy coastal city of Guayaquil to the famous surf beach of Montañita; from there moving onto the quiet fishing village of Puerto Lopez before returning to Guayaquil and escaping the coast to the colonial beauty of Cuenca. After spending about 10 days in the Galapagos, I returned to Quito accompanied by an itch to return to the coast. The ocean was calling me, and my pasty, white skin needed sun after the unsuccessful search for sun on the Galapagos. I spent a couple of days in Quito gathering up the gear I left behind and a small farewell party with Andrew and Larse (fellow passengers on the Guantanamera). Our party started at Larse’s place, and we conversed with his roommate ... read more

I left Quito in a hurry on Tuesday night to beat a bus strike and get Mariana back to Quito by Friday. We had to leave a lot faster than I expected and I forgot a few things in the rush....my guitar, my aloe, my guidebook. I barely caught the night bus to Puerto Lopez, followed by a another bus to the Sanctuario Santa Maria Del Fiat, which is where I'll be living for the next two months. The Sanctuario sits on a cliff above the pacific ocean (in sight of Montañita) and provides a school, home or both for 800 children. The yougest they have now is 5 weeks old, and was found abondoned in the street on the day he was born. Because he's so young, finding him a home is easy (14 families ... read more