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Published: March 1st 2005
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sand monument
Mighty sand castle on the beach at Atacames. Unfortunately this site has a limited amount of places to choose from in Ecuador. Weekend just past I went to Atacames which is on the North West coast of Ecuador, it´s about a 7 hour coach journey for 4 quid from quito.
We stayed at a hostel owned by italian people and it was clean and right on the coast for $5 a night which was nice. We got there on thrusday in the evening and went out to one of the numerous bars along the coast. There are too many bars on the coast there are about 50 bars with 10 people serving at each one, with about 5 customers in each bar. Ecuadoreans really haven´t grasped the concept of financial viability yet. We met some people on a end of college trip and spoke to a dutch guy, he told me that he knows many people staying in Guayaquil all of whom have been robbed at gun point. He said it is a very dangerous place. I asked him if they were walking home at night instead of getting a taxi, he said yes, and I told him his friends were stupid and what did they expect.
On Friday we went to explore the nearby beaches and knew there was a path that took you there but did not know how to get there. We tried to cross a marsh to get to the path after asking directions but it was so sodden it was like quick sand, when I sank in I pulled my foot out and it was dank with crude oil, looking across the way there was an oil drill pumping away while all around people lived in a shanty town. I believe the drill was american owned as they seem to have an incredibly pervasive influence here.
We eventually scaled a hill to get to the path through really long grass that was sharp and had insects in, and we were wearing shorts, we got to the top eventually looking a bit like jim cavaziel but it was worth it because the views were pretty damn good, but I didnt bring my camera, which was lucky because it would have been ruined because on the way back we forgot that the ocean has tides, and we needed to get back to our hotel along the shore which was fast disappearing. I asked some locals if there was another way they said no, so we didnt really have a choice. So we made our way past the first expanse of rocky shore thinking that was it but then found there was another three expanses of rocky shore. At the third juncture we had to swim through a mini underwater cave but every time the waves carshed in it was completely submerged so we had to time the tide like dustin hoffman in papillon. Everything was going fine after that, we were on the home stretch, and there were even some locals fishing and laughing at the naive tourists who forgot about the tide. At this point we were carshed against the rocks by a mighty wave which then had just as almighty a pull back into the ocean, so we had to hold on to the rocks for dear life. But we made it back ok. When we got back a powerhouse of a black woman kept harrasing me to have my hair done by her, she either said that once she was finished I would look like a horse or a gentleman I couldn´t understand her coastal accent. (Quick titbit - it quickly becomes obvious how ill-educated they are at the coast because although I have only been here a month I could understand them because their vocabulary is that small, and at times I had to change what I was saying into simple spanish). Anyway eventually this incessant woman broke me down into bartering for something I didnt want. I said Ill just go and get my money but she found me again and there was no way out, she took her vengeance by pulling my hair far harder than necessary and braiding it. I was sat in between her stocky legs and later found out she was commando. Actually what she did to my hair was all the rage at the coast, but now Im in quito and I just look like a girl, but I paid 2 dollars for this so I´ll be damned if I´m not going to get my money´s worth. That night there was hardly any one around so we ate and went for a nap but actually slept for the whole night.
If you´re still here well done. It´s saturday now and we went to check out the other beaches to see if there was any people any where we went by bus to Ecuador´s casablanca which was beautiful but dull, and then to Muisne. We were going into famer country at this point so people were getting on the bus with 18 inch machetes and rifles. When you get to muisne you have to cross a river by boat, and on this boat there was a mother with a say three year old child clutching a one and a half foot blade, I thought this would make a good picture so being a polite tourist and having read that it was polite to ask in guidebooks, I asked if I could take a picture. She just said ´evil´ and I wasnt quite sure that she had said that so I asked again and she said ´evil´ again (without actually looking at me). There was then what I can only describe as a sepulcral silence in the boat as everyone looked at my digital camera whilst holding there machetes thinking how best they could rob me.
When we got to muisne we ate seafood at a restaurant, the beach was exactly the same as the others, but of course very beautiful. On the coast they have these tricycle taxis (I cant for the life of me remember their equivalents damn name in india because Im slowly losing control of my english as I seep into spanish if anyone can tell me the name of it please do. If steve pretty is reading this please tell me, because you will blatantly know). And on the ride back to the boat in a tricylce taxi the ´driver´ asked us where we were from and said oh england the pound is very strong there isnt it? yes it is. In that case do you want some marijuana? Which in all honesty was the first glimpse of some sort of capitalist spirit that I have come across in Ecuador as he was sort of persuading me that I could afford drugs of him. (Theres an exponential relationship between getting closer to columbia and being offered drugs. One guy on the beach was possibly the most antisubtle person ever, he came across and sat with us like we were old friends talking in an overloud voice so people could hear, asking us how we had been and were we enjoying teh coast and it had been too long and then would just grunt ´ganja´ under his breath and over compensate with another over zealous question about how our jobs were going).
On the bus back to Atacames the fat bus conductor tried to charge us the gringo premium of 40 cense so we said no and he folded. We gave him a note expecting change, and he said sure right away and walked off. He was never going to give us any. He said he needed to wait until more people came on the bus even though we could see the change in his hands so we just dug deep and found enough shrapnel in our pockets to pay the guy and rudely demand our money back. So illustrates the bipolar life a gringo lives in Ecuador the woman on the boat and most people with whom you are involved in financial transactions hate you. But loads of people love you too. We were at the lenten festival in ambato 3 weeks back and at the after party the mayor was dancing with us and offering us drinks and introducing us over the microphone to the masses, he had previously asked us where we were all from: Holland, England, Germany Switzerland, canada and one guy from the USA. We were intoduced as people from the united states and ´other´ countries.
I have still to write about saturday evening but I have to move house now as my current house is depressing and they dont talk to me. But thats for another time (its kind of like jack-a-nory).
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anonymous
non-member comment
Al 'columbus' maxwell.
alright al, thought id comment on your blog at last. cant really remember what you said in it even though i just read it. its odd as well, i thought itd only take a minute to read but the clock on my computer is two hours later than when i started reading it, and it appears i now have qwerty written backwards across my forehead. dunno where that came from. only messing - good to hear youre getting on ok. all the smellyhull massive say hi! we'll have to meet up soon for beer ... au revoir (is that right yeah?) DarREn. ps, you gonna go to guantanamo? i hear they have lovely accomodation there. - Mr Darren