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Published: February 14th 2007
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river with brown water
taken from the bus on the way to Santa Rosa On the Way to Santa Rosa, Ecuador
Happy Valentines Day to Jose and chantal.
Today we embark on our trip to the Costa.
This is a list I made of the strange things I have seen on our bus ride.
*A lady sweeping the street with a broom made of grass.
*The bus driver only stops for 2 seconds to let ppl on and the bus is so full that people are hanging out the front of the bus.
*Gas is $2.08/gallon. Diesel is $1.03
*A man with a colostomy bag laying in the street
*Cuy Asado (grilled guinea pig)
*Karaoke Bars
*House that looks like a castle
*River with Brown water
*Man cutting the grass with a machete
*Women carry babies on their backs with a blanket tied around them
*American disco music on the bus
*Pay 10¢ to get out of the bus station
*Bus drives on the wrong side of the road
* Bus drives over a bridge made of sticks
*Car door on the front of one house
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The scenery is absolutely beautiful. Green grassy mountains. Banana trees. Palm trees. Interesting houses. I know we're getting close to the coast because i just
saw a store selling swimming supplies. It's raining now. The air smells like mud. I have been on the bus so much this past year, its been a very interesting year as well.
The mountains are no longer green, they are made from dirt and rock. A muddy river flows through the middle. One lady got off the bus. I don't know how anyone can live here in the middle of no where without any vegetation or lights.
We are so high in the mountains they touch the clouds.
RIO TENDALES, EC
Jose and I are singing "Hotel California" on the bus. It's on the radio. The mountains are green again. It's so strange to see palm trees on the mountains. I am in love with the architecture here. It is so interesting in shape and color. The houses and buildings make me happy. The ugliest dumps can be painted turquoise and pink. Houses all have bananas hanging out front, and clothes on the line. Houses are very small and not very tall. There are so many great photo opportunities but I am on the bus. It's a crazy winding road and Jose and I keep taking turns crashing into
mountains
pic taken from the bus each other from window to the aisle.
I wonder what does a plantain tree look like?
RIO QUERA, EC
Windows have gates on them so they do not break.
RIO CASCUAY, EC
I saw a lime tree for the first time in my life.
HUIZHO, EC
The bus is stopping for gas. It cost $10 to fill the tank. (9.650 gallons).
Houses are very dumpy here. They are made out of sticks and are almost on top of one another. I just saw a huge marijuana leaf painted right in the middle of downtown. It is very hot here and people have darker skin than in Principal.
The bananas have plastic bags over them to keep the bugs out, or animals.
LA MERCEDES, EC
There are shelters in the middle of the trees, also 4 trailers for trucks.
HOJA, EC
The bananas have been going on for miles. They are numbered, I'm guessing so the workers no where to go. The mountains look far away now and replaced with billions of banana trees. People live in the middle of the trees. They have bridges coming out to the road.
SANTA ROSA, EC
We met Sandra in the Santa Rosa
Santa Rosa Park
The wall says, "I wish to build a district of steel in order to live with dignity." Park, and took a taxi to her house in another town called
LAGUNA DE CAÑAS
I love laguna de cañas! We got here around 2 pm. I met Sandra, a million kids, aunts, uncles, cousins, and his grandparents. Everyone is so incredibly nice. Everyone greeted me with a hug and double cheek kiss, and I always have a child holding my hand or hanging on my arm.
We had a small lunch of rice, fried plantain, over easy egg, tomato, red onion, and cilantro with lime juice. Then, we went to Jose's grandparents house. We stayed in the backyard and Jose saw an iguana up in the tree. I said I wanted it so 2 kids climbed up with a palm tree pole. The iguana jumped to another tree. Then we saw there were 2 iguanas. Jose's Uncle, Enrique, came and tried to get it. The iguana leaped down into a little shed with its tail hanging out, so Enrique grabbed it by the tail and Jose held onto it, while they went to capture the second iguana. It leaped out of the tree and swam across the pond. Then there was a third iguana in the tree. So, Enrique
climbed up and knocked it down to the ground. Everyone chased it into the fence near the house, but everyone was too afraid to grab it. Then Jose's grandma who is about 90 years old, grabbed the iguana, but as it struggled for freedom the tail broke up. Blood started squirting onto her shirt, but she kept a hold of it. Then a tree trunk fell down and hit grandpa in the head, so he now had blood pouring out of his head. He is okay though. We have the iguanas now, a male and a female.
We placed them in a wire fence outside. We asked around about buying a monkey, and Enrique's wife, who is from Peru, said they sell them in Peru for $20. We can't go though because Jose's passport is expired.
Jose, his aunt, alot of kids, and I all went down to the river to swim. All along the river banks were women washing their clothes. The water felt so good. It is about 100ºF. The humidity is thick. We just sit and sweat. So, while swimming, one of the kids found a lobster. We kept looking for more and caught them. We pulled
the claws off of the body so that they would not pinch us. Someone brought us a bucket to put them in. In total we caught 7 lobsters and 1 shrimp. There was a tilapia, but it got away. We gave the bucket of lobsters to Jose's aunt who makes the best ceviche and in about an hour she gave us a bowl of the delicious lobster ceviche.
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