I'm here and it is beautiful! Okay, so not sunny as I was praying for (in winter it's just overcast all the time), but it's perfectly warm and it's such a nice teeny town! The tourist sector is it's own little corner of the town, just very compact but containing a fabulous vegetarian restaurant that sells GOOD food (as opposed to most other veg places in S America where it's either hardcore-healthy-and-grainy-nasty-crap or rubbery-crumbly stuff) and I had the best hummus of my life there tonight, restaurants, hostels, and bars, then there's the rest of the town which is quieter with more locals. It's right on the beach which is dusted with countless shells and pretty beach rocks and goes on for miles, and everywhere you look there are beautiful hippies either selling their unique wares or just going about their business. One Ecuadorian one I was chatting with just moves around South America, making enough to live off by selling shell and coconut jewellry/pipes/artisans, and he told me most of the people vending those things are doing the same thing. I really love that. I feel happy to know that flower children are everywhere and that the sense of adventure and non-attachment is alive :)
I'm so happy to be back in Ecuador! I hadn't realized how different it is from Peru and Bolivia until now, but I do appreciate it. Okay buses are way worse and less organized comparatively, but the view out the window is spectacular! I missed green so much- the constant desert across Peru and the mountains of Bolivia were exhausting and depressing. And the people seem more friendly and helpful. Oh!!!! AND it's possible to get cold drinking water without looking for hours! Maybe it's because it's more Western, maybe it's because I'm flying home soon, I don't know what it is, but I feel so much more at home here. I would definitely love to come back in the summer.
Oh! I forgot! The bus last night- what an adventure. Basically I met this really cool old South African couple that live on a boat and have been traveling for 20 years, and after waiting for our hour-late departure, suddenly we were pushed into taxis by the reception/store lady (they run it out of a regular corner store, which is not unusual for Mancora). Drove 5 minutes very fast, and suddenly this bus (not what we thought was our company, just a random one passing through town) pulls over and we are literally pushed onto it in about 5 seconds. Um. Okay. So we take our seats and drive an hour to the border. Now the time is approximately midnight, and we arrive at the border, only to find out, oh, hey, the border's closed! We were not aware of this, but I'm pretty damn sure the bus driver was. So we waited. The entire busload, on the sidewalk, from midnight until 4am when it opened. Yeeeeah. Not cool! Fortunately I met a nice Australian girl, and since we both spoke English we spent the entire time complaining to one another and, after we resigned and accepted the situation, entertained each other with conversation. So it really wasn't that awful, and it was a beautiful night out! Nice and warm with a rooster that stalked us all, crowing all night. It was a grand time despite the hilarious situation. Arrived in Guayaquil at 10am (4 hours late), waited until 1, and hopped on the bus to Montañita. I rather enjoy this crazy whirlwind travel! Nightbus, spend the day somewhere, nightbus, spend the day, nightbus! Tonight's my first NIGHT in a hostel in about a week and I adore it :D
So I'll probably leave for Puerto Lopez tomorrow afternoon after enjoying the town a bit more, and then head back to Quito to meet up with Rodrigo and get my rainforest trek set up.
Paz y amor y buen viaje!
