Spring Break 2013

Well it's safe to say that so far this has been the best Spring Break of my many years of schooling. This is mostly because I spent the week at the beach. Going into the week Shanna and I had really no clue where we were staying or what we were going to be doing for 5 days. So Monday we headed out at about 8am and traveled for about 8 hours only stopping about 3 times. Upon arrival  I noticed that we would not only be visiting the beach, we would be staying at it. One of the Ecuadorean guys that drove us, his uncle has a beach house on the Ocean and was allowing us to use it for the week. Included was a maid who cleaned up after us and made delicious meals, for a very fair price.

Tuesday we got to see the place in the daylight and it was even more beautiful than at night, this place was a mix of antique items that had been collected over the years, the house was straight out of the pages of a Martha Stewart magazine, flowers everywhere, animals, and mostly importantly hammocks at every turn. Mid-day we headed off to Los Friles, a national park/beach that has been rated the most beautiful in Ecuador. It truly was amazing and not crowded at all. The waves were more tame than the last beach I was at, which was a relief because I couldn't handle anymore swimsuit malfunctions.As I was minding my own business on the shallow part of the beach, I noticed a large fish swim past my legs, then it was time for me to get out. No fishy business today for me. The rest of the day we relaxed at the house.

Wednesday we spent about 8 hours at Isla de la Plata, a small island off of Ecuador that we like to call the "Poor Man's Galapagos". First it was an hour boat ride to the island then we took a hike around the island to an amazing view off of a cliff and then hiked back. I am not a big hiker and it being 100 degrees and humid, I complained a bit (a lot) and never have I ever sweat so much in my life. Here I received most of my sunburn due to lots of sweating and lots of sun and not being able to re-apply sunscreen until we got back to the boat. After our hike we got back onto the boat to eat some lunch and drive over to our snorkeling spot. This was the part I was super excited for. Throughout being here in Ecuador I have realized something about myself, I am not a hiker, I am a swimmer and I love being in the water. Before we got off the boat, right around us were about 5 huge turtles swimming around and also some very colorful fish. Next we got our goggles and breathing tube things and headed out. We got to see some cool fish and just be in an amazing spot with an amazing view of the cliffs. I honestly could have stayed in the water all day watching and searching for the fish. I loved this experience and I hope to get to do it again soon! After everyone had their time swimming with the fishies we headed back to the main land, only to stop half way because someone spotted dolphins! This was also amazing and super cool, dolphins in the wild, about 20 of them here and there, I took about 60 pictures just trying to capture them, our guide continued to say that this was a very rare occurrence. Hiking in the burning sun defiantly was worth it to see turtles, colorful fish, and dolphins the way they were intended to be. We headed back, drove home, showered and relaxed again, after all it was our vacation.

Thursday nothing big was planned so we headed out to a museum, went to a church for a spectacular view, and got some awesome pie. Yum. On Friday it was raining so we didn't do much except play games with some other Ecuadorans who came Thursday night and later we took the kayaks out onto the Ocean, super fun but a lot of work and very cold in the rain. Friday night Shanna and I left for home on a 10 hour bus. The plan was to sleep the entire time and arrive at 6am in Quito. Sleeping was basically a success besides lots of head bobbing and we arrived 2 hours early at 4am. I was not convinced that we were in Quito due to the fact that we were 2 hours early. So I spent about 15 min unpacking once I got home then quit and went to bed. Today has been spent sleeping and cleaning my room and also planning some classes for next semester.

It's also been interesting cooking for myself today, because my host mom is gone. I have cooked about nothing since I've been here except toast, so I know where nothing is. I have not gone hungry yet making simple meals but she's supposed to be gone until Monday so there is still time.