Fines de Ecuador!

Hello from beautiful Colombia! As usual, there is a lot to catch up on! And also as usual i hope yo all are doing fabulous and celebrating that winter is almost over which means we are only a few short months away from the best months of the year...SUMMER! This also means in just a few short months I will be back in California. 

So I realized that in my last email I forgot to mention a very critical part of my stay at the hare Krishna farm; here it goes : one afternoon three friends and i were sitting around the table eating some whole grain bread and fruit with tea when a beauuutiful yellow vw van pulled up. It had a huge che guevara sticker on it and....a for sale sign! We sat there staring at it, in shock at how beautiful and badass it was. I decided to go over and ask the price and almost fainted when the owner told me that he would sell it to us for just $2800. Between 6 of us it would be a steal of a deal. It was big enough for all of us to sleep in, travel around in, adventure in, etc. we decided to take it for a ride and see how well it ran. I guess you know the rest of the story from here...it drove horribly. The steering wheel basically didn't work and we just cruise controlled the whole time. BUT when we got back we all decided we would continue to think about it. The next morning on the way to yoga, the paper with the phone number appeared out of nowhere next to my yoga mat. A sign? We talked again about buying it and driving it up the coast of Ecuador, southern colombia and basically living the dream to the fullest. I joked that when we got back to the house for breakfast if the van was there we would have to buy it. An hour later, upon our return to the house from yoga....the van was there!! I think 3 of the 6 of us almost peed our pants with excitement and laughter and adrenaline. Well, the story ends sadly. We didn't buy the van. The dream travel mobile will have to be found on another journey at another time. 

Puerto Lopez, Ecuador: there not much to report from puerto lopez. I met a nice german girl and we spent the two days i was there together, wandering the beach and going to a national park called Los frailes that was just spectacular and beautiful! The beach was so pristine and preserved and raw. The first day we got to puerto Lopez I was craving a plantain cooked on the grill with cheese and homemade mayo so I asked owner of the hostal if he knew where I could buy one. He handed me over to a friend who began to speak ver softly and asked me how many I wanted, I told him just one. He responded that he didn't have any right now but in the afternoon he could find me some. I was very confused and asked him whether he was going to open up his restaurant just for me? That was absurd! Then he looked at me also very very confused and asked me what I was trying to buy. I told him maduro con queso...plantain with cheese and mayo. He burst out laughing! I stood there bewildered and truly confused. Turns out that in puerto Lopez weed is known as maduro con queso as well as the snack of a cooked plantain. The guy thought I was trying to buy weed! Oy vey. It was hilarious. I told him thank you and Anna and I continued on our way. 

Food: plantain, fish and peanut in the shape of a grenade and then deep fried! Eaten with spicy sauce. Homemade oreo ice cream. Fresh coconut juice for .50.

Canoa, Ecuador: canoa is this small beach town that is very relaxing and quant and beautiful but also overrun by tourism. I found a hostal here for just $5 a night and spent the next two days eating fresh fish, fried plantain, grapefruits, organic oatmeal chocolate chip cookies brought from a local farm that my best friend Alice worked at when she studied in Ecuador and tanning on the beach. In the morning I woke up, walked along the beach and found a quite secluded spot to do a good hour of yoga and drink my Yerba mate. On one of these mornings I was staring off into the waves drinking my mate when a huge group of cows came mooing down the beach! Have you EEVER seen cows walking along the beach? Me neither. It was hilarious. I forgot my camera that day though. During the night in canoa the frogs and toads went absolutely wild! The sound was almost deafening and just so spectacular to be surrounded by. They sounded as if they were calling people's names for hours and hours. It was beautiful to fall asleep surrounded by the sound but one night I woke up from a really deep sleep and was convinced that the frogs were going to swarm the hostel in waves. The sound was that intense! Also at the hostel one night i was standing waiting for the water to boil and a newt dropped down from the sky. I have no idea where it came from but there it was smack in the middle of the courtyard also looking very surprised to have fallen from the sky. Canoa was relaxing and fun and beautiful and refreshing! After 2.5 days there I headed to the next beach town of choice, Mompiche! 

Mompiche, Ecuador: After 3 different bus rides and 6 hours of travel I arrived in Mompiche! A tiny sleepy little beach town in northern to middle Ecuador. Everyone says that canoa 8 years ago was just like Mompiche. The roads are all sand, huge tropical trees line them with dull street lamps and the sound of waves crashing while you sleep or while to are awake. Here I made good friends with two Chilean women who were just hilarious and awesome and we spent the next 2 days together lounging on the beach dying of laughter. We walked one day to a spot where we then took a little boat across very high permanent tide and found ourselves on a gorgeous island surrounded by coconut trees and white sand. Veronica and Roxanna decided to pay the money and go on a small parasailing trip together. The parachute is attached to a boat with a motor and the boat pulls you out into the ocean and you soar above looking out and down at the glistening ocean. Roxanna was not feeling it but after 15 minutes of being very aggressively convinced by Veronica she decided to go for it. They got all geared up together and then were not really sure what happened. The boat starting its motor and they didn't start running so they got dragged in the sand for a few seconds and then whisked into the air. I actually peed my bathing suit with laughter this time. The look on their faces of complete shock and fear and confusion mixed with them just being whisked away into the air was priceless. When they got back Roxanna was furious and had bruises and Veronica was, along with me, dying of laughter. We could not believe it! It remained the huge joke of the rest of our time together. That night we went to the little bakery in town that a few argentine girls opened up and ate yucca-cheese-Carmel cake, chocolate espresso cake and a blackberry pie. Just little slices of each! Scrumptious!! The next day we headed to playa negra (black beach). On our way walking there I tripped on some rocks, went flying, broke my sandals and sat in the sand in shock but also not surprised by my own clumsiness. We continued our walk. When we arrived at the beach I couldn't believe my eyes. The sand was so shiny and black! It was as if somebody had poured black glitter all over. Incredible! We spent the day lounging in little ponds that had been formed by the high tide, covering ourselves in the black sand and Veronica made a really cool head figurine, it was very impressive and had green eyes. Then in the afternoon on our way back we decided to hike down to a secluded little beach spot that was so worth the almost vertical hike. The rocks along the walls surrounded the beach were covered in shells and holes filled with little pools and animals. We hung out there, took a video of this weird snail crab running across the sand who then pretended he was dead out of shyness. I think these two women will be friends for life, they were just so open and funny and real and awesome! Unfortunately the next day we parted ways and I headed to Mindo while they headed south to canoa. We are still in touch almost every day! 

Mindo, Ecuador: I arrived in Mindo at around 8pm, found my hostal, took a shower and passed out because at 5:30 am I was going on my first bird watching trip! Oh man was it cool! We walked for about 5 hours and saw 4 different kinds of Tucans and about 40 other species of birds! I've turned into a total birdie fan. The guide has been bird watching since he was around 6 years old and could literally spot a bird from like 500 meters away and we all ran over to look at it through his hitech telescope. The rest of the day I did yoga in my room which was the attic of the house turned into a hostel and had a beautiful view of lush mountains. My room also had hammocks in it! So I rested a lot, wrote in my journal, ventured into town for lunch and veggies for dinner and just took it easy know that soon I would be in Quito and life in the big city is nothing like life in a tiny bird watching town surrounded by clean air and nature. The next morning I left Mindo with exactly $5 in my pocket because the only ATM in town was out of service and headed to Quito, making it literally with not a penny left in my pocket.  I decided that day to always carry emergency money with me somewhere in my backpack! 

Quito, Ecuador: theres not much to report from quito. I liked it fine. Would i go back? Probably not but it was nice to get to know the capital of ecuador for a few days. I went to the guayasamin museum which was one of the most powerful, well designed, beautiful museums i think i have ever been in. Just prefect! His art is breathtaking! Check him out. I witnessed a little carnaval parade happening and was dragged off to dance in it by a 7 year old girl, got covered in confetti and spray and had a blast. In Quito I also explored the neighborhood of Guapalo that Alice recommended to me but went during the day and everything was closed. I could tell though that it was very cute and fun and young and artsy; then made friends with a black dog that followed me around for about an hour until I finally had to go into a store to get rid of it so I could head back to my hostal. There was also an earthquake while I was in Quito! Small one. That's about it to report from there. Sorry for the dullness. 

Now I am in Colombia and loving it! The people are unbelievably friendly and kind! I will write soon about the border crossing and my first few weeks here but for now I leave you with this very long email :) 

Xoxo, 

Adge

Ecuador!

Ecuador! Im here, its so green and lush literally everywhere. I havent been to a single city or town yet where there arent huge green lush mountains. Its beautiful! Hello! Also, basically all of Ecuador is in this email so maybe you should make a cup of tea first and cuddle up on the couch to read...

Border crossing Peru and Ecuador: So I left Javier in mancora,Peru. My bus left at 6 pm so I hung out with him all day while he tried to catch a ride hitchhiking down the coast back to Lima. We didn't realize it was Sunday and so it was virtually impossible for him to get a ride. The day and afternoon was spent chatting, talking about future travel plans together and eating our last ceviche from our favorite señora in the market for 1.50. We said our see you laters, hugged a million times, I cried my eyes out( of course)  and wandered off into the sunset by myself to catch the bus. It turns out that i waited 1.5 hours for the bus to leave bc the office i bought my ticket at passed me along go another agency who sold too many tickets. Finally me and 6 other tourists got on the bus which traveled 2 hours south first before heading north. When we got to the bus terminal in sullana, the city 2 hours south, the bus company we had bought our tickets from jn mancora never gave the money to the bus agency in sullana. Aka our tickets had not been booked. So here we are, stranded in a very unsafe town at 945 at night with no bus tickets for the only bus that leaves at night. While waiting to sort everything out i got accused of stealing someones water bottle until 5 minutes later, some grabbing involved, they realized their water bottle was sitting right next to them. Finally everything got sorted out and there would be room for us on the bus after we crossed the border, 3 hours, but until then we would have to stand. This was the first time something like this had happened in my travels and it really made me miss having a travel partner. But we crossed the border just fine, sat down, and arrived in Loja, Ecuador at 5am. Loja is just incredibly beautiful, well the city itself isn't but the surrounding areas are. I caught a 6am bus to vilcabamba and off I went! 

Vilcabamba, Ecuador: this place is just absurdly beautiful! Beautiful doesn't even describe it well enough. Rolling green mountains that are so lush, so so so lush. Vilcabamba is a small town in the middle of these rolling lush green beautiful mountains. If there werent more poeple from the us than people from ecuador i probably would have stayed there much longer than i did, which was only two days. There was a natural juice shop which i decided to check out one day and immediately had the sensation that I was at the co-op. I love the co-op, dont get me wrong, but I don't love people who are so wrapped up in their own privileged worlds to realize they live in privileged pretentious worlds. This cafe was just too overwhelming and nobody spoke Spanish. In vilcabamba the gringo community doesn't interact with the community of people who are from the area. It's two separate worlds. Anyway, I made some argentine friends at my hostal and we went in search of this supposedly magic water together. After walking for about and hour we came across this woman who we asked directions from. She told us that she was the owner of the water and we needed to pay her to enter the property. We asked if we could see the water first, before paying and she agreed. What an absurdity! The water is water that she pumps from a tank into a small puddle under a rock. This water is one of the few tourist attractions of the town and it's a complete hoax. So of course we didn't pay, it was a joke. We walked back to town and room one of the argentine girls to the hospital. The day before on a trek she had caught her finger on a barbed wire fence and ripped it open, needing 10 stitches. Turns  out they did a horrible job and her finger got infected. We took her to get it looked at and she wound up having to stay in the hospital overnight for 2 days! I left vilcabamba the next day and headed to a town called Zaruma. Delicious soup I ate in vilcabamba: repe. Soup made with platano, little while beans and cilantro. Also, the mangos are 25 cents here and just out of this world! 

Zaruma, Ecuador: zaruma is like going to a wild west movie set but in the middle of lush green mountains of ecuador. I apologize for saying lush green mountains so much but it's basically the one way to describe the scenery in Ecuador. This town is way off the normal traveler path in Ecuador but its awesome! I arrived,found my hostel which turned out to be a hotel for 10 dollars which is way out of my budget for Ecuador but it was the only one available so I sucked it up. Then I walked around taking in the architecture and feel of the town. The sidewalks and buildings are made of wood, have that old wood smell and the pace of life is very relaxed and slow here. It's a town high in the mountains but still green and has a perfect climate! That afternoon I ate a typical food from Zaruma called Tirgrillo. They take plantain that isn't ripe yet, grind it up, fry it and then mix in eggs and cheese with it. You take it with coffee! Oh man was it delicious! Just so so delicious! It also kept me full until about 3pm the next day! The next day I wandered around the small town again, taking in the scenery, the buildings, the people, the vibes and then kind of got stuck with nothing to do for around 8 hours because the only bus leaving to Cuenca leaves at midnight.  So I found a cool cafe, made friends with the extremely friendly owner and chatted for a few hours. Then i left for Cuenca! On my bus ride there I had to pee at about 3 am and went to use the bathroom on the bus but it was locked! I asked the attendant if he could open it for me and this turned out to be a catastrophe and took like 10 minutes bc he couldn't find the key and was illuminating the key hole with his cell phone. But fiiiinallly I got to pee! 

Cuenca, Ecuador: i got to cuenca early in the morning, caught a city bus to the center and walked around for about 45 minutes looking for a cheap hostel, finally found one, slept for a few hours and began my exploration of the city. Cuenca is stunning, probably the second most beautiful colonial town ive been to after Sucre in Bolivia. Theres a river that runs through the river surrounded by small green hills and its just genuis! The street art in cuenca is really really cool, i think some artists from argentina have done some work there and i spent a few hours wandering around taking pictures of the art. At the hostel i met a wonderful couple from cordoba, argentina and we wandered around a little bit. Theres not much to do there so i really only spent about 2 days exploring and then left and headed towards Baños on the oriente ( think jungle, amazon) side of ecuador. 

Puyo, Tena, Puerto Misahualli, Ecuador: when i crossed the border between argentina and bolivia i made friends with Francisco from Portugal and Paulo from Brasil. We exchanged facebook information and kept in touch since that moment. Turns out that we were in baños at the same time! So we met up the morning after i got there, devised a plan and headed to jungle towns! Our first stop was Puyo where we wandered through a large park with a river, made friends with a woman selling bananas, ate a typical plate for lunch with fish, fried plantain, beans, tomato and cilantro and then headed to the hostel to chill out. Francisco from portugal warned me before hand that he sings or talks in his sleep and that night i woke up bc he was singing! Haha! The next day we headed to Tena, another jungle town further into the oriente. In Tena we went to a large park, kind of like a little reserve in the middle of the town and wandered around. We took a nap on top of the look out point, surrounded by lush greenness, huge mountains and delicious wind. When we started to walk back to the park entrance a snake incircled Paulos ankle,i shreeked more bc i didn't understand why he was screaming. He kicked the snake off and we noticed that he was bleeding a little bit. Unsure whether or not the snake skin had cut him or whether the snake had bit him we made a little turnequit and (oddly) walked very calmly back to the front office of the park. There we made friends with this raccoon type animal that is kind of like the pet of the park, oh, and we also found out that the snake had only cut Paulo with its skin and that it only encircles the ankles of liars!! We died of laughter. That afternoon we went walking around in search of a hostel and stopped to ask this woman and artisan guy she was having a juice with whether they knew of anywhere to stay. Turns out that Paulo had sent a couch surfing request to the woman but she didn't have time to respond to us but told us that she had room at the house and we were totally welcome to stay there! So we went back to the bus station, gathered our backpacks, bought some fruit and headed to her house. The house was tiny and precious and just perfect! The three of us cuddled up on the one mattress and slept like angels! I almost forgot the best part of tena, and the new little thing that I'm adding to my blog, the food! In tena we found stalls selling plantain cooked on the grill, cut down the middle and then filled with shredded cheese and homemade mayo with garlic. I almost passed out it as so delicious!! They also have bags of fresh coconut juice for .50 cents in the street. Our next stop was Puerto Misahualli. Here we played with monkeys that wander around the tiny plaza, grabbing your clothes, food, smashing glass bottles, eating ice from snow cone vendors and mangos from the street. They were hilarious! We probably sat there watching them for over an hour dying of laughter. Especially when they started to play with the dogs!! In the afternoon we crossed the bridge to the other side of town and wandered into an indigenous community that grows cacao, collects it, dries it out and then sells it. The gentleman let us try fresh cacao!!  Francisco and i stayed for a while and played volleyball with the kids using palm frawns as the net. The next day we hiked to waterfalls that were just spectacular with our new argentine friends. We splashed around, climbed rocks and ate some fruit waterfall-side while watching the gigantic rays of sun shine through enormous trees. The sunset was just magical that day! Then we headed back to town, grabbed some dinner and hit the sack early. It poured all night and we were all thankful that we had gone to the waterfalls the day before. In the morning we packed up and I headed back to a town called Rio Negro, about 45 minutes outside of Baños. 

Rio Negro- Hare Krishna Yoga-Farm, Ecuador: on a bus ride a few days earlier the woman sitting next to me told me about a hare krishna farm that accepts volunteers in her home own of rio negro. So i decided that after traveling with francisco and paulo for a little bit into jungle towns i would head to the farm for a few days. A few days turned out to be 8 days! It was just amazing, i loved every minute of it. Well, maybe not the 4km walk in the rain to get there on my first day but even that was awesome. The farm/ yoga space/ house/ meditation room is in the middle of nowhere up in lush green beautiful mountains. There are no neighbors for at least 500 meters in any direction, there is a huge river next to the house ( the water source for the kitchen), a puppy named bhanduh who is only 2 months old, fresh whole wheat breads and cakes and delicious delicous food all day every day and just the most relaxing vibes. The people who run it Jagganath, Gopal and Nitya are always smiling and loving and caring and gentle. And although i dont believe in all the same things as them they are still such gentle people. there is so much to tell about the house bc I stayed there for so long but I will try to give only the best most tasty details. We went to an indigenous community one day looking for palm frawns for the roof of the new house they're building. The town is called canelos and its at the end of the bus line, sits next to a river and is very under served. There is this huge rushing river yet nobody has running water; they collect rain water to boil and cook with or hike down to the river to collect water in buckets. They also bathe, wash clothes and swim in the river they are forced to get their water from. Well, we went for a dip in the river! All of us terrified we would get some sort of awful skin rash but we turned out fine! I didn't know we were going swimming so I went in with my leggings and tank top on. Luckily it was about 3,000 degrees out so I dried quickly. Then we went to find some yucca chicha ( fermented yucca drink) made with peanuts. We found it! Gross! So so gross! I hated it. I've tried chicha made with corn and really liked it but this drink was just awful. I kindly passed the gourd around. After our chicha experience we climbed up to the mirador, watched the sunset from the tower and climbed back down to catch our ride home. Everyone in canelos was so kind and happy and warm and friendly! To get home there were 7 of us loaded into a pick up truck carrying palm frawns and boy were we snuggled in tight. But it was so fun and I enjoyed every moment of it. We stopped for plantains cooked on the grill, split down the middle and filled with homemade mayo with cilantro and cheese! What we didn't realize was that there was a checkpoint we would have to pass and what we were carrying was potentially illegal. Everyone in the group got out to walk except for me and one of the krishnas. I sat in the back seat, smiled and waved at the guard as he was stopping us, he caught my eye, smiled back and waved us through! Teehee! The rest of my time at farm/ house was spent doing yoga every morning, cooking lunch, hanging out, talking, napping by the river, climbing trees, visiting waterfalls and feeling so nourished both by food and love. Oh! Did I mention Banduh the 8 week old puppy? I spent a lot of time with him too! He got "lost" one might and Beatrice, the yoga instructor, and I went in search for him...calling his name, walking with a flashlight, going down to the river, asking neighbors, desperate to find the little guy who is just learning to climb the stairs on his own. After about 45 minutes of searching for him we came back to the house almost in tears to find him curled up in a ball asleep in the cabinet where the toilet paper is kept! I had such an amazing time at this place and it really made me re think or rather confirm the kind of life I want to lead. Live somewhere surrounded by nature, eat purely, only consume what is necessary and try to be the purest, truest, calmest form of myself.

Food: homemade granola with peanuts, raw sugar and coconut. Eaten with fresh picked bananas and strawberries. Chapatti. Fresh made whole wheat flax seed bread with pineapple jam ( homemade) baked in. Carrot cake. Pizza with French fries on top. Broccoli, cauliflower, garbanzo bean masala burgers( my creation), patacones, soup with plantains- chard- potatoes-carrots- masala. Fresh fruit juices everyday. Fresh herbal teas everyday. I ate gooooooood there! 

 

Next email to come soon! I will be crossing over to Colombia in a few days and am excited beyond words!! I hope you are all doing well and enjoying all that citrus and apples that should be in your belly because it's winter fruit!! 

Besos, 
Adge

Peru Part 2!

Hey hey, 

peru part 2 is now served! 

Huanchaco, Peru: so we headed to the beach! Finally! The beach in Peru! Nothing could be better. Javier, Anton and I arrived early in the morning to Trujillo and from there took a short bus ride to Huanchaco, found our new home and took a long nap. Overnight busses never really allow for a good nights rest so we deserved the nap! After that we suited up aka put on our bathing suits and hit da waves. We were all so happy to be at the beach with sunshine and waves and fresh fish and mangos that not one of us thought to put sunscreen on. WOOPS! No sunscreen on the beach in Peru? Yikes! Well, I got burned. Burned. Burned. It hurt for about 5 days to change my clothes, to sit down, to sleep, to pee. But it's ok. We spent Christmas and my birthday in huanchaco and it was so lovely. For Christmas we cooked quinoa, a nice fresh salad, fresh fish with garlic and olive oil and some shrimp in special sauce that Anton made. Then for my birthday I had mango, banana, pineapple fruit salad with fresh fried eggs and this taaaasty bread we found ( whole wheat with flax seeds and raisins)! For lunch we had some fish and for dinner some fish again! I love fish! Fish in Peru is just incredible. In total we spent about 3 days in huanchaco, resting on the beach, wandering around, eating a lot and soaking in the sun. It was so delicious in every possible way. The actual beach though, very dirty. None of us went into the water. Huanchaco was an excellent first taste of the beach in Peru. The day after my birthday Javier and I set out for lobitos, a surf spot about 6 hours north of huanchaco. We left early and quickly found a ride on a huuuuge truck carrying onions from the mountains of Peru to the border with Ecuador. Off we went! The driver dropped us off in the middle of nowhere on the side of the highway telling us we had arrived at the place to catch a taxi to lobitos. Turns out it wasnt the jumping off point and it was also 1030 at night. We found (the only) restaurant open on the side of the highway, ate some dinner and asked if we could set up camp there. The owner was nice enough to let us! Although the location on the side of the panamerican highway was definitely ideal, Javier and I had each other so everything was ok! In the morning we left for Lobitos...

Lobitos, Peru: There is this website called workaway.info and basically it's people or places or organizations posting about volunteer opportunities. Whether it be working at a hostal, a farm, teaching English, nannying, etc. In lobitos it turns out that there is a hostal that accepts volunteers. We went there! You work for a few hours in the morning, in reality we had to sweep or mop and then a few hours at night ( we washed dishes and worked the bar) and they gave us dinner and a bed and bath! The night we had to work the bar the power went out so we just hung out by candle light chatting with customers and listening to some argentines play music. It was awesome! We stayed for about 3 days and basically spent everyday asleep on the beach or watching surfers or laughing together or making new friends or enjoying each others company and digging deep to learn more about ourselves through each other. Javier and I got even closer in Lobitos, I think we will be friends for life. La casona, the hostal we volunteered at was right in the beach! The sunsets were magical! The water crystalline, warm, perfect. I could have stayed there forever I think. Maybe one day i will open a hostal there and stay forever. Who knows? 

Mancora, Peru: from lobitos we headed to mancora to find some argentine friends we were planning on spending new years with. I did NOT want to leave lobitos but I also didn't want to spend new years without Javier, so off we went again! When we got to mancora I think we were both in shock a little bit. It was fuuuuulllll of people. I mean packed! You could barely walk! We were expecting a lot of people, but nothing like this. Turns out our argentine friend Ema had already left for Ecuador and had emailed Javier several times but we didn't have Internet in lobitos. We found a house, with a very kind elderly woman and set up camp in her backyard.She charged us 4 dollars, we had a nice shower, she let us use the kitchen and was just so kind. I hated mancora though, it was crowded, touristy, a party town and full of tourists. New years was fun, we found ceviche for 1.25 in the market and became best friends with the woman who made it. I think we ate there everyday for about 3 days! After 2 days in mancora we were more than ready to leave and headed to a beach town further north called Punta Sal. 

Punta Sal, Peru: so, here we are two rugged looking backpackers, sweaty and dirty arriving at a very posh, expensive beach town where wealthy people from Lima have heir summer houses. We had no idea punta sal would be like this! The beach was beautiful but the environment was very uncomfortable, everyone looked at us like we were aliens and they clearly didn't want us there. We stayed anyway because the beach is public and everyone should be able to enjoy it. That night we waited until it got dark to set up our tent on the beach and met some other Peruvians who were doing the same thing! They invited us to some of their food and we made a bonfire and played games all night. It was nice to not feel so alone and like outsiders or intruders for a little while. The next morning we woke up early, jumped into the ocean, broke down the tent, made our oatmeal and found a spot to park it for the day. The whole day was spent on the beach, snoozing, chatting, soul searching and enjoying each others company and the beautiful beach in front of us. Then lunch time came around....we tried to find cheap food and it just didn't exist or if it did it was a piece of chicken with white rice for 6 dollars. If any of you don't know, when I am very hungry it also usually means that I am in a bad mood. I tried to hold it together but lost it a little. We wound up eating some carrots, soda crackers, a tomato and an onion. Oh, and a banana! In other words, we remained more or less hungry. The rest of the day we spent sprawled on the beach, splashing around in the waves and enjoying the fact that we were basically a pair of hoodlums huddluming around a ritzy beach town. What an awesome feeling! That night I witnessed probably the most spectacular sunset of my life. The sun was the size of I don't even know how to describe it. It was tremendously large and huge and bright and huge and just WOW! Everyone was running to snap a picture of it...we were totally blown away. The we decided, or our stomachs decided, that we needed to splurge and split a plate at a restaurant because we were starving! On our way to find the cheapest place we ran into two nannies with the three children they take care of. They started chatting with us and we explained our situation, not knowing that punta sal was so expensive, etc. These women! Ceci and her niece! What incredibly kind women! They told us that after putting the kids to bed the would come meet us on the beach and bring us some food! Have you ever heard of kinder people? So they came and gave us mangos, crackers, a can of tuna fish, yogurt, bread, some apples and some cookies. We all sat around sharing life stories and chatting until they had to return back to the house. I will never forget their kindness and generosity. The next morning we woke up super early, broke down the tent like pros and headed out back to mancora. We were lucky enough to catch a ride in the back of a pick up truck! Back to mancora, only to use it as a base for visiting other local beaches! 

Vichayito, Peru: Our last day together was spent in vichayito beach which is about a 5-6km walk south of mancora along the beach. It's beautiful! Very deserted, very quiet, very peaceful. So we walked there, taking breaks and rests along the way to admire the ocean and soak in our last day together. We got to vichayitos and took a little snooze, waking up just in time for the sunset and then walked back along the beach in the dark listening to the waves crash beside us and enjoying every breath of seaside peruvian air. 

Traveling with Javier has been like a dream come true. He is so kind and sweet and caring and adventurous and I truly cannot imagine my journey without him. Honestly, I probably would have come home already if I hadn't met him. For now our paths are going in different directions, the hard part of the journey is now beginning and we are both going to have to get Used to traveling alone, no partner to do and share everything with. But that's ok, we met for a reason, we have parted ways for a reason and if our paths are meant to cross again, they will. 

For now, I'm in Ecuador! In the outskirts of the jungle. It's nice, I like it. I don't love it yet, I might never, but Its just the beginning of country #5 so i am remaining open. Until the next email,I hope you all aren't freezing to death. Come on Angelinos! Its 30 degrees! Get a g-r-i-p! Just kidding, I would probably be frozen by now. 

Besos! 

ARB