Hostal Chavalito Esmeraldas

... beach to camp on, somewhere somewhat remote, so we could enjoy the Ecuadorian environment. It was kind of hard to find somewhere along the coast that we could get to with the bikes, as the coast in this part of Ecuador is lined with steep sandstone cliffs and when we did find a beach, it was occupied with fishing boats and loud music from fisherman bars.

We did finally find an ecological reserve ...

... he is like three children.” I fully agreed with her statement. After feeding the kids seafood soup (which they were not too fond of I realized) and fried fish (on the Coast, it’s all about the oil), Edison and Jonathan decided to try to eat my sweater, which I was not too happy about.

We arrived around 10 pm at a site owned by a pastor and his wife. The lodging was very simple: cement floors, bunk beds, and sparsely running, cold water. The kids, however ...

... difficult because I speak so little Spanish to communicate. As of the first day it is an observational situation for both parties, especially because the oldest boy I have seen so far, Gustavo, will barely say a word to me. The family in my house is Jessica (11), Edison (10), and Angelo (6). Their cousins stop by regularly, one of whom is Gustavo (14). The evening of day 1 another cousin stopped by Gabriel (15). Thankfully he really wanted to talk and ...

... met de taxi nog 1 ½ uur onderweg naar het resort Club Casablanca. in het plaatstje Tame ( Atacames) . Het resort valt ons enigzins tegen. Het komt niet overeen met de beschijving van Interval International. Het oude gedeelte van het resort is vrij verwaarloosd ,maar gelukkig zijn wij in (het half afgebouwde) nieuwe gedeelte geplaast. (zie foto's).

... said they had one with a private bath for $5 (quite cheap for this town), and after taking a look, I accepted. A good find, just a block from the beach. Had pizza for dinnner (my first non-traditional meal in over a week) at a place overlooking the ocean where I met a couple of British girls in the middle of a similar trip. They'd had some bad luck with crime and bureauocracy, but not enough to scare them home. Started the ...

... things can happen everywhere. But it was nice talking to them and after about 8 hours after the bus first stopped in Esmeralda's and then turned back to the last stop in Atacames. Atacames is in the province of Esmeralda's and on the coast. A nicer and hotter temperature which I really needed after lot's of Quito's fresh breezes, rain and cloudy days. Pretty reminds me on Dublin. After getting out of the bus there where already some guys waiting with their motos, thats a ...

... in de kiem. Maar soit, indrukwekkend dus. Na de voettocht dus even een roeibootje in met de veerman. Nooit gedacht in deze omstandigheden een dergelijk taxi-onderhoud te hebben met vragen als 'veel werk vandaag?' of 'wanneer zit je shift derop?'. Als eerste extranjero (en ook enige bleek later) van de dag kwam een local ofte 'Portet' in mijn volksmond, Giovanni geheten, me tegemoet gelopen, uitgelaten wuivend. Dit kon ofwel heel goed zijn (verwelkoming ...

... However, in Atacames, I was surprised that I did not receive more attention. Perhaps all of the hard core tourist traps were gearing up for the weekend to come. Regardless, I was thankful for the lack of attention. In Quininde, I was not so lucky to receive little attention. Rather, as the special guest of one very nice Colombian participant in ESQUEL's workshops, I was fed a typical dish called, relleno. As I was eating ...

After showers for all and a load of laundry in Nikki's washer and dryer (what luxury!) we had a good night's sleep and loaded up our backpacks for the coast. Four of us made the necessary adjustments to fit in the back of a Korean made Musso double cab pick up, while Samuel enjoyed the privilege of the front seat next to Jose. Northern Ecuador is beautiful with lush green vegetation: banana plantations, almond ...

So this is it guys.. I´m off into the jungle in a couple of hours, and I wanted to write to everybody, so it´ll have to be through this page, or I won´t have time to tell you all about everything I´ve seen here! I´ve been working with the Kumanii foundation for the last two days, but it feels like longer. The foundation works with local communities living in the coastal rainforests and mountain Cloud Forests of Esmeraldas - which apparently form one ...