Balandra Hotel Cabanas Manta

... it was really hard. The ride started off flat but then began to undulate, after 15 kms or so we started climbing. We don't have an altimeter so we don't know exactly how many metres we climbed, but, from past experience it must have been over a 1000. Judging by the map, we couldn't have gone much higher than 500 metres, but the up and down that followed meant that it always felt as though we were climbing.<br><br>The other problem was it ...

... for the night. We walked around looking at menus and being choosy about where to eat, mostly because we wanted to see the town at night. We finally settled on a pizzeria called Blue Rose. It was incredible!!! Deep dish pizza and so flavorful. We were in heaven. Now, it&#8217;s back to the room to pack up and get ready for the big market tomorrow. We&#8217;re jumping on a bus back to Quito as soon as we&#8217;ve had enough of the ...

... is definitely applicable here. But the kids enjoyed riding in the back. Zoe and I, being more conservative, rode in the cabin.<br><br>As we left the city behind us we encountered mountains covered in terraced farming that made the mountain look like it was covered with a patchwork quilt. At San Pablo Lake, we stopped at a couple of haciendas and a lakeside 5 star hotel with llamas feeding on a grassy knowl. At another ...

... beep us constantly just in case we want a lift. We found the markets and I bought some fruit which I am very much looking forward to eating after having some chicken for lunch! Ohno. Feel not happy about that decision, but I was starving and anyone can tell you that when I am hungry I do not make the best decisions. Basically everwhere we went was either closed or kept telling us they ...

... with prawns specifically because I like them.. so sweet) anyway, that night Jerry invited Shannon, Juan and me to have a meal at his house which was directly on the beach (absolutely beautiful) with a fire for a treat. He made this drink which tasted like iced tea with some interesting flavours. He had put this amazon drug in it called Ayahuasca which is an hallucinogen. Luckily I didn't like the drink so I didn't have much of it.. but unsuspecting Shannon and Nicole had quite a few ...

... the majority of indigenous Ecuadorians and stand out like a sore thumb). Dina led us to the front of the church, where Tania stood in a line of girls, all dressed up and waiting to enter for their first communion. Unfortunately, as we stood admiring Tania´s beautiful outfit and proud smile, a young and foolish girl decided to try to drive her large pickup truck through the mass of people. The truck crept through the crowd so silently that I didn´t notice it ...

... main room, where all the kids joined my mother in singing a very cute rendition of "The Wheels on the Bus" and other songs that she has translated into Spanish. Today we will head back to Quito, and then hop on a bus to the cloud forest in Mindo. I´m excited to explore some new sites in Ecuador, but also very happy to have come back to this familiar place and all these familiar faces. More to come (and pictures too, when I can figure out how to upload them properly!)

... Stadem, another cruise ship from Holland America. To our starboard was the fishing fleet that was returning from fishing. Manta is a big Tuna fishing port. There is a large Starkist Tuna Factory in town. We watched as they unloaded large nets full of giant tuna onto trucks that would take the catch into town and the tuna factory. The ship provided a shuttle to a local hotel so that we could start our adventures in Manta. We had some idea of the things we ...

... The girls would make bracelets out of flowers and the boys would rub themselves up against a tree. They'll huddle in an unattended patch of grass and meditate, briefly daydreaming of slaughtering the chicken. They'll say to each other, "are you thinking what I'm thinking?" after catching each other staring at the cow for that second too long. The smelly girl with the dread locks will play that song again and wonder if anyone has noticed her repertoire is minimal. The sun ...

Getting to this place was testing. I was told about Porto Lopez as the place to go to see whales. The bus was the worst I have travelled on so far because this is an out of the way place the big companies don´t seem to come here. We seemedto go into every single little village and pick up every passenger who flagged us down. Its quite interesting that some of them have their shopping for the week or month ...