El Acantilado Esmeraldas

... the south, along the coast to see what we could find.

We stopped for some excellent street vendor fish cakes, topped with mayonnaise and cabbage - really tasty and an ecuadorian recipe that should be exported around the world, if I could only understand what exaclty besides fish its made out of....but trust me, for 25 cents each I ate enough for you and me together...

We were looking for a ...

... the other bus arrived and we took off in the early afternoon. Space was a luxury. Along the way, we listened to an orchestra of a baby crying non-stop, a child vomiting in the back seat, and salsa music blaring in the front. Cristofer, the sickest of the kids, sat on my lap, whose fever added to my already rising fever. Uncomfortable would be an understatement.

We arrived late at night. A staff member told me, “You are in charge of one child…Edison ...

... enough that we weren´t quite interesting to look at. We stayed in separate homes, each similarly rural. I showered completely outside on the first night I was there with a hose. It was liberating, I enjoyed it. I planned on only showering at night though because without walls to the shower, wouldn´t that just be a sight in and of itself during the day. It was pretty hot there, but not as humid as I have experienced before which was nice. It ...

Ecuador kun je verdelen in drie sectoren; In het oosten het tropisch oerwoud, in het midden het Andes gebergte (dichts bevolkt) en in het westen het kustgebied. Vandaag zijn wij gevlogen naar Esmeralda ( stadje aan de westkust van Ecuador) . Een rustige vlucht met een nieuwe Airbus van de Tame airlines , binnen 30 minuten waren we er. Vanaf ...

Atacames is Ecuador's biggest beach resort town, and as such I knew there was a good chance I wouldn't love it. Still, it was a good stopping point on the road south and worth at least a look. I arrived just before sunset to find my first choice of hostel booked, and the second one closed. As I was walking toward a third option, I passed a family sitting in chairs on the sidewalk outside their home. They asked if I was looking for a ...

Taking the daily buses from the Estacion Esmeralda's in Quito leaving at 8.25 journey with a 25 minutes breaks in an already nicer and warmer climate, here at this stop I was talking to a father who traveled with the daughter to a playa before Atacames. He was born in Russia but leaves for ages in Ecuador and he send out some warning that Atacames lot's of thief's and that I have to watch my bag and whatever belongings I carry with me... The usual warnings people send out ...

... de blakende zon mijn gringozolen evenzeer verschroeid. Maar heel vreemd in dat soort maanlandschapzand te lopen. Een voorbijganger werpt me een vreemde blik toe wanneer ik vertraagd grote stappen (but small for mankind) zet teneinde de zwaartekracht te testen. Het deed me denken aan Carbobel. Spul, gebaseerd op steenkool, dat we kokhalzend innamen tegen de buikkrampen. Smaakte naar steen, gaf je enkele uren een rokersgebit, maar geheid smoorde het je ...

... in Quito, the majority of people are an indigenous-european mix, on the coast people are a mix of African and something else. The coast is also characterized by great food and a lot of poverty. An amazing fish, rice, and bananas lunch cost me $1.50. There is a huge mosquito problem, which I luckily managed to escape. (To be continued)

... different, the climate is much warmer, and the economic set up is geared towards domestic tourism. Because of the people's preoccupation with tourism and my skin color, I expected to be targeted day and night to buy things. However, in Atacames, Santo Domingo, and Esmeraldas, the opposite happened. In Santo Domingo and Esmeraldas, I was not surprised that people ignored me. They are too busy to worry about a silly gringa ...

... that had a grain of rice with their names on it for $1 each. Christina bought a friendship grain of rice with her name and a friends written on it! She also got 6 tiny braids put in her hair by the lightening fast fingers of the African-Ecuadorian women who offer that service. After roaming around there for an hour and a half, we went back to the restaurant where we met Dan and Nikki and a while later, Jim and Lloyd.