Needed Some Clear Skies

Yeah, It Was Beach Time

         So the weather here in Ecuador is pretty constant as far as temperature goes. Mornings and evenings are a little cool and the day is warm to hot depending on the sun. The deciding factor of the temperature seems to be if the sky is cloudy or not. Being this high in the mountains we have a good bit of clouds roll through. After a week straight of cloudy weather both Vic and I were itching for a clear hot day. Consensus? Beach time. Vic and her geographically enlightened self has been looking at different beaches and places to go since we've been here. She loves that kind of research. As for me, if its sand, ocean, and relaxing, I'm all over it. She found a beach called Canoa that all the locals here speak very highly of. 

Getting There was Interesting

      Vic found a place that was literally on the beach and offered pretty good service and rooms for a very reasonable price. It was called Bambu and was the coolest ocean place I have ever been to. The tough part is getting there and getting back. Transportation is actually really convenient as long as you know which places to arrive/depart from. I had the expectation of a 7 hour bus ride that I had gotten from my friends here and Victoria. I was wrong. It was five hours on the first bus, which got us half way there. The next bus, another five hours. We left at Ambato at 9 in the morning and arrived at Canoa at 7:30pm that night. On the first bus we watched a clock that had a temperature gauge on it. They use Celsius here. We left Ambato and it was 17 degrees. It climbed rapidly when we came down the mountains to 32 degrees Celsius. Hahaha, and of course I am dressed in jeans, a t-shirt, a button up shirt, and a throw over t-shirt hoody. Needless to say, I chip'n'daled myself down to just a t-shirt and jeans, and then loosened my shoes a little.

There is a big lizard next to the symbol of a fictional philosophy.

      The buses aren't that expensive, although, they just raised the taxes here in Ecuador. It turned out being $30 to get there. We arrive obviously at night and the bus didn't stop at a terminal. We got off on the side of the road with 2 carry bags and 1 big bag with our clothes. I have to say we did pretty good to pack light. We still could have done with less though. Walking down the road from the corner we were on, and we were practically standing on the beach. Our rented place? Just to the right sitting right there on the beach. Think tree house on the beach with full service meals at a cost of $25 a night. It was utterly delightful. 

      A Week of Fun and Sun

It was a massive beach.

       Beautiful weather is the only way to describe it. We woke up Thursday morning to clear skies and a really big beach. Some beaches go from water to sand to land in a matter of 20 yards or so. Not this one, it went on for about 60-70 meters and then dropped down at a gradual decline about 5 meters to the water. And it was HOT. Me being the white boy that I am was smart enough to bring SPF-Dark-Shadow-In-The-Corner sunblock. Which I kept at least two layers on at all times. And for the first time ever, I actually tanned and didn't really burn. The last day I got a little pink but it's all good. Both of us wanted to try surfing so we asked one of the people at Bambu. He told us to go to the beach and ask for Manuel. I was like," Manuel? That's a legit Spanish surfer name if I've ever heard one." I didn't know what to expect. 

       We found him sitting on the beach just watching the ocean. Told him we wanted to take some lessons and he busted out a tie-strap that you would use to hold something in the back of a truck. He wrapped it around two tree stumps sticking out of the beach and made a slack-line! We both practiced balance on the slack-line to get a sense of what it's like in the water. Manuel IS legit. He was doing acrobatics on the line, jumping around and lying down and standing up with one leg and one hand. Then he taught us form for getting up and we practiced on a little log on the beach. He would shake the log from side to side and we would have to maintain balance. Then the moment of truth came, he gave us each a board and said, "Vamos!" (Let's go)

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      Totally worth it! Started picking it up and being able to stand up and surf in a straight line. Vic is the best boogy-boarder I have ever seen! Hahaha, I'm kidding. She did great too, and had one really great ride where she stood up and surfed right up to the beach! We surfed on the last day as well, which was pretty much me finding every way to beat my self up with a board or drowning myself while standing up. It was really fun but took a toll on me since the waves were so rough and seemed to curl under. Our days there were packed with laying out, eating, and reading. 

Inside our little tree house.

      I am still taking Spanish classes via Skype and was able to continue at the beach since we had Wi-Fi at Bambu. I am currently reading 2 books. One for fun and one for study. Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring and Sola Scriputra. And yes, the Lord of the Rings is the one for fun. My nerd level has not gotten THAT high yet. We ate some good food but it didn't really meet the level of great seafood I had in my mind. None the less we were plenty well fed while there. Vic and I had great conversations and a lot of fun relaxing. We arrived on Wednesday night and left on Monday evening. Which leads to our next adventure...

The Trip Back Home Could Have Been Better

  Heard different stories from different people on when and where buses departed from. We wanted to find a direct bus that would go straight to Ambato if possible. We left Canoa at 5:30pm on Monday on a bus that we were told would go to Tosagua. And we were told from there we could take a direct bus to Ambato. He was right, which was great for the time being. Took 2 hours to get to Tosagua which put us at 7:30pm. Bought a ticket for a bus to Ambato which was supposed to get to Tosagua at 8:10pm. It comes sauntering in at 8:30pm. We board and take off. I was dressed in shorts, flip flops and my t-shirt hoody throw-over. You can probably see where this goes. I was thinking, "We're on a bus, so I can sleep and wont be cold or anything." The temperature dropped as soon as we started climbing the mountains. And it dropped FAST. The bus felt like the walls were made of tissue paper, and all of my clothes were underneath the bus. And we were lucky enough to get a direct bus to Ambato, so when/if we stopped it was only long enough to let someone board or get off. I don't know when it was that I lost feeling in my calves, but I do remember thawing in a taxi when we arrived in Ambato at 4:30am Tuesday morning. Lesson learned: never expect buses to be comfortable, and enjoy them more when they are. So instead of my expected 7 hour trip to the beach, it is every bit of 10 hours. But we had a great time while there, so praise be to our Lord for allowing us to enjoy our time together at a beach in another country and culture. 

Time to say bye to the beach.

Now it's back to the grind after our beach trip. Please pray, if I may be so forward, for Vic and I for these things:

 1.) To find a Protestant Gospel preaching church to plug into here.
 2.) That we would stay firm in the Faith and have His Word written on our hearts.
 3.) God would open the eyes and hearts of His people here.

soli Deo gloria