Giving Thanks, for the Interesting Things

Quito has been rather eventful these past few days, basically starting on Thanksgiving day. Big family holidays are hard to miss, particularly when the country you are in doesn’t celebrate them. I’m hoping Christmas is easier, if only because everyone here will also be celebrating.

My Thanksgiving was spent at school (for the first time in my life) and at my volunteer job. I did have a few things to be thankful for though, one of them being my Quichua professor paying for my bus fare saying that “Here in Ecuador, when we travel together, we sometimes pay for each other.” (He and I ride the same bus home after class, but this was the first time we actually talked during the journey.) When I got home, there wasn’t a single person there, and no one got home before I finally decided to go to bed. I found out the next morning that that was because my host-mom had gone into the hospital. She’s still home from work and I don’t think she’s returning until Thursday. She was in the hospital both Thursday and Friday nights with a high fever (over 104 at the highest) wand was still feverish Saturday and Sunday. I’ve been getting my own breakfasts in the morning and washing more dishes since she’s been sick. In a way, it’s nice to decide what I’m eating in the morning, but I missed having a mother figure in the house. It’s interesting how easily I can get used to a certain way of life, or a certain routine.

Friday was my “real” Thanksgiving. I skipped my last class of the day to go to the store and buy carrots and salad makings, only to find out, when the rest of my class showed up to finish their shopping, that it had been canceled. I headed home loaded with food and spent the next few hours in the empty house, blasting music from my laptop and chopping carrots and lettuce ‘till kingdom come. Or, rather, until it was time to head over to Sophie’s with my now-chopped-and-steamed carrots and Caesar salad creation.

We all met up at Sophie’s and ate until our stomachs were distended with delicious turkey (there were two), mashed potatoes, casseroles, stuffing, salad, and desert. When 28 people make 28 different and wonderful homey foods for just as many homesick people, everyone eats too much. We spent a good hour or so sitting around complaining about our painfully full bellies and marveling at the amount of food we had stuffed into them. Never again, even if it did taste good. That dinner definitely helped me feel more connected and back on track though. We may be different than all the people surrounding us, but we still have each other, and we understand each other, and it’s really nice to know that.

Saturday, Emily asked if I wanted to check out an ongoing LGBT film festival going on in Quito, and, wanting to get out of the house for a change, I accepted the invitation. We saw a few short films that were intriguing and, in some cases, strange. The best part of getting out of the house though, was the storm that rolled in as I was standing in the bus station. It started to pour just as I got off my first bus and ran over to wait for Emily at the next bus. The rain though was not content to stay rain and quickly became a hail storm. Hail the size of marbles came pelting out of the sky, battering the tin roof of the bus terminal and nearly deafening everyone under it. Not everyone seemed as enchanted and excited by it as I did, but I couldn’t help noticing the two “ejercito” (army) men standing next to me catching the little ice balls and showing them to each other with smiles on their faces. On the bus, Emily and I saw that, further south, the hail storm had been much larger and the streets were still covered in a slush of little icy balls. It actually looked like it had snowed in Quito. It was a magical experience, kind of like the first winter snow, except that it doesn’t EVER snow here. Not unless you climb another mile or so up a mountain and into the thin, cold atmosphere.

Sunday was my final Capoeira certification class. It turned out to be a completely informational thing, no activity whatsoever, which was a little disappointing, but very interesting nonetheless. Returning home though, I saw, in the bus station, a man with no nose. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything more strikingly different in my life. People are supposed to have noses, and this guy didn’t. He didn’t even have nostrils, just a flat bunch of scar tissue in the middle of his face that I tried really hard not to stare at.

Interesting things keep happening these days. Just yesterday, instead of just getting whistled at by a group of men I was walking by, I was actually serenaded by one of them. Not that it was much better than the whistles and hisses, but at least he was creative. I think I’m starting to notice more of the things I like about being here again, and that’s definitely a good thing.

I hope all of you can notice the good things wherever you are too, and that you can enjoy your experiences as much as I am, once again, enjoying mine.

La Mitad: The Middle

Today is a big day. Today is the exact middle of my time here, experiencing all things Ecuador. I hope you’re all ready for some FEELINGS because that’s what’s in your future if you keep reading this post.

98 days ago I was sitting in an Airport in Atlanta, Georgia wondering what the heck I thought I was doing. Six months away from home, away from a school I love, away from my family and my friends was a looming figure that had just emerged from the future and into my present. Study-abroad was always that thing that I was looking forward to. Now that I had finally caught up to it, I wasn’t so sure it was something I should have been excited about. I don’t know if I’ve ever been that apprehensive about anything before. And they make you get there SO EARLY! All that time pondering your future is torture. Fortunately for me, Hannah, Maggie, and Peter were on the same flight, and just having someone to share the experience with, the fear and uncertainty of it all, helped immensely. I think I would have exploded without that support.

Since I have been here, some of those fears have been validated, others banished, but most of them just sort of disappeared into all the confusion that is Ecuador. I guess they didn’t really matter that much. I’ve discovered that, yes, it’s difficult to be away from home. I miss school. I miss music. I miss circus. I miss seasons. But, most of all, I miss you. I miss the people that I love and care about. I just want to see everyone, hug everyone, laugh with everyone, and share everything that I’m experiencing through some means that doesn’t involve technology. That’s the hardest thing about being here. I feel so separated from everyone. That’s something that I’ve been feeling from the beginning too, though I think the feeling has changed over time. Originally I was sad because I knew I wouldn’t see my people for a long time, but it was an intellectual homesickness. Now, I’m finally experiencing the real thing, and it’s not fun.

Homesickness has a few different forms. One is what you think of little kids having: the “I wanna go home” tantrums and the crying and the utter sadness of someone who feels lost and abandoned. Then there’s the homesickness that I’m running into. Sure, there are times that I just “wanna go home” and times when I feel lost, wondering what I’m doing in a culture that is so different from what I am used to, but I never feel abandoned. I know that the people I left in the states, you guys, are ready to welcome me back when the time finally comes (or before if I could manage it). The other difference, is that the “child’s homesickness” is a fast-acting thing that comes from a change in their surroundings to something they aren’t used to, and they just react. For me, my homesickness has come from getting used to my new surroundings. Now that I know my way around, I’ve started to figure out what I DON’T like about Ecuadorian culture. This means that I start thinking more about “how we do things in the states” hence, thinking that it’s better there and here stinks. Of course, not everything here stinks, but that’s the perspective your brain takes when it really just wants to be home and resting inside your skull, on your own (SOFT) pillow, inside your own house, and in your own country. Of course, I know I’m going to do the same thing when I’m back in the US and thinking about all the GOOD things in Ecuador, but, at the moment, the annoyances seem to be filling my view of things more than the good stuff.

It doesn’t help that school is nearing the end of the semester and I’m starting to get stressed. Not to mention that my LEAST favorite part of Ecuador is USFQ. The university is full of students who have more money than they know what to do with (ok, I take that back, they DO know what to do with it and they flaunt that all the time) and aren’t really putting it to good use attending their classes. Partly since it seems that few of them ever even go to class. The university itself has a 10% graduation rate. And I would bet that a good portion of that 10% is the students there on Scholarships, since they at least understand the real-world value of the money being spent on their education. They also actually come to class.

I am hoping that once classes are over, I’ll get out of the slumps a bit. I’m just ready to move on to something different. Maybe that’s also due to the fact that I’m taking semester length classes for the first time since my freshman year of high school, so all the topics I’m studying are getting kind of old. Come January though, I’ll be able to travel more freely on the weekends and also do things during the week around Quito, since I won’t be bogged down by so much homework.

All in all though, I’m still happy to be here. I’m happy to have the opportunity to experience such a different culture and language and to get to know both intimately. I’m glad that there are places in the world that do things so differently, and that that knowledge won’t be lost as long as we can all stay connected and keep sharing our differences with each other. I love how much I can learn in a single day, just because I’m seeing and experiencing things I’m not used to. And the feeling I get when I finally figure out something fantastic is one of the best feelings around.

It’s just that, sometimes, it’s hard to remember all of that. And sometimes I don’t even want to, because I just want to think about home.

Don’t worry though, I’m still happy more than I am sad, frustrated, and disappointed. And it’s really much better than what I was afraid of sitting in that airport 98 days ago questioning my sanity and dreading the worst. Life continues, and it continues to help us grow, and I will be home before I know it, wondering why I was ever homesick in the first place.

Good Days

Hey! It’s been a while!

Life has gotten pretty busy here. We are nearing the end of the semester (only about a month left!) and work is piling up. Why is it that teachers like to give you big projects and papers all due at the end of the term. I mean really. They all do it. They all know everyone else does it. Why can’t they space it out a little better?

Because of that, I may be rather unreliable in my updates over the next month. I also may resort to bogging as a source of procrastination and the number of posts I write could skyrocket. It all depends.

This last weekend I went to a big event hosted at the university by my instructor’s Capoeira group. They do two events every year, a big one and a little one. This one was the little one. It started off with two evenings of “seminars” taught by 3 Contra Mestres (Mestre is the highest level, these guys are just under that) [it takes about 30 years of training to become a Mestre] that came from Brazil, Peru, and Guayaquil (the other big city in Ecuador). There were also a few other invited experts from Colombia and other places around and in Ecuador, but they didn’t teach classes, just helped out with other parts of the event. Saturday, there was a final seminar and then we all got together to have a rola. A rola is what would be sparring in any other martial art, except that Capoeira is not about the fight. There IS no fight, there is only the “game,” friendship, and training the body to “free the self.” That’s the best translation of it all I can articulate at the moment anyway.

The seminars were great and I had a lot of fun learning a bunch of new things. I hadn’t realized how used to my instructor’s methods I was. It was especially interesting to learn from the Brazilian Contra Mestre, Narcelio. He didn’t speak any Spanish. Or English. Or any language I actually know how to speak. He spoke Portuguese. Fortunately, that meant I wasn’t the only one being confused half of the time since the Ecuadorians also had a hard time understanding him. It was nice to know that I can basically understand Portuguese though, if I try hard. Even with the language problem, Narcelio was my favorite to learn from. Everything he does is perfectly executed. When he does a backflip, he does it slowly. When he moves, he just seems to know exactly where his body is. It’s amazing to watch.

Saturday night was the Bautizo, or the ceremony where everyone gets their new chords. Chords are to Capoeira what belts are to Karate and other such martial arts. The thing about Chords is that they not only require certain skills to acquire, but time and dedication as well. Like I said before, the highest ranking belt takes nearly 30 years to get, and that’s not because it takes that long to acquire the skills, it just takes that long. I still don’t understand all the interworkings of it all, but every time something is explained to me, I like it more. The ceremony started with the higher levels receiving their next chords. They “played” with each other first, then each played with an expert level Capoeirista, and then received their chords. The certification for the chords is done prior to the ceremony. The final group was all of us who were ready to receive our first ever chords. For us, events were a little different. We didn’t play amongst ourselves, but dove right in to playing with the experts, and this time they chose us and played us to the end. By “end” I’m referring to when they finally took it upon themselves to throw us on the ground. The idea of the first Bautizo is to cause the newbies to fall so that their first fall is caused by an expert. Once the newbie has fallen, the game is over and the expert gives them their chord. Narcelio gave me mine. I think it made my entire week.

So I now have the first chord of Capoeira and I feel like I’m part of a bigger group of Capoeiristas. It’s a good feeling, especially here where it’s hard to feel included in anything sometimes. Spending all-day every-day in another language and away from the groups I have dedicated myself to for the past two years is hard sometimes. When I’m having fun though, I can forget all of that, and life seems really good.

Yesterday was one of those “life is good” days.

I’d been cramming in homework since the day before, and it promised to be another chock-full day, but, through a bit of fortune that came my way, I ended up with some free time. My ICRP was cancelled. Of course, I didn’t find this out until I arrived at the gate and the guard told me that everyone had gone to Ambato, kids and all. Since I had some free time, and the FIFA Ecuador vs. Peru game was set to start in half an hour, I decided to call a friend or two to see if we could get into the game. I got a hold of Gina, but neither of us was willing to pay enough to get one of the remaining tickets, so we walked around looking at Ecuador merchandise, bought ourselves some yellow shirts, and generally had a good, if indecisive, time. We met up with Emily in Quicentro, the mall across the street from the stadium, changed shirts in the bathroom, and bought some delicious ice cream. After having a bit of an adventure trying to get OUT of Quicentro, we decided to head over to where we knew a group of K kids were hanging out, eating, and watching the game. We arrived just in time to see Ecuador score, and only barely left before they scored again and finished the game 2-0. We managed to beat the traffic home from the stadium though, so it was worth it.

And just to make it clear, life decided to find me a four-leaved clover. 

Amazonia: an amazing (and watery) place!

Today is a good day. I walked to lunch with my family, we got ice cream on the way home, and I have been avoiding homework and doing more fun and relaxing things all day. And this after coming home last night after a good night with friends and a wonderful vacation. There are few things that could make life better right now. One of those things would be if my homework for next week would all do itself, but I’m choosing to ignore the fact that that won’t be happening unless my homework suddenly becomes sentient. Which could possibly cause me more stress than just doing it in the first place.

ANYWAY.

I’m sure what you all want to hear about is Kalamazoo’s trip to the Amazon! We started by doing exactly the opposite you would think and drove higher up into the mountains to the hot springs of Papallacta (said: pah-pah-YAHK-tah). They are really much nicer than the ones in Baños. I think we actually spent too much time there. We were all overheated and pruney long before it was time to leave, but it was also nice to be able to just lie on the grass and soak up the sun for a bit without worrying about anything.This was the beginning of a very wet, but enjoyable trip. I think I wore my bathing suit for most of the time I was there.

Our ride to the hostel from Papallacta was long and rainy, but we were all super excited when we finally arrived to see that we were staying in what was basically a 5-star hotel in the middle of the jungle. The place was gorgeous. A major step-up from where we had been on the last trip. They even gave us mini piña coladas as a welcome cocktail! (I like piña coladas.)

Once the rain let up a bit, we went on a short hike through the forest next to the hostel with a local guide leading the way. He told us all about some of the plants in the forest and a few of their uses. One of the plants we saw is an invasive one (I don’t think it’s non-native, I think he was just saying that it invades areas, though I’m not sure) that has a symbiotic relationship with ants. The leaves grow little hollow areas on their stems and the ants live in these little pockets. Out guide broke open a couple pockets and told us to try the ants. As in EAT them. They taste like lemon. You actually aren’t supposed to eat the whole ant, just stick it on your tongue, taste it and spit it out again. One of the three I ate bit me on the lip on the way back out, but they don’t have any venom, so it didn’t actually hurt too badly. Our hike ended at a waterfall in which we all had a grand time getting doused. Sharon, one of the chaperones for out K group told us to wear our mud boots into the water, but she wasn’t too insistent, so a few of us went without. You just can’t go swimming with boots on. Even if the water really isn’t deep enough to swim in. Post-swimming, our guide painted our faces with crushed up river clay-rock stuff, and we hiked back to the hostel. Jumping straight into the pool once we got there to pass the time until dinner.

Day two, we got up and went down to one of the rivers in the region, hopped in a couple of giant covered canoes with motors, and set off downstream. Turns out we were headed to a zoo of rescued amazon animals that was upstream on a river that merges with the one we were one, a river that I just so happen to have seen before: Rio Arajuno (See my “Tell me a Story” post for that prior visit). Most of the animals in the zoo were once kept as exotic pets by people who didn’t know any better, but soon learned. There were toucans, big cats, wild boar-like creatures, an anaconda, and a bunch of different kinds of monkeys. The best were the little monkeys running lose through the zoo. Apparently their kind reproduces so fast that they really can’t be kept in a cage, so they just let them run. After that we went back downstream to eat lunch and change into our swimsuits to go swimming in the rivers.

We jumped out of the boats onto a wonderful sandy area just where the two rivers merged. Rio Napo is much faster than Rio Arajuno, so we were only supposed to swim on the Arajuno side, though we waded out a bit into the Napo because it was very shallow for a good distance and considerably warmer. 

From there, it was time to go back to the bus and ride over to a museum on an old hacienda. The museum is also a zoo and a store and the native people live there. We saw even MORE animals, though this time the cages weren’t as nice, and learned more about the perspective on vegetation and wildlife of the area. Our guide through the museum told us more about the native plants and their various uses: for curing, for harming and poisoning, and for hallucinating to find out your future. The museum was kind of interesting; seeing all of the different things that people have used traditionally in the area for centuries.

On our way back to the hostel for another relaxed night of swimming (and this time playing games too!) we stopped in town to get Ice cream. Kalamazoo’s treat.

The next morning was our last in the Amazon, but we still had a full day ahead of us, and not just full of travel. We set off in the morning to visit a famous cave in the area. The bus dropped us off on the side of the road, where we then hiked up the side of a hill to the entrance of the cave. This cave is run through by a good-sized stream that rushed in our ears as we descended into the darkness, every third person wearing a headlamp, since they didn’t have enough for the whole group. The tour through the caves was mostly just an exercise in, well, exercise, and a trying to get to all the different parts even though the cave was completely crowded with people. The number of people in the cave astounded me, since we hadn’t seen anyone on the tiny trial up to the entrance. One of the really interesting parts of the cave was a small waterfall, at the base of which were three deep holes, one 4 meters, one 2, and one 1 ½. We all got to go in them, though not head first like our cave guide. The whole walk through the caves was very wet. At one point, we even had to pull ourselves across a deep part with a rope, just floating in the water. I had brought my camera (inside 3 separate zip-lock bags) and had to carry it across this part in my teeth. Oh the things we will do for pictures. We were entering a larger and broader part of the cave, when, all of a sudden, the passageway turned 90 degrees and opened out onto a surprising scene: a big public pool. This answered my question as to where all the people in the cave had come from: the park. Apparently we entered through the sneaky back way and had no idea we were going to emerge into such a developed place. The pool was fed with cave water and had two giant water-slides on one side. Only one of the slides was running, but it was a fun one. It was also probably the most dangerous water-slide I have ever been on in my entire life. The first part was super slow, but then it all of a sudden dropped off really fast and whipped around into the pool, making you feel like you were going to fly off the side and onto the cement instead of staying IN the slide and making it into the water. None of us fell out, but it certainly seemed possible. The fun thing was that there were no lifeguards, whatsoever, so you could do anything you wanted on the slide. For example: get a group of about 10 K college kids lined up in a train to go down all at the same time. I was on the end of that one. There was a kid there that we all thought was crazy who kept going down the slide standing and hanging onto the edge. We were at least more careful that that!

Our last event of the trip was much quieter. After packing up back at the hotel, we headed out and stopped on the way to see some ancient Petroglyphs on a couple of big boulders. They have been dated to about 200 years B.C.E., and were pretty neat. It was amazing to me that they have lasted as long as they have, since the Rainforest is pretty good at disintegrating things and the carvings weren’t that deep. No one knows why they are there, or who made them, but they have a few good guesses about what some of them are supposed to be. One was supposedly a Shaman, another the Pacha Mama. (Kinda like Mother Earth, but with the addition of the title of diety. Sorta.)

One of the things that really amazed me about the trip was how in the caves and with the petroglyphs and basically everything else, we were allowed to TOUCH it all. That kind of thing is NEVER allowed in the US. Mostly because it’s very destructive to be touching stalactites and petroglyphs since it inhibits their growth and wears them away, respectively. I think that people know that here, but there isn’t a strong of a culture of following the rules, or even having rules, here. I mean, another good example of that is the total lack of lifeguards at the pool with the slides.

The ride back to Quito was long, but made better by the fact that when I got back I didn’t go home, but instead went over to Bridget’s with a bunch of friends, got pizza for dinner, and watched a movie together. It was kind of a refusal to believe that vacation was over, and that was a fun little bit of rebellion to share with everyone.

I hope you all had your own fun bits of rebellion this week. Vacation is over for me, and school starts again tomorrow. I’m not ready for it, but it’s on its way no matter what, so I’ll meet it tomorrow morning deal with it.

Have a good week!

P.S. Pictures here!

The coast: a bit of a bumpy ride.

As I write this I am sitting on my bed drinking what basically amounts to liquidy apple sauce and eating crackers. That would be because my host-mom is an amazing person and knows how to take care of a poor soul who has been the victim of food poisoning.  That’s right. Our first extended holiday trip was hit by a good deal of upset stomachs on the ride home yesterday. Six of us threw up (me included, multiple times each) and there were a handful of others who didn’t feel very good. But we lived through it all and made it home (with a trip to the hospital for some IV’s on the way), and we will be ready to tackle the amazon tomorrow, instead of today.

Besides the trip home though, I had a blast on the coast. Even the long trip there was enjoyable in its own way. I finally remembered to bring my iPod, so I had something to listen to. I had an interesting experience as we were passing through each of the small towns as well, just looking out the window and seeing all the people as we passed by. For them, our entire existence in our bus was basically as meaningless as their existence to us, and yet, each of them has cares and concerns and a whole life apart from that moment where they saw me on the bus, and I saw them. I don’t know if I’m actually conveying the feeling very well, but it was a powerful feeling for me to see that there are so many people and so many different lives out there that are so different and disconnected from my own. It’s not the first time I’ve had that feeling, but definitely the strongest.

The first night on the coast, we were introduced to the station and told that we wouldn’t be going to the beach because it would be getting dark soon. Well. That wasn’t going to stop US. So we headed out from the station through the shrimp farms until we found a bit of beach. It was nice to be able to just walk out into the water (which was warm, even though it’s the ocean) and watch the sun go down. Granted, the sun was behind a bunch of clouds, but the clouds turned a pretty pink color.

The next day we got up bright and early to go hiking through the forest. We were introduced to all sorts of different jungle plants and Alaina and I even saw a black snake! (I tried to get his picture, but it turned out all blurry.) The part we were walking through was a shade cacao plantation. Sorta. There were cacao (chocolate) trees in the forest and we picked a couple and ate the coating around the coco beans. It doesn’t taste anything like chocolate even though it’s really good, and the coco beans themselves are really bitter. We came out on the other side of the forest to an oil palm plantation that was NOT being shade grown. That was an opportunity to hear all about jungle farming practices and what should be done and what shouldn’t. We stopped in town in the middle of our walk, looking at all of the houses of the people there and watching a few town boys play with toy cars in the dirt road. Walking back along the beach, we found a bunch of shells and different creatures. First was a crab, then Maggie and I saw a flounder, and then a bunch of us found a starfish. I was not ready to leave the beach when we did, but the walk back through the mangroves around the shrimp farms almost made up for it. We trekked back through the mud, among the trees, and alongside big wet areas, mostly square, that contain shrimp. The people dig shallow ponds, fill them with water from the ocean, stock them with shrimp, let the shrimp grow, then drain the ponds and collect the shrimp. These farms are great for getting shrimp, but they destroy the mangroves to make them, so they are both a blessing and a curse to the community. There aren’t many ways to make money in the area, so people will scrape by any way they can, and usually in more ways than one.

Our next big activity for the day was travelling over to the island to go clam digging. I have so much respect for the people who dig clams for a living. They spend the entire day bent over digging through bud with their hands looking for mud-colored clams. I only found one that was any good the entire time we were digging, though I did find one shell that lacked a clam and one clam that was too small to eat. Not only is the job difficult, it can be dangerous. There are spiky fish, crabs, and eels that can get you if you aren’t careful. Once we had returned to the town on the island, (through deeper mud than we had been through the first time, tides do rise after all), we cleaned off as best we could and migrated toward the local dance hall. We were served ceviche (a type of acidy soup made with seafood) made from our clams and a bunch of other ones that had been found by actual clam diggers. Post-ceviche, we were given a marimba and dance demonstration which was really interesting to watch, though I didn’t actually see much of it because I was bogged down my children who wanted to take pictures with my camera. Regular old pop music was blasted through the speakers after the party, and we all danced with the locals. It was surprising how much the little kids could dance, and how they were dancing. You think kids dancing at a high school prom is bad, you should have seen the 9 and 10 year-olds we were dancing with. They know how to get down and dirty a lot better than I do! Which could be some part of the explanation for child pregnancies among the population, but more likely it all comes from the same source. Whatever that may be.

The next day was mangrove day. We all got in boats early in the morning and rode out deep into the mangroves until we were back to solid land, got out of the boats, and went hiking around looking for monkeys. We actually found one too! A lone howler monkey, probably a male, sitting all by himself up in a tree. He was kinda cute, but also kinda far away, so he was difficult to see clearly. After monkey-hunting, we rode out to a different island and ate breakfast, before heading back into the mangroves. We learned all about the different types of mangroves that exist in Ecuador and were then given permission to go climb them. I think climbing up mangrove roots was one of my favorite parts of the whole trip.

From there, we finally got to eat lunch and explore the beach! (This is the coast after all.) A bunch of us took the opportunity to jump in the waves, which was extremely enjoyable until I got stung by a jellyfish. He was just a little guy, so the sting went away after a while, but he really didn’t HAVE to sting me in the first place. We picked up a bunch of shells and got to ride in tricimotos (I think it translates to rickshaw in English) down the beach to more cool places where we could see crabs and explore in the sand. All in all, I think we all had a good time on la playa (the beach) and even enjoyed the shrimp dinner we had until it came back to bite us all the next day.

Now I’m all packed up and ready to go to the Oriente tomorrow morning. I hope this trip has a happier ending!

Also, pictures are already up! Go check ‘em out here!