Whales and buses and cities, oh my!

Busy ´first´ week on the road, I have to say. The last day in Mindo was awesome -- the bird watching tour was worth every penny. We saw so much and my guide was fantastic. He´s from Mindo and can do the bird calls and everything, and then when he´d located the bird, he had this really strong scope so that I could see it too. Awesome. I saw toucans!! And teringals (sp?) and orioles, and the common potoo (which is not common at all in that area) and parrots and hawks and woodpeckers and so many other birds. So worth it. We finished after about three and a half hours and then caught a lift on the back of a pickup truck to get back home. Grossly unsafe, but there you have it!



I caught the bus back to Quito and met up with my host mother for a cup of hot chocolate and some cake and good conversation. The conversation was the best part. I´ll miss her, for sure. What a nice way to start this trip, staying with good people in comfortable surroundings! The night bus down to Puerto López was long. Very long. Bus drivers here have two speeds -- full bore or dodging potholes. Doesn´t make for sleeping! And the air con was on so high I had a scarf wrapped around my head, my fleece as a blanket and my little rain jacket to keep out the breeze over my legs... Oy. Getting to Puerto López at 6am was a bit of a problem though -- I was the only person who wasn´t met by someone. Friend, family, a hostel owner... But there was a dude recruiting for a local hotel so I went with him once I´d phoned a couple of places and got either no reply or ¨we don´t know if we´ll have room tonight¨ as a response. Oy. But the place was pretty good, in the end, if a bit on the expensive side. I´ve found there is a single premium travelling here. A room might well be $8 per person if you have two of you, but with only one, the room is actually $16... Sigh. Throws my budget all to hell!!

I went to the Playa de los Frailes on a three wheeled motorcycle taxi (the only way to get around in Puerto López, and the beach was amazing. My taxi driver gave me a bit of a tour of the park (the beach is in the only coastal bioreserve in Ecuador) and on the way down the beach we picked up a Russian Canadian girl from Toronto... Funny how that works. Convenient for me though because it meant that after we walked the three beaches I could go swimming :) The waves and water were awesome... And Los Frailes is super-clean because it´s in a park. Works for me! The forest was super dry though because they´ve had a two year drought in the region. Not much green...

Two days ago I took a whale watching tour! I went to Isla de Plata on a boat and couldn´t help but think that almost this time last year I was also off the west coast of the continent, but in BC... Rather warmer on the equator, I must say! The island was cool. We saw blue footed boobies (sea birds) and green footed masked boobies too. They aren´t afraid of people so I got some really good shots. Which unfortunately are on the memory stick in my dodgy hotel room instead of being uploaded here! Sigh. On the way home we went snorkeling! So cool. Then we actually found the whales on the way back. A momma and baby, two other pairs -- so close to the boat you could see the white parts of their bodies under the waves. Awesome. I met a very nice Peruvian family too, and they gave me a lift to Montañita yesterday, which was very sweet. They´ve also offered Leela and I a place to stay if need be in Lima! We actually have a reservation there, but I´m finding that secure lodging is the exception not the norm for me here... But so nice!

I didn´t like Montañita much -- too touristy for me, and the sun wasn´t out, which made staying at the beach another day less appealing. I caught the bus to Guayaquil instead. This is a big hot chaotic city for sure. Wow. But the redevelopment of the waterfront is lovely and with the super-high security presence, one of the first places I´ve felt good about walking alone at night (Mindo and Puerto López don´t count -- they´re teeny tiny!) here. I ended up in Las Peñas, which is a very cool colonial neighbourhood that has been cleaned up. I had Italian food, of all things, but it was pretty good, despite the fact I was the *only* person in the restaurant... My hotel here is horrible though. For $13 per night I have cockroaches (ack!) and no window. I´m leaving this afternoon for Cuenca though, so for one night I guess it was okay. They lied about the hot water too. Mental note to self: one tap equals COLD water. At least it is really hot here!?

Anyway, I´m off to Cuenca for a few days before going out to the ecovillage. The fellow there got back to me and has said that two weeks starting August 4th should be fine. I haven´t worked out what to do with my belongings yet. My bag despite my best efforts, is too heavy. And the community is a three hour hike from Vilcabamba, the closest hamlet. Hmm. But I´ll try and post about Cuenca before I head into the wilds of the ecocommunity...