bohemians benditos, we are...

(written by luke) This week, our adventure took us to the Pacific Coast of Ecuador. The trip was defined by long bus rides, cloudy days, the president being kidnapped by the police, getting sick, and swimming in the warm Pacific Coast.



We decided to treat ourselves to a ¨whale watching tour¨ off the town of Puerto Lopèz and hike on the isla de la plata, where rare birds are in abundance. This is a prime area for humpback whales and their babies to play, so on the boat ride, we were able to see several whales breach including a baby. What we forgot is that we both get sea sick very easily. ME ESPECIALLY. Before long, my breakfast was completely gone from my stomack, and needless to say, the rest of the 1- 1.5 ride there and back were quite sickening. On the island were hundreds of bluefooted boobies and other colorful birds, and we were also able to go snorkeling in the choral area with the bright fish- a first for me!

blue footed boobies


The next day we went to the protected beach los frailes, a pristine beach with no one in sight! That evening we moved to a secluded eco-resort where we were able to camp. The front desk guy looked at us a little funny when we asked to camp, because the weather had been cloudy and rainy, off and on. We were determined to camp, so we slept with the sound of both ocean waves and rain that night. The next day one of the staff said that they felt bad for us, so they wanted to put us up in one of the cabins for the same price as camping! So we moved to the more luxurious part of the resort.

That day we noticed that many people were intently watching the news, so we asked what was up. Well, they said, ¨the police just found our they got a pay decrease today, so they kidnapped the president and are holding him hostage in the police hospital¨. Airports were closed, streets had burning tires, people were in the streets, we were at the beach! a perfect place to be. That night the military rescued the president, and in the end some 7 people died in the gunfire. Life is back to normal now, other than the pro peace and democracy rally that we ran in to today in the streets of Cuenca.

From there, we ventured farther south, and landed in the surfing town of Montañita. Little did we know, this was the PARTY town of Ecuador, and the thumping bass from the clubs kept us up till all hours of the night. One strange phenomenon that we have seen here is that when one business idea succeeds, neighbors tend to do the EXACT same thing. so in this town, on one street, there were no joke, spaces for 30 coctail stands, all with their fruit and hard alchohol on display, and with rival music, anywhere from power ballads to raegeton. People could buy mixed drinks for a mere $1.50, and on one occasion we even saw a bartender deliver a mixed drink to the police man on patrol that night. We didn´t need to drink to enjoy the people watching on the steets of Montañita, although we were eager to escape the noise.

We left back to the mountains on Sunday, to ride busses all day through the windy roads up the Andes. little did we know that our stomachs would once again protest, and we ended up getting off the bus at some gas station, and told them they could continue on, we would catch another bus. Intrigued by the foreigners, the gas station attendants and their whole family came to talk to us, and later invited us to stay the night in their extra bed room. A blessing it was, although our stomachs were outraged by the mixture of bumpy rides, weird food, and some bug that had been bothering them for days. Upon waking up, found the strength to continue to the beautiful colonial city of Cuenca, and will soon be hiking into the hills to volunteer with a organic farm community called Sacred Sueños for 2 weeks. http://www.sacredsuenos.com/
We´ll send another update in about 3 weeks. We miss you all very much!