Canoa - pt. 1

While I normally wait for other people's facebook pictures to write about a weekend, there were too many things that happened this weekend to wait any longer. We went to Canoa, the most beautiful beach town on the coast. Here's a recap of the ridiculous things that happened, starting in Quito; before even boarding the bus.

I went to pick up my friend Chelsie at her host mom's condo, where I was immediately greeted by her psycho, hormonal (and tiny) dog who charged at me and bit my leg so hard her teeth pierced my jeans, and she drew blood in my leg. Supposedly, the reason she bites everyone is because she has a mental "disorder" that makes her think she had puppies (she didn't) and that whoever is walking around the condo isn't being careful, and is stepping on her invisible puppies. Needless to say, I sure hope she doesn't have rabies, because I didn't spring the $900 for the  vaccine. If I die before I return to the states, someone should probably look in to it.

After that great start to the weekend, I was hoping things would look up. Quite the contrary though; we couldn't get a taxi for 30 minutes, he overcharged us, and asked "Ay, son valientes, ¿no?"
when we told him the name of the bus company we were taking. (Means, "wow, you guys sure are brave.") Then, he promptly showed me a picture of a bus flipped on it's side, right after driving off a cliff. Then, the picture of 30+ body bags lying side by side, as if that would cheer me up. I quickly learned that a bus of the same company drove off a cliff, killing all the passengers less than 2 months ago. GREAT! This led to us taking the bus that could kill us, of which we opted for the most dangerous - the midnight bus from Quito, so we'd arrive Friday morning at 7:30am, wasting no time.

Sure, it looks and sounds like an amazing idea on paper, except for the fact that sleeping on busses that are driving through the jungle on Ecuador's "roads" is just short of impossible. Think of the last red-eye you took, and imagine constant turbulence over the 8 hour flight, combined with 6 stops. Again, just short of impossible.

Keeping with our tradition of riding in the most sketchy modes of transportation, we decided to throw 7 of us with luggage into a truck that was promised to be around the corner. As we turned the corner, we caught glimpse of our ride: the smallest "truck" I have ever seen. We took it anyway, and crossed the newest, and one of the longest bridges in Ecuador: 1.2 miles long. (shorter than the I-90 bridge, and 1/4 the length of the Astoria bridge). Quite the feat, eh? Anyway, 35 minutes and another thrilling ride later, he had to charge us extra because we weighed too much for the baby truck and made his tires rub against the hubs. I guess the $12 was worth it for him, and the $1.75 each was definitely worth it for me for another truck-ride.

After some time to orient ourselves in Canoa, we went straight to the beach - at 8:30am. We swam in the (WARM!) ocean for hours, then my friend Kellen and I rented surfboards for the day - only $12 each, a steal for sure. Many hours (and some success on the surfboard without lessons) later, I could start to feel my arms approaching a burn, so I cleverly decided to ignore it and stay out for a few more hours. That night, I realized I had never been burnt as bad as that in my entire life. The combination of SPF 20 spray-sunscreen at 8am, and my malaria pills' warning of "AVOID prolonged or excessive exposure to direct SUNLIGHT," and "may cause an axaggerated sunburn reaction" really did me in. SO MUCH PAIN, and no fun in the sun the rest of the weekend (it happened Friday afternoon). After gallons of aloe, I'm finally approaching restful nights of sleep. While hiding in the shade and reading the only book available: Ecuador and The Galápagos Islands, (I learned A LOT!), I overheard a couple talking about me in spanish "Hay, ¡mira al camarón! ¡jajaja!" (look at the shrimp, hahaha!) 'Camarón,' literally 'shrimp' is the slang and semi-dirogatory term for sun-burnt gringos. Needless to say, they were a little embarrassed to learn that I also speak spanish and heard exactly what they said.

Fast forward to Sunday, at which point we were running late (surprise, surprise) for the bus out of a nearby town of San Vincente to get back to Quito. We had no money left because we already bought the ticket home, so if we missed this bus, we'd effectively be stuck eight hours from home. After catching the (also late) connecting bus to take us to San Vincente from Canoa, we had to run, with all our luggage, in the pouring rain, over 10 blocks to El Mercado, which was in some unknown location. All we knew was: we were already late, I was still suffereing the sunburn (then just forming blisters on my shoulders), and that El Mercado was "más allá" ("farther that way."). FINALLY, we made it, before the bus, thankfully.

At the Mercado, we boarded the Quito-bound bus, complete with two live chickens in a bag (with their heads poking out for air, obviously), a puppy in an open box, and multiple frogs in a cup, all being held by their completely unphased owners. Just another day in Ecuador, right? The bus ride wasn't complete without: baby vomit! Two of my poor, unsuspecting friends sat directly behind a baby that clearly didn't like behing held in such a position that he was forced to look at gringos. Best solution: vomit on the gringos! My friends survived (barely), but their luggage took a brutal hit. Oh, and the bus smelled terribly for the remaining few hours we had.

FINALLY, after 12 hours of travelling from point A (beautiful Canoa) to Point B (home-base Quito), I made it back to my house, to discover a great look for my ankles. From all the bug bites, my (now) KANKLES were so swollen I couldn't even put on  my mocassins: The biggest disappointment of the trip!

You made it! Hope that was entertaining (and LONG) enought to satisfy your curiosity until I get some pictures of Canoa up, by Thursday at the latest.

Just wait until you see the pictures,

Blair