Beach Bummer

Sadly, I awoke to rain, slept 2 more hours, and awoke to clouds. I found a panadería for pan y café and returned to the hotel. I had to check out by 11 a.m. so I quickly took a dip in the Pacific. I can’t say I noticed a difference from the Atlantic, but it was a monumental first, nonetheless. I said my goodbyes to the Germans and went back to San Vicente, crossed the Bay to Bahía, and went to the tour agency to buy a t-shirt, planning on wasting the whole day until the night bus for Quito. It turns out there was another tour just leaving for Isla Corazón, a mangrove island. I signed on and went back across the bay to San Vicente where we took a bus in the other direction to the canoe dock for Isla. Francisco, the 70 year old guide did all the work while Miguel, a German teacher at a German school in Quito and I did all the resting! I had never seen mangroves before (though it was on my list of ecosystems-to-see) and what impressed me the most were all the crazy roots! Yeah, sure, when we rowed into the breeding grounds/flying practice field of all the frigates and ibises and herons and such, it was neat to see them all flying and screaming and their sheer numbers wowed me, but I’m no ornithologist and I soon got bored. So I took pictures of the mud and the swamp and more roots and flowers until Miguel finally agreed we could go. He never did stop raving about how close we were and how much he was going to recommend this to his colleagues.

We then rowed to a dock where we got out and walked along the pier-thing that’s about 5 feet above the mud. We planted mangroves by dropping the long seed pods from the pier. My first attempt failed, but my second went in at an angle. Hopefully it will germinate and grow successfully! We then heard explanations of the various posters and educational tools they have there thanks to a few lone researchers that have come and gone working on theses and whatnot. On arriving to the canoe, my flipflops got the best of me on the mossy, slick cement landing dock and I shaved off a li'l chunk of my shin and knee. Funnily enough, the chunk of knee that is gone is in the exact same spot where I fell coming out of the cargo plane with Poppe at the air show. But I was tough and didn't complain even though it did hurt wuite a bit with the wind blowing on it, and soon enough my fibrinogen kicked in and clotted the wounds right up.

We made it back to the harbor, waited an hour for a bus that never came, drove back to San Vicente with some police whom Francisco knew, crossed the bay once again, and ate dinner at a really nice place right on the bay. For $4.50 I got two glasses of passionfruit juice, a heaping plate of fried rice and veggies, and a cup of coffee! It was nice to chat with Miguel, but I must say he was much less of a flexible, spontaneous traveler than I am. I tend to just wander in the right direction, look for/smell for appetizing food, ask direction at every fork in the road, and I end up okay with welcome surprises along the way. But Miguel picked one restaurant out of his guidebook (looking all touristy and vulnerable as he spent 5 minutes reading it), then asked for explicit directions on how to arrive (even though we knew the right direction to go), and didn't once stop to look at street vendors' goods along the way! But I suppose we arrived just the same, and the food was good, so I shouldn't complain.

Well, we both waited for the same night bus back to Quito, we both endured the horribly uncomfortable seats (only the regular and not the elite, $1 more bus had spots) and the water overheating and delaying us for 1.5 hours at 2 a.m., and we both arrived super tired to Quito at 7 a.m. I was going to take the $0.25, 1 hour troleride to the valle, but he invited me to take a taxi with him (and invite = he pays) to Tumbaco, so I got close to home in less than 30 minutes! I then bused home and arrived just in time for Saturday morning breakfast, which is always more elaborate than weekdays. Interestingly enough, though, even with all the great fresh juices and eggs and croissants, I am seriously craving some cereal, Special K perhaps. And none of this nasty whole milk nonsense, either!

So there you have it--my beach adventures ended, leaving me with Saturday and Sunday to unpack and wash my clothes, to arrange my souvenirs and papers and clutter, to catch up on journaling and blogging, to plan lessons for my last three weeks here in BSQ, and to SLEEP!! I slept from 8:30 p.m. to 8:45 a.m. on Saturday night, and I think I've now officially caught up on everything! Whew! Traveling is exhausting!