Story Time

“We wander for distraction, we travel for fulfillment.” -Hilaire Belloc    

     Well, my time in Bahia finally came to a close and I said my goodbyes to the life I had established in that town.  One last meal at my favorite empanada stand, one last swim in the ocean, and one last night drinking beer around the table chatting about whatever the wind blew our way.  Yeah, the last month had been good to me, but as with everything, it had to end.  The girls came out to Bahia for my final two nights and it was good to see their smiling faces and catch up on the last month of our lives.
     I was able to persuade them to make our next stop Puerto Lopez, my second favorite town on the coast.  Here we are, staying in the same hostel I was in a little over a month ago, and life is just as sweet.  Of all the new things I’ve experienced on this trip, the new people I’ve met, the places I’ve been, I don’t think I will find much that I enjoy as much as sitting and watching the sun stain the sky pink while it sinks into the ocean.
     I don’t think we have the next step of this journey planned yet, or maybe the girls have that figured out already, I don’t know.  What I do know is that we have ten days to get ourselves out of Ecuador and into Peru (our visa expires March 17th).
     Temporarily stationary, I find my mind wandering back on the last three months of my life.  The lessons I could only learn from this trip, and the self discovery you go through without even intending on it.  I was talking to my mom a few weeks back, when I was still volunteering at the hostel, and I told her that the fulfillment one gets from traveling is broken down into three parts: 5% self discovery, 15% new culture, and 80% the people you meet.  As a peer helper in high school we were taught to appreciate the saying “How can you judge someone if you haven’t heard their story?”  So true I have found those words.  Everyone has a story, not everyone’s story sticks with you as time passes.
     I look back at my story, making mental cliff notes for the next person who asks, and I have to say it’s pretty much perfect.  Not in the arrogant way of my whole life has been cars and money and whatever I want I get, not in the way that my story is better than yours, not even in the way of when I tell my story to people they will envy it, but in the way that whatever it was that lead up to this point in my life, it was plenty good enough for me to still have a smile on my face.  Perfect.  If I’m the main character then I have had one hell of a supporting cast up to this point.  It’s had ups and downs, twists and turns, just like anything you would read by Dickens, Twain, or Shakespeare.  How can anything be so bad if you still slap that smile on your face.  I have no idea what the future will hold, for any of us, I’ll just try and enjoy the ride.  Sooner or later the sun sets on everything only to rise again.  Sooner or later the plot will thicken.

No where to go and all day to get there

"Mind on a permanent vacation.  The ocean is my only medication.  Wishin' my condition aint never gonna go away." -Jimmy Buffet


     I’ve covered a lot of ground to get where I am now, which is the lazy beach town of Puerto Lopez.  The drive out here was about as diverse a scene as Ecuador can throw your way.  From Baños, I went across the Andes and down into the tropical plains (if there is such a thing) near Guayaquil.  Arriving in Guayaquil I saw my first highway since I left the states.  Guayaquil, from what I saw, most closely resembles Los Angeles.  Not the skyline but the areas surrounding downtown.  I changed buses there and kept heading west.  Another three hours and I had to change buses again.  This time in the dusty town of Santa Elena.  Who knew that Ecuador had a desert.  Wind blew tumbleweed across the road and cacti were the only other vegetation.  It definitely looked liked it belonged along the US’s famous Route 66.  Another hour and I was in what I had hoped would be my home for the next month, Montañita.
     Montañita is a tourist hotspot that is unlike any other town in Ecuador.  Located right on the beach, the town is filled with hotels, hostels, bars, surf shops, dreadlocks and 20-somethings.  Getting off the bus I was smacked right in the face by the most humid air I have ever experienced.  Reggae music blasts from every which way while the air is occupied with the scent of fruit from juice stands, sunscreen, and burning marijuana.  It is high season in Ecuador (meaning a lot of tourists, nothing related to the marijuana reference) so prices are a little higher than usual.  I had trouble finding a hostel and, after being shot down by about seven, I opted for a hotel.  I got a single room with a shower that did not work for $30.
     At night the streets are full of young adults of all nationalities.  So far on my travels I have encountered a lot of Australians.  Not in Montañita though.  It was like the Olympic games of tourism.  Every corner of the globe was represented.  I met people from all over Europe, North America, a few from Africa, but the vast majority were Argentinean.  A quick side note: Colombian women have officially been dethroned.  The girls of Argentina take the cake.
     I went around to various hostels to see if they took volunteers, which none did.  This left me very little choice but to hit the road and continue north, which may have been a blessing in disguise because I don’t think I could have handled staying in the craziness of Montañita for the long term.  A 1-2 hour bus ride and I arrived at Puerto Lopez.  I found a hostel/hotel that only had one room left. A single with a fully operational shower and a balcony with views of the ocean for only $8.  I will use this as my base camp for the next few days as I try and find a volunteer possibility that will help save money, but $8 a night isn’t a bad alternative.
     Puerto Lopez is located on the edge of Machalilla National Park, which I am hoping supplies me with a few nice excursions into the wilderness.  Each morning dozens of fisherman compete with a few pelicans for the catch of the day.  I will continue to look for a month long volunteer possibility... tomorrow.  For now I’m just gonna relax in a hammock, eat a mango, and watch the sun disappear into the ocean.