So my last post talked about the last weeks in the schools, which was a bitter sweet ending for me: sad to leave the kids but excited Anik is now here and that I get to really experience this country! We finished with the schools last Friday, which we followed with a group celebration for being done. We spent the night at a karaoke bar with Carlos´ cousin and some of her friends. Let me tell you I´m not sure there are worse karaoke singers out there but at least we had a blast. At the end of the night we went down to the basement of the bar, which is more like a bar with live music. We were casually hanging out when the singer, who turned out to be the owner of the bar, warmly welcomed us and played the song Ï´m Yours by Jason Mraz. I guess we´re really noticeable or something. :) So we all got up and danced to the song and really enjoyed ourselves! Some locals in the bar even took pictures of us so we´re kind of a big deal I guess. haha. The bar owner came up after and told us to come back to the bar and he´d throw us a good party and then thanked us for coming that night. The only unfortunate thing of the night was we got home around 1:00am or so and had to get up at 5:00am to catch a flight to Manta! but it was worth it.
So Saturday rolled around, we all got up and headed to the airport. I think we were at the airport for 6:00, which was 2 hours early for our flight. It was an inter-country flight but with the problems on the way up we wanted to be early getting there. Turns out security here is pretty laid back and we got through without a hitch (I guess there´s a first for everything!). Most of the group was pretty hung over but they toughed it out. We loaded the plane from the tarmac, which is a first for me! It was also the shortest flight I´ve ever been on, only about 1/2 an hour. By the time you got in the air you were starting your descent! We got into Manta around 9:00am, checked into our hostel and then napped. After a nice little nap, we went down to the hostel pool and swam and tanned. Manta is SO hot but we enjoyed it. After a while we decided to go to a beach where we had lunch and then walked up the beach and lazed. There were tonnes of kite surfers at this beach but not many people. It was actually really nice! We had supper there and watched the sun go down and then went back to the hostel where we were all exhausted so had an early night. The next few days we spent at a more touristy beach that was sooooo beautiful. We literally spent from 10 or 11 am until 6:30pm at the beach every day eating lunch and dinner there. The seafood was amazing, the ocean was warm, the beach was beautiful and there were lots of little shops to buy souvenirs from. The one day some of the guys played soccer with some locals and actually won! Go figure! The guys also decided to buy these tight short swim trunks, basically speedos but in short short form. I was on the beach with Jen when they bought them. We saw them coming back, since we can pick our group out easily from anywhere, and I was thinking they bought new swim shorts with white bottoms. It turns out they were wearing the tight short short swim trunks and the white part was their glowing white legs. hahahaha what a site for sore eyes they were! Overall, Manta was very relaxing and I truly enjoyed the beach time. I´ve never been to a beach like that or spent so many days lazing in the sand going in and out of the ocean!
Also on an upside, my bites on my legs from Mindo are finally starting to heal. Initially my bites were swollen the least but after a few days of putting Caladryl (a local remedy for bites) and benedryl on my legs they actually got worse. I think I had an allergic reaction to one of the cremes but I wasn´t sure which one. They were so itchy and so red I didn´t know what to do! But I stopped using the cremes and I think the ocean and sun helped. They´re still noticeable but at least they´re going down!
By the time we got back to Quito on Wednesday, Anik was already here. He´d been staying in our hotel since our rooms were still there but we weren´t in them. I was happy to see him to say the least! He´d already toured down town Quito by himself, gotten Galapagos tour estimates, and taken a 1 hour spanish lesson. What a guy! Once the group got back to the hotel, everyone had to make sure they were all packed to make the trip home the next day and then it was time to celebrate and say our goodbyes. Interestingly, we had met an American from the navy on our trip back from Manta who had a long lay over in Quito, so he joined us for a little fun. Turns out he got stupid drunk and verified the stereotype of an American navy type. I´m not sure if that comment will get me in trouble but its not my fault that he acted the way I would expect him to! He was probably mid 30´s and spent the night trying to pick up one of the girls on our trip haha. We went back to the same karaoke bar from the night before Manta and had a good time doing some more terrible singing. He came along and even though we warned him he should be at the airport at least 2 hours before his international flight home, he didn´t end up leaving until after 10:30pm and his flight was around 11:30. After he left we thought we´d be rid of him,but as luck would have it, as we were leaving the karaoke bar to head home around 1:00am he pulled up in a cab. Turns out he did miss his flight and was mad about it! What! You stupid idiot! And he got a hotel room in our hotel. Ohhhhh lord. None of us wanted him around anymore but since he had a hotel room in our hotel, what could we do. I went with one crew to try and pick up some after-bar food while the rest headed back. I guess they ended up ditching him by sending him to his room and saying they´d come get him if they decided to party more, and then they all hung out in one room together with the door locked! Whew!
So the group left Thursday morning at 4:00am (so most didn´t sleep) but Anik and I got to sleep in at the hotel. We had a lazy morning, went for breakfast with Andrew and Justin (who were leaving for a Galapagos trip on Friday) and then spent time deciding what hostel we´d go to . We found a place called Blue House that sounded sweet. We had an interesting cab ride here, as it´s apparently hard to find, but we made it. Unfortunately they were full but the guy sent us to a hostel two doors down and said we could have a room for tomorrow night. We went to this other hostel which was super sketch. It had a bed and our own bathroom but.... yeah. I wouldn´t stay another night there. We were glad to come to Blue House this morning. I´m also glad the people at this hostel speak English. Our hostel last night didn´t offer breakfast in the morning but Blue House said since we were staying the next night we could come back this morning and have their free breakfast. So nice!! Anyways, so after checking in and putting our bags down yesterday we decided to go see about the Galapagos tours. There was one company that had a catamaran that was used for the boat tour but it was out of commission. We went back there to see if she had anything else cool and she got us a really good deal. We booked a 5 day boat tour and decided to spend 2 days on the islands ourselves to see hammerhead sharks, a flamingo lagoon, and a volcano that has penguins living on it. I loved the woman that booked our trip. She spoke excellent English but had the passion of a true south american woman. She was so interesting to interact with! The boat we have has 16 people on it, and we have our own room with a real bed (as opposed to the bunk beds) with our bathroom and even a little sitting area in our room. It´s apparently a ¨first class yacht¨used for these tours so hopefully its as nice as it sounds!! We leave on Sunday! So soon but I guess we got a last minute deal. With that out of the way we spent the rest of the day napping in the hotel and then met Andrew and Justin for supper and drinks. The sleep in the hostel was interesting, noisy, hard beds, and soooo uncomfortable but I survived.
So far today we got up from our hostel and packed our bags back up, paid the remainder of our Galapagos trip, and then moved into the Blue House hostel. We had breakfast here as well and met a couple of guys from London that just got in last night. We spent the afternoon going for lunch at a great Italian place, then wandering the streets making our way towards a park. We were able to chill in the park for a while and just people watch. We´re now back at the hostel just hanging out. I know the Galapagos tour might be draining so I´m happy for a few relaxing days. We plan to head to Otavalo by bus tomorrow, which may be an adventure in itself, and then see what the rest of the day holds.
Sunday we head to Galapagos for a total of a week so I won´t be blogging for at least a week! Hopefully when I get back I can upload some pictures of the islands. I´m ridiculously excited!
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