If there is one thing these people know how to do, it is how to get down to the music. a club full of sweaty bodies grooving to the latest reggaeton beats is an experience not to forget, now add to that if your in a wedding or a birthday and you'll definitely live to swear by that night. Saturday was one of those nights for me, it was the 15th birthday of the cousin of one my colleagus at work and 15th birthday here for girls is a massive celebration for they kinda prepare the girl to become a woman. There's a whole church celebration, a big dinner and dance off till the early hours of the morning. there is a speech by everyone in the family giving advice to the girl preparing her for the "world" out there, and finaly by the girl herself. I'm sure 15 might seem a bit young to some but here is how it goes in ecuador; at 14-15 girls are having sex with their boyfriends and a big percentage is getting pregnant, the guys at 17-18 are already married with a kid, the guys i work with are 22-27 years of age and all have 1-3 kids.
I've been in Puerto lopez on the pacific coast of ecuador for the past 2 months now. It's crazy even in such a slow paced environment time does seem to fly. Work has been great, i work at a very well thought out hostereia called Mandala. Simple yet so special, the owners are an italian artist, and his wife a swiss lady. The artist 'Aurelio" has literally done every piece of art and interior design himself, lots of great woodwork and paintings, murals, tables, chairs, cabanas on the beach to hang your hammac and doze off. The place has a beautiful garden surrounding all the cabanas where guests sleep. The idea is to detach you from the regular life you life at home surrounded by electronic stimuli and get you back to basics, lots of books in a book exchange, lots of board games and card games, some of them built by Aurelio. No tvs in rooms, internet only in central area. I would say atleast 30% of people who came have extended their stay, it's got this very laid back feel where you just wanna hang your hammaca on the beach and think of nothing. The hosteria is a 10 minute walk out of the village so its got this private feeling, and when you get the beach you can walk to the right for about an hour until you reach the cliffs without seeing a soul. That is where i take the 5 dogs for a walk and a run everyday, must say pretty nice tranquil stretch of beach where you dive into your thoughts.
It is pretty sweet living in such a small community. I don't feel like I need more options to eat, drink, or get to know more people than the people around. So as a rule im trying to spend most of my time with locals, or latinos. I have met some great people due to the nature of my work, every 3-4 days there is no people coming into the hosteria, mostly gringos though. My buddies are the chicos i work with. I call them los chicos malos :). Ok the lay of the land is that this is a very macho society, where guys talk about women all day all night, flirt with a million of them and seem to have the upper hand when it comes to family relationships. Machisimo land. Of important note is that everyone is sleeping with everyone. All my colleagues are married and all have 2-3 kids but all have also 3-4 friends with benefits, and they are all pretty open about it, including sleeping with ppl from work too. Very sad yet interesting, so one day i ask one of the boys if he thinks his wife is sleeping around too he laughs a nervous laugh and says ya chances are she is too.
The village is pretty quiet, some tourists come along but now is low season so nothing crazy, high season starts in two weeks as tourists come in the colder months of july-sept to see the whales, 800-1000 humpback whales come to these waters every year to mate and give birth. Im going to check them out next weekend. there is one gas station, one atm machine (that runs out of money on weekends sometimes), a number of restaurants, hostels, and bamboo bars on the sand (my favorite is called monky monky and they do great passion fruit mojitos). best thing hands down is that you can walk barefoot all day, i even go out at night barefoot sometimes, i just walk on the beach till i reach the bar. lots of seafood restaurants yet not that impressive in my opinion, hailing from a seafood mecca, this is nothing special, they dont do a whole grilled fish for godsake. they do a whole fried fish but not grilled.
Being part of the community and creating lots of local friendships has enabled me to really experience a different side of ecuador than if i was a traveler. i got invited to a number of birthdays plus a loco wedding on the street.
Personalities are the highlight so far, so many interesting people from all around the world, sharing different travel stories and adventures, some have just started like me some have been on the road for the past 18 months, interestingly a lot of people are making money some way or another online to be able to keep traveling and also some are choosing to house sit in places that they wanna stay at a bit longer.
My work is basically working with the construction/maintenance team plus some gardening, so lots of physical work outside. Great learning about lots of different building techniques for rustic accommodations such as these. I also take care of the 5 dogs, that are a handful but made me realize i want a dog as soon as possible, whenever I choose a place to live after all this i guess. i have lots of free time and people i work with are just great. Currently the owners are traveling Venezuela and the stand in manager Jill has been very sweet and has taught me a lot about the managerial side of the business.
One of the highlights of the trip has been going to cut my hair one day with one of my friends; freddie, he tells me ok this is gonna be a bit weird but trust me. So we go and it's "Shareth" the best barber in town, Shareth is a transvestite him and his three brothers/sisters work the place. loud music pumping and Shareth dances as he/she cuts my hair, he asks my friend where im from and that he's never seen me before haha, best thing about the ordeal is that cutting your hair costs a whole $1.50 in ecuador. man, do we have it bad.
There is a surftown about 40 minutes south of here, it's a pretty famous party city in these quarters, it's called Montanita, so I take the bus one day and head down for the weekend. This place is just insane, as soon as i arrive i feel like im on an island cut off from the world and there is only one thing on everyone's mind, partying 24/7 and trying to squeeze a bit of surfing in there. Loud music pumpin at 10 a.m till 6 a.m , lots of tourists here, i meet some people from australia, england, and the states and party with them. It's the kinda place you go and you wanna leave after the first night of partying cause your afraid your body will breakdown soon. I watch some wikkid surfers hit the waves at 6 a.m but i decide not to join as im hammered and the waves are much more advanced than my level. So I finaly do surf, took a couple of lessons when i first got here and have been renting boards on the weekends to hit the waves, looooots of fun and intense work out.
I leave here in 12 days to head to my next job in the mountains, this will be very different due to the landscape, weather, and proximity. It is a village of 300 people on a famous hiking loop next to volcano Cotopaxi. No internet for 2 months!! I'm sure it will be fine, i have actually been reading alot, read 7 books so far. Before heading there i'll take a week off and head to Banos, which is a small town in the mountains with a lot of rafting and natural thermal springs. Euro2012 time.
Best thing about this trip so far is being able to think again, i find that the hectic city life gives you so little time to think, ponder, and evaluate. I have been doing a lot of that and have enjoyed the company of my brain greatly. Miss everyone very much and lots of moments i wish i had so many of you alongside me. I'm here for another year so save up and come down.
Chao.
