I am moving!

If you’d like to check out my new, improved blog, please shimmy over to ifyoulikemarinacoladas.com. I’ve gone self-hosted and well, it just looks better.

Cheers!

¡Vamos a la playa!

Unlike many of you, instead of spending Christmas huddled inside from the cold winter winds, sipping hot chocolate next to a sparkly tree, I spent Christmas drinking from coconuts and doing acro-yoga on the beach.

Before I proceed, I should say that we had a Christmas party at the reserve where we did Secret Santa, had dinner, and then I whooped everyone at foosball. It was great to see all the staff and volunteers at the reserve spending time together.

Figure 1. Happy group photo from all of us at the reserve. ¡Feliz Navidad!

Following the Christmas party, I took a 9 day holiday and spent the majority of it on the sunny coastlines. The first stop was Canoa, about 5 hours east of Sto. Domingo. This small, sleepy surf town consists of one main road that intersects with the waterfront street lined with bars and youth hostels. This town is popular with locals and internationals alike, as visitors flow in to spend their Christmas vacations surfing on the beach.

I stayed at Hostal Coco Loco, the most happening youth hostal in town. For New Year´s Eve, the hostel hosted a potluck dinner and caroling. Dinner was fantastic (as potlucks typically go), and caroling was…umm…interesting. I couldn´t describe us backpackers as a choir of angels exactly, but I do believe we managed to bemuse some fishermen and startle many pets. All in all, it was a good evening of merriment-making.

I spent Christmas morning surfing, or trying to rather, and Christmas afternoon napping (as I had very little rest the night before, winky face). Later in the afternoon/ evening I attended an acro-yoga class. That is, acrobatics and yoga. This consisted of partner positions that were both very challenging but lots of fun. In the evening, I had the atypical Christmas dinner of ceviche. For those less familiar with culinary jargon, ceviche is seafood, usually fish, shrimp, or shellfish, cured in lemon/lime juice and served in a cold soup of tomato, onion, and cilantro. It´s one of those foods that, once you get a taste for it, you keep on thinking about it until you have it again…and again…and again.

In Canoa the hot breezy air and chilled out atmosphere makes it difficult to get anything accomplished in a day. I very quickly started missing the cool, clean air of the reserve and being able to focus in on whatever book I was reading. I feel a bit like a first world brat, missing being at home reading while lazing in a tropical paradise. It was just too much sand and sunshine for me. After a few days it was time to pack the bags and hit the road again. Next stop was the crazy party town of Montañita.

Figure 2. Panoramic of a sunset in Canoa.

It seems that the entire country, and more, headed to Montañita for New Years.  After arriving and checking in on many overbooked hostels, I had to settle in a place called Iguana Hostel. They charged 15 a night, and my accommodation was a mattress on a rooftop terrace shared by 20 other people (and I forgot to take a picture! Ugh!). The sidewalks of  Montañita are lined with vendors selling tropical drinks, artisanal jewelry, and street food, and the streets are filled with…well, drunk people. One of the greatest delights I encountered on the street was a jovial coloured woman selling special brownies. On the first evening in Montañita, I encountered some friends I had met previously in Quito and had ballin´ time clubbing with them. Crazy enough, I met another salsa aficionado from Montreal and we had some amazing dances (and I did the dirty dancing move!). I slept through most of the next day, or at least didn’t do anything really worth mentioning on here. The evening was a similar routine of chilling and hanging out on in town. We purchased some cheap fireworks to set off on the beach. The first two were splendid and the last was a major safety hazard as it toppled over and blew up on the beach. I would not recommend this activity for the intoxicated and still feel a burn of regret when I think about how I let an explosive off in public. Hallelujah no one got hurt.

After two days I had had enough of this crazy beach town and headed back up to Quito to meet up with some friends (you can get from Montañita to Quito by taking a 2-3 hour bus to Guayaquil and then a 9 hour bus to Quito). On December 31st the streets were filled with people in ridiculous costumes up on floats blasting Latin music. People were wearing ridiculous wigs and fake eyelashes. I don´t quite understand the custom. Unfortunately I can´t comment on how New Years itself went because I snuggled into bed, couldn´t be bothered to get out, and missed the New Years countdown. The sad thing is I was so warm and content in bed, I´m not even sorry. Everything in Quito was closed the next day so I went back to the reserve. Travel tip: Avoid travelling on January 1st. I waited in line to get a bus ticket for two hours.

Figure 3. People dressed as Simpsons for New Years. I don´t know what´s happening.

Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead)

November 1^st marks the Ecuadorian holiday of Dia de los Muertos which commemorates loved ones past. This celebration is widespread within Latin America, with different customs in different countries. Ecuadorians typically prepare flowers and food and visit the graveyard. Instead of being a somber holiday as you might expect, Dia de los Muertos is a joyous occasion where families get together and celebrate the lives of their lost loved ones. During the season,guaguas de pan (sweet bread shaped like babies, usually filled with jam) and colada morada (thick fruit drink coloured purple by blackberries and purple maize) can be found in nearly every restaurant in Quito. Since I don´t have any relatives here, and certainly no dead relatives, I partook in this unique holiday by having my fill of guaguas and colada morada. The guaguas look very appetizing, but unfortunately, in my experience, I´ve only had dry, stale ones. Colada morada is served warm (like most coladas) and contains chunks of fruit such as strawberries, blackberries, and pineapple. It is sweet and thick and very consoling on a cold, rainy day.

Fig 1. Me smiling like an idiot with my stale guagua de pan and colada morada.

Here at the reserve, we also celebrated Halloween. In the afternoon I made hideous cookies shaped like ghosts and skulls, and after dinner set up a small “trick or treating” experience for the kids. All the volunteers dressed in makeshift costumes (salutations to everyone´s creativity), and scattered to various places in the reserve so los niños could come find us and receive candies. Not quite the same as Halloween back home, but the best you could do at a remote farm in Ecuador.

Fig. 2. The family and us volunteers dressed up for Halloween. I am the fat white thing in the middle (marshmallow).