The Never-Ending Cabana

Hola from Ecuador! We´re finally here. After two sleepless nights in aeropuertos, we´ve been recouping in lazy beach towns and preparing for a reunion with the Ecuadorian ¨fam¨ in Bahia de Caraquez this Friday. I (Claire) exchanged for a year in Bahia from 2003-04, and now call it a second home after the warm community hosted me. We decided to ease into the cultura ecuatoriana with a stop in Montañita, Eugene´s Ecuadorian counterpart (+ a beach). An international crowd of surfers, artists, musicians and travellers mingles on sandy streets while competing reggae music blares from speakers. All-night fiestas nearby make sleeping difficult, but the sun is hot and the surf, fantistico. We found a hostel run by a young Argentine and energetic Cubano where we set up for five nights and awoke every morning to sunshine pouring through the thousands of cracks in our entirely bamboo-composed walls.

The laidback lifestyle makes meeting people easy; the friendly locals and smiling travellers are eager to share stories over dinner or around bonfires on the beach. Some people even know of Oregon (or if we´re really lucky Eugene), and also Ben Harper, Dave Matthews, Jack Jonhson and, of course, Mr. Marley. Guess that music follows the surfer scene anywhere. Along those lines we have somehow managed to jam every night so far... always with a few gringo´s, but mostly Spanish-speaking people. We formed a loosely comprised band called ¨Gringo-grass¨ which includes an Alaskan girl; Miriah, who plays a mad violin and a Canadian guy, Neil, who rips at the banjo, as well as a talented local who loves learning this new style of music, Carlos. The beach jam we had last night on the beach attracted some real attention, bringing an Argentine, Brazilian and French Canadian, Helene, to the fireside (and makes home seem not too far away after all). Not to mention, it has been nice to have the guitar to use as a form of expression during Ryan´s time of need of such things.Although we are in a very gringo town (there are way more English speakers here than anywhere else we will likely find), I (Ryan) am finding it to be a wonderful transition period before heading up norte to Bahia where Claire´s other familia lives. It´s incredible to have Claire´s beyond perfect Spanish, as well as Ecuadorian accent, constantly working in our favor within our many interactions with the locals and other Ecuatoriano´s. We instantly get their respect when Claire opens her mouth and that allows me to feel comfortable and think clearly about what I´m saying. I can understand most of the Spanish conversations to some degree and am really surprised how confident I can feel in a matter of days.

We feast on fruit and fresh seafood daily: perfect fuel for the 5-hour-long trek through the humid forest (actually a jungle more than ¨forest¨, complete with snakes, loud insects, and plenty of mosquitoes and stinging plants). The ascent ended under thick tree cover, and led to a series of fresh water pools and cascading waterfalls, which offered a much-needed refresher. The crew consisted of three Ecuadorians (Alex and Carlos are locals our age who also love to jam, and Vicente was our humble guide from the tiny pueblo of Dos Mangas where the hike began – none of whom speak more than a few words of English), the French Canadian, and the two non-proficient Spanish speakers, Ryan and Neil, plus Claire. This combo resulted in side aches, more from laughing at feeble attempts to communicate, rather than from the steep hill we trudged up.

We´ve moved on from Montañita and are passing the hours on yet another beach tranquilo up north: Puerto Lopez. Next stop, Bahia, where family and amigos wait to celebrate the holidays with us.

Much love!! Wishing you were all here with us!!! View photos at link on left (under photo albums).