The days after we returned from our little sub holiday were awash with emotions. The Ecuadorian beach town of Montañita had become my life, my reality as I knew it. I had 2 of my best mates with me, a whole village of beautiful people inside and out, perfect weather, golden beaches with often perfect waves and I even had a Ecuadorian family complete with Golden Retriever. The knowledge and continuous contact with loving friends and family dotted around the world were by no means forgotten during this time but in fact were what allowed me to be so fully content.
The Monday before we left we all finally got round to making the infamous Swedish cakes with the Swedish girls - the first sign the Montañita life was coming to an end. Tuesday everyone joined us for dinner and drinks to bid us farewell - someone we didn't even know very well gave us a heartfelt farewell speech :) First thing in the morning as the 'Swedish family' headed off to their voluntary work at the local hospital they bode us farewell and gave us Yatzy to take on our journey - thanks guys! We did some last minute admin then Kajsa and I had a good breakfast at the vegetarian restaurant we had all eaten at the first day we arrived in town. Finally it was time to leave so we said some difficult goodbyes and off we went.
Day 1: La Libertad
We cycled to La Libertad 65km away which was tough with all our stuff. After all our (my) faffing we only got away at noon just in time for the clouds to clear and a perfect scorching day to appear! We scored a great place for the first night in La Libertad - even got our own rooms for $10 each.
Day 2: The never ending cycle to Playas
So we took some more Ecuadorian advice and decide to cycle to Playas which closer to Guayaquil but quite far off the main road so if the advice is wrong again we are going to be rather annoyed!
We have progressed quite well today as we have cycled back 10km to La Libertad, 30km along the highway towards Guayaquil and 20km down a dirt road towards Playas. We were advised to take the dirt road over a lunch as it was a shortcut and fortunately started just 10meters from where were eating.
The cycle down the dirt road is the best thing that could have happened - the scenery all the way back to the coast and along the coast has been beautiful and we have only seen a handful of cars.Sleeping under a bush
As the evening began to fall we came across a little rural town where we bought some tins of tuna and refreshments for dinner. We soon became the town show as the kids gathered around laughing at our 'Spanish' and laughing even harder at our English. Most of the rural people don't even know where Africa is and keep asking if we have cycled from there. A local man offered for us to camp on the rather dusty field in the middle of the town but we decide it would be safer to camp where no one could see us.
Apparently, Playas is only 1hr from the rural town by bike but I was not trusting another Ecuadorian estimate after cycling all day so we cycled a little out of town and found a spot just 100m from the road behind some bushes to camp. After eating our tuna and playing cards under the full moon we have retired to bed early for an early start in the morning. Hopefully no Blairwitch sounds in the night!
haha =) this sound soo great! Strange that the boat was not there though?? Everyone you asked said yes yes, si si haha you poor guys...but you are so out for adventures...and that's what you will get. There is no easy way in anything...wisdom comes with age ;o)
ReplyDeleteKeeping my fingers crossed for you both, talk to ya soon! Cuidate amigo!