Things I Learned In Ecuador, But Wish I Hadn´t

Ecuador is a great country, but somethings take a little getting used to. These are the hardest lessons to learn, so far.

Lesson 1 - Toilet paper does NOT go in the toilet. In Ecuador (and many other South American countries) the sanitation system isn´t robust enough to handle toilet paper. So in most restrooms (both private and public) there is a little trash can or box to toss the used toilet paper into. This is sort of disgusting, but aparently you can get used to anything.

Lesson 2 - Bugs and geckos are a fact of life. The bugs are plentiful and often blood-thirsty, but it´s the geckos that surprise you. I share my hotel room with Drew and a family of suicidal geckos. The geckos keep the bug levels down, but they also throw themselves off the ceiling with frightening regularity. Usually, they land on Drew right before he falls asleep.

The mosquitos aren´t too bad right now, but the sand flies are a problem. However, South American sand flies have nothing on New Jersey sand flies. Down here they just turn your legs into swiss cheese. In Jersey they do that and then take your wallet. So really it isn´t too bad.

Lesson 3 - Hot water is the world´s greatest luxury. Whoever invented the hot water heater should have been awarded the Nobel prize. You don´t realize how nice a hot shower is until you go two weeks withough one. Supposedly, our hotel has hot water, but there has been a mysterious lack of it over the last two weeks. It turns out that the hotel´s neighbor/local drug dealer was using all of it every morning to wash his dog.

Lesson 4 - Instant coffee is a sin. Ecuador produces some of the best coffee in the world. You just can´t get it down here. Ecuadorians drink instant coffee (usually with milk) and will actively shun the real stuff if its available. So if you ever want to give up coffee just come down to Ecuador. Finding real coffee is a challenge and it requires great sacrifice. The nearest good cup of coffee is about two miles away, so every few days I walk to the restaurant just to remind myself what it tastes like.

The First Aid Kit Was A Good Idea

This was the first full weekend that Drew and I spent in Canoa, so we decided to expand our horizons a bit and visit Bahia, which is sort of the county seat around here. After a surprisingly good and hearty (i ate Drew´s) breakfast we grabbed the bus to San Vicente. It is only about a twenty or thirty minute bus ride depending on how many stops it makes. This is always an open question on Ecuadorian buses since there aren´t really any stops. You just flag down the busy you want and then yell at the driver when you want to get off.

From San Vicente we hoped on the ferry over to Bahia. The ferries are really just oversized row boats that, according to the warning sign, claim to seat twenty people. Ours packed on thrity-five. The trip over was uneventful until we got to the Bahia port. Three Ecuadorians jumped up and quickly hopped off the boat. Now, a quick word about Ecuadorians and weight displacement. Ecuadorian aren´t exactly big people. Drew and I are four to six inches taller than the average Ecuadorian man and quite a bit heavier. So when three Ecuadorians jumped up from opposite Drew and I, you can imagine what direction the boat lurched.

Drew and I flung ourselves forward and an attempt to stop the boat from swamping. Drew shot the three idiots who jumped up a nasty look, which just eccouraged them to move faster. So now we have thirty Ecuadorians with paniced faces sitting in a boat, three Ecuadorians running off the boat, and two gringos sprawled out across the boat. We are making a great impression down here.

Luckily nothing else of interest happened in Bahia and we made it back to the hotel in time to catch some afternoon waves. The surfing conditions have improved dramatically over the last few days and yesterday was my first attempt to surf in Ecuador. (My single previous experience was in Hawaii a few years ago.) The waves were a little brutal and I spent an hour furiously paddling in and out of waves. I had a great time and didn´t even notice the jellyfish sting across my arm until I was getting out.

Today, I decided to repeat my fine surfing performance. That was probably a mistake. I was a little sore from yesterday´s workout and had difficulty controlling the board. I floundered around for a while until a large wave tossed me off my board and sent it spinning away. In the spinning process I managed to get my arm tangled in the rear fins of the board and sliced up my right arm. Amazingly, my new wound is perfectly parallel with my jellyfish sting.

The wave also broke the leash on my surfboard and sent it floating down the beach. So I waded out of the surf in search of my board, bleeding and humming the Jaws theme along the way. Next, I had find Drew. He is always interested in the new and oringal ways that I hurt myself, and I knew he would love this.

He took one look at my arm and said, "You are going to need stitches. Or you can live with a nice little scar." The following is pretty much my thought process:

1) It´s Ecuador. In the middle of nowhere. On a Sunday. Of a holiday weekend. The nearest medical clinic that MIGHT be open was in Bahia. So to get stitches requires me to bleed my way through a bus ride and a boat ride just to bleed in the waiting room of an Ecuadorian Hospital that may or may not be open...

2) The insurance paperwork doesn´t sound at all fun...

3) If scars are sexy then surfing scars have got to be the El Dorado of scars....

Drew patched me up and I thanked God that I packed that first aid kit.

In Canoa...

Drew and I made it to Canoa, Ecuador. This is a little surfing town nestled in between the jungle and the ocean. The trip out deserves it own post, so that will be coming shortly. Originally, I envisioned studying Spanish a few hours a day and surfing for a few hours, but that hasn´t
panned out yet. The weather is a bit stormy and there are lots of jellyfish in the water right now. It would be okay if I had a full wetsuit, but I neglected to pack that.
The town itself is very sleepy. The roads are dirt and none of them have names. This was originally an Ecuadorian vacation spot, but Americans and Europeans discovered it a few years ago and came trickling in. Their presence is beginning to show too. The main street of the town looks like a polynesian knock-off, but if you walk back a few blocks the typical wood or cinder block homes start poping up again.

With the lousy surfing and weather over the last few weeks Canoa´s surf seekers don´t have anything to do. The full surf season doesn´t start until late November and many of the bars aren´t open yet, so folks just sit around on the beach and wait.














I am still forming my opinions about this little stretch of paradise, but my initial reaction is a bit depressing. Drew and I are staying a few kilometers outside of the town in an area that makes Canoa look like Manhattan. We study most of the day, but by early evening there isn´t much to do. There are only two other people in the school at the moment, but a few more are due to arrive later this week. Hopefully, things will pick up.

Drew is currently sick and spends most of his time in bed. Once he moving again perhaps things will pick up. There are some sea caves nearby and the jungle is less than a kilometer inland so there is plenty to explore should be get the chance.