It has been two weeks since our arrival in Ecuador and already Chile and our past adventures seem (again) like a lifetime away. We flew into the country’s largest city, Guayaquil, and spent a fun day touristing around and visiting the iguana park and Malecon area. Then we headed straight for the town of Olon. The change in landscape, air and water temperature, demeanor of people and pace of life in this little beach town are wholly different from our (also incredible) experiences in Chile. We’ve found ourselves looking around across the tops of jungly hills, marvelling in the cotton candy sunsets, staring out across the jade colored sea, and wondering if we’re living in a dream. (Spoiler: We are)
Laura has a friend from high school that married a wonderful Ecuadorian woman and made Ecuador home some years ago. Sam and Eva live in Olon with their two dogs Finney & Rauer. They live a pretty idyllic life and were gracious enough to share it with us for our first ten days or so here. A short walk from the beach, a quiet town full of friendly people, a beautiful house and pleasant neighbors. And BEST OF ALL – MANGOS FALLING FROM THE SKY! One author of this blog whose name starts with J was especially excited about the fact that Sam and Eva have a mango tree that would drop more mangos (literally) than we could eat. Mango salsa, mango pico de gallo, mango flavored “caña” (the Ecuadorian equivalent of cachaça) and a steady diet of fresh mangos every day.
Those first few days were spent relishing the sun, sand, surf and cervezas. Two happy little clams in paradise. Laura also got settled into Spanish classes and her volunteer gig at a day program for toddlers, both through the awesome local organization Outdoor Ecuador. It quickly became evident that we were in no rush to leave Olon so we started looking for a place of our own and eventually found a little apartment on the other side of town. A whole five minutes walk away from Sam and Eva’s place. So for now we’re going to enjoy actually staying in one place for an extended period of time. We managed to stay in SIXTY-FIVE different places during our time in Chile! An average of moving every two days. Needless to say it’s really nice to not to have to pack bags or strike camp and head someplace new.
At some point our goal is to visit the Galapagos, the Amazon, and maybe some Andes villages if possible. But for now, we are staying put for at least a month. We probably won’t update here until we have something other than idyllic sunsets and mango salsa to post about.
‘Til then!
Ecuador Part 1
