Puerto Cayo (Parte Tres - Weekend Away, Super Bowl, and Goodbye)

Since we had worked extra hours during the week, we were able to take off for a three day weekend. While we had gone through several options (seeing Cuenca, heading north to Manta, etc) we decided on beach hoping the towns just to the south. This included the secluded beach of Los Frailes, the fishing village of Puerto Lopez, and the party town of Montanita. We started the trip by walking to the gas station in Puerto Cayo to catch the first bus headed south. While this would be an odd way to distance travel in most developed countries, it is actually really common in South America. You stand by the side of the road, look for a bus headed your direction, and flag them down. When onboard, you hand them a small fee and tell them where you want to be dropped off at. When you get close to that destination, you yell for them to stop, and voila, you are there (and you got there cheap to boot). It's worth noting that the bus often doesn't come to a full stop, either while hopping on or hopping off, so you need to really be ready, and maybe wearing some springy shoes.

That is how we arrived at the trailhead leading into Los Frailes. We went here at a suggestion from Anna. Since it is technically in a National Park, we had to sign in at the ranger station (but they spared us from paying this time around). Many people drive directly to the main beach, but we opted to walk the trail instead, and we're glad we did. The trail - while hot, humid, and full of hills - leads you to a couple of amazing beaches along the way. There was a black sand beach that we had mostly to ourselves that we stopped and swam at, and a larger beach full of crashing waves that it was actually forbidden to swim in because of the current. Finally, we arrived at Los Frailes, and spent the day basking in the sun and swimming. On our way out of the park we started walking down the main road, and it was HOT. Thankfully, a family stopped to pick us up (the kids squeezed onto each other's laps in the back to give us room) ad they dropped us off back at the highway at the park exit. There, while waiting for a bus, another truck pulled over and offered us a ride into Puerto Lopez (our next destination) for $1. We (and another pair waiting for the bus) got in and off we went. In South America, sometimes you don't have to find the transportation, sometimes it just finds you!

In Puerto Lopez we stayed at a guest house just off of the malecon (beach boardwalk). Our room was the cheapest we could find in town, but it ended up being a two level suite complete with hammocks and rocking chairs. What probably made it so cheap was that it wasn't really sealed off to the exterior, so bugs and other critters were free to enter and leave as they pleased (although we didn't really have an issue while we were there). Puerto Lopez is primarily a fishing village, but it also has a malecon full of trendy bars with bright flashing lights and all day happy hours to support the tourists making a similar route as us. We bar hopped a couple of places that evening (note that the Ecuadorian coast is obsessed with Micheladas, we we love too), had some ceviche for a snack, and finished with some fried fish at the cheapest, non-tourist place we could find. The next morning we hit the Puerto Lopez fish market for breakfast. The market was a series of makeshift stands right on the beach where the small fishing boats pull up. The fish go straight from the boats into large tubs for sale 20 paces away. Behind the sale stands, groups of workers are busy filleting other cuts to be sold in grocery stores or delivered directly to customers (this is where our bicycle fish guy gets his stuff). In the mix are dozens of pelicans swooping in for the leftovers. We ate at a little shed next to the market, and each got a bolon (fried plantain ball) and an egg frittata with fresh shrimp in it (a little weird, we know, but it fit in well with the sights and smells around us). After breakfast, we were off to Montanita!

In Montanita, we stayed at a party hostel, but they really ALL are party hostels there, and we spent most of our time out and about in town anyways. Montañita was a good change up to our last few weeks. While, similar to Puerto Cayo, there was a big beach to watch surfers on (in fact there was a junior surf competition happening), there was also access to beachy street foods, cool/cheap bars, and crowds of younger people to meet. We walked the beach for awhile and then tried out a couple of the cheaper places (to get more Micheladas, of course). After that, we walked down to the beach to watch the sunset with a beer, and sat next to a couple around our age doing the exact same thing (with the exact same beers, in fact). We introduced ourselves (their names were Mat and Mikayla) and ended up making plans to meet up later. After changing and hitting up a paella place for dinner, we went out with the intention of meeting up for one drink. However, one drink turned into 4am pretty quickly. At the first bar we ended up joining tables with a couple of guys from Germany and Wales (the German had actually worked with Leanna at a previous Workaway) and for good measure we added an English couple to the mix because we awkwardly thought we knew them from somewhere. Our group of 8 started played drinking games, but the beer was too expensive at the trendy cocktail bar we were at. We took a shot in the dark and asked if we could by beer from the cheaper grocery store up the street and, for who knows what reason, they allowed it. So we played onward, with the loser of each game running up the street to get a bottle of beer and bring it back. We finally left the bar and headed to the beach for one last beer/walk...but ended up meeting some Ecuadorians with a bottle of rum and playing beach volleyball until we really had to call it quits...so much for "one drink." However, we made amazing friends along the way, and you'll see that Mat and Mik continue to pop up in future posts.

On Sunday, we nursed hangovers with some crepes and walked around the town one last time to souvenir shop before heading back to Puerto Cayo (again, by standing by the road and flagging down a bus headed in the same general direction). We didn't have a lot of time to spare as it was now SUPER BOWL SUNDAY, an event that Kyle thinks should be a national holiday. We were excited to share our typical Super Bowl experience with Anna and Steve and our fellow workers (one of which didn't even know which sport was being played). We made dips (guacamole, spinach and artichoke from fresh ingredients, and a buffalo-cheese dip from local Aji peppers) and onion rings, along with Micheladas. Leanna chipped in pigs-in-a-blanket and pina coladas, and Steve added his homemade chili to the mix. We had an overindulgent feast to rival any of our Super Bowl parties back home. To add to the experience, Anna allowed us to throw some sheets over the couches in one of the guest houses and we were able to stream it on the big screen (thanks for the log-in info, Kenton). While it wasn't quite the same experience, and we certainly missed our friends back home, we still made the best of it and had a pretty cool experience.

Monday morning was a struggle after such an eventful weekend, but since it was our last week we were up and at it early. That week we spent more time laying brick pathways around the garden and encircling trees. Nicole also cleaned the house again while, when Paulo came on Wednesday, Kyle and the others helped move more cacti from the front area to the beach. We tried to put in a few extra hours since we had actually stayed less than Anna's minimum allowed timeframe, and we wanted to chip in as much as we could. Valentines Day also fell during this week - and while we usually celebrate the weekend before or after to avoid the crowds, here we simply bought a bottle of wine and enjoyed an evening stroll on the beach collecting shells and watching sunset. The "shrimp guy" came that week, so we pan fried some whole shrimp and added it to a bowl of rice and veggies (note that there was a shrimp fishing ban for most of the time we were there, so it was a real treat to get a fresh batch when the ban was lifted). Steve has a tradition of cooking one of his famous meals as a goodbye celebration, and for ours he made a red-sauced linguine with meatballs. Everything, including the pasta, sauce, meatballs, and garlic bread, were completely from scratch. It was amazing, as always. We rounded out our time with one last trip to town to take pictures, some last minute playing with the dogs, and with goodbyes to Anna, Steve, Leanna, Olle, and Lidia and our wonderful time in Puerto Cayo.

Levi's count: we did see a few shirts in town, but most of the increase came from our weekend away. New count is 318.