Las Aventuras de Liz y Kyra: Birthday Taxi!

View of our hostel, Bambu, from the beach

No drugs or guns at this place!

One of the great things about traveling without an itinerary is that when you find somewhere you really like, you can stay. Well, we stayed in Puerto Lopez for quite awhile, but eventually decided to move on to another recommended beach town named Canoa. We set out on Liz's birthday, not really knowing what a day of traveling we were getting ourselves into. We ended up taking a bus from Puerto Lopez to Manta, where we were informed the next bus we had planned to take wasn't leaving again until the next day. So, we decided to go from Manta to a different city, Bahia de Caráquez, where we would have to get off and take another bus (and possibly a ferry) up to Canoa. The bus (a pretty cheap one) we decided to take was also the vehicle of choice for a large group of surfers and all their boards. Because the under-bus storage wasn't big enough to hold their boards, they ended up putting gear on the bus (and a baby) through the window and stashing their boards in the aisles. Needless to say, it was not the most comfortable bus we have ridden. We eventually got to Bahia, where we hopped on a city bus to make our way to the ferry terminal. We sort of cause a scene by default when getting onto public transportation with our packs, which generally leads to conversations about where we're from and where we're going. Well, on this bus the man we were talking to strongly urged us not to take the ferry or the bus, but to take a taxi all the way to Canoa (still 30-40 minutes away). So, we hopped off the bus and stood on a seemingly abandoned corner until we eventually got a cab. Hoping for the best, we headed over the bridge toward Canoa. In the end the cab turned out to be a great idea, saving us some hassle and getting us to Canoa undoubtedly faster than a bus and ferry would have, even if it was a bit more expensive. We made it to our hostel on the beach, Bambu, right in time to get settled in, have some birthday happy hour, and eat some tasty fried fish and arroz chaufa (delicious rice). Although so much travel wasn't ideal for a fun birthday activity, Liz was happy to be safely back relaxing at the beach by sunset, eating good food with good company. Plus...She had achieved her birthday goal: eating pastries from every town we stopped at that day.

Beach time under the cabana

After our crazy travel day, we spent most of our time in Canoa just lounging on the beach or eating at the surf shack. Luke managed to fend off Juan (this hostel's sleezier version of Eduardo, trying to sell us surf lessons...or maybe just get our numbers), and we delighted in a few days of not doing organized tours. Unfortunately, it's easy to forget about the danger of the sun at the equator. One of our first days, although it was pretty overcast and not even that hot, Luke managed to scorch himself pretty well, from 45 minutes of no-sunscreen under the clouds. By nightfall what had looked like a pretty pink burn was rapidly turning into an obviously terrible third degree situation. So, the next few days our beach time became time under the cabanas, time looking for shade, and a quest for the cheapest and most aloe we could find. Eventually the novelty of the beach wore off, and the idea of cooler temperatures in the mountains was almost all that was keeping Luke going, so we decided it was time for the next chapter of our Ecuadorian tour.