north coastin

Your run of the mill armchair traveler must tremble upon the mention of the northwest border of Ecuador, entrenched with FARC guerrillas, abound with illegal loggers and lawlessness: a modern day Wild West. Little do they know, cocooned ever so delicately in their lazy susans rapaciously reading the pages of Lonely Planet, Northwest Ecuador is a adventure waiting to be had. I had the privilege of experiencing that adventure two weeks ago in the company of my great friends and thrill seekers; Rodrigo and Pete. Our itinerary, to start, was simple enough. Pick me up in Tabuga and head north, leaving the comforts of Manabi and snaking our way up the coast into the “Green Province” aptly named Esmeraldas. We set off with high spirits, hair whipping in the wind as Rodrigo's diesel powered Defender 90 hummed it's way through coastal forest highway. With a vague idea of reaching our destination sometime that evening, we took our time stopping along the way to explore this forgotten coastline. As lunchtime approached, indicated by the collective growl of our stomaches, we took a hairpin left turn off the highway rattling down a dirt road amidst sporadic rain. We were heading to a small ramshackle beach town named Mompiche,famous for a very shy point breaking left wave and inundated by Serrano tourists come holidays. As we rolled into town, Pete pointed out one of his favorite haunts; a nondescript bamboo structure renowned for some bomb seafood and not for it's feng shui dinning room. We settled ourselves into the plastic chairs, scanning the various wall decorations such as a Baby Jesus poster and fake Nativity scene adding life to a otherwise lifeless gray wall. Shortly after we settled in, the waitress-cum-cook sauntered in and took our orders; three lobster cebiches, could you eat anything else being within a stones throw for the ocean? As the staff of one set out to prepare our feast, a middle-aged man, apparent kin of the cook, sat down to chat us up. After obligatory salutations, buenas tardes and the like, he directed our attention to the celling where affixed to a bamboo support beam was a monster exoskeleton a la the predator's mask in the gobernator's classic movie “Predator”. As we pondered the enormity of the foot long flat shell that once housed a mangrove dwelling crab-like thing, we were saved by the enticing aromas of our orders. Cebiche done right is divine, light and down right mouthgasmic, cold cebiche and a colder beer is my favorite Ecuadorian meal. We downed our meals with the fever of competitive eaters and parted ways with the drab restaurant, stellar cook and weird crab shell wall decoration. We had a lost coast to explore. Back on the road, we began to take notice of the changing scenery blurring our vistas at 100 kph. Being the green province and all, Esmeraldas has a annual rainfall that rivals some of the wettest parts of the amazon, which makes for verdant green forests and meandering rivers born high in the mountains eventually reaching their ocean outlets. Such a occurrence, river meeting ocean, or confluence if you will, was our final destination and outpost for the rest of the trip. We arrived in Rio Verde just after dark, named after the river that separates the town as it flows into the Pacific. Its a small community, roughly 900 inhabitants that grind out their living fishing and cultivated crops such as cacao, banana and other tropical fruits. We took up refuge in HipoHotel, a cinder block edifice advertising fans and tvs, drawn by the promise of circulated air in the thick tropical heat, hey why not. We retired early, preparing for a excursion in canoe to some rural settlements along the Rio Onzele that snakes through part of the Choco corridor, a biological hot spot home to thousands of species of flora and fauna as well as important ethnic groups like the Chachis and Afro-Ecuadorian that inhabit the forest. The morning before our excursion we stocked up on mameys (mango like fruit with dark flesh) and a five pound watermelon to tide us over until we reached Borbon, a important hub that links remote settlements to transportation and trade. Upon arriving in Borbon, we promptly hopped in a motorized canoe and took off up stream the Rio Onzele. We visited cacao cultivators, tree farmers and fisherman all who had nary a mean bone in their bodies. We were two hours south of the Colombian border, perceived FARC territory,but the reception that met us drowned out all trepidation. Their hospitality was refreshing, humbling in a way as we listened, snapped photos and drank in our surrounding. Being engulfed in wilderness depending on the river as a main transportation route was magically, fulfilling childhood dreams of jungle expeditions in unpronounceable far away lands. We basked in the shade of coconut palms, looping the tops of coconuts with our machetes spilling the sweet juice into our mouths and down the front of our teeshirts, it was heaven. Such a palpable connection with nature really put my mind and body at ease, forgetting all modern day preoccupations and really living the moment. After the canoe gracefully glided back on to shore and we disembarked, weighed down which more tropical fruit gifted to us, we knew it was time to part ways with our amicable guides and new found friends. We packed into the truck preparing to return home, our brief stay in this undiscovered paradise passed as quickly as a tropical downpour but we knew that our return was as imminent as the sunrise. This place touched us, brought us to the forefront of the issues; logging, guerrilla movements, rich culture and warm people, but more than anything else, it opened our eyes to one of the true gems Ecuador has to offer. Thanks you Esmeraldas, we will be back!
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My new apartment

Celebrando el Año Viejo

Not many words just yet but pics to tide you over. Happy 2009!!

Team "No Pants Dance" Beer Pong Champs of Ecuador.

Building Lawn Golf.

Planting coconut trees on New Years Eve.

Building Lawn Golf.

Action shot of Lawn Golf aka Golf Playero.

Ryan hooking a three pointer.

Elliot on the hunt.

Artsy shot of me playing Lawn Golf.


Group sunset enjoyment.


Secret Santa group.

Hola Vida Waterfall.

Enjoying the spot.

Group pic.


Cooooold water.

Hiking around.

27th Birthday Celebrations

Celebrating my 27th birthday was quite an event, actually several events drawn out over the week. This year my birthday was on a Thursday and my good friend Andrea’s birthday was on Monday the 10th. We had the good fortune of 3 friends coming down to Tabuga to spend some time with us for our birthdays. On Wednesday we celebrated Andrea’s b-day by making lots of good food and hanging out in her house as people stopped by to wish her happy b-day. The next day was my birthday and I worked in the morning then headed back to Andrea’s house to celebrate with Peace Corps friends and some people from Tabuga. We had black bean hummus, veggie burritos and carrot cake. After dinner we heading down to the basketball court and played some hoops in the rain. Friday morning came and we all packed up a headed to Mompiche, which is a small mellow beach town on the northern coast of Ecuador. When we got there the electricity was out, which happens quite often here, but we settled in to our rooms non-the-less. The northern coast is populated with many Afro-Ecuadorians and a ton of good food and music. For lunch the first day I had encocado with is a shrimp stew made with coconut and served over rice, it is amazing!! Other great dishes were encebollado, which is a fish soup with a spicy onion laced broth served at breakfast and is said to have medicinal effects to get rid of a hangover. Some of the fruits I ate were noni, naranjilla, papaya and maracuya. We found a very cool man named Tio Italo who would mix all these fruits together and make batidos either with or without rum, I opted for the non-alcoholic ones the majority of the time. During the two days we were there we hiked around the beach, went surfing, played beach soccer and went to a local dance at some random club in the middle of nowhere. It was a very relaxing weekend and we all parted ways on Sunday with everyone heading back to his or her houses all over Ecuador.

On our way to Mompiche.

Enjoying ridding in the back on a moto-taxi.

Birthday group at Andrea's house.

Faces and Places of Tabuga

My house.

Exterior of my house.

X-mas celebration in Tabuga. Bigote dressed up as Papa Noel.

Maximo and Nubia who work with me in the reserve.

Bigote chilling, representing the best soccer team in Ecuador.....Barcelona!!

Neighbors enjoying carrot cake on my B-day.

Me and neighbor kiddies.

Ecuagiving

So, I have gotten a bit behind with the blogging and over the next few days I will be filling in the gaps since my last post. There has been quite a lot going on since I enthralled my dear readers with my adventure running 22 kilometers two miles above sea level and stories need to be told. Lets start with our all-American competitive eating holiday known as Thanksgiving. My original plan for Thanksgiving was to tag along with some Peace Corps buddies and go to one of the many embassy workers’ dinner parties. Each year the well-heeled embassy staff invites poor, dirty and hungry volunteers to their house to enjoy luxuries like couches, Sam Adams beer and a meal without rice! It seemed like a no-brainer that I would be able to go to the party, I was a Peace Corps volunteer and I am pretty close with some of the Peace Corps brass. At the 11th hour, the long arm of Uncle Sam reached out and snatched away my dreams of turkey dinners in outrageous mansions paid for by U.S. tax dollars. As it turned out being a returned volunteer holds little merit in getting invited to parties, I’ll have to remember that when I try to go the Black and White Ball next year on my P.C. credentials. I wasn’t allowed to go because I am not a currently serving volunteer, well that just contradicts the whole spirit of Thanksgiving The spirit to, you know, give thanks to your family and friends and enjoy their company. Ever the optimist, I set off to trump those silly tie wearing international development workers with a Thanksgiving feast of my own. I was going to need help and enlisted the help of my great friend Ryan and after two days of planning the menu we had our feast mapped out. On our first day of shopping we went to a place called SuperMaxi, this is a giant Costco-like super market comparable to anything in the states. We spent over an hour perusing the isles and generally ogling over things such as goat cheese, bagels and Budweiser and ended up leaving the store with three items: olives, potatoes and walnuts. Not the most productive shopping trip but when literally had six dollars on us collectively. Not the most productive trip ever and we returned the next day with sixty dollars and a more devised plan. We bought a 16-pound turkey and enough fixings to fed 10 people then headed to Ryan’s house. By some wired twist of fate Ryan’s landlord has an industrial kitchen adjacent to the house, apparently his landlord used to run a catering company and they were kind enough to loan us the kitchen. On Thanksgiving Day, Ryan and I woke up ready for a full day of cooking. Collectively, what Ryan and I know about cooking a Thanksgiving bird was limited but with ingenuity and creativity we got after it. We seasoned the turkey with an enticing mix of salt, pepper, garlic, and a lot of curry, I think the curry really turned out well and added a unique taste to our bird. Some of the side dishes were garlic-curried mashed potatoes, stuffing with raisins, olives and apples, spinach salad, homemade gravy and an apple crisp for dessert. All and all we cooked for 6 hours listening to and discussing every early 90’s Hip Hop album on my iPod, Ryan happens to be a Hip Hop fan like me and we debated East Coast /West Coast style, positive versus gangster rap, among other riveting topics. Around 6 that night a bunch of friends came through, many of the same friends that had already eaten at the embassy worker’s houses but they were ready to double up and eat two dinners. For my first attempt at Thanksgiving dinner I think it went very well, we hardly used any recipes and cooked the way we thought would taste good and it did! With the leftovers we made a turkey and stuffing omelet, which was amazing and instead of zoning out to football like our compatriots stateside, we watched a bootleg copy of The Big Lebowski on a 13 inch T.V. Thanksgiving Ecau-style was great and not soon to be forgotten.