The Beach

I'm at the airport in Guayaquil, Ecuador where I'm finally able to update the blog. The Alandaluz ecological resort in Manabi, where I have spent the last week taking Spanish classes on the beach, does not have phone or internet access, so I have spent the last week being pretty much cut off from the rest of the world.

What can I say about this past week? It has pretty much consisted of playing on the beach and taking Spanish classes on the beach. Life is tough. The resort was an interesting place: it is an ecological resort, so they try to be as self-sustaining as possible. They grow their own food and recycle all of their water. Some of the rooms also come with ecological toilets, which use sawdust instead of water (mine was a conventional bathroom). Here is a picture of my room at the resort:



We took classes every day on an alternating schedule: morning classes one day and afternoon classes the next. When we were not in class, we were able to relax on the beach or go to the nearby towns of Puerto Lopez or Montenita. I took this picture of my Spanish teacher and me one day when we were having our class on the beach:

Because there were only six of us taking classes at the beach through the Simon Bolivar school, and because there was not much to do other than relax on the beach, we really got to know one another. It was a really wonderful group of people:

Left to right, it's Will (from London), Karin (from Sweden), me, Maria (from Sweden), Kai (from Germany), and Annika (from Sweden).

Yesterday, our last day in Manabi, we took a full day tour of Isla de la Plata, an island about two hours away by boat from Puerto Lopez. Isla de la Plata is known as the "poor man's Galapagos," because many of the same animals you see in the Galapagos Islands can be found in Isla de la Plata. We did in fact see animals such as blue-footed boobies, frigates, and sea turtles, all of which I also saw in the Galapagos. A highlight of the trip was a whale spotting on the way to the island. We were able to see an entire family of whales come up for air multiple times. They were incredible close to our boat, so it was especially exciting.

I'm now waiting for my flight to New York. Although I'm looking forward to being back in New York for a week, I also feel like I have fallen in love with the country of Ecuador, so it's a bit sad to leave. I suppose I'll just have to come back one day. I hope Mexico can measure up...