Day 95 Nov 6 2014 Montanita Ecuador

jumping in the waves, montanita ecuador

waiting for lunch

Day 95  Nov 6 2014  Montanita Ecuador

Today we moved down the coast approximately 30 km to Montanita, it is a town know for surfing.  We are in a little Hostal right on the beach.  I am in a hammock typing this and listening to the waves pound into the beach (pretty hard to take).  We are planning on taking it easy here and just enjoy the beautiful beach and surf.  David and Isabel were happy to be playing in the biggest waves of their life.  Evy and Isabel were probably in the ocean for 1 ½ to 2 hours and David and I for 1 hour.  When I was leaving the ocean I felt “fishing line” around my ankle.  I figured I would pull it out of the ocean and throw it in the garbage; however when I grabbed it with my hands I realized I was being stung on my legs.  It was a beautiful tentacle of a little blue jelly fish, ah the beauty of nature.  I was stung on the stomach and upper and lower legs which prompted a walk into town to buy vinegar.  The beach here is very wide at low tide, so we went for a walk on the beach in the moonlight.  It would have been so romantic if we did not have 2 bickering kids with us.  David dropped the Ipad 2 mini that he purchased on Oct 26 and destroyed the screen.  I guess we will have purchase the Applecare plus after all.  

Day 94 Nov 5 2014 Puerto Lopez

Isabel and her pet star fish

David waiting to get back on the boat

Isabel with blue footed bobbies

over looking the ocean on the Isla de la Plata

Day 94  Nov 5 2014   Puerto Lopez

The day started with a taxi ride into Puerto Lopez followed by a 1 hr and 25 min boat ride to  La Isla de la Plata which is also known as the Poor Mans Galapagos.  When we got to the island and were getting ready to go ashore we could see lots of large sea turtles swimming around the boat.  On the Island we saw lots of birds including the blue footed bobbies some of which were doing the mating dance for the females.  The end of the island tour was followed with a light lunch on the boat and snorkeling.  The fish were amazing both in color and number, we also saw sea turtles.  When we were snorkeling near the boat we swam into a cloud of particulate matter which the fish were rushing into to eat.  Evy thought that the people on the boat were feeding the fish so they would cluster together for us to see,  that was, until I explained that somebody had vomited into the water.  Needless to say she was  a little grossed out.  The boat ride back to main land was rough and 2 people got sea sick as opposed to one on the way to the island.   It was a very enjoyable day.

Day 93 Nov 4 2014 Puerto Lopez

A really cool tree to climb

Getting into the sulfur spring in Agua Blanca

Day 93  Nov 4 2014   Puerto Lopez

Agua Blanca was where we went touring today.  It consists of a historical site dating a few thousand years BC.  The guide gave us a tour of the museum and the burial area where 3 urns were exposed. That was followed by a walk through the forest where he explained the uses of some of the local trees and plants.  We walked past a river where a bunch of women were washing clothes in the river.  The walk ended at a sulfur water spring in which the kids and I went swimming.  The smell of sulfur in the water was quite strong and there were some people rubbing the mud from the bottom of the spring on their faces as it is supposed to have medicinal properties.  The kids climbed a tree and saw a termite nest.  Both David and Isabel decided to eat the little black termites that were crawling in the tree.   The termites were not termites but black ants and I don’t know how many they ate but I guess they must taste ok.  This day was finished off with a visit to the game room in the hotel where I kicked everybody butt at pool and ping pong.

Day 92 Nov 3 2014 Puerto Lopez

Looking for the winning shell on Las Tunas beach

Las Tunas beach near Puerto Lopez Ecuador

Day 92  Nov 3 2014  Puerto Lopez

We flew from Quito to Manta today then took a taxi over 125 km to the Azuluna Eco Resort.  Once again the first order of business once we checked was to eat followed by a long walk on the beach.  The beach is nice but the waves are massive and there are warning signs not to go into the water more than waste deep or you have a good chance of being drug out to sea.   The hotel is essentially deserted and we had full use of the games room which was nice.  The hotel does not have a TV in the room so everybody is reading or playing games on their tablets.  

Day 91 Nov 2 2014 Quito Ecuador

Plaza Foch Quito Ecuador

Day 91  Nov 2 2014  Quito Ecuador

We were happy to leave the hotel in Banos this morning and boarded a bus for Quito at 10:20 am.  When we arrived in Quito we took a taxi to the hotel dropped our luggage off in the room and went out to eat.  After supper we went for a walk to Plaza Foch which is an area full of restaurant and had lots of activity in the area the first time we were there. It was dead with 90% of the businesses closed for the Sunday of the long weekend.  It was not what I expected coming from Canada where that is not the norm.  We finished the day with the kids doing a few hours of school work. 

Day 90 Oct 31 2014 Banos Ecuador

Day 90  Oct 31 2014  Banos Ecuador

We started the day with a nice breakfast at a restaurant next to the hotel, it served the best coffee I have had in quite a while.  The hotel we are staying in is not the best.  It has a toilet that leaks and there is water on the floor in the bathroom constantly.  There is a bar close by that opens up at 8 pm and plays loud music to 2 am.  That was followed by somebody banging on the door at 4 am and people talking in loud voices.  Needless to say we did not get much sleep.  We have one more night like that to look forward to.  Breakfast was followed by a water fall tour.  Banos has many impressive waterfalls in the area with the most impressive being the Palion del Diablo.    The tour stopped at a zip line place during the tour and we paid for Isabel and David to go.  When Isabel got to the top of the tower she freaked out and came back down the stairs.  The zip line was followed by a trolley zip line which the family went on and enjoyed, even Evy.  When the tour bus returned us to Banos we took a taxi back to the Palion del Diablo to explore the side of the waterfalls that the tour did not stop on.  The visit involved a 10 to 15 minute walk down a trail followed by crawling through a little cave to finally arrive behind the falls.  The walk back up the hill was not as much fun as going down but we all made it ok.  In my opinion Niagara Falls has nothing on the Palion del Diablo as it is truly a magnificent place.  On the way back into town we stopped at another zip line so David could go for another ride.  The zip line was over 1 Km long and David was very content that he could ride it.  The prices here are much cheaper than in Canada.  The first zip line cost $10, the trolley ride cost $1.50 each and the long zip line cost $15.  We went for a really good supper where I had fillet mignon and the total came to $41.50.

Day 89 Oct 31 2014 Banos Ecuador

Day 89   Oct 31 2014  Banos Ecuador

I started the day with a bout of travelers’ diarrhea which I was very excited about as we were facing a 4 hour bus ride to Banos.  The good new was that I travel with Imodium in my bags after a rather unpleasant experience in Poland many years ago.  Evy started feeling sick on the bus but we were not sure if it was just motion sickness or something else so she took a couple of motions sickness pills.  She was still not feeling the best after a few hours in Banos.  In the evening we took a volcano tour which turned out to be a tour to a lookout where you can see the city an night and watched a couple of jugglers perform with fire batons as there was  a cloud obscuring the volcano.