a typical travel day for me (or the longest blog ever!)

Elsa and Pablo in Bahia de Caraquez, me all geared up and ready to go.

3 buses, less than 5 and 1/2 hours, $5.25

there are many kinds of days to have here: and exploring day, a shopping day, an adventure day, a beach day... today was a travel day. my main goal was to get from point A (Puerto Rico) to point B (Bahia de Caraquez). i was told this would take 6 and 1/2 hours, but I got there in less than 5 and 1/2 and am very proud of myself! granted i didn´t get to eat or use the restroom during my travel time, but all went very smoothly. no waiting around in bus terminals for me this Friday.

i´ve been journaling about my time here, and today i think i´ll pour out the details of my (rather regular) day here. feel free to skip this if it´s too tedious, i don´t mind (and won´t know). like i said, it was not an adventure day, just the norm for this month, minus Susan. we parted this morning and that was pretty sad. i had this looming "i´ve definitely left something important behind" feeling for most of my first bus ride today. it took me a while to realize that it was Susan that I was missing and I was feeling kinda strange to be w/o her. when this hit me, i had to fight back the tears. the alone time will be very good for me, but the transition feels significant.

so here´s my day:
woke up around 8 and did some reading and writing from in bed and underneath my homemade mosquito net (a few sheets sewn together and tied w- string to the ceiling of my bedroom). after deciding that the shower looked too gross to be worth washing myself in, i did my best to clean up w- soap and water from the sink. i re-packed my pack and carried my things downstairs. around 10 i woke Susan up and we walked down to the corner store so i could buy a bottle of water for later. always good to have this, even if you´re limiting your water intake. when we got back, Mari had cooked up some of her yummy fried banana puffs for breakfast. i ate three of these and only allowed myself a 1/2 a cup of warm water (thinking ahead to my day of bus rides). just as we had settled into the plastic chairs on the curb in front of this host home my bus arrived (11 a.m.) we had quick goodbyes and hugs and I was off.

it´s tough to fit a largish pack on a local bus b/c these (unlike longer trip/travel buses) don´t have the storage space underneath where they usually can be stored for the trip. so i squished in as best i could w/ my things. this ride was from P. Rico to Jipijapa ( i love the sound of this town´s name - the j is pronounced like an h in spanish) when we stopped for 10 mins. in Puerto Lopez, i moved up to a front seat so that i could stash my pack on the floor space near the driver and busboy. this trip cost $2 and would be about 2 hrs. long. it was cloudy and muggy. the mountains looked lush and green. the animals we passed were very thin. i saw the skinniest horse ever on this trip. it was skeletal - so sad. the driver seemed to be bip bipping (his horn that worked when he pulled a chain above his head) a lot. when i took my attention from the mountains to watch him, i realized that he was bipping at every young woman/girl that he passed by on the road. he was having quite a bit of fun hissing at the ladies. they all ignored him, and i couldn´t help wonder if he has been at this for years. the nice thing about this bus was that there was no music playing. now, don´t get me wrong, i can really enjoy Ecua music, but when it is blasted so loud that my guts shake, it loses its appeal. our driver did give a mariachi trio permission to get aboard towards the end of our ride. there were two guitars and all three sang. i was apprehensive at first, but they ended up being quite good and they sang loudly in the back of the bus, so by the time the music got up to me, it was at a good volume.

once in Jipijapa, i walked around and asked where i could catch the bus for Porto Viejo. i was told it passed by the corner outside, so went there to wait. the bus was about to leave, so i hopped on and off we went. i sat in the front again, to accomodate my pack. this trip was to be about 45 mins. and cost $1.25 the sky was getting brighter and the day hotter. the ride was short, but riddled with screaming vendors. many people were getting on to shout and sell food - anything from ice cream to water to cookies to empanadas to Ecua peanut brittle to coconut juice to mandarin oranges, to mangoes, to hot corn on the cob.

after not too long i was in Porto Viejo at a pretty large bus terminal. i had to do a good deal of walking and looking around to find the bus to Bahia. there were many food stalls crowded w- people eating lunch. it smelled great and i was quite hungry at this point, but i wanted to find my bus, so only stopped briefly at a panaderia (small bakery) to buy a roll w- cinnamon in it. i put this in my bag and bought my ticket to Bahia - $2.00 and it was leaving in 1 minute. i wanted to get to the public bathrooms, but 1 min. would not be enough time for me to pay the restroom lady at the door, squish in there w- my pack and all and get to my bus. so, i just headed to my bus. it had a luggage space underneath - yeah! i handed my pack to the busboy and got on board. this ride was just over two hours. i was sitting mid-way back and was glad for this b-c the music on this ride was that loud and very sappy lovey schtuff. some young man singing in spanish about how he will die without her... yick. anyhow, soon enough the busboy came along to collect either a pre-purchased ticket or $ from each passenger. the woman next to me got into a fight w- him, b-c she was trying to claim she was a student. she was clearly older than me and was trying to tell him that someone had robbed her of her student i.d. just this week. he didn´t buy it, so they argued. in the end he got his full fare. she bought some small (ping pong ball sized, but more oblong) green mangoes w/ a little salt package in the bag w- them. they looked soo yummy. i love those little non-sweet mangoes. i was so hungry that i nearly asked her for one. i would´ve bought some myself, but those would be just the kind of thing to make a traveler sick from having been skinned w/ a dirty knife or rinsed in non-so-clean water. i had to pass on the mangoes. i ate my cinnamon bread though and that was delish!

being in the middle of the bus gave me a very good chance to do some people watching and what a ride it was for that! there was a young couple across the aisle from me feeding each other rice from a plastic dish w- a metal fork. after their meal they fell asleep together, tangled up like puppies. the bus filled quickly as we picked up more people along the way. the standing room in the aisle was even packed. this means that i had to give up my arm rest, tilt my head and shoulders way in towards my "student" seat neighbor and expect to be bumped, scaped, and stepped on seveal times. the day was getting even hotter and i could feel the sweat on my face and arms. as we got closer to Bahia the riders were getting off at their stops and the bus thinned out. i was filled w- such excitement to re-visit this town i called home for a summer (4 years ago). the familiar sites were causing me to sit up and strain my neck like a giraffe, in order to miss nothing. i saw the farms, the churches, the sports fields that i remembered, the school i taught at, the director´s house, my church, and finally the port and bus terminal - woo hoo! mission accomplished. i had reached Bahia at long last. :)

once there and w- my pack on i got a bike boy (driving a three wheeled bike rig w- a bench in the front for passengers and an umbrella over the top) to ride me out to the end of the penninsula to the hotel where i planned to stay for my first night. this ride was great b-c it was not too fast and i was able to soak in many more familiar sites: a favorite restaurant, the main park, the internet spot run by the two friendly brothers (where i happen to by typing this from now), the street i lived on and the sea! i checked in and then headed straight for the shower. this was my first non-"budget" hostal of the trip and man was it ever worth it! the hot water lasted for my entire shower - wow! i unpacked and sorted my clothes - yup, i´ll need to find a lavanderia (home or little shop that does laundry) soon.

around 5ish i walked to the beach to see the waves crashing in on the shore. i walked along the malecon for a while and then decided on dinner at a beach front hotel. it would get dark soon. it was pretty early for dinner here, so i had the restaurant to myself. one man was the cook and waiter. i got very good service. i had creamy tomato soup and shrimp ceviche. i drank a glass of yummy fresh honeydew melon juice. i lingered over a cup of mint tea after this and enjoyed the novel i´m reading. next i headed to the house where i stayed when i lived here. unsure if they would remember me or not, i was feeling nervous. i went up to their store front (connected to their dining room) and seeing that the husband didn´t recognize me, asked for the lady of the house. Doña Elsa came out and was delighted to see me. we had spent a good deal of time together that summer. she´s such a dear woman and appears not to have aged at all! we chatted for about an hour and i agreed to come and spend the weekend with them. i think Elsa was a little hurt that i hadn´t come directly to their home, but i didn´t want to impose on them, and their home could´ve been full (they frequently house travelers). from there i walked back to my hotel along the other side of beach. once back i ate a banana and watched the end of the Thomas Crowne Affair in Spanish on t.v. before falling asleep.

so, there you have it. how´s that for a "day in the life..." ?

it´s great to be here in Bahia! i´m loving the ocean and the tranquil lifestyle here. i´m enjoying visiting familiar places. this will be the perfect last weekend in Ecuador for me. God is good.