San Andreas de Canoa

Hello Friends,

We've had a great couple of weeks here in Canoa, though somewhat anti-climactic. Some of you may have heard about the earthquake that recently hit the coast of Ecuador. Although it was a 6.6 you all probably heard about it before we did. It hit at 10.30 PM last Friday as we learned from our landlord Ricardo the following morning. As he described it, dogs were barking, kids cried, people ran into the streets and Ty and I...slept.

The following morning some great waves rolled in and Ty went out for an early morning surf session. He had all the waves to himself, a fact easily attributed to the thriving night life here. A friend told us yesterday however, that there was a Tsunami warning that morning which was likely more to blame for the lack of surfers than any debilitating hangovers. He'd noticed Ty out there and assumed that Ty was trying to catch the wave of his life. Thankfully the Tsunami never came, but the good waves lasted through the weekend.

When Ty and I aren't chasing waves around and simultaneously trying to hide our pale selves from the equatorial sun, we've both found some new projects to jump into. Ty has become a master handline fisherman, stocking our fridge and freezer with all sorts of fresh fish and contributing to the sudden and welcome spike in our ceviche consumption. Recently we also started polishing some tunes as our Spanish teacher --we finally began taking Spanish classes--invited us to play at the bar/restaurant/hotel where she works, during the ubiquotously popular "hoppy our" as it is known here in Canoa.

I've been spending some time volunteering in the local elementary school. My first day there I thought I was just going to observe and figure out a schedule-which two weeks later remains elusive. That first mornign it became apparent that observing meant teaching an impromptu art class which ended abrubtly when all the students in the school flooded the playground for reasons that still remain mysterious to me. I followed them out there and bumped into the 2nd grade teacher who beseachingly invited me to teach an English lesson to her class of 40. I can't imagine what her classroom is like with all her students are in attendence becuase with 35 it struck me as surreal and even apocolyptic. The chaos was exacerbated by the presence of the drum and bugle corp. practicing immediately outside our classroom, which lacks upper walls. Inside the classroom a particularly small and meek looking girl pounded on desks with a long 2x2--which I later learned the teacher used on her students' knuckles when they misbehaved--expressing the authority that I lacked. A little boy removed the top of his rusting desk and began precarously lugging it around the classroom with an undisclosed destination in mind. Meanwhile 2 other little boys had their hands around each other's neck and seemed to be applying pressure. An endless line of girls in groups of 2 had to use the bathroom and while they wandered out, a puppy and then a toddler wandered in. A boy awkwardly tried pushing the puppy up a girl's skirt while the toddler seated itself on teaching platform and sucked on its passifier, engrossed with the boys who were climbing the window bars. Similar scenes seem to be the accepted reality in schools here. So, if any of you parents and teachers have tips on your art, I could use your guidance.

I hope you all enjoy a tasty Thanksgiving surrounded by loved-ones.

Rosa

Photos!

Peru and Ecuador

As promised, some photos from Peru and Ecuador. Just click on the image above and check out the slidshow. Enjoy!

Domestic Bliss

During our visit with her in Peru, my aunt Elena, in a good-hearted effort to encourage us to quit our ramblin´ways and settle down, threatened to buy us that paragon of stable domesticity, the blender cozy. We resisted strenuously, but it turns out that the joke is on us, because here we are, mere weeks later, settled down in Canoa, Ecuador, renting a furnished apartment and wishing we had an embroidered cozy to cover our unsightly blender.

Regardless, we are very psyched to be settled for a while, after nearly a month of steady travel. First a quick update on our path to Canoa, then a bit more about the lovely village itself as well as our present attitude and station. (I have been reading Dickens as of late, patient reader, and I fear it has influenced my writing style in an adverse manner)

Anyhow, we moved north from Mancora (the site of Rose´s sunburn which is healing nicely, no scars) on an epic bus ride, aided by a friendly Argentine fellow traveler, to Montanita, which was still bustling at 2 AM when we arrived. Convenient, as we could grab a hamburger to curb our hunger at that ghastly hour, but not great for sleeping as we were soon to find. Montanita has a nice righthand point break, and a restaraunt that serves terrific coffee and huge Ecuadorian breakfasts (The Happy Donkey), but was just a bit too wild for us. All night parties every night, 2 for 1 drinks from 6:30 til close (6AM) at all the bars, blaring music competing for dominance over the natural silence of the night... Anyhow, after a few days we headed north again to Puerto Lopez, where we did some kayaking (we saw humpback whales, a sea turtle, and swamped on every single surf landing!) and a bike tour. Then north again to Canoa, where we now reside, via yet another epic bus ride. This one was supposed to take 5 hours, but ended up lasting 8. In fact, we have yet to take a bus ride that didn´t take hours longer than the advertised length. Luckily this one passed quickly, entertained as we were by some wonderful kung fu movies, played at maximum volume. Though my spanish comprehension is still lagging, I could follow these pretty well, and cheered loudly with everyone else as the protagonist delivered his trademark death blow, a sequential chest-pounding which leaves his victim apparently unscathed until his head explodes nearly a minute later!

After a few days in Canoa, we decided it met our criteria for a longer stay, tranquility, warm water, waves, trails and dirt roads to run on, a spanish school, and good fruit smoothies. We lucked out and quickly found the perfect little rental, a 2-story brick place (we are hoping for a seismically inactive stay, as the town was levelled in 1941 and 1998 - ironically the patron saint of the town is San Andreas). We have a dining room table made from a huge log round, fully stocked kitchen with fridge and stove/oven and a USA style bathroom downstairs, and two bedrooms and a balcony upstairs.

I won´t bore you with scenes of recent domestic tranquility but here is a taste: preparing fresh dorado ceviche, playing some tunes on the three (yes readers, three) stringed instruments we brought, pan-roasting green coffee beans for the morning´s coffee, trips to market, trying to teach the neighborhood kids how to play the mandolin and fiddle, Rose baking terriffic bread, endless blender-loads of fresh fruit smoothies (including my new favorite flavor, avocado, try it!). Plus we bought an 8 foot funboard (after a brutal haggling session to bring down the price, which ballooned with our interest) so we have been surfing a bunch.

Anyhow, loyal readers, some photos eventually I promise, as well as a tale of getting lost in the jungle with nothing but the roars of howler monkeys ringing in our ears...