Viaje a Esmereldas, Part 1

Hola a todos!

This weekend, we went on our second Kalamazoo-sponsored trip to Esmereldas--a province in the north of Ecuador. The story is that during the slave trade, a trip carrying a number of soon-to-be slaves from Africa sunk the shore of Ecuador. The Africans that survived created a community in Esmereledas. It is known for this, and more recently, for the large number of futbol players the province has produced. Anyway, we were to take a trip there to see how the people lived, as well as see the ecosystem of the coast of Ecuador.

First and foremost, I must say that it is quite a long trip. We boarded the bus bright and early on Friday at 7:00AM. It was a vacation day, celebrating the independence of Guayaquil, a city in the south of Ecuador, so we didn't have class. We were on the bus for something like eight or nine hours, with only a break for lunch. As we inched closer and closer to Esmereldas, you could literally feel the change in the air. We went from high altitude, almost 10,000ft to sea level. One of the wonderful things about Quito is that it's easy to forget you're on the equator because it's not that hot here. We're high enough up that the weather stays around 60s or 70s. But the coast--you do know you're on the equator. About halfway through the trip, the bus got really hot and the air felt really thick--not only because of the humidity, but also because there is literally more oxygen in the air lower down. You could really feel the difference.

Anyway, about halfway through, we stopped for lunch. All of us were exhausted, and a lot of the K students had gone partying the night before, so almost everyone slept the whole way (except for me and Phoung, who both listened to music and just stared out the window...I hate sleeping on buses). When everyone woke up for lunch, we were pretty much starving. At lunch, though we were at what was probably a superb seafood restaurant (oh coast! How I wish chicken was from the sea!) I didn't eat any meat. In case anyone was curious, I've pretty much gone completely vegetarian here. Which is sorta too bad. But I've always had trouble eating meat. And most of the meat here, I've found, is very fatty or seafood. So I basically am vegetarian. I'm probably eating healthier than every before. But anyway, the exciting thing from lunch is that Matt convinced me to try some of his mystery meat. We'd determined earlier that it had to have been some sort of intestine. He said, "You have to try it just to say you tried it." And that was enough to convince me. I tried it. It wasn't very good, but it had a hot-dogish taste. Which I guess makes a boatload of sense.

Anyway, then we were back on the road. I actually have always loved bus rides. They give you the chance to zone out and think. Also, looking at it from a writer's point of view, you get these incredible glimpses into the lives of strangers when you're driving through their town. You see people cutting at fields with machetes. You see old, fat men lounging in a chair in a cafe. You see little children racing one another, or playing futbol. It's incredible. There's so much there that you can pull from. There's so much there that you wouldn't see otherwise. I love it.

We finally arrived in Esmereldas around 4 or 5 in the afternoon. We were supposed to get their earlier. But apparently traffic was really bad. After a series of breaks at gas stations to "hacer pee pee" as they say here (literally translated, that means to do/make pee pee, by the way), and our hour long stop for lunch, we were pretty exhausted. We get off the bus, and our tour guide (Sharon, a nice Ecuadorian woman who brought her daughter Tania with her on our trip) told us to get our stuff ready, but leave it on the bus. We were going to take pick-ups to the reserve. So we waited for a sec, and then her come these two trucks. And we all hop in.

I was sitting in the front seat of one, next to Andres, the man who ran the reserve we were going to. First thing he did when I sat down was come around to my side of the car and set a cardboard box on my lap. A cardboard box that was chirping. Sure enough, I was holding a cardboard box full of live chicks! Imagine my delight! I was cooing over how cute they were, and Andres got into his seat, turns to me and goes, "Comida." ("Food.") I was so sad for the chicks! I was like "No! Not Comida!" And Andres said, "Well, in a few months!" Oh jeeze. Reason I'm now a vegetarian number 1 and 2.

So, we rode down this incredibly bumpy, muddy road, the chicks chirping the whole way, and Andres chattering on in Spanish, asking us questions, before we pulled into the driveway of Reserva Biomarina Jantu Sancha. There are these reserves all over Ecuador, mostly on privately owned land. It was kind of like going to camp. Andres showed us to our rooms, and we all explored the reserve a little. We had bunk beds in secure rooms (coastal regions are malarial regions) and our own bathrooms that looked a little grungy. The air was think and moist, and we were all set to head out to wherever we were going next. Our stuff arrived soon after us (it came separately in its own, chicken-less truck) and we unpacked a little and hung out before our first meeting.

We soon learned that everything we'd had planned for that evening had been canceled because we arrived so late, so instead we all DEET-ed up and sat around until dinner. That was the time in which we just admired how quiet it was and how wonderful it was to just get out of the city. The reserve had three dogs, a variety of chickens, and a pig. We just sort of hang out and pet the dogs, and chatted. Me, Michelle, Elana, and Lauren decided to take a walk out around the reserve, and so we took off with our flashlights down this little path. It was really nice. Muddy, but nice.

Dinner was good. Fish, of course. I avoided it like the plague, but ate everything esle. We ate by candle light--apparently the lights go out every night for a while. And then we decided we were tired enough to go to sleep. We had to be up really early the next morning, so we all retired to our rooms. It took us a while to settle in, and people took turns taking showers. I shared my room with Lauren, Phuong, and Melissa. We were all just so happy to have beds (no matter how uncomfortable they were) and preapred ourselves for the next morning. End of Day 1.

I think that's all for now. More tomorrow when I have more time!