Tansupa Gone Wild! Beach Trip

6:30 Friday morning we hopped on a bus to drive 6ish hours to Tansupa, a beach on the coast of Ecuador. Thoroughly bounced and vibrated, we arrived in time for a delicious lunch at our hostel/hotel right on the beach. It was pretty cloudy, but after lunch Laura and Anyel and I went for a good, long walk north along the beach. We found millions of crabs. There are holes all along the coast, each hosting a little red crab. They scurry around on the sand until something approaches, then scurry back to wait half-in and half-out of their holes. Being the immature children that we are, we'd run at them just to watch the synchronized disappearing act. Amazing.

We also found a mysterious sea creature--head like a shark, tail like a sting ray, and flippers like a sea lion. It had large, grey spots all over, and all of the main organs were cleanly exposed. We were fascinated, because we'd never seen anything like it!

The cliffs lining the beach were perfect for fossil hunting--we would know. ;) We scraped away at the rocks for a while before we realized that the tide was coming in and we had a long way to walk back. Reluctantly, but satisfied, we head south to the hostel area. We braved the waves for about an hour, body surfing and spitting up lots of sand and salty water, then returned to our room to find our shower flooded and STIIIINKY! We ended up switching rooms--no flooding, and a much more normal amount of mildewy stench. We ate dinner with the group and then hit the hay pretty early.

We woke up early the next morning for breakfast (runny eggs, great juice, great bread, and cafecito) and another walk. This time, we ventured north to the little towns with lots of vendors and fruit shakes. The power had gone out in the entire area, so it took a while to find somebody who would sell us ice cream. Success at last! We ate some ice cream and drank water on the beach, then decided to make a sand sculpture. On our way to the town a man had followed us for about 15 minutes before we lost him, and he managed to find us again while we were sculpting. Before long, we had about 8 new friends trying to sell us their various tourist packages. That ended pretty quickly, and it turned into them standing around watching us, some trying to help us shape our turtle. I was smiling and laughing on the outside, but very concious of keeping my belongings on my person. They were nothing but friendly, but it was kind of overwhelming. We just wanted to play in the sand!! They finally left and we could fix our masterpiece.

It was still very cloudy on Saturday, so we were outside on the beach almost all day. We got some more body surfing in, then spent some time floating, letting the swells carry us up and down and south of the hostel. After lunch, I took a shower and a good nap while Anyel and Laura took more pictures on the beach. I felt pretty pooped, and decided that fighting the waves for hours really takes it out of a person! We ate dinner with the group and then took the bus to the town to walk and find a place to dance. We hadn't been out with the whole group for a while, so we had a great time dancing. We left very sweaty and not ready for bed, but by the time I hit the sheets I was quite relaxed.

We woke up early Sunday to eat and enjoy our last few hours on the beach... and SUN! I swam for a while and then cut out early, not wanting to leave with a sunburn. I showered and spent the next few hours in the shady breeze reading and working a tough Sudoku (thanks, Uncle Jeff!). The bus ride home was pretty miserable for the first few hours--I literally was tossed a foot out of my seat several times due to the pot holes and speed bumps. And it was HOT. No sleeping for me. The last few hours were much better--we played a game of "Would You Rather" with some of the group, and told our favorite riddles and brain teasers. Great way to pass the time.

Lots of fun (some inappropriate) pictures on photobucket, many of which are from Laura's camera. I am going to leave this country with lots of favorite pictures of favorite memories with my favorite girls... Laura and Anyel. I think we'll do just fine living together when we all return to Willamette.

PICTURES! http://s183.photobucket.com/albums/x153/lark15/Ecuador/Tansupa%20Beach%20Trip/