Los Piqueros

Since Ecuador just isn’t awesome enough, I currently have the pleasure of living on a beach for a week and a half at a lovely hostel called “Hosteria Piqueros Patas Azules,” or Los Piqueros for short (the name actually refers to blue-footed boobies). While I’m not entirely sure in what town the hostel is located, or if it even is in a town, I have learned it’s part of the coastal province “Manabí.” Just up the coast to the north is Puerto Lopez, a small fishing town about a 15 minute bus ride away. Further north is Puerto Cayo, a smaller fishing town with a rather dirty beach. About an hour south is Montañita, an awesome surfing town filled with hostels, seafood street vendors, and tons of surfers. Los Piqueros is fairly deserted, with a mile-long path from the road, and is run by a man who very closely resembles Ernest Hemingway.

Montañita, filled with surfboards and street vendors

Living right on the beach is more than I could ever ask for in Ecuador. Besides working on my tan for a few hours a day, I get to swim, body surf, and explore the tide pools in the rocky outcrop during low tide. The beach rarely has more than a couple other people, and is the perfect place for research and relaxation. We’ve played volleyball almost every day, which I’ve found is a much more suitable sport for me than soccer. The food is also fantastic, and I’ve had tons of delicious seafood, as well as an amazing breakfast of fruit, yogurt, and granola every morning.

My "dorm" for two weeks

Our "classroom" for the time being

Red mangroves located steps away from the shore

At night we usually hang around a bit after dinner to chat or play with the owner’s grandchildren, and we usually indulge in some of the delicious homemade dessert, ranging from milkshakes to pie de maracuyá (the only part of the meal not included in our tuition, but definitely worth the addition to our tabs). One of the best nights here included manhunt on the beach, dodging the blue crabs crawling in the sand, and running between the hammocks hanging on the beach. Afterwards, the owner’s son, who was staying with his family for awhile, built us a bonfire and brought out his guitar. We had a great time singing along to tons of songs, ranging from the Beatles to U2 to our favorite Michel Teló pop song.

Jaime, our assistant professor, took a few of us to a cave near another beach further south. It was pretty difficult getting there, and involved some rock climbing, wading through another cave, and scaling substrate much larger than myself. We eventually wound up at a beach called La Playa Dorada, or “Golden Beach,” aptly named for its beautiful golden sands, flanked by huge orange and gold sedimentary rock on either side. By the time we arrived, the tide was too high to go back the way we came, so we had a nice walk through the coastal dry forest back to Los Piqueros. Despite the thirty or so mosquito bites I accumulated during that stroll, it was really nice to see all the different vegetation and views of the water.

Los Piqueros is amazing, and I wish we could stay here for the rest of the semester. But I suppose I can sacrifice living on the beach for some time in the Galapagos and the rainforest soon to come.

Just a picture of some cows on the beach.

Baños: Not just for Poop

To backtrack a little on my most recent adventures in Ecuador, last weekend I took a trip to Baños with the rest of my crowd. It wasn’t sponsored by the program, so it was a little less organized than usual, considering all the planning was done by a bunch of college kids. As one can imagine, we are a group with short pockets but a deep imagination. Besides the fourteen of us in the BU program, twenty-two of our friends from Wisconsin also joined, and we managed to successfully take over the hostel, and most of Baños itself.

Despite the meaning of the word, Baños is not just a place full of toilets. The name actually refers to the hot springs located there, similar to those in Papallacta, where people flock to enjoy nature’s own hot tubs. In addition to these natural spas, the town has tons of waterfalls, and is located at the base of a fairly large volcano. Nearby is a long river that eventually leads to the Amazon, flanked on either side by gorgeous cloud forests. With all of this located in a fairly small city, there was tons to do, from zip lining to hiking to mountain biking. However, we only had two full days, so we had to make the most of it.

Since we are all broke college kids, money was a bit of an issue. However, Baños is the perfect place for lots of adventure on a tiny budget. For less than $100, I managed:

• A 2 night stay in a hostel, complete with towels and our own bathroom
• A private bus ride for the four hour trip to and from Quito
• An hour and a half white water rafting experience, which included the trip to the river, all the gear we needed, and a delicious lunch in a restaurant on the way back
• About an hour in the hot springs (which was all I needed, especially considering the claustrophobia from so many people there, and how unbearably hot the water was)
• A morning of zip lining, with six different lines through cloud forest mountains, over white water rivers, and whizzing by waterfalls
• 2 delicious meals at the Stray Dog Brew Pub, which had amazing sandwiches and locally made beer; 1 great falafel dinner at Casa Hood, a local restaurant/library with a fun hippie vibe; 2 morning breakfasts of delicious freshly made bread; and finally, 2 fun nights out on the town in the center of Baños with other visitors from all over the world

I would say that’s a pretty good deal for another fantastic weekend of adventure in Ecuador!

P.S. Check out the video below for some firsthand zip lining footage