be joyful.: camarones del río

Writing to you from campus today -- waiting on some friends to go buy bus tickets for our big Carnaval trip to Montañita this weekend! (yet another beach)

I had another great trip to the beach this weekend! This time, I went with Ashley, her boyfriend Carlos, and our friend Ramiro. Ramiro works for a bank here that has a complex in a beach called Castelnuovo (just up the coast from where I was a couple of weekends ago). We had a nice little apartment-ito to ourselves, complete with 2 rooms, a bathroom, a living room area, and a kitchen. The complex had a pool, hot tub, a volleyball court, and a tennis court. We left early on Friday to get to the beach around noon (the trip is MUCH faster in a car, thanks to Carlos for driving). Castelnuovo is pretty dead when it isn't "beach season," so we headed to Atacames for lunch (Atacames is a huge beach right up the coast, about a 3 minute drive away). The title of this post comes from a joke at lunch. We were first served coconut juice by a woman who we thought worked at the restaurant. She answered our questions about the menu (including what was the difference between camarones and camarones del río) and even took our orders. Five minutes later, another guy comes up and asks to take our orders. Apparently, the first woman didn't actually work there, but she used the restaurant as a venue to sell the juice. Ashley ordered camarones del río (shrimp of the river), which turned out not to be shrimp at all. They were actually more lobster-like.

We came back and hung out at the complex for a while before going back to Atacames for dinner and drinks. For dinner, we ate at a big buffet-looking area (which Ramiro informed me was not actually a buffet), where I got a sausage/chicken/beef kabob and a huge cup of watermelon juice for $3. We went back to the complex and played the Game of Life (Pirates of the Caribbean version). In the morning, we drove down to another beach about 45 minutes away, but the long distance was totally worth it. The beach, which is actually an island, is called Muisne. We rode (with the car) across to the island on a ferry-type thing. The beach, because it's an island, doesn't have too many tourists, so we stood out, but it was also more tranquila than Atacames. After a few hours of laying out and drinking milkshakes, we drove back towards Atacames, stopping at a beach called Sua for lunch. I had my favorite -- shrimp ceviche.

We went back to the complex and rested. Carlos and Ashley went to Atacames, while Ramiro and I prepared a special surprise for Ashley (from Carlos). When they got back, we all headed to Atacames for another dinner of kabobs (pinchos) and juice. When we got back to the complex, they all taught me how to play the famous card game here called Cuarenta. After a game of Scrabble (en español), we headed to bed.

We spent Sunday morning tidying up the room before heading out. We stopped for lunch in Tonsupa (where I was a couple of weekends ago) and then drove back to Quito! It was a great weekend, and even though I got sunburned, it was definitely worth it. And now I'm even more excited for the beach....again!