The Coast: The Night Bus, Horseback Riding, and A Bit of Food Poisoning

The night bus also known as the beginning of our adventure

FINALLY A VACATION! Josh and I have both really wanted to go to the coast, and we have met some awesome people in Quito who actually own an amazing hotel in a small beach town called Canoa. Canoa is much smaller and quieter than many of the other beach towns, so it was just where we wanted to go. So how do you get to Canoa? You take the bus...the night bus. There is a HUGE bus terminal in the south of Quito (about a 30 min taxi ride from our apartment with minimal traffic). So we hopped in a cab around 8:30 and bought our ticket which told us our bus to Jama (a small town about 30 min from Canoa because you can't go straight there) would leave at 11:20. The woman at the counter had said 11:30, and the internet called it a "midnight bus". So around 10:30 we decided it would be smart to track down this bus, and we were glad we did as it left right at 11!

The ride was slightly terrifying as you are flying down the mountains (going from 9500 feet to 0). The bus drivers are slightly insane, and the road is super curvy, needless to say, not much sleep can be had. We arrived into Jama around 4:45am and were told that the bus to Canoa would arrive at 5:30. We sat down with a street vendor who made us some coffee and hard boiled eggs, and then got on the bus. We got into Canoa at 6am just as it was about to get light, and started our trek down the beach to the hotel.

our first view of the beach!

 

I especially enjoyed this entrance to the beach.
 I'm sure it seemed even more enjoyable at 6:30am after no sleep!

We got to the hotel, no one was around! We finally met some one coming in who told us where we could go for the office...we still couldn't find it so we just sat down. Long story short the hotel was booked (we had just rolled in on a whim, deciding to leave Quito 2 hrs before we hopped in that cab). It's funny because I almost didn't want to go because it was Quito's Independence Day, and I thought that by leaving we would be missing out on the party. Well since it was a holiday weekend EVERYONE went to the beach. So we trekked back towards town and sat in a little beach shack that had opened to have our first coast ceviche and some fried rice for breakfast. The coast is known for ceviche, but here in Ecuador, they actually cook every thing in it before marinating it in the lime/vinegar combo. The ONLY thing that doesn't get cooked is the conch...but we will get to that in a bit. Anyway breakfast was good, then we went on a hotel/hostel hunt. The first few we checked out were all booked too! I was starting to get nervous, but then we walked into Coco Loco and were lucky a room was freeing up.

view from our room at Coco Loco

view of the rooms from the hammocks

They had hammocks to lie in, I had a few good naps in them

and to be an extra attraction for the backpackers...BEER PONG

Unfortunately the weather wasn't great (Josh compares it to California's June gloom). It was overcast, and there were no waves, and it was a bit cooler, but that just meant lots of hammock time! We will make sure to go back during the high season which starts in Oct/Nov.

This bar had crazy drinks as well as crazy cans of beer on the wall from all over!

we found a cute beach bar owned by a British woman named Becky (turns out she is a co-owner of Coco Loco too). the bar was covered in fresh fruit so I asked her to make me a STRAWBERRY margarita (none of that frozen blended crap like in the States!)

Our first night we discovered this restaurant that served us these AMAZING jumbo prawns. We also decided they had the best ceviche in town (this was after trying 3 or 4 others). I didn't have my camera that first night, so the second night we went back...they didn't have the same huge prawns (I'm talking massive...like you only got 2 for a reason), but they had some normal size ones for me (below left) and a lobster for Josh (below right). Still pretty good!

 

Our mistake came next, when we decided we wanted more of the ceviche (below). I know you are all saying IT'S BLACK WHY WOULD YOU EAT THAT??!?!? well the conches are black...so they tend to dye the broth a bit....but....well we shouldn't have eaten it...we got sick....

...but....the next morning we had already booked some horses to ride along the beach...so off we went.

We sat in the back in the truck bed for a 15 minute ride to where the horses were.

 

my horse's name was Puppy

we rode down from the farm...

 

...passed some cows...

....across some roads....

and onto the beach!

Word of advice...horseback riding while having food poisoning may not be the best idea...but it was still amazingly beautiful!

We got off our horses...stayed at our hostel for another hour or so (we couldn't really move out of the hammocks...) and then finally mustered up the strength to trek back down the beach to the Canoa Beach Hotel. We made it! and there was a room for us! so we went upstairs, and collapsed onto the bed...and slept for 18 or so hours...got up the next morning...and ventured to find the bus home....but below are some pictures of the gorgeous paradise we look forward to returning to!

garden/pool area

view of the rooms

the swim up bar in the pool

We took a day bus back to Quito. The bus driver was still as crazy! but we were going uphill so it took a bit longer...but boy are those windy roads/cliffs scary!

Made it back to Quito in one piece. We had also been informed by one of the owners of the hotel, Greg, of the magical healing powers of papaya seeds (they are FULL of digestive enzymes to ward off anything bad in your stomach, but you have to eat them first! They taste like chewing on peppercorns covered in mustard...I like that, but I know it's not for everyone!) We are cured by now!

For my final bit of SUPER EXCITING NEWS after a very long/stressful week, I HAVE A JOB! 

...but more details in the next post about that.... :)