“¿Qué más?”: An expression said when there's is a lull in the conversation and no else has anything more to say
Is it that we have nothing more to say or is it that we don’t want to speak what’s on our mind? I wonder this often. If we could hear what everyone was thinking would the world always be filled with continual raucous banter or would it be silent at times? Would we have to yell above the din just in order to hear our own thoughts or would we occasionally utter “¿Qué más?” “What more?” to break the deafening quiet.
My free week started a lot like this. I asked myself “¿Qué más?” and ended up with too much to say and, in turn, just sat silently.
día sesenta y dos: 03/12/2010 Last Friday afternoon our ecology class took a field trip to the coast to see the mangrove forests (which are a lot similar to the Florida Everglades but with more humidity, much more mud crabs, and much much more mosquito bites)…literally there was a swarm of nearly 100 mosquitoes around me during our hike and after only about 20 minutes I had a good 30 bites, it was miserable.
After our ecology field trip a group of gals and I hitchhiked a bus to Guyaquil. This is how traveling is done here in Ecuador: 1- you stand on the side of the highway and look for a big bus headed to your destination and 2- you flag it down once you see it, then 3- you keep your bags with you because you don’t want them to get taken from the baggage compartment below when the bus stops in the midst of traffic, and then 4- you load the bus and you pay the ticket guy $2-$8 depending upon the quality of the bus, and finally 5- you sit back and enjoy the ride…or at least enjoy it the best you are able to. I say this because most bus rides in Ecuador are super windy due to all of the windows being stuck in the open position and you can’t close them no matter how strong you are. I don’t care if your name is Arnold Shrawtzinager, you still won’t be able to close that damn window. Another reason why I say this is because most bus rides are super crowded as well as windy. Why? you might ask. Well, mainly because in Ecuador there is no such thing as a “seat limit,” if you can squeeze yourself through those doors and not have a leg sticking out into traffic, then you’ve got yourself a ride to wherever you are going. Lastly, and either the most annoying or most amusing reason, is the buckets of street vendors that come on to the buses at various stops and try to sell you products like DVD’s, juice in a bag, snack crackers, water bottles, sunglasses, cell phone minutes, and the list goes on. Seriously, the kind of products sold by these vendors isn’t limited in any way shape or form. Anything goes for these people! If they can pitch it in the aisle of a bus, they will. Moreover, I’m pretty sure none of these vendors have a business license of any kind. After Guyaquil we took two other buses and finally made it to our destination, Montañita, around 10pm. Note that it took 5 hours to travel about 90 miles! This is typical and exemplary of the transit system in Ecuador. We then found a hostel right on the beach for $12 a night called Las Palmeras, checked in, unpacked our bags, and headed out to fill our bellies with pizza and Sprite. From the low coast of lodging and dinner, I’m starting to get the idea that it’s pretty cheap to travel in South America. I’m looking forward to every meal being less than $5.
día sesenta y tres: Ok doke. The first day of my costal adventures was spent waking up at 6:50 am to yoga, a quiet sunrise, and the rhythmic sound of ocean waves. Shortly after I woke up, Andrea and I went for a run along the beach. Along the way I thought about how the seashells and small pebbles looked like buttons on a pillow, pinning the sand down tight to the beach. 5 minutes into our run and we picked up a dog friend along the way! He just wanted to run in the pack. Andrea cracked me, she was a bit afraid of the dog and so would run a few strides and then look back at our friend and move a little further away and then repeat the whole process. It was a dance that the two of them shared during the entire 45 minutes of running. Our dog friend was a sandy brown color with black paws and pointed ears. I decided to name him Pépe. He was super friendly. And the run was super fantastic! So…SUPER! (oh note here that it won’t be until my adventure is over that I will realize every time you go for a run, you are guaranteed to pick up a dog friend, nevertheless I named them all).
Breakfast was only $1.50 for a big plate of scrambled eggs and toast and the world’s sweetest honey tea. I’m going to have to buy some of this tea and bring it back and share it with everyone just to prove that it is indeed the world’s sweetest tea. No joke. After breakfast, we explored the town. Montañita is a very typical beach town with bars and beaches and stores and surfboards and tourists. I’m not sure if I like it or not yet. Feeling lazy, I went and laid on the beach until it started to drizzle. After which, I joined the girls for dinner and shared a “Crazy Omelet Sandwich” (who knew you could put an entire omelet into a sandwich) and a banana and chocolate milkshake with Andrea (she got Banana and I got Chocolate and we mixed the two, clever of us, this is probably why we are both college juniors at a prestigious private university, really though they accepted us solely on the basis that we could creatively mix two different flavors of milkshake together).
I love this game!
and look how cool this bone version is!
día sesenta y cuatro: This morning I got up early again and ran on the beach. I love being the one who doesn’t drink and thus doesn’t ever have a hangover the next day and thus can always afford to wake up at 6:50 am in the morning to feel the ocean breeze flap my pjs in the wind, to squish the damp sand between my toes, and to relish the fact that I have the entirety of the beach all to myself. During breakfast, as I was enjoying my piping hot banana muffin and participating in a game of Jenga, I saw a tiny foot with tiny toes and a tiny pink leg poke into the air at the booth behind my own. I quickly tapped the other gals on the shoulder and got them to look in that direction. Next thing I know, we had made friends with Rita, a blonde-haired blue-eyed uninhibited 4-year-old little girl. She only spoke Spanish and told us that she was sick with gripe (a cold) and that she was also a monkey among many other things. We invited her to sit with us and she decided to build zoo houses with our Jenga blocks. Eventually after a good 50 minutes her mom came over and told Rita it was time to go and that she ought to say goodbye and not forget her milkshake she left on the other table. So, we said goodbye and latter lamented the fact that our entertainment had left the building. The rest of the day I spent reading in a hammock near the beach. I got half way done with my book, //Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance//. It’s a vocabulary-building, question-inspiring read that also makes me wanna buy a motorcycle and tour across the United States of America while pondering philosophy along the way. At night I sat on the beach with the other gals and we built sand castles and watched the stars.
día sesenta y cinco: Guess what? Running again this morning! This time I got up in time to run far enough to see a large group of locals fishing. It was quite the sight, the epitome of teamwork and community really. Everybody was lending a hand, working cohesively to drag the giant fishing net in from the ocean. A line of truck and motorcycle owners with wooden creates ready to be filled with fresh fish and sent to be sold in town cushioned the net pullers. Together they were a unified net fishing machine.
At breakfast I asked our waiter for a single banana (yes a SINGLE banana, because I love bananas, especially here in Ecuador, they’re so savory, and there are so many different types). After I made my request for a single banana, our waiter gave me the most perplexed look, he asked me again if I was certain I wanted a single banana, as in the kind you peal and that is yellow, and I said yes, and well good golly miss molly he brought me that single banana! Made my day…well that and the abundance of swimming in the ocean that took place today. Ally taught me a handy little trick, she told me when a wave is coming my way that is too giant to jump, just hold my breath and go under it. So I tried it and it works! How handy, oh so very handy! You would think that after living in San Diego for a good part of my life I would know this information, but I don’t or didn’t rather. I’m glad to have learned a new trick. It’s made swimming in the ocean tons more amusing and no longer am I scared that a wave will eat me alive and spit me out into the sea and I will be lost forever and eventually die because I have ingested too much salt water or been eaten by a shark. So crisis averted! Another thing that I learned today is that motion stays with me. Meaning that I will feel the repetitive crash of waves against my body or the swing of a hammock long after I have cased to swim or to rock in a hammock. It’s really strange. Similar to that sensation of when you spin round and round and round and you still feel dizzy, as if the world is still twirling, long after the spinning has stopped.
Dinner was just how I like it, cheap and delicious! I got three empanadas from a street cart for only a $1. Empanadas are hot-pocket-like fried bread things with delicious fillings such as chicken, cheese, “crazy” filling (I’m not really sure what’s in that one but it was scrumptious, just like the mystery sauce that came with it), or pizza filling even. After that we got creamcicles and sat on the curb outside of a small tienda (similar to a convenient store in the States) and watched the nightlife stroll past. I have to mention here my love for tiendas, not only do they sell cheap ice cream bars, but they also have friendly owners that will go out of their way in order to reach the mini bottle 2-in-1 head and shoulders shampoo for you when you forget yours at home. For this reason, I have an immense amount of appreciation for tiendas.
Maybe it was because of the sugary ice cream or maybe because our room was too muggy or maybe because there was a bug trapped in my mosquito net that kept biting me, but for whatever reason I couldn’t sleep tonight. So, I got up and went and sat on our door stoop and enjoyed the cool night air, as I was waited for my insomnia to elude me. As I sat there, a small crab came crawling along the cement to keep me company. I decided that he couldn’t sleep either. So we sat there together and thought about how silly it must be to walk sideways. I mean really though, why don’t we walk sideways? It would stir life up a little! We could either have a better view of the oncoming traffic as we crossed the street or we would just bump into things a lot more often. Either, way it would be fun. These were my thoughts at 2 am in the morning, sleepless in a random town somewhere on the coast of Ecuador.
empanadas
día sesenta y seis: It’s day five of my costal adventure and the girls and I have moved on to Puerto Lopez, a small fishing village more north of where we last were. A pungent fishy smell and looming sea gulls are ubiquitous here in Puerto Lopez. The gulls hover around the port every second, waiting to rob some poor fisher of his day’s catch. Despite the gulls and the smell, I like it here. It’s a lot more quiet and laid back than Montañita.
Before we made the trek to Puerto Lopez I had a heaven sent crepe filled with tomato and cheese and basil for breakfast! And I apologizes because I mostly blog about food these days. Really though when you’re a part of the Frank family (for me by marriage) what else are you supposed to think about while on vacation? Or ever for that matter? The bus ride to Puerto Lopez was “sticky” and I was glad once we got off and were able to quickly find a hostel (El Sol Inn, it reminded me of a tree house and had a hotel puppy named Flor) and sit and eat French fries and drink batidos (a milkshake type drink made with milk, fruit, and sugar, the best flavor of which is papaya) in the ocean wind. We spent the night planning for our weekend of camping and sitting in front of the fan at our hostel.
fish seen at Isla de La Plata, just kidding
día sesenta y siete: We are poor men (or at least poor college students) and so it was very fitting that we spent our first day of camping on the “Poor Man’s Galapagos” (formally know as “Isla de La Plata”). In order to go to the real Galapagos Islands it costs upwards of $1000. But if you want a similar experience you can pay a measly $35 and go to Isla de La Plata. The only difference is that Isla de La Plata is a continental island and the Galapagos are volcanic islands. Other than that, they are virtually the same. Early in the morning we loaded a medium sized fishing boat and skimmed across the Pacific for an hour or so until we reached the island. Our guide then led us on a 2 and a half hour hike. We walked through thickets of brilliant yellow flowers and climbed down arid slopes where the mud had hardened over and cracked like chapped lips. We saw Bobbies, not the kind you find on voluptuous women, but the birds rather, blue footed and red footed, and condors, and lizards, and crabs. After the hike we ate brown-bagged lunches and prepared to go snorkeling! Once in the water, with our goggles and moth pieces plastered to our faces, it hit me…this was fucking amazing. In other words, I was having a very peaceful day walking about, exploring nature, taking in all the tranquil sights. The water was as warm as a tepid bath and sooooo salty and buoyant that I didn’t even have to hold my breath in order to float. While snorkeling we saw turtles and ells and Dori fish and JELLY FISH (Leah even got stung by a few, but don’t worry, she’s still alive, and no one had to pee on her). For dinner we cleaned up and walked back into town to eat at the Whale Café, a local place owned by American retirees. The food there was delicious, reminded me of home a little. I had a B.A.T. (a bacon-avocado-and-tomato instead on a B.L.T, get in? clever right!?) and I also had a brownie for desert. Tonight at dinner I realized that I love traveling in groups mainly because I get to try what everyone else is eating!
día sesenta y ocho: Thursday morning I woke up and stood in front of the oscillating fan for a long while, stepping to the left and then to the right in order to keep the breeze directly on my face. Andrea woke up shortly after and we stood there making our voices sound like robots by talking into the fan. It was childish, as most entertaining things are. Eventually, we went on our run. When we got back we repacked and waited for Juan to arrive. When Juanito finally got into town, we went shopping for camping food and supplies and then headed out. We made a “deal” with one of the moto-taxi drivers (moto-taxis are a cross between a motorcycle and a rickshaw and are the main source of transportation on the coast of Ecuador). We paid him $20 bucks, and he agreed to haul all of our stuff around to various campsites over the course of the next three days. It worked out pretty well, seeing that each site was spread out from the others. So there we were four people (Ally, Andrea, me, Juan), a boat load of camping crap, and a moto-taxi driver who was wearing a pink and black t-shirt that said “Senior Women 2006” in English, slowly sputtering along the gravel road towards Agua Blanca. We had to stop twice because the motorcycle overheated, but eventually we made it to our campsite and set up our tent, made a fire, cooked some food, and peed in the woods (I really had to go! So bad even that I forgot the roll of toilet paper we had stolen from the hostel).
This had to have been the silliest camping experience I have ever had. First, we had a merry time trying to explain in Spanish to Juan (who speaks fluent Spanish and 65% fluent English) how delicious Sloppy Joes are and that he should eat one because they are the most delicious when cooked over a campfire. Next, we discovered that the tent we borrowed has really good insulation. We found this fact out when Ally and I unzipped the tent door and a waft of 100-degree-heat came rolling out, similar to when you open the oven door to check on something baking. It was an inferno in there. If someone were to ask me if I knew what sleeping in hell felt like, I can now tell them “indeed YES I do!” Then Andrea got attacked by ants when she tried to go pee, but she’s tough and survived…after this I decided that I was just going to hold it for the next two days. Finally, when some form of sleep hit me, I heard horses galloping closer and closer to our tent. A little frightened, I clenched Ally’s leg and proposed that we were all going to be trampled on by the headless horseman!!! This probably wasn’t the smartest thing to do because Andrea held Juan’s hand in sleepless fear the rest of the night. Poor girl. As silly as our first night of camping was, I can’t help but reaffirm “man how I love camping!” You just can’t get this kind of entertainment anywhere else folks.
día sesenta y nueve: The next morning we woke up and hiked to the Sulfur Baths in order to wash away our ridiculous night of camping in Agua Blanca. For the most part the baths were very calming and healing but they also smelt a little like rotting eggs. Pew!
The last part of this adventure was spent on Los Frailes, undoubtedly Ecuador’s most gorgeous beach! Our moto-taxi chauffer drove us and all of our crap out to the beach. We got there and virtually no one else was around. So, we set up a little beach hut and spent the day looking for turtle egg nests, playing Hearts, swimming, sleeping, eating p b & j and banana sandwiches, and not knowing this at the time, but getting extremely sunburned. I think when the day was done I was the most red I have ever been in my life. And now I have a bunch of funny tan lines. Whoopty doo! But it’s nothing a little aloe won’t heal and besides it was entirely worth it.
Los Frailes
Once we returned to town (thanks again to our moto-taxi man) we decided to get one last batido (banana flavored this time) before we headed out. The girl that served us our batiods must have been about 16 and was hilariously candid. She kept asking in a very inquisitive and assertive manner if Andrea and Juan were novios (“dating” in English) and no matter what they told her she would say “sure!” with a raised eyebrow and then giggle. She even asked if I had a boyfriend, I said that yes indeed I was dating someone back in the U S, but despite my answer she continued to try and set me up with her cousin. According to her he is tall and dark and handsome and everything I would ever want, and mostly importantly, available. Tempting? maybe. (especially since T's been crapy about keeping up). We left her a big tip and the nickname “La Rena de Los Batidos” (meaning the Queen of the Milkshakes). Oh this reminds me, earlier we had left our camping supplies with the Dueña (owner) of our hostel. She was this adorable old lady. She wasn’t very excited about the cooking pot and food we left as much as she was outwardly thrilled with the big yellow bucket we left. I mean literally, she nearly cried when she thanked me for the bucket. Never mind the other stuff, that bucket was damn invaluable to her! Finally, I parted from the group and caught a bus back to Guyaquil and then one back to Cuenca.
I was ready. At this point I just needed to return home, to sleep in my own bed. Little did I know though…
día setenta: That when I got home around 10pm at night no one would be there and I would be locked out without keys or a cell phone (my host family still hadn't replaced me keys). Grrrrrr! So I went to a small tienda that rents videos and the kid playing video games and manning the counter let me use his phone. I called my host mom and she told me that they were in Yunguia for the weekend, but if I waited outside the house for 15 mintues my host brother, Santiago, would come by to let me in. So…I waited there and I waited there and I waited there and an hour went past and still no sign of Pepe. By then I was thinking that it was getting late and the situation I was in was getting more and more unsafe with every minute that passed. I thought about hoping the fence, but then came up with a better plan. I decided to get out of the middle of the dark street, walk to the new pizza place near my house that stays open late, and use their phone. So I picked up my bags and started to walk down the block, when I looked back and saw two guys in baseball caps jogging towards me. In that moment I thought to myself, “oh fuck, I’m going to get mugged! Here we go.” And sure enough they approached me and the first guy pulled out a knife and the second guy demanded that I give him my cell phone. I was so frustrated with the situation that I thought again to myself, “wait no, you know what? LIKE HELL am I going to get mugged.” So I screamed “NO!” as loud and shrilly as I possibly could and started to run away super fast. Thankfully the two guys booked it in the opposite direction. Mugging averted! I didn’t get stabbed, I still had all my belongings, and I made it to pizza place safe and sound. Grant it though, when I got there I was out of breath and could barely get enough air in order to ask to use their phone. Once I caught my breath I called my professor Mayra, she said not to move and that she would come to pick me up. The owners of the pizza place stayed open a little past closing time to wait with me until Mayra and her husband came. I was relieved to see Mayra and to know that everything was fine. Thank you pizza place owners and Mayra! I spent the night on Mayra’s comfy couch and could only think about how lucky I had been. ¡Por suerte!
