yada yada yada

random thoughts: it rained today. that in of itself may not seem like an extrodinary event, but considering it's the first time i've seen rain in over two months, it definitely made for a different walk as i left the house today. somehow everything is uglier. i cannot imagine how it will look come rainy season. the election season is over. i'm not sure exactly how everything turned out, but apparently correa's party won, which means he should have a strong voice in how the constiution is re-wrote. it's astounding how politics function here. we think it's bad in the states, this is just utterly ridiculous. there were over 400 candidates campaigning for 20 or so spots to re-write the ecuadorian constitution. keeping track of things is unbearable and intriguing all at the same time. traveling with ecuadorians really is the only way to travel. scott, frank, patrick and i went with carlos (one of the ecua volunteers at manos) and his two college friends (diego & gabriel) to montañita this past weekend. if i were to ever burn out, disappear or give up on life, montañita is where i would do it. this little costal village, which is no bigger than 4 blocks by 10 blocks, is the surfing and hippy mecca in south america. almost every building is made with thatch roof, the upper levels a hostel and the first level an open restaruant or bar. the seven of us ended up staying at hostel del amigos, this small hostel right off the main drag, where we paid $4 a person for the night and the chance to convrese with anita, the 4'0'' owner. after we checked in, carlos took us to the beach to show us the coast. at the north end of the beach is punta montañita, a medium sized cliff where the pacific ocean meets rock and crashes anything in between. we walked out to the point, while patrick went the farthest, walking until the rock stops. we sat for a while, until carlos called us to come back in because the tide was rapidly rising. scott, frank and i tuned and yelled at patrick to come back in and as he stood up, a great wave crashed against the rocks behind him making this huge splash. we all laughed, because it was really funny, but in reality it was getting dangerous fast. the next wave that came in took over patrick. the scene went like this: oh big wave! oh where's patrick! oh he's face down on the rock! and he's up and okay! it was really funny afterward, but obviously not the safest venture, as evidenced by patrick's broken fingernails from clawing on the slippery rock.
once we got back to the beach, we went out on the surf boards for the first time. since we only had two boards, gabriel took patrick and i out first to give us some pointers. surfing in montañita is rough. the only other place i've surfed is hawaii and it is much easier there than here. there was no series of swells or waves. only constant motion, making it difficult to get in a rhythm. needless to say none of us got up on the boards that day. later that day scott and i walked around town just seeing what there was. one of the first people we met was this guy named jackal. jackal is from colombia and spoke perfect english. he told scott and me that the only money he had was the money he made from making and selling jewelry (there are tables and stands of things to buy everywhere in montañita). his plan was to make it to argentina by december. why argentina? ''i've never been there before.'' man i want to have that spirit. of just packing up and going where ever to see the world. he was such a kind person, just sitting and talking with us, knowing full well we wouldn't buy anything from him. after talking with jackal we sat down next to his stand to listen to these four guys who had just started a drum circle in the middle of the street. one was playing a lap drum, another played a water barrel turned over, the third a cymbal and the last played a didgeridoo. we sat there for about 10-15 minutes just listening, watching. as we got up to leave, i went over to one of the guys and asked him about the didgeridoo and within seconds he was encouraging me to try to play. it was really difficult and they gave me the best instrutions they could (in spanish of course) but i could never make the cool, low swelling sound they had made. the fact alone that they let me try was cool enough. scott and i talked about this a few times it became more and more true every time i met someone else: i knew i was a tourist, but i never felt like one. everyone was very warm and welcoming.
the next day (after which montañita partied until 5am, a septic tank next door was changed for 15 minutes and some woman next door called ''felipe! la llave'' for a good 30 minutes straight) we headed to olon, a town 3 kilometers north. carlos and gabriel left the rest of us at the beach, while they went to visit a friend about riding horses. frank and i gave surfing another try, gave up on that, and we all ended up skinny dipping in the pacific just for the fun of it until carlos came back. from here, we went to a friend's farm and rode horses to the top of this ridge which over looked the coast. the view was incredible. these are my weekends. all this for $25. can't complain.

the far left is the site of patrick's near death

this is about as good as it got