Today was spend mostly on a Bus. Hoorah! My first taste of South American travel. We left Courtney's apartment around 7 only to get to the bus station and find that we had about 3 hours to kill. We headed over to the Mariscal (the touristy spot) and posted up at the Magic Bean for some breakfast and jugos (juice). We hung out for a while and then headed over to the bus station and spend the next 6 hours on a hot bus. It was a beautiful drive through jungle-y forests. The towns we passed were depressing, though. Poverty is a harsh reality for most inhabitants of this country. The air quality here is absolutely abhorrent and most of the trip was spent inhaling exhaust. I wish I could have slept on the bus, but its very different than an airplane. Much more turbulent and rocky. We finally made it to Atacames around 4 or so. Fantastically beautiful. A black sand beach with a rain forest backdrop. We took a little motorized cart (essentially a two seater bench strapped on the front of a moped) from the bus station to the condo. I was so pleasantly surprised to see that our condo was literally right on the beach. I'm talkin' balcony. sand. water. We instantly changed into our bathing suits and utilized the remaining sunlight to splash around in the waves. Apparently you can still get sunburned here, even up until sunset. haha. It was gloomy, and almost dark, but the water felt great, probably about 68-70 degrees. It was surreal to see all the lights on the shore gradually turn on. Like watching stars emerge at twilight. After our swim, we got dressed and walked down the beach a bit to a hotel which had a nice restaurant. I had this really tasty grilled chicken with mushroom sauce. I tried to order a Cuba Libre, but I accidentally said "Te quiero" instead of "Quires" which came out as "I love you, Cuba Libre." Thankfully the server got my drift.
Tomorrow will be spend tanning and swimming.
Yay! It's so amazing here!
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