To Dad, that is the direction of water flow in my toilet. To all you in the U.S., or wherever else you happen to be, please let me know through comments, email, or Facebook, which direction the water spins in your toilet. I'm performing an unofficial experiment, and I figure asking around will be much faster than hopping all over the world flushing toilets myself.
This past weekend we went to Montañita, a hippie/surfer beach town just north of Salinas. Amanda, Luke, and Rebekka and I headed up and met Maxime and several of her friends and co-volunteers there. We'd heard that the buses are usually crowded, and since we were only staying 1 night, we wanted to be sure to get there in plenty of time to enjoy the day, so we arrived at the bus terminal intending to catch the 6:30 bus. But the 5:30 hadn't left yet, so they stuck us on there! It was SUPER early, but we got there in half the time, and had a whole day ahead of us. We had a wonderful breakfast at a cute little restaurant, half sheltered from the drizzle. We checked into the hotel and dropped our stuff (and Luke - he's "not a beach person"), and the girls headed down to the beach. We walked around along the streets for awhile, then made our way across the sand to the far end, where a surf competition was starting up. Fun to see all the different types of people who show up to watch and participate in an international surf competition in a town that has a reputation in between that of Amsterdam and Vegas, just a whole lot smaller.
Fortunately, as we found out during the day and that evening, it's much more relaxed and laid back than its reputation implies. It really is just a perpetual surfer vacation, in a little corner of an overlooked region of the world. Amanda and I decided to take a surf lesson together, which was a blast! Hard, though. The lesson was 2 hours, and by the end, we were both ready to be done. My body is still aching, and I have a pretty impressive skinned knee, but once I heal, I would definitely do it again! It's a lot harder than it looks, so I have a lot more respect for surfers now (meaning: I have respect for surfers now. Haha, jk...).
We grabbed an afternoon coffee at a vegetarian restaurant and cafe, where there were 3 little kittens looking for a home. This little cafe seemed to represent all the good that is Montañita and, more generally, La Vie Boheme: the care to eat well and conscientiously, the appreciation for fun and funky local art, the advantage of the fresh air, and the willingness to help others. Don't worry, Mom, I didn't bring a kitten back with me. It's illegal to bring them into the country. Fine, I researched it. But I didn't do it! Yet... ;)
We met up with Maxime and the other Dutch volunteers, plus two Ecuadorian volunteers, for some dinner, then started searching for a place to spend the evening. Except that it was 8:30, and as anyone who has experienced the Latino culture can tell you, that's time to wake up from your afternoon nap, since the places don't start hopping until 11 or 12. But anyway. We hung around down on the beach for awhile, Maxime and the other Dutch girl and I got hair wraps, and then we all made our way to a dance club on the second floor of a big hotel right next to the sand. It was pretty fun, though by the end of the night, the music was getting painfully bad. They started out with a combination of American hits and Latin beats, a perfect dance atmosphere. But when they started getting into 90s electronica and rhythmless AutoTune noise, we decided it was time to leave. Of course, this was a little past 3am, which was enough excitement for us gringos. But as we walked back to the hotel, the Ecuadorian boys and a couple of the Dutch boys were already making plans to go somewhere else. Eesh.
We woke up the next morning for the Swiss breakfast included with our hotel - it consisted of yogurt with cereal and strawberries (my favorite - the yogurt was the European style, think and tangy without flavors or sweetener), bread with jam or manjar (caramel spread), and mashed potatoes with meatballs and a salad... ? So that was a little different, but fun. We wandered down to figure out the bus schedule, and found one that was leaving at 1, so we bought our tickets. But it wasn't a normal bus like the one we'd taken there; rather, it was a 14-passenger van. So the tickets were more expensive and the ride was more cramped and bumpy, but we made it.
And it was fun! We all got something a little different out of it, I think. But we all seemed to enjoy ourselves. I would certainly go back. It's a great place to visit with some energy and some friends, but I think it would be kinda boring alone... so hopefully I can scare up somebody to go with me the next time too! To a girl from a small town in the Midwest, the idea of walking town in a swimsuit with sandy feet where no one even cares is the epitomy of a great vacation.
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