Home Leave III: Puerto Lopez, Ecuador

In the pre-dawn morning we rolled into the bus station in Puerto Lopez, Ecuador.  The bus terminal was empty, devoid of life except for a few tuktuk (yes they have them there, too! They are just called moto-taxis.) drivers out front waiting to scoop up arriving tourists and take them to the handful of hotels in the town.  The air was salty, cool and damp, redolent with the scent of the ocean.  There was a slight breeze, and it was actually quite chilly.  Previously, my experiences from mountains to coast in Latin America were in Costa Rica, where you start chilly, and wake up in cloying heat.  It was not the case here.  I needed my sweater and jacket.

We hefted our bags onto a tuk tuk that took us to our hotel about 1 kilometer north of the downtown malecon (boardwalk).  We had to yell for some time to wake up the night guard, as it was still only 5:30 in the morning.  We even shook a rain stick, and tried thumping the gate.  Eventually he awoke and let us in.  We sat outside on the deck of the hotel with our bags as none of the staff were there to open the main building, and the room had not been cleaned because the previous guests had not left.  So we sat in roughly-hewn wooden chairs. As the day became grey, then light out, we could see the waves breaking just past a line of palm trees.  The ocean was in sight, not only just in sound!  By about 7:15 the staff showed up and let us into the main lobby/restaurant/public area of the hotel and showed us to an area full of wicker couches with pads where we could sleep until our room was ready.  We took full advantage, sleeping until nearly 11:00.  We had some breakfast, then went to our room which was finally ready.  We had a lovely little cottage with a giant porch, complete with hammock.  The room was open and airy, with only screens and glass doors.  It was set back in a lush jungle-y garden.  We had a private bathroom, and plenty of space, and it was only $30/night!

We put on swimsuits (covered by shirts and shorts-it was still chilly, only 70 degrees!) and we walked the distance to town to find some lunch on the malecon.  We sat at a restaurant on the beach, our chairs sinking slightly into the sand.  We had a view of the ocean and the pier.  We ate fresh ceviche, plantain chips, and drank fresh fruit smoothies, all for about $3 each.  Apparently this was steep for Ecuador prices, but we were in a touristy little town.

We walked around town, browsing the eclectic jumble of small artisan shops, clothing sellers, and jewelry-makers along the malecon.  We crossed over onto the beach and we walked back our hotel following the shoreline.  We put our feet in the water, and it was not cold, but not warm.  The day was still too overcast to swim, and a slight breeze was picking up again.  For quite some time we watched gulls fly over the water.  We slowly ambled back towards the hotel where there was a sign with hundreds of capital cities painted on wooden signs pointed in the direction of those cities, with the distance in kilometers from Puerto Lopez indicated on them.  Lee and I counted the places we had been separately and together.

We had a pretty lazy day overall, but traveling overnight, and sleeping/waking at odd hours had taken it out of us.  Later we went back into town for dinner, appreciating the glow of the street lamps, the sound of the waves, and the fine mist that made everything shimmer.  We ate wonderfully fresh fish with rice and limes, and enjoyed crisp local beers.  Then a random French girl and a Colombian came and played the guitar and violin very badly and sang in Spanish.  She did all the talking, though her accent was very heavy and she wasn't a native speaker.  The Colombian boy said nothing.  It was weird to see the two of the playing the instruments and asking for money together.  Why a French girl?  We wandered around a bit more in town, bought tickets to go on a tour boat to Isla de la Plata the next day, then eventually made our way back to our hotel for drinks on the porch before calling it a night.

In the morning we woke up hoping for sun, but it was still overcast and cool.  We ate a cheap breakfast ($3.00 each) and then we were picked up by the tour company and driven down to the pier for our adventure out to Isla de la Plata.  Isla de la Plata is known as the Poor Man's Galapagos, given that it has giant tortoises, blue-footed boobies, birds with big red neck balloons, lizards, fish, and all that other Darwin-esque stuff.  We got on a boat that sat 16 of us.  It was spacious and comfortable.  We headed out to sea into some pretty big waves for a boat ride that took about an hour and a half.  The farther out to see we cruised, the clearer the sky became until it was hot and sunny.  On the way we stopped to watch hump-backed whales hump out of the water and play only 50 feet from the boat.  They are so big and bulky and graceful.  Their movement was fantastic.

We arrived at the Island, and only one side has calm enough water to disembark.  We got out with our guides into crystal clear water, and trudged up to a reception hall with nice bathrooms and shady sitting areas.  We were then taken on a 5 kilometer hike along the cliffs of the island.  We did a fair amount of hiking up to the top of the island, then generally circumnavigated it along the cliffs.  It was beautiful.  Apparently it is called Isla de la Plata (Silver Island) due to how the cliffs are covered in bat poop and shimmer in the moonlight.  Simultaneously romantic/terribly unromantic.  We saw many birds, many boobies, beautiful vistas, and got some good hiking in.  It was sunny and spectacular on the Island.  It was incredibly dry, in the lee of the mainland, and so all the foliage except for the cacti was brown and crunchy.  It made all the blue feet seem extra vibrant.

It was so fun to see all of these beautiful creatures I had read about for the first time, and to do it with lee!  We walked holding hands, took romantic pictures with dramatic views to the ocean behind us, shared zone bars, and just enjoyed the simple things one cannot do when separated by two continents and an ocean. After a few hours we headed back to the boat where we got to go snorkeling just off the shore of the island.  We swam next to turtles and enjoyed the cool but pleasant water.  They gave us some small lunch, and then we headed back to the mainland over massive rolling waves.

We were tired when we got back so we napped in the cool of our room, then went out for dinner in the evening.  The street was packed as it might have been a Friday.  There were many young European tourists out to listen to live music and eat, and we struggled to find a free table on the malecon.  Again we ate delicious, incredibly fresh seafood, and we chatted up some locals who owned the restaurant.  We drank a few beers, then walked back to the hotel in the moonlight.  We were in bed early because in the morning we were setting off at 7:00 am for a bus back up to the Andes.

The next installment will be about Cuenca!

Home Leave. (Where is home, exactly?) Part 1. The US Section

I don't think I realized that I had left Uganda until I was coming back into the country.  I was waiting in line at immigration after 5 weeks away, explaining to some other tourists how to get a taxi and what to pay.  I recognized the immigration official (the airport is not big at Entebbe) and joked with him about how he was the one who gave me my exit visa, too.  I pushed through the crowds with a stack of luggage that had multiplied over my journey.  I left with 1 bag to check, and came back with three massive bags. A driver from our favorite Kampala hotel, Red Chilli, was there to pick me up.  The night was warm and damp, it had clearly begun raining in Kampala.  I was back on the left as a passenger, and on the left side of the road.  Suddenly it hit me that I had actually been away.  This realization, about 5 weeks too late, sent a dizzying flood of emotion into my small brain, and I promptly shut off and slept until arriving at Red Chilli 45 minutes later.

My trip started with a terrorist threat that was confirmed to be real and potentially very violent against Entebbe airport at the exact time I was supposed to fly out.  We had the veracity of this published threat confirmed by a colleague who is a Member of Parliament, and head of the defense committee in parliament here in Uganda.  He advised me, "fly out as soon as you can, or wait two days."  Well.  I wasn't going to wait two days, so I jumped in a taxi with a friend who was flying out that afternoon, rather than late at night.  We arrived to the airport, bought a one-way ticket on Qatar airways from Entebbe to Washington DC (I was supposed to go to Seattle) and thought, well, I can figure the rest out in Doha.  I just need to get clear of Entebbe.  We spent a tense few hours waiting in the airport for either our plane to arrive, or the apocalypse.  Fortunately the plane landed first.  We boarded and were soon in the air on the way to Doha.

We landed in Doha, and after some finagling at the transfers desk, I had a flight to Chicago in the morning, a hotel for the night, and meal vouchers.  So my friend and I proceeded down to immigration and passed the droves of officials in traditional Emirati clothes, jelaaba and head scarf.  We cleared immigration and set off into a 100 degree night at 1:00 am to our hotel.  We arrived at the hotel at 2:30, decided to take our meal right then (meals were still going on for Ramadhan, so people could eat before fasting at dawn).  We ate around 3:00, and at 4:00 we went outside to listen to the call to prayer echo around the canyons of dazzlingly elctrified sky scrapers.

I caught about two and a half hours of sleep before getting a wake up call to come down for our transfer back to the airport.  I took a quick cold shower, put my clothes back on and headed back to the glitzy, commercial chaos of Doha International airport.  There was a ferrari for purchase in the duty free shops.  I bought some chocolates and a coconut water (I was excited by these developed world choices) and then boarded my 14.5 hour flight to Chicago.

Upon landing in Chicago, I knew I would miss my flight.  The flight was already 35 minutes late, on top of a 1.5 hour layover to clear immigration, pick up my bags from customs, re-check them, and get to my gate.  No chance.  I still ran all through O'hare trying to do my best to make it, but I couldn't.  I ran to the wrong gate, then had to retrace my steps, and just sit with the knowledge that I wouldn't get to Seattle before 10:00 pm.  I Was sweating, tired, had been wearing the same clothes for 30 hours, and needed a shower, so I bought a clean shirt and undies at Brooks Brothers, and bought a day pass to the United Admiral's club.  I got a nice long shower, and clean clothes.  I had three beers in the club for free, then a bourbon, and then headed down for my flight to Seattle.


Seattle was wonderful.  It was so nice to spend time with my family.  We went boating, saw art, ate at the top of the Space Needle, went to Pike Place Market, went walking around Green Lake, went on several nice jogs, grilled delicious burgers, caught up with dear friends (@maurawatts) and just generally soaked up my family.  We even got to see the whole extended family and drive to the cascade mountains to our Cabin in the woods.  It is a hodge podge place, a little bit of family chaos in the woods, but it has so many great memories attached to it.

From there we drove down the West Coast to Merced.  I spent a very quick three nights in Merced.  This whole time I was sort of a zombie.  Up until midnight with work activities to stay connected to East Africa, and up early to check in before their work day ended.

From Merced I went to San Francisco where I stayed with Genny, one of my besties, for a week while working out of the US Office of Village Enterprise.  It was a wonderful opportunity to get in touch with the home base and refresh my perspective on Village Enterprise from that side of the operations.  It is so crucial, and all my meetings with the Staff there gave me a renewed appreciation for how our field work can inform our US work and vice versa.  In the evenings I went to lovely dinners, cooked with Genny and John, saw wonderful friends from Pitzer and AU, and was genuinely honored to be in the presence of such good people.

From San Francisco I flew down to LA and spent an amazing weekend with Harrison Weinfeld, another one of my best friends.  We ate amazing food, went to the beach, drank delicious scotch, stayed up far too late talking and catching up.  He took me on tours of his neighborhood, and I was so happy to see how established he was in LA.  It was such a pleasure.  I also got to see Geraldine and we all went out for a night, and I met Harris' writing partner Danny at a nice little gathering in Hollywood.  It was fun to be back in Los Angeles, and a good reminder of why I really wouldn't mind ending up there with Lee.  Thank you Harris for a wonderful time.  I spent an afternoon with my grandmother.  It was so good to see her, as I am not sure if I will again.  Then I had dinner with my aunt and uncle who shuttled me to the airport after great conversation and good food.

While in the car on the way to the airport, I got my last call before shutting off.  I was on the phone as I checked in for my flight to Panama City, and up to going through Security.  The phone call ended and I went straight through the security line to my gate.  I boarded an overnight flight to Panama City.

I woke up in Panama City, breezed groggily through the airport to the gate for my flight to Quito.  I barely had enough time to snag a water and a coffee before I got on my flight to Quito.  I slept again until we were landing in Quito.  The turbulence was such that we were dropping steeply, and sharply.  People were screaming.  Then we landed to a burst of applause and I had made it to Ecuador.