The Coast of Ecuador

Having had enough of high elevation and chilly night temperatures, I decided to head to the Ecuadorian coast.  A bus from Quito to the coast is roughly 6-8 hours depending exactly where you're going and how many people (meaning stops) you pick up along the way.  After traveling through the towns of Esmeraldas and Atacames in the north, I came to town called Mompiche to see it's world class surf break.  Mompiche is a fishing village that is slowly turning into a tourist area as it is now accessible by a newly built road.  In the past, visitors (surfers mainly) had to travel by boat to get there.  There was no swell (waves) at the time, but I could see the potential and planned to revisit when there was (I did return a few weeks later).  A swell is the wave pattern generated by storms at sea.  These storms bring the waves to the coast that surfers seek and fisherman dread.  Finally, I travelled further south to a town called Canoa, where I would end up spending the next 6 weeks.

Canoa, whose name fittingly translates to "canoe" in Spanish, is town that was originally a fishing town.  The beaches, surf, and nice weather are turning this former fishing village into a tourist area, which is common all along the Pacific coast of Ecuador.  Canoa has a tropical monsoon climate meaning that it has a wet and dry season.  I was there during the dry season (June to November), but surprisingly the sunny weather is more consistent during the wet season (December to May).  Monsoons are defined as: A system of winds that influences the climate of a large area and that reverses direction with the seasons. Monsoons are caused primarily by the much greater annual variation in temperature over large areas of land than over large areas of adjacent ocean water. This variation causes an excess of atmospheric pressure over the continents in the winter, and a deficit in the summer. The disparity causes strong winds to blow between the ocean and the land, bringing heavy seasonal rainfall.

If you look at a climate map (http://ecuadorexplorer.com/html/climate_map.html) of Ecuador, Canoa sits just north of an arid coastal region that resembles southern California in both the coastal landscapes and the climate.  Also on the map you will see that the northernmost coastal regions are tropical grassland, tropical monsoon, and tropical rainforest.  These areas are ideal for growing sugar cane, and as you could theorize based on the report from Colombia, these areas contain the highest concentration of Afro-Ecuadorians due to the slave sugar plantations operated by the colonial Spanish.  

The people in Canoa and the Manabi province are mostly Meztizos (mixed Spanish and Indigenous).  The Spanish conquered the Manabi region and established the nearby city of Bahia de Caraquez in 1624.  This area was once the capital of the ancient Chirije civilization.  The Chirije are called the "Phoenicians of the Americas" because they sailed along the Pacific coast from as far south as northern Chile and as far north as southern Mexico trading the sought after Spondylus (or "Red Thorny Oyster"shell) for goods along the coast.  (The Phoenicians were well known sailors in the ancient Mediterranean) "Bahia", as it is called by the locals, is where the famous conquistador Francisco Pizarro captured the final Incan ruler Atalhualpa and established a point in which the Spanish could further explore the interior of Ecuador, and build a port in which to transport the resources that they acquired.   A conquistador is defined as: an adventurer or conqueror, esp. one of the Spanish conquerors of the New World in the 16th century.  

While in Canoa, I volunteered in a kindergarten English class at a school built and run by local Ecuadorians and Americans now living in the community.  There I specialized in alphabet pronunciation, numbers, colors, and learning how to say "please quit crawling under the table" and "if you fight you don't get any popcorn" in Spanish.  The family that owned my hostal helped start the school and helped me find an opportunity to volunteer there.  The school is private and compared to what I saw each day as I walked by the public school in town, the students at my school are very fortunate.  The public school resembled a prison in large part and based on the noise level, the inmates were running the place.  Education is not a high priority with most families in developing nations, and in Canoa I found that most parents that were concerned about their child's education sent them to public schools in the nearby cities, due the general lack of control and focus at the local school.  Students at the school I worked mostly had parents who could pay a small fee and provide uniforms and supplies for their children.  I think it would be a good lesson in life if all American students could see the conditions and access to education that many children in the world are faced with.  Our system is by no means perfect, but at least it is existent.  That is not the case for many of the world's poor.

After one month and half in Canoa, I had to leave.  Life was getting too comfortable and I was relying on my English too much and not studying Spanish.  My next 2 stops are Guayaquil then Cuenca for a 2 weeek Spanish course.  Hasta la vista Canoa.

The busy streets of Mompiche, Ecuador

The world famous point break at Mompiche.  No waves on this day, but would come in a few weeks later.

 
Picture just before I went out to Mompiche break with friends from Canoa (one of which was a former competitive surfer in Ecuador).


Hand made beach hats in Mompiche.  Takes him about 5 hours, costs you about $15; $12 if you can speak Spanish and are willing to bargain.


Sign welcoming visitors to Canoa.

 The fishing boats of Canoa.

The fisherman of Canoa getting ready for morning journey.  They usually go twice a day.

 Rush hour on a Canoa morning.

 Blue footed boobies (birds) made famous from Darwin's journey to the nearby (somewhat) Galapagos Islands.  The "bluer" their feet the healthier they are.

 The Pacific Coast in Ecuador at Canoa, Manabi province.


Caves on the Pacific coast of Ecuador.



This is why it's a bad idea to throw your trash into the ocean or river.

 Canoa sunset.

Life in the campo or countryside.  I was traveling on horseback.


View of my journey with my new amigo 'Fuego.'

The end of my journey with Fuego.

Ancient figurines of the Chirije "Phoenicians of the Americas"

Replica of the maritime vessels used by the Chirije.  They sailed and traded along the Pacific from modern day Mexico to Chile.

Two pictures showing the local public school I walked by each morning and the private school I worked in (kids having their morning meeting and stretching).

"Education is the key to unlock the golden door of freedom."
George Washington Carver

School grounds with ever-important futbol (soccer) field.

"Dough Day." Making people and learning parts of the body using dough.

The following pictures show the typical end of my class period with the kindergartners.  Each class is 2.5 hours long.  The teacher I worked with would make popcorn toward the end of class as an incentive for them not to make our lives an absolute nightmare.