Finally some local socializing...

Anna-Lee and I decided to hit the town in Puerto Lopez this weekend to see what goes on at night. This was my first weekend not traveling. The problem is that after 7pm no buses run and we live about a 15 minute busride from town. So we can´t get into town unless the oldest brother is there to drive us and the family charges us $5 if he is. Secondly, we can´t get back home very easily because there aren´t real cabs - just moto-taxis which are like mopeds with a carriage attached. They don´t like to go far out of town and at like midnight they charge you $10 - if there are even any around. So that´s why it´s not easy to go out when we are home for the weekend - and one reason we haven´t really stuck around. Back to the weekend..

So we paid Samuel $5 to take us into town around 9pm and it seemed pretty dead. There was one bar that had people in it so we went there and ordered a couple of beers. After a bit, a couple local surfers starting chatting with us and as always both knew the family we lived with - everyone knows everyone here which is actually kind of nice in terms of feeling safe with people who are otherwise strangers. These guys turned out to be the first ecuadorians we had met who had traveled outside the country. They had both been to europe - one just got back from several months in london learning english (too tough to get papers for US or Canada). They were on their way to Montanita for a big party and we decided to go along - at midnight it was Daniel´s bday - the one who just got back from London. The other guy´s name is Julio (I like to jokingly call him Febrero). These guys seemed a bit uppercrust here because they have traveled and Daniel was driving a pretty nice car - both oddities to us.

So anyway, we hopped in the car and started on our way to Montanita (about 40 minutes away). About 15 minutes into the drive..a bit past our house, Daniel realized he had forgotten to put more gas in the car and we were nearly on empty. Not a good sign at 11:30 at night. We stopped several times to check houses/stores for gas with no luck (no there are no 24 hour rest stops :)). At our last stop we were right near the beach and all hopped out. After we realized there was still no gas, we also realized the keys were now locked in the car. So we were stuck with no gas and no keys about a 40 minute walk from home in the pitch black..and it was midnight - Daniel´s bday. We had to laugh because what else can you do? The boys tried calling friends and parents but had no luck. After about an hour Julio managed to use some wire to jimmie the passenger-side door open and we were able to get into the car. We still had no gas. We decided to try to make it back to Puerto Lopez in the hopes of finding gas there. We nearly made it and of course the car died at the bottom of a hill right before the entrance into town. So we had to push the car up the hill and then coast into town. At this point it´s about 2am and there is no gas to be found anywhere and we have no way home. Anna-Lee and I had to wait for 3 hours for the 5am bus back to our house. Julio lives in a studio apt in Puerto Lopez so we hung out and listened to music and dozed until 5am. I wanted to cry I was so tired and wanted my bed!

So that was our first night out in Puerto Lopez :) The upside is that we made some local friends in Julio and Daniel and it was Daniel´s bday so we got invited to his bday dinner the following night. He lives in a pueblo not far from us - about a 20 minute walk. So Saturday night around 7pm after sleeping most of the day - we walked to Daniel´s. He hadn´t given us any directions because there are no roadsigns. When you get to someone´s pueblo, you just ask the first person you see where ¨Daniel´s¨ house is and they point you in the right direction. So that´s how we found it. When we got there the boys were hanging out with their surfer friends. So we sat down and they are always really nice and easy to talk to. Unfortunately, there rarely are any girls out because they generally get married very young and are bousewives who rarely leave their homes - especially once they have kids. So we really never meet girls to befriend...a not so positive cultural twist. These guys are actually unusual in that they are in their 20s and not married.

Saturday night was a bit less of an adventure but very fun. His mom cooked a huge feast of meat, corn, salad, desserts and there were probably about 20 people there. He lives in a big house by the standards here - pretty big by any standards. So we sat around and ate and talked and had a good time. Later in the evening there was dancing...it´s very fun to dance salsa and other dances here. The guys are really good leaders and Anna-lee and I laugh at ourselves as we follow along :) We also witnessed a couple of interesting bday traditions here. One is that the bday person gets hit with a belt by friends and family for how many years they are old..similar to our spanking tradition but it looks like it hurts a lot more. Daniel didn´t seem to mind. They also push the bday person´s face in the cake once it is brought out - then we all eat it anyway :) After a long night of eating, drinking and dancing we walked back home along the beach - much easier than from Puerto Lopez.

Yesterday I rode bikes with Julio to Agua Blanca, a large park with a lake that has sulfur in the bottom. It´s supposed to be really good for your skin. You dive down and get the mud and rub it on your skin, let it dry, then rinse. I have some pics of me covered in the stuff to be posted at a later date.

It was quite the socializing weekend. Now when I walk around town I recognize the surfer guys and have people to call/text to do things..quite the improvement on my otherwise non-existent social life :) I may also be taking up surfing soon...:)