Esmeraldas - Tonsupa & Muisne

I had so much fun this weekend! We left on Friday morning (1/30) and got back on Feb. 1st (not in time for the super bowl, ah well)

On friday we stopped at a woman's finca (kinda like a plantation) where they grow all sorts of goofy/interesting plants, but it was raining so we couldnt go out and see the whole thing, we just ate there. We also made chocolate while we were there and ate it with bananas!
Then we drove to where we were staying, passing the cloud forest on the way, which was beautiful, and we played mafia on the way in the bus. When we got to Tonsupa (beach town) our place was right on the beach in these really fancy apartments that our coordinator owns (and she also owns a house nearby which we didn't go to). We went out to dinner at a place on the beach, then played a big game of ultimate frisbee. Afterwards we swam in the pool for about 45 minutes (after it was closed, whoops) until someone kicked us out. After the pool we played some card games: spoons and BS.

Then Saturday morning we went to a small barrio (neighborhood) outside of Tonsupa. Maria showed us all this amazing volunteer work that they did there, and the people's houses and gardens. We gave the families some powdered milk for the kids (does a body good), then we helped this family put dirt under their house so it doesn't flood.
There were so many cute kids there too! It made all of us pretty sad though, they live in some tough conditions, and before we were moving the dirt under the house, a bunch of kids were working to do it. I'm glad that Maria knows about these places in Ecuador so that we can come to help out even if it is just for a little while.

After going to the little village, we went back to a craft market and had ceviche (good fish/shrimp soup) for lunch. Then we spent the whole afternoon on the beach and went tubing! which was AWESOME! We think the guys in the speedboat gave us the "gringo price" of $3 per person on a 5 person tube ($15 all together is waay more than it should cost), but still that wasnt too expensive individually, and it was totally worth it. I also did some boogie boarding and got pretty good at catching waves, then we went in the pool and I learned how to do a back dive. We also taught 2 other people in our group how to dive. Then we went to another beach town close by (about 15 min away) to go get dinner, and I got fried shrimp and a huge banana milkshake,

then we went back and got amazing piña coladas (with about 10 different pieces of fruit on top!),

and we played some more frisbee on the beach.

So Sunday, we woke up early (which sucked, but there was an hour long bus ride so I napped a little) and went to a place called Muisne, where we took a boat ride through the mangroves, and saw a bunch of birds and an iguana in the water. We also had the best pineapple EVER. Then we went across a little channel to the Isla de Muisne and rode rickshaw-esque taxis to the other side of the island where we ate at a restaurant on the beach (more fish, but the best soup we've all ever had in Ecuador so far) then went swimming and just hung out. When we were swimming we found some starfish which was very exciting :)

On the way home on the bus ride I got very very sick. I won't gross anyone out with the details, but it was not fun at all. Plus the bus ride was longer than it should have been, because we had to take a different route home because of a landslide on the way we came. The rains were so bad over the weekend that a big part of the road washed out, and apparently it's taking them a month or two to fix. Anyways, I feel allll better now, it was only a one day type thing, I think a stomach virus or something because there was also another girl who was sick the day before me. I had to miss class on monday though :( Oh well.

I have to get to volunteering now! Hasta luego!