Monday, March 16, 2009

Luck of the Irish in Ecuador

Party Time! I know, I know...I don´t seem to go to enough fiestas around here, but hey, I´m livin like a local.

This past weekend, the Machala girls invited everyone for a St. Patrick´s Day party. Machala is on the coast, about a 6-7 hour bus ride from Loja (which is 3 hours from me...) But the long bus ride was totally worth it. I traveled through all three zones in one day (Orient/Jungle, Sierra and Coast), and the scenery was amazing.

Machala is a pretty big town, the largest in the province El Oro, and I was pleasantly surprised by how clean it was and it is full of beautiful parks. There is one park that is full of iguanas, just hanging out and walking around. I haven´t been to the Coast yet, and I didn´t think much of it when people said it was a lot hotter there than it is here in Zamora. But DAMN! As my Grandma likes to say ¨It was hotter than the hinges of hell¨ and I definitely felt that while I was there. I crashed at my friend Chrissy´s place and I was sweating while I was sleeping. It´s hot here in Zamora but it was stifiling there. The sun was really strong, too. However, one thing I did like is that the majority of the bars, restaurants and stores have air conditioning. Even the cabs use the AC...which got me thinking if you have it, why not use it?!?! *Cough* YANTZAZA CABS *Cough*

As for the party, that was a horse of a different color. Somehow the girls met an American gold miner who lives down here and has been mining in Machala and throughout the province for the past six years. He is originally from Cincinnati (we Ohioans are seriously EVERYWHERE) but has been living in Vegas for a while now. Anyway, he´s got this RIDIC house like US standards in Ecuador. AC, toilets that flush well, a pool, the works. It was actually buggin´me out a little bit because for the first time here I was like wait, this really seems like America, not just the essence of America.

A bunch of volunteers came down, mostly Coastal volunteers; there were about 30-40 of us. We drank by the pool all day, which was AMAZING, played beer pong, ate fajitas and jumbalaya...listened to NON-CAMPO music. It was delightful. I had so much fun. And it was great because I got to hang out with a bunch of people I hadn´t met before so it was a change of scenery.

Overall, I decided I need to make more of an effort to take these mini-holiday trips. They help me refresh, see other places, and hang out with new people. I even got lucky on the ride home and sat next this SUPER CUTE cop that was going home to Loja for vacation. And yes, numbers were exchanged. HALA!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

If they are such big fans of st. patty's day there, you should tell them about my future son's name, Paeter. You have to say it with an irish accent though.

-Derelicte

Anonymous said...

Yeah, when I go to parties, I'm like..."Hey, gimme those fajitas!"

Anonymous said...

I wish i was in the peace corps. College life just doesn't have enough parties...

-Turkish

Anonymous said...

Cor-Cor,
Go get that cop girl! Haha
Sounds like you're partying Ecuador style! Miss you cuz!
~:)~Anna