Tranquilo!

After such a hard but amazing hike and climb of Chimborazo (this post was supposed to be first but will follow later) we decided that we had enough of the cold wet conditions we had been exposed to the last week. Time for a vacation to get some rest and relaxation. We made a last minute decision to go off to the beach to get a few days of sun! Well, little did we know that only two days into our beach trip we would be handed the keys to a hostal and left to manage it. I guess the saying about being in the right place at the right time is appropriate here.

Mysterious Gringo Hostal Managers

So yep, we are in the second week of managing a 7 room hostel on the beach in the small fishing village of Puerto Lopez. We will likely be staying here for 3-4 more weeks as it is a pretty sweet set up. Being the low season there are not a lot of guests (1-2 per night average), so there is a little bit of cleaning and an occasional Rouisse gourmet breakfast if the guests so desire, and a whole lot of chill time to read, study and contemplate. Tina started Spanish classes last week and I will begin this week as I caught the local gripe (pronounced gri-PEAY) last week and was out for 3 days.

Fresh Mahi

Marlin

Small boats used to bring the fish ashore from the larger vessels

Local Fishing boats unloading the daily catch

So who´s coming down for a last minute beach trip?? All types of fish are available(Mahi, tuna, marlin, grouper, snapper, corvina, and tons I have no clue the name of) and it has been great. You are able to buy it directly off of the boats as they come to shore(pretty fresh). We are going to go out tomorrow and do some fishing of our own and a little snorkeling. Gotta love free living on the beach. Room and board included with our managment job.

Throwing on the Beach, getting in the Nationals mindset

-Steven