Tuesday, March 1

We spent Tuesday morning at our airbnb doing emails & school. Nothing too exciting. Today was the first day we were all feeling better, but being sick for the past week and the heat made us all lethargic. No one felt like doing much during the hottest part of the day.

Around 4:00pm, Andi, Tory, Aden and I walked down to the beach. Most of the Carnival crowds had cleared out by now and Ayampe returned to its usual sleepy state. Aside from a few surfers, the beach was empty.

Andi and I spread out our beach blanket and relaxed by the ocean. Tory and Aden entertained themselves by chasing hermit crabs scurrying across the sand. They’d capture them and put them in a bowl filled with sand, but the crabs always found a way to escape.

Everyone thinks the best time to be at the beach is during the day, but really the last hour or two before sunset is where it’s at. The sun isn’t quite as hot and the colors of the sky are breathtaking during that golden hour.

After sunset, we grabbed dinner to-go from a little cafe close to our airbnb. The two ladies who work there are so sweet & accommodating. They serve real home-cooked food and everything made from scratch. You can really feel the love.

Before bed, I read to the kids in the master bedroom. Andi and I hoped we’d finally get a quiet night of sleep in Ayampe.

Wednesday, March 2

Today, Andi went across the street from our airbnb to the open-air food court to work on his computer while Tory, Aden and I did school at our airbnb. I also worked out for the first time in over two weeks. I can’t believe I let myself go that long without exercising, but between being on the cruise boat in the Galapagos and then being sick the past week, I just hadn’t made it a priority. It felt good to move my body again.

Andi had a break between calls from 1:00pm - 2:00pm, so the four of us walked over to a local Ecuadorian restaurant called El Paso for lunch. There was only one other group of people seated in the restaurant when we arrived, but as soon as we sat down another group of about 15 people came into the restaurant. Suddenly, the waitstaff was really overwhelmed with customers and it took forever for our food to arrive. Andi had about two minutes to eat his food before he had to jump on the phone again. Tory, Aden and I finished our meals at the restaurant and then paid our bill.

The four of us decided to go to the beach in Ayampe again late-afternoon, but within minutes of being there Tory got stung on the foot by a jellyfish. She ran out of shallow water crying and said she felt something in the water. When she looked down to see what it was, there was a blue string laying across the top of her foot. Andi and I assumed it was a jellyfish because the same thing happened to Aden when we were snorkeling in the Galapagos. We packed up our beach gear and walked to the tienda in town to buy some vinegar. The small convenience store in Ayampe has such a scrappy selection of items for sale, I’m glad they actually had some.

Once we poured some vinegar on Tory’s foot, she was good as new. The stinging doesn’t last long.

Neither Tory nor Aden wanted to swim after the jellyfish incident, so we decided to walk around the streets of Ayampe for a bit. There was a whole section of town Andi and I didn’t realized existed. By section, I mean two dusty streets we’d not yet explored. There were lots of pretty tropical flowers along our way, glowing in the evening sunshine.

On this side of town, we discovered a small playground and a small lagoon. Tory and Aden played on the playground equipment for a while and then we eventually returned to our airbnb.

It seemed like almost all of the restaurants in town were closed today, likely after one of the busiest four-day weekends of the year during Carnival. Andi and I weren't sure what we were going to eat for dinner since nothing was open. Tory and Aden settled for re-heated spaghetti from lunch. Andi and I ordered shrimp and grilled chicken platters from the same beachside restaurant we ate our first afternoon in Ayampe. The food nor the service was that great, but we didn’t have a lot of options.

Tomorrow, Andi hired a driver to take us to the nearby town of Puerto Lopez. Excited to check out a new spot on the coast of Ecuador.