Catching up

Yeah, Yeah, Yeah! Its been a long time and I have lots to catch you back up on. I am down at the coast for spring break now, but I will try and get you caught up chronologically.

Saturday, March 15
I forgot to get in touch with my dad for his birthday. I'm sorry, it happens most years for all my family. I think I have a cool gift, though it will be coming home with me in May.

Sunday March 16th
Deportivo played at Liga. Cross-town rivals, 1 and 2 in the standings. Yeah its going to get crazy. Depor training facilities are about 2 miles from Liga's stadium, so we (the fans) gathered at our training site and paraded to the game. If that ain't a word, it should be. We drank beer, waved flags, and gave to obligatory finger to anyone daring to wear a white Liga shirt near us. We even had drummers to keep the beat going.  Oh yeah, and lots of singing of our fight song, though I am still trying to get the words.  I need to find it written down somewhere.  It was a fun march. 

At the stadium, chaos continues to reign supreme. There was a surge of fans right at the single door the 2000 or so of us were allowed to enter by a group of Liga fans. Ben and I stepped over/through the metal railings instead of going down in to the mess. Once inside my backpack was searched. The PVC to hold my flag up was taken as well as my water bottle. Fortunately, they were nice enough to dump my water into a plastic bag for me to drink from. Apparently people like to throw things at games ;) 

The game was as exciting as one would hope. We lost 0-1 on a very tight noncall for off-sides. The refereeing was substandard all around, but at least no one got hurt. Ben and I were disappointed that Depor came out playing for a tie. I always think that is a mistake. Its hard to kick it back up a notch once you fall behind. Highlight from the stands was this little old guy walking in with a keg on his back-yeah they are tough here. He set it down right next to us and we were thinking, sweet no need to walk over to the beer guy, he came to us. Then the guy flips over the keg and pulls off a false bottom. It was full of Aguariente-sugar cane firewater. Think nighttrain or everclear. So this was a bit of a letdown. Then, his lady friend takes off her heavy coat. We don't think much of that because Quiteanos often think it is freezing cold when it is in the 50's. Under her jacket of course-more Aguariente taped to her stomach and legs. I hope Ben's pictures came out. 

After the game, we had to wait around for 30-45 minutes. I think they just wanted to give the fans time to throw things at each other where it would be easy to clean up and we were safely separated. The guys next to us brought in a bag of oranges and took target practice at the Liga fans who had climbed the fence posts and were sitting on the barbed wire fence giving us the finger. There were some close calls and more gesturing, but no one got hurt. I did receive a round of applause for catching a water bottle midair and lobbing it gently back over the fence on our upper deck allowing it to plummet unsuspectingly onto the Liga fans below. It was pretty smooth, ask Ben. We finally got out of there. The wait, we aren't sure what that was for. The main doors to get out were still closed and cordoned off by the riot police. It was a good day. Unfortunate for the boys in red and blue, but we all had fun and played hard.

Tuesday March 18
Ben, Daria and I left for our first stop on the spring break adventure.  We flew down to Manta-well really it is mostly just West and downhill.  From there, we took a cab down to Puerto Lopez.  I know we could have taken the three hour, hot, sticky, cramped bus(its not built for us big guys), but we decided on comfort and speed.  Boy were we happy. 

Beach Beautiful.  Lots of fishing boats every morning dropping off the nights catch.  Pelagic thrashers, dorados(which looked like mahi mahi to me), scalloped hammerheads and many jacks and rock fish/snapper types.  The first day, we took a boat ride out to do some snorkeling and fishing.  The snorkeling was brief and the water was a bit cloudy, but it was fun to be back in the water again.  It had been way too long.  The fishing was "artesianal" which meant we threw some meat on a hook and dropped it over the side with a weight.  The line was held on a wooden board.  When you felt a tug, you just haul up the line as quick as you could.  We caught a bucketful of "gringo fish".  Yeah, they were bright red when you got them to the surface.  It was fun catching them and we brought some back to our friends' hotel and had them cook us a dinner.  Very tasty.  In the water, saw some parrot fish, puffers, and several other fish I can no longer remember the names of-sorry my fish loving friends.  I'll have to go back and look them all up.  We played in the waves on a beach and saw many boobies-the blue footed kind-perched up on the sea cliffs.  This seems to be a hangout when they aren't nesting in the Galapagos. 

Lazy days at the beach.  Our hostel owner was super nice and hooked us up with all we needed.  The second day, we headed on an inland tour of an archeological site, Agua Blanco.  It was just ok.  The museum was nice, but hot and long explanation given in Spanish by out guide made it difficult for me to enjoy.  Ben did share a lot of info, but its just hard to keep looking like you are paying attention.  They had beautiful artifacts made from clay and shell.  They used to trade with the Aztecs in Mexico and eventually the Inca in Peru.  A very impressive list of clients.  The walking tour was very basic and not really much to see-though it was nice to stretch the legs out a little bit.  They have a sulphur spring there that we were able to soak in and rub mud on ourselves.  Quite nice.  

Ok before your eyes fall out, I will stop for now.  Coming up.  The beach side carnie, great food and our trip to Guayaquil.