Montinita shenanigans In the morning after breakfast, which was delicious ceviche, served on the street from one of many little kiosks, we went out in search of a nicer hotel. We ended up finding a room with a really great oceanview for 30 bucks a night! So we went back to our cheap hotel packed up our things and moved. After we settled in we went for a nice walk along the beach and did our part and picked up all the trash we found while walking. When we returne...

Off to the coast! Cristina recently bought two backpacks for traveling so she packed up her small one and I packed up my small bag and headed to the bus station. From Cuenca to Guayaquil it's 3 to 4 hours and from Guayaquil to Montinita it another 4-5 hours. We made it before 8 o'clock I think and found a cheap place to stay, went out for dinner, had a walk around town, dipped my toes in the ocean for the first time in like 8 months and just had a great night.

Christmas dinner and secret Santa Cristina and I went over to her sisters house and were the first ones to arrive. Cristina told her I'm a good cook and her sister asked me to make a sauce! I was not prepared for this....haha. Anyway I worked with what I had, a can of mushrooms, a jar of olives, one tomato, and I had to request some mayonnaise be brought in. For dinner there was turkey, pork roast, salads, too different spicy salsa sauces,and other items. Well ...

Car Inspection I don't want to try to relive too much of this experience but every year in Ecuador you have to have your car reinspected. The inspection place is not close to the city I'd say 10 or 15 km out of the city. The first time we took the car out there it failed because of the steering alignment even though the car had recently been to the mechanic. The second time we went out there after taking the car back to the mechanic and getting a new alignmen...

Cleaned the car We spent quite a few hours cleaning her car to take pictures so she can sell it and we took her mom's dog for a walk and also cleaned the dog!