Sian and I decided to spend our Carnaval weekend on the coast, in the city of Atacames. Our bus left Quito at 11p on Saturday night (we couldn't get any tickets beforehand, because so many people wanted to go to the beach for Carnaval). There were so many people at the bus terminal (is that what you call it?), that we were afraid we were going to miss our bus! Our bus pulled in at around 10:55p, the lady called out the bus number to Atacames over the speakers one time, we quickly made our way through the sea of people, and hopped on. Phew!

Right as we were leaving, the bus co-captain put in a movie for us. It was entitled "First Dog: In Dog We Trust," and it was in Spanish. It's about this foster boy in the U.S. who discovers the President's lost dog, and runs away in order to return it to Washington, D.C. It was fabulous. Well, I got sleepy about three-quarters of the way through the movie. I didn't bring nearly enough warm clothes for the trip, and therefore tucked my legs up inside my zip-up jacket. After I got all nice and toasty, I fell right asleep. At about four in the morning, the co-captain called out, "Atacames!" We were expecting an eight hour bus ride!

We got off of the bus, and there were a ton of guys on motorbikes with a little carriage in front to hold passengers. They were calling out, "Playa! Playa! Necesitas ir a la playa!?" Sian and I were not quite awake, it was dark, and we had no clue where we were in the city. So, we found a safe haven in the bus terminal until the sun rose. While in the terminal, we ate animal crackers and talked. We also bought our return tickets asap in order to make sure we could get back by Tuesday night.

Allrighty, then. Now to the fun stuff! It was about 7am when we decided to leave the bus terminal. We asked a guy which way it was to the playa, and we started walking. We passed by quite a few fruit shops, a few internet cafes, and even a coffin store! They think of everything in Atacames. Once we got to the beach, we immediately started asking around for hostels that had rooms available. We had very poor luck! We found ONE place that had a room available for four people, not two. We walked down the street some more, and talked to this guy named Ellison who said that if we came back in the afternoon, he might have something available. We sat down in his restaurant/hostel to talk and decide what we wanted to do. Ellison called me over after I had finished drinking my Coca-Cola. He brought me upstairs and showed me the eclipse (or at least that's what he called it) that day. It was ridiculous. Around the sun, there was a rainbow in a gigantic ring. On opposite sides of the ring were two more rainbows. A little to the south, there was a thin cloud that was also in the formation of a gigantic ring. It was really trippy. I have yet to do my research to figure out what caused that--perhaps the Coriollis Effect? Well, after getting to know Ellison, I decided he was a pretty legit guy. He told us that he would for sure get Sian and me a place to stay. Finally feeling settled, us girls decided to head to la playa.

The beach was WONDERFUL! I mean, Sian and I were the only two gringos on the entire beach, but it was wonderful! Sian decided to sit with our bags and sunbathe, while I made my way to the water. It was sooo freaking hot! Oh my goodness, the water was perfect. There was a ton of people, but it was so nice to jump waves and whatnot.

Well, we hung out there for a while, and then made our way back to Ellison's restaurant to make sure that we had a place to stay. It was around noon, and so we decided to eat there. We placed our orders (we really didn't know what we were doing), then played cards while we were waiting for our food. I ordered arroz con pollo which was about $5. That's kind of expensive here in Ecuador, but I was so hungry. My plate was the first to come out, and…there were no words. There was SOO much arroz con pollo. Not only that, but there were like fried potatoes and salad to go along with it. All of these Ecuadorians in the restaurant had ordered soup and small plates…and I had this gigantic plate of food! But, the smaller plates weren't on the menu, so I'm not totally at fault. Anyhow, it was tasty, and I made two meals out of it. Sian's plate didn't have nearly as much food on it as mine did.

Well, after we finished lunch, Ellison showed us to our room. We both took QUITE the siesta that day. After barely sleeping the night before, being out in the sun all morning, and having a big lunch, we both conked out. I think we watched the Simpsons en espanol, and that lulled us to sleep.

So we finally made it back out at around 3:30p, and set up camp on the beach again. There was a family that watched our towels and water while we were swimming, which was super nice. I think we were in the water for a consecutive three hours, just bobbing and getting crashed into by waves. We met a dad and his daughter while we were out in the water, and talked with them for a while. He was cute, and knew a little English. They swam along with us and ducked under waves mid-conversation with us. It was really fun.

After the sun set, we went back to our room and got ready for Carnaval night-life. We went to a bar and had some fresh watermelon juice (we had our one cerveza earlier that day), and I don't really remember what we did the rest of the night. I just remember that we retired early, because we were both pooped.

So, Sunday morning! We got up late, went on a walk to get breakfast. We had fresh watermelon and pineapple, and then went to a panaderia to buy some bread. I got chocolate bread (you really can't go wrong with bread and chocolate), and Sian got some cookies. Feeling quite satisfied, we made our way back to the hostel to get prepared for the beach!

We both sunbathed for a while on the beach, and then I got too stinking hot and had to get in the water. I was really disappointed, though. With all of the people and partying during Carnaval, there was a ton of trash in the water. Sian and I didn't swim very much on Sunday.

We went back to the hostel, had a siesta, got a late lunch, did some shopping, and enjoyed Carnival. We made have had a few cervezas and we MAY have danced with the cutest Ecuadorian gay guys ever…It was a good night, to say the least! And that was our Carnaval!