I could hardly believe that I was back
in Ecuador, stepping of the plane I was a coiled spring of excitement
and energy. This is my third time back after my year of foreign
exchange. Each return has been in the pursuit of Ecuadoras, Cedar and
I's idea after buying three hats in Montanita five years ago. I am in
love with this country and I am getting more and more excited each
time I return. Dropping through the clouds and seeing the rivers
swollen with the seasonal rains brought a comfort that I hadn't
experienced before. Ecuador is becoming my second home.
I brought two bags for a friend, Alex,
who hasn't been able to get his packages through customs to his
Ecuadorian family. His mom and her boyfriend met me at the airport. I
arrived with a total of five bags, my paragliding equipment, clothes,
computer bag and the two bags for his family. I've never traveled so
heavy. My bags couldn't even fit on the carts that the airport had.
It was awkward to say the least but they were there with big smiles,
and a really tiny car. Thankfully I brought some webbing, adding to
their mass of rope and we securely strapped the bags on top and off
we went. They were going to drive me up the coast to Montanita in
exchange for the bags. I arrived on the last day of carnival, kids
were lined up along the highway squirting water at cars. We got hit
once on our way but we passed multiple ambushes of kids with buckets
of water and water bottles converted into squirters. All the traffic
was heading back to Guayaquil and our side of the road was almost
empty.
They dropped me off in the village
where the hats are made, Felix and Diana weren't there, they had gone
to the ocean to swim. I still had a greeting party, people watched me
unload my bags and asked me how many hats I wanted made this time. I
told them that I wasn't quite ready to make an order yet but that I
would be ready tom make an order soon.
In Montanita that evening I bumped into my Colombian friend James, who also paraglides and he decided to head north to Canoa with me to meet up with the paragliding tour that was in Ecuador at the same time. We had a bumpy days travel but we made it and got some great flying in!
