Little Beach Towns 2011 Spring

Adults can go on field trips to the beach or (in Joella's case) photo safaris, too, you know.

Lots of people, but none of them see things with her eyes.

And all the sherpa has to do is go along for the ride and the sunsets.

Obviously, those were some of her images; but now it's time for the narrative called,
Fear and Loathing in Pedernales, Canoa and Mompiche...three pueblos of coastal Ecuador.

When you travel back in time, reverse chronology takes a little getting used to.

This was our last day on the beach.

Little match-box cars, like our taxi, were everywhere because big people are the only ones who think they need big cars.

Barbara, my bookish friend, I spoke to the owner and he'll let you have this thriving business of his for a song. It would be like monogramed pajamas, you wouldn't have to change a thing.

Of course, being with Joella I couldn't spend all my time in the bars and had to go on some (long) nature walks until we got away from all the people.

But then afterwards, I'd beat a hasty retreat back to my favorite bar maid or at least what she looked like to me.

Although, sometimes she'd be closed and I'd have to go look for another watering hole...

in another tire-topped, thatched roof oasis...

Did I mention I was on vacation?

It was usually 5 o'clock somewhere.

On the other hand, I never needed to imagine things...they were strange enough on their own.

Like shrines and cemeteries on the beach, the original Sunset beaches for lost fisherman, as opposed to the glitzy ones in California.

Complete with ghostly apparitions ebbing and flowing from their graves to the sea.

Unless, a realist was along to say something like, "Those are storm clouds, not sails of the Flying Dutchman's ship, stupid."

O.K. maybe, I drank a few beers, but I always found

a normal looking trash can to put my bottles in. Pack it in, pack it out, I always say.

Plus, I never passed out in the sand like some of the locals, not when I could always rent a nice wooden chaise lounge chair for just 25 cents and have it made in the shade.

Or, go tubing behind a ski boat and body surfing whenever I started to feel athletic.

Most of the time though, I like to just lay around and take in the colorful scenery.

And, I wasn't the only one who liked to lie around. Entire families who came without hotel reservations did as well.

Then, when we wake up we all have a lovely green banana brerakfast...like we do every morning.

We, however, had a room with a view,

above and below the action.

Glamorous settings are in the eyes of the beholders.

The natives consider this the perfect place to vacation for carnival and after the long bus ride to get here, so did we.

I mean, come on, open-air taxis,

wearing shorts and sandals everywhere,

cocktails

and fresh seafood on the beach,

it doesn't get much better than this.

All you have to do is jump on a bus at midnight

sleep through all the exotic landscapes,

the checkpoints,

the dangerous intersections,

the tribal gatherings,

and when you're ready to wake up, stick your head out the window and take in the new day in a new world.

Remember, if you're going to be taking a long bus ride be sure and eat plenty of vegetables that you only paid 50 cents for.

That's all for now.

However, two things before we go:

Don't get the idea that all we do is go to the beach, it's just that I'm slogging my way through the past year's memories any way I can.

Unlike the U.S., most traveling here is by bus and this is the first taste of what is coming in December and will be known as, "The Chicken Bus Diaries".

A tongue-in-cheek homage to Che's "The Motorcycle Diaries" route, albeit ours will be in reverse and, theoretically, less political. But then who knows, when Ernesto started out on his trip changing the world wasn't his prime objective. Also, we are much older, so this'll be different!