We left for Rio Muchacho last Saurday (31st) I think at 5 am. The ride to Canoa (right outside Rio Muchacho) is about 7 hours so we got into Canoa at about noon, and had about 3 hours at the beach before we took the trucks up to Rio Muchacho. So I definitely took advantage of my beach time, because a guy was surfing and asked if my friend and I wanted to try. Well I had never surfed before so I told him this, but he said it was just for fun and didn't matter. Well I fell down A LOT!! But it was so much fun! Apparently this guy teaches surfing lessons, and I asked him how much it was going to cost and he said it was for free because we were just practicing. He even took me on the beach and drew out a surfboard in the sand so I could practice the proper technique of how to stand up. Well within an hour I stood up (for a descent amount of time might I add) about 5 times!!! It was so amazing, it almost felt like flying! But on water haha.
So we took a truck up to Rio Muchacho which is an organic farm where in the wet season they produce about 90% of what they use on the farm. It was a lot nicer than what I was expecting and very green and lush everywhere. Also the toilets are compost so after you go you put some sawdust on it and then when the hole where the toilet is fills up all the way they move the toilet and can plant a tree or something where the toilet used to be. (they wouldn't plant anything like crops there because human poop is bad since we have such a bad diet, but they use cui poop- guinea pig- for fertilizer) and other animal poop of course too but guinea pig is the best apparently. Also they need someone to clean this poop, so for chores in the morning 2 of the 3 days I got to clean the pig stalls!
So on Sunday in the morning we learned how to make coffee. Which I wish I liked coffee cuz apparently this coffee was really good (of course it was hand made) but also it just smelled really delicious. I tried it obviously because we made it, but just gave my cup to someone else, but it was a really fun process!! We cooked the beans first then ground them up and then boiled the powder with water. After drinking our coffee we walked around and checked out the farm and went on a hike to the HUGE tree. Its called matopalo literally kill sticks, and it wraps around other trees until it kills them off and then it just keeps growing. So its branches are all tangles and twisted which makes for a really good climbing tree! So we climbed it of course. Then we got to make chocolate that night! Kind of the same process as the coffee with roasting the cocoa and then grinding it with the sugar we cut up and boiling it at the end. It took awhile but the good thing was the sugar was really yummy so we basically ate half of it while we were cutting it up haha.
Monday we went horse back riding. I had the most stubborn horse ever, but it was still really fun. Before we went we packed up our lunches for the day in the leaves of a palm tree! So my horse had to be in front (the diva, even tho it was male) and then it wanted to go super slow, and would get angry at the other horses when they tried to pass him. Too funny! So we were riding along minding our own business and I felt like I got stung by the biggest bee EVER!!! Well apparently there are poisonous caterpillars here and when my horse was trying to eat something out of the tree the caterpillar must have landed on my shoulder from the tree. Well that thing stinkin hurt my whole shoulder was red and I let go of the reigns of my horse so he was running around and everyone was so confused, but it makes for a good story. Also, I learned: don't touch the fuzzy caterpillars in Ecuador. So we also had a chance to go see these howler monkeys up in the forest so we went on the craziest hike and Oscar our guide was basically sprinting up the mountain and we were all sweating so bad and we missed the monkeys, but we got a good workout and then got to go swim in the waterfall haha.
Tuesday we left Rio Muchacho which was sad because the people there were so nice and the food was amazing, but we headed off for Puerto Lopez. It took us 4 different buses and 5 hours from Canoa but we finally made it and were greeted by our guide Klara, who is basically my 2nd Ecua mom and my 3rd mom (Real mom- you are still the best, don't worry) but Klara just set up all the trips and meals for us and went with us everywhere and when Amber got an eye infection she even bought her eye drop stuff. So on Wednesday we went to la Isla de la Plata, which is also known as Poor Man's Galapagos, which really isn't poor it's just similar to the Galapagos because of some of the species of plants and animals there. We went for a hike and saw some blue-footed boobies and some really cool cliffs and plants, and then we went snorkeling after! At night in Pto. Lopez since it was during the week not a lot was going on but some of the bars were pretty cool. They were right on the beach and had hammocks and cool lights and it was nice to get a Pilsner or pina colada and just chill.
The next day we went to Agua Blanca which is an archeological site where the Manteno people live. (last culture before the Spanish conquist) So we went on a hike and saw some burial sites and went on a nature walk and saw termite hives, owls, and really cool birds. Then we went to the sulfur lagoon which is apparently cleansing and I dove in of course, I will not pass up an opportunity to swim! And then the guide came around with a thing of mud that we could put on ourselves to make our skin smooth. The other girls put it on there legs, but I decided to go all out and lather up! It was actually really refreshing! Then we went to los Frailes which is a really pretty beach and we didn't have a lot of time there but we went to the viewpoint and you could see for miles! Also the waves there were huge and they basically knocked you over.
Friday, our last day we went to las Tunas, another REALLY pretty beach. We had a cabana to ourselves and even got served lunch out under it. I had a strawberry batido (smoothie) and it was soooo delicious! We just bummed out at the beach until about 4 and caught some rays. We also went to a really pretty viewpoint that overlooks all of Pto Lopez, and it was really cool to see all the boats and everything from so high up. For our last night we had an amazing dinner of this chicken with like salsa stuff on top with really great veggies! We walked around at the beach one last time and the Klara went to the bus stop with us to head back to Quito. Our bus left about 8 pm and got into Quito around 5 am, overnight buses aren't the best for sleeping, but they showed two movies on this one! Anyways, I hope I can go back and visit Klara again, it was really hard saying bye to her, I think she started tearing up when we gave her the card we wrote for her. I am really gonna miss the sun, sand and most of all the hammocks! But it was a great Semana Santa!
We left for Rio Muchacho last Saurday (31st) I think at 5 am. The ride to Canoa (right outside Rio Muchacho) is about 7 hours so we got into Canoa at about noon, and had about 3 hours at the beach before we took the trucks up to Rio Muchacho. So I definitely took advantage of my beach time, because a guy was surfing and asked if my friend and I wanted to try. Well I had never surfed before so I told him this, but he said it was just for fun and didn't matter. Well I fell down A LOT!! But it was so much fun! Apparently this guy teaches surfing lessons, and I asked him how much it was going to cost and he said it was for free because we were just practicing. He even took me on the beach and drew out a surfboard in the sand so I could practice the proper technique of how to stand up. Well within an hour I stood up (for a descent amount of time might I add) about 5 times!!! It was so amazing, it almost felt like flying! But on water haha.
So we took a truck up to Rio Muchacho which is an organic farm where in the wet season they produce about 90% of what they use on the farm. It was a lot nicer than what I was expecting and very green and lush everywhere. Also the toilets are compost so after you go you put some sawdust on it and then when the hole where the toilet is fills up all the way they move the toilet and can plant a tree or something where the toilet used to be. (they wouldn't plant anything like crops there because human poop is bad since we have such a bad diet, but they use cui poop- guinea pig- for fertilizer) and other animal poop of course too but guinea pig is the best apparently. Also they need someone to clean this poop, so for chores in the morning 2 of the 3 days I got to clean the pig stalls! 
Monday we went horse back riding. I had the most stubborn horse ever, but it was still really fun. Before we went we packed up our lunches for the day in the leaves of a palm tree! So my horse had to be in front (the diva, even tho it was male) and then it wanted to go super slow, and would get angry at the other horses when they tried to pass him. Too funny! So we were riding along minding our own business and I felt like I got stung by the biggest bee EVER!!! Well apparently there are poisonous caterpillars here and when my horse was trying to eat something out of the tree the caterpillar must have landed on my shoulder from the tree. Well that thing stinkin hurt my whole shoulder was red and I let go of the reigns of my horse so he was running around and everyone was so confused, but it makes for a good story. Also, I learned: don't touch the fuzzy caterpillars in Ecuador. So we also had a chance to go see these howler monkeys up in the forest so we went on the craziest hike and Oscar our guide was basically sprinting up the mountain and we were all sweating so bad and we missed the monkeys, but we got a good workout and then got to go swim in the waterfall haha.
Tuesday we left Rio Muchacho which was sad because the people there were so nice and the food was amazing, but we headed off for Puerto Lopez. It took us 4 different buses and 5 hours from Canoa but we finally made it and were greeted by our guide Klara, who is basically my 2nd Ecua mom and my 3rd mom (Real mom- you are still the best, don't worry) but Klara just set up all the trips and meals for us and went with us everywhere and when Amber got an eye infection she even bought her eye drop stuff. So on Wednesday we went to la Isla de la Plata, which is also known as Poor Man's Galapagos, which really isn't poor it's just similar to the Galapagos because of some of the species of plants and animals there. We went for a hike and saw some blue-footed boobies and some really cool cliffs and plants, and then we went snorkeling after! At night in Pto. Lopez since it was during the week not a lot was going on but some of the bars were pretty cool. They were right on the beach and had hammocks and cool lights and it was nice to get a Pilsner or pina colada and just chill.
The next day we went to Agua Blanca which is an archeological site where the Manteno people live. (last culture before the Spanish conquist) So we went on a hike and saw some burial sites and went on a nature walk and saw termite hives, owls, and really cool birds. Then we went to the sulfur lagoon which is apparently cleansing and I dove in of course, I will not pass up an opportunity to swim! And then the guide came around with a thing of mud that we could put on ourselves to make our skin smooth. The other girls put it on there legs, but I decided to go all out and lather up! It was actually really refreshing! Then we went to los Frailes which is a really pretty beach and we didn't have a lot of time there but we went to the viewpoint and you could see for miles! Also the waves there were huge and they basically knocked you over. 
Friday, our last day we went to las Tunas, another REALLY pretty beach. We had a cabana to ourselves and even got served lunch out under it. I had a strawberry batido (smoothie) and it was soooo delicious! We just bummed out at the beach until about 4 and caught some rays. We also went to a really pretty viewpoint that overlooks all of Pto Lopez, and it was really cool to see all the boats and everything from so high up. For our last night we had an amazing dinner of this chicken with like salsa stuff on top with really great veggies! We walked around at the beach one last time and the Klara went to the bus stop with us to head back to Quito. Our bus left about 8 pm and got into Quito around 5 am, overnight buses aren't the best for sleeping, but they showed two movies on this one! Anyways, I hope I can go back and visit Klara again, it was really hard saying bye to her, I think she started tearing up when we gave her the card we wrote for her. I am really gonna miss the sun, sand and most of all the hammocks! But it was a great Semana Santa!
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