Ecuador Day 10: Beach House Water Park, Salinas, La Chocolatera and Back to Guayaquil

I got up around 8 a.m. and downstairs breakfast was being made for us by Dr. Harris's relatives.  We got to meet the lady who owned the beach house and we were told that we were going to the water park that was only restricted for people who owned houses in the immediate community.  I was super excited because the last time I was at a water park was last summer when Ben and I went to Wild Waves.

They made us eggs, rice, bread and fruit.  It hit the spot because I was hungry.  Myrna told us that the water park opened around 10 and we would be staying until around 1ish.  After I was done I got ready to go and took some of our dirty clothes, mostly underwear, socks and bras and washed them with detergent in the sink.  And yes, we  had to go outside to the clothes line and hang them up to dry.  I figured get them washed and up while we were gone so they had time to dry properly.

I walked down with mom, Kaitlin and Amy to the water park.  We took the beach route and had to wait until someone saw us standing at the entrance waiting to be let in.  Myrna and the lady we stayed with let us in with her keycard.

We walked in and we were astounded that we were the only people there.  The place was empty.  It was empty for at least an hour.  I felt like we were VIP's.  No lines.  No waiting.  It was amazing.  A group of us continuously took turns going down the water slides. 

The next 45 minutes I spent playing HORSE with Thomas, Dr. Smith, Thomas, Kaitlin and Mark.  I was doing well until my shots were falling short for some reason.  Dr. Smith ended up winning.

I just chilled in the pool for the most part and then I went down the water slides a few more times.  I tried getting mom to go but she said no.  I had a blended lemonade which hit the spot.

Then I started feeling it.  I had gotten way too much sun.  The weather is very deceiving at the equator.  It wasn't very hot and kinda overcast but the sun rays were real.  I even put some sun screen on but I still saw the wrath of the sun on my skin but not until later that evening.  We all packed up our stuff and walked back to the beach house.  Myrna told us that we needed to have everything packed up because we were leaving that night.  We left our piles of stuff in the foyer.

Again, we got back into the three vehicles and headed to Salinas for some food, shopping and sight seeing.  Salinas wasn't that far from the beach house.  You could actually see the city skyline from the balcony of the beach house.  When we got there, parking wasn't as difficult as last night but we still had to look around.  Like most cities, Salinas also had a lot of one-way roads and side streets so you really had to pay attention along with all the pedestrians walking around.  We broke up into tiny groups but made sure to let people know where we were going and when to meet back at the vehicles.  Mom and I wandered around with Maritza, Joy, Myrna, Edna and Carolina.

We got hungry so Edna took us to a place that she was familiar with.  There, mom and I shared a platter of beans, chicken and rice.  I ended up getting a Coke because it was bottled and I just felt like some pop at that point of the trip.  The food was pretty good unlike the food we had last night in Montañita.  The entire time we were in South America I was afraid to eat some of the food because I didn't want diarrhea or stomach problems the entire tie I was there.  This food didn't do that thankfully.  We walked around a little bit and decided our group wanted to go see La Chocolatera.

Dr. Harris joined our group when we piled into two cars and headed to the view point.   The route took us through the Navel Base of Salinas onto the most western point of Ecuador (not including the Galapagos Islands) along with great views of the Pacific Ocean and the lighthouse. The chocolate converging currents which lift the sandy bottom and give the chocolate brown of the sea, hence arises the name.  It offers a unique, colorful experience especially when the crash of the waves against the jagged rocks.

We parked the cars and walked over to the first viewpoint.  The water was so blue.  It was hard to believe most of South America was a third world country.  Why were these countries so poor but they are located in the most beautiful places in the world?

I was a little jealous standing there looking into the water knowing the coast of Washington will never look like this.  We took a few pictures then walked to the lighthouse.

We used the restrooms before we had to go because it was almost 6 and it was getting dark.  We hopped back in the cars and headed back towards the beach house to find out what the next step was in this adventure.  The vehicle I was in needed gas so we stopped and gassed up.  We all got to the beach house around the same time and decided what we were going to do.  Two vehicles were going back to Guayaquil that night with the supplies and possibly people if people wanted to go.  Mom and I volunteered to go. Dr. Smith and Thomas rode with Felipe and the supplies. The rest decided to stay at the hotel one more night.

I rode with Carolina and Maritza and mom rode with Myrna and Edna.  Carolina had a really nice car and it was weird being inside of a car that had kilometer measurements on the dashboard.  As we drove, it was also strange to see the kilometer signs and seeing that 90 km/h was only 60 mph.  She also had a touch screen in the middle of her dash.  Maritza spent time switching radio stations.  The song I heard the most during the trip was that Despacito.  I must have heard that song twenty times during the entire trip.

We got to the apartment in Guayaquil around 9ish that evening.  I was so glad to be back to civilization with an actual shower.  We unloaded the car and brought everything upstairs.  We awaited the van so we could help bring the supplies up.  They arrived shortly after.  We all helped bring the supplies up the stairs and let me tell you I really hated those stairs especially with heavy bins.

I took a shower and then got ready for bed.  I took the same bed as I did the last time we were here and so did mom.  I went to bed shortly before midnight.  I was exhausted and my sunburn started hurting.

Next Adventure:  Ecuador Day 11: Breakfast, Parque de las Iguanas, Shopping, Geocaching, a Tour of Guayaquil and an Early Flight