They'd all told us this was the most beautiful beach they'd ever seen. It's an unbelievable crescent shaped beach about a mile long that has not been darkened by shops or condos. Just simply beauty with no distractions of human structures. And no trash.

This undisturbed white sand curve of natural beauty is anchored on each end by completely vertical cliffs and surrounded on 3 sides by an what for us is an extremely unique national park of dry forest.
 
It was so beautiful, we had to climb to the viewpoint for pictures.

On the beach were hundreds of these little red sand crabs that would scamper away (sideways) so fast that no way can you catch them--no matter how fast you run they stay ahead of you like it's some kind of game they're playing.

But notice their camouflage. Their backs are EXACTLY the color of sand--only the legs show much red. 

Later when we climbed the paseo up to the lookout we saw lizards, birds and snakes which also showed amazing abilities to hide in plain sight.

You'd have laughed watching me take pictures of the lizard. Oh look, Ligia says. Look! look! look! and they're both pointing excitedly. I'm looking but I see nothing. Nothing. Just something long and black and I think--okay, if it will make them happy I'll take a picture of it. 

It was a feather.

What they were looking at was a lizard exactly the same color as the dirt and until he moved, I couldn't see it at all.

Muy comico.

The snake was the scariest though. We could easily have stepped on it as it was very close to the path and after I learned it was an equis I felt really, really lucky the thing was resting. It was only about 8" in diameter all curled up in it's circle, but you notice the head is shaped very much like a rattlesnake's--triangular. And again as with the lizard, it was nearly invisible.

Fredi says an equis is so aggressive it will follow you to attack. It's not happy to just have you moving out of range--it plain doesn't like you. It just skitters along after you until you kill it or you die. Although they're rare here in the dry forest, he has seen one one other time in Puerto Lopez. He keeps anti venum at the school. They're a very big danger to farmers here working in the fields, as you can imagine.

We were a sweaty mess after our hike so a swim was like heaven. The stories of the equatorial sun you may have heard were probably all true though, as it's so intense it feels like it's searing your skin. It's not that it's so hot--it's only high 80's or 90*F, it's just that it's directly perpendicular to us. I never really appreciated what that meant before, but now I know it just means you keep covered up and use gallons of sun block whether you're already tanned or not. Intense is not a strong enough word for this sun.

After Los Frailes we returned to Puerto Lopez and ate lunch at a beachside cafe where we could get more fresh fish. In Ecuador all typical meals come with white rice and fried platano (from the banana family). It looks like banana--it's the color and shape of banana, but it tastes like a starch, like a potato, but tastier. I'm getting used to them, but then I liked grits when we were in Atlanta, too. Bob won't eat either one.

We had to go to the Mandala and confirm our reservation so after that we watched the sunset from their beach. It's a hospedaje down the beach from the school which is owned by a Swiss/Italian couple and is really, really beautiful. Kathleen recommended it to us. It's our reward for working so hard these two weeks of school.

Where we're living now is quaint and basic. We have water MOST of the time, internet MOST of the time and our air conditioning is two open windows. Which is great for a fresh breeze, but not so much for the taxi motos and barking dogs in the streets. It doesn't quiet down here until midnight and the neighborhood roosters start up around 3:00, so if you're a light sleeper you may only get 2 or 3 hours a night. You can't close the windows cause it's too hot...it's a choice of quieter and stifling or fresh air and noisy. We have a 4" foam bed that sags in the middle, 2 pillows and sheets, and 2 nails on the wall for hanging stuff. Muy basico.

Showers are limited to 5 minutes each (none after 6:30 at night) and we drink only bottled water--even brush our teeth with bottled water-- wash out our cups with bottled water. AND, we're washing our hands constantly. So far, so good. We've not been sick except for the altitude sickness at Quito.

Last night we had no water, but we had internet. This morning still no water, but also no internet. Finally later this morning we got lucky and could both flush the toilet and send emails.

Es la costa. It's the coast--that's just the way things are.