We are in Puerto Lopez now, a costal town about an hour north of Montanita. We were under the impression that it would be sort of a big town, but have discovered that we were wrong and it has only a few streets and one ATM - which has caused us much trouble. When we first arrived here yesterday afternoon - with only $4 left in our pockets after paying for two nights at a hotel - we went to the only ATM in town to withdrawl some more money. When the card didn't work
at first I assumed it was becauese I had accidently entered the wrong password and thought that perhaps my card had been locked because of this. Then we watched as some other travelers were also unable to withdrawl money, and after retrieving the other debit card from the hotel room and having the same lack of success, we realized that it was indeed the ATM that was broken - not our cards. Unfortunately it is the weekend and there is no way to get any money until at least Monday when the bank is open again. After talking with a sweet American mother-daughter couple who were also having problems with the ATM, we realized that in order to get more money we would have to use our last $4 to take a bus to Manta - and hope that the one ATM there would cooperate. After learning that we had only $4 to our names, that sweet mother offered to give us her hotel address "in case we needed $5 or something." We politely declined, thanked them for their generousity, and wondered down a side street to ponder our options. As we were sitting on a corner drinking water and trying to decide how tell the hotel that we would only be able to stay one night and ask for our money back for the second night (in Spanish), the nice American pair walked up to us and said, "here's $8," and handed us a wad of money, and kept on walking. We couldn't believe their generosity. We were able to get the money back for the second night we had paid for at the hotel and have been ok on money. Today we are taking a bus to Manta and crossing our fingers that the ATM there will work. Beth is still really sick. The nagging cough that she's had for the last week has turned into an almost constant forceful cough and she hasn't been able to sleep for more than a few minutes at a time in several nights. This morning she awoke burning with fever and I'm a little concerned that she seems to be getting worse and not better. We went to a pharmacy and attempted to speak very bad Spanish to the pharmacist and ended up with Robotussin DM, which I have mixed feelings about giving her. Supressing her cough may make her a bit more comfortable and the expectorant is a good thing, but she's clearly coughing because her body needs to get something out and to keep it in can't be good. She is in pretty good spirits considering, so at least there's that. Just a few more days and we'll be home drinking tap water and eating Waffel House!