Well, we made it to Manta to discover that it was not a ¨small town with only one ATM,¨ at all (as we had been informed by the mom and daughter that had given us the $8), but was actually a large industrial-looking (aka: dirty) port city with several working ATM´s.Although I'm sure it had more to offer than the dangerous and dirty area surrounding the bus station, we decided not to venture out in the dark and stayed in the area in order to catch th...

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...

Our trip is going better. We are in Montanita now, a little surfer town on the coast of Ecuador that caters a bit more to foreigners (some people here actually speak English). We are really close to the Equator so it's really hot and the sun feels very intense. Despite wearing a lot of sunscreen Beth and I both managed to burn a little today, so we'll have to be more careful. It´s great to finally escape the rain and finally be able to wear shorts and sa...

Beth and I are done with our "trips" now, and have only been more and more disappointed each day with this volunteer agency. The first day was spent at a big market, which was nice other than the fact that we had to ride 2.5 hrs there in a truck cab with the agency family which consisted of two adults, a 9 year old, and a 1 year old baby crammed into the cab while the sick baby coughed, snotted and cried the entire time. All I could think of was how b...

After six nights in the very rainy rain forest, Beth and I are back in the less rainy city of Quito.We have concluded that the organization we are working for (Eco-Volunteer UP, which seems to be comprised only of a woman and her husband) is mostly a scamming agency.Although they seem genuine and are very friendly, the $504 dollars each we paid for 10 days of "rain forest conservation" and four days of trips to different places in Ecuador seems to be go...