Bel & Ecuador: Part 6: Montañita

If I start my post with a picture like this, I guess you can imagine what happened!

We got a flat tire!

On the way back from Salinas, to Montañita, we started to hear a strange noise... and yep... we got a flat tire... We couldn´t stop at the moment because it was a dark curvy road (no wonder!), so we stop about 10 kilometres further, on the first town we saw.

There was no car assistance spot, and we had never changed a tire. I knew how to do it, theoretically, but thankfully an old guy show up and helped us.

We gave him a good tip and continue driving to Montañita.

The morning after we went to have our tire fix. Actually, the guy almost had to reconstruct it, hehe

It was rainy in Montañita, but we felt happy to be back...

We got together with a bunch of travelers and set a fire on th beach. It was so fun! Of course we took the proper precautions.

We had dinner in my favourite place: Tiki Taka, and then... headed to a party!

But I started to feel bad, so I went to bed early.

It turned out I got food poisoned. Or maybe my body just couln´t tolerate any more pineapple juice.

The following morning I sent some postcards and headed to the airport!

Bye bye Ecuador!

We had a blast!

I hope to be back soon!

Bel & Ecuador: Part 4: Puerto Rico & Puerto Lopez

It was cloudy by the time we got to Puerto Rico. We were supposed to visit the National Park and a Native Reservation that day, but they were closing at 6pm. We wouldn´t have time....

So we walked along the beach, instead, and had dinner in the beautiful restaurant of our hotel "La Barquita", that honors its name with the shape of a boat.

Dinner was so good. I ordered some fish, and the atmosphere was great.

Our room was rustic, and it had mosquito nets that were kind of humid, but well... it felt very eco friendly.

The morning after, we had breakfast on the terrace and then went to the city center to find out about excursions but it was too late.

So, we had some sandwiches with pineapple juice, right next to the beach and then headed to Los Frailes National Park.

It is a beach reservation that protects the native flora and fauna. We saw plenty of reptils, all sizes, and nice pinky crabs. The extension of the reservation was huge, so we had to chose from a few options.

We went to a high point to have a panoramic view, and to some beaches.

One of the beaches had volcanic sand, and it provided a good contrast to spots crabs :)

Then we went to a Native Reservation, that is called White Waters due to the existance of thermal sulfurous waters, that come from the volcanic depth.

We had a guided tour that was from the tribe and explained all the details of his community (Sorry, I forgot about it!) and made us walk a lot!

Then, we got to spend around an hour in the white waters... It was so fun! They were muddy and allegedly therapeutical, so we rub ourselves in that dark stinky mud.

Then we had dinner in Puerto Lopez and headed back to the hotel.

In the morning, we had breakfast again in the terrace and got to take the last pictures:

California: I´m Loving It

Holaaaaaa

Here I am in California, a day away from saying goodbye to my beloved 2007, that because of Time Zones, will be three hours longer for me! Fantastic!

I spent a lovely Christmas, but we didn´t celebrate Christmas´Eve. It was kind of strange, but ok. So we celebrated Christmas over dinner on the 25. We had Russian food over Anna´s and everything was wamr and cozy. It was so much fun! Oh! I got a new camera for Xmas!!! It´s pink, it´s sony, and I´m loving it!

After celebrating Christmas, we rented a Car in Vacaville -where we are staying at Jean´s apt and drove for a few days to Los Angeles, San Diego and Costa Mesa. We drove through the desert and of course along the Pacific Coast. PCH is awesome! I throw garbage at Leo Di Caprio´s mansion in Beverly Hills and got lots of pictures with sculptures by Noguchi. Got plenty of food and got to see great scenarios.

Back to San Francisco, we did a night tour of Alcatraz and walk the halls where Al Capone walked... It was foggy and scary...

Today we went to Napa Valley, a beautiful area full of wineries, where I had some wine tasting experiences and tours. I think it was the best day of the trip! Beautful landscapes, good wine, chilling out outdoors, just great!

Tomorrow I will be visiting the SFMOMA (Museum of Modern Art in San Francisco) and then closing the 2007 at Anna´s beautiful Russian home. But this time, we will try to grill asado (BBQ Argentina´s way). But we did ask Anna and her mum to prepare the Olivier Salad, because it´s soooo good!! It´s funny that we call that recipe Russian Salad in Argentina and they, in Russia, call it Olivier Salad, after the chef that created it.

Well, I hope everyone enjoys the last day of 2007 and begin 2008 with the right foot !!!!!

Californian kisses and best wishes!!
Bel

Bel & Upstate New York - Part II: Albany + Storm King Sculpture Park