Ookean/The Ocean

Taaskord üks suurepärane nädalavahetus täis seiklusi ja avastusrõõmu! Reede õhtuks polnud ei mina ega Tuve veel kotti pakkinud, rääkimata sihtpunkti välja valimisest. Mõtlesime minna Esmeraldas provintsi Ecuadori loode osas ning esialgu mõtlesime Tonsupe nimelisse linnakesse sõita. Kui meie kohalik pere sellest kuulis, siis hirmutati meid õuduslugudega röövimistest ja muu kohutavaga. Omar on sealsetes kalurikülades nimelt mõnda aega elanud ja oskas soovitada, kuhu minna. Uueks sihtkohaks sai niisiis Mompiche, mis pidi olema surfilinnake, oluliselt pisem ja turvalisem.

Sääsetõrjevahend ja head soovid kaasa antud, asusime bussijaama poole teele. Kuna eelnevatel kordadel ei olnud piletitega probleeme olnud ning kohalike väitel tuleb piletid ette osta vaid suurte pühade ajal, siis me ei muretsenud ja arvasime, et küll pileteid jätkub... Tuleb välja, et mõnikord tuleb Põhja-Euroopalik etteplaneerimine aga kasuks... Kohale jõudes väideti, et ühtegi piletit ei ole ning, et võib-olla suuremas bussijaamas, mis on tunni kaugusel, on pileteid, aga kuidagi kontrollida pole võimalik. Isegi telefoninumbrit ei osatud anda. Kuna kell oli aga juba 10 läbi, ning viimased bussid väljusid 11.30 paiku, siis langes see variant ära. Selle asemel otsustasime minna ühte teise bussifirmasse, mis asus mõne tänava kaugusel. Ohutuse mõttes jagasime kohaliku perega taksot, ent ka teisel firmal polnud kohti. Selleks hetkeks olime natuke nõutud, mõlemad olime ju lootnud vihmasest Quitost päikeselisele rannikule pääseda.

Alla aga ei olnud me nõus andma ning suundusime tagasi esimesse firmasse. Teenindajal sai ilmselt kõrini meie lõpututest küsimustest, või vabanes tõepoolest 2 piletit, aga bussi peale me saime! 6 tundi hiljem olime juba Esmeraldas, ootamas järgmist bussi, kuked bussijaama teises otsas kiremas ning päike parasjagu tõusmas. 3 tundi veel ja buss sisenes mööda liivast teed Mompiche’sse. Kusjuures väljuma pidi sama teed pidi, kuna selles külas oli vaid üks tänav. Kui Baños’es oli umbes iga kolmas hoone hostel, siis Mompiche tundus elatuvat üksnes turistidest ning kõik majad olid kas hostelid või restoranid. Kõik need umbes 15 J

Aga Mompiche oli ilus! Pisike ja armas, just nagu Omar oli meile rääkinud. Küla oli täis surfilaudu kaenlas tassivaid turiste ning rannas võis näha mitmeid kaluripaate ning linde, kes juba paatidesse püütud kalu endale püüdsid saada. Ajal oli seal hoopis teine tähendus. Kohalikud lapsed mängisid hommikust õhtuni liivastel tänavatel ning turistid veetsid aega võrkkiikedes või rannamõnusi nautides. Nõnda suundusime ka meie randa. Õhk ning vesi olid meeldivalt soojad, ehkki oli pilvine. Pärastlõunaks tuli ka päike välja ning mereande sõime juba varju all. Hiljem sõitsime, mõlemal kookospähkel süles, paadiga mööda rannikut. Nägime musta liivaga randa, linde, kes väidetavalt üksnes Mompiche’s ja Galapagosel elutsevad, ning kõige lõpuks käisime keset merd ujumas.

Õhtu veetsime samuti rannas J Kuna parasjagu oli mõõn, siis oli rannajoon nihkunud mõnekümne meetri võrra mere poole. See ei seganud aga turiste, kes õhtustes lainetes mõnulesid ning surfamist harjutasid. Meie Tuvega otsustasime surfamise pühapäevaks jätta. Muidugi sadas pühapäeval terve päeva vihma...ehk mõni teine kord.

Tagasiteel Quitosse otsustasime ka Atacames ära käia. Atacames on tuntuim rand selles piirkonnas ja nagu oligi arvata oli see paksult inimesi täis. Lisaks tundus linn räpane ja kommertslik. Sõime vaid küpsetatud banaane juustuga ning mõned kookosest tehtud maiustused ning sõitsime edasi Esmeraldas’se. Bussis põrkasime kokku ühe siinse vabatahtliku Hannesega, kes meiega koos Quitosse sõitis. Minu kõrvale juhtus bussis aga istuma üks 10 aastane poiss, kes terve tee juttu rääkis. Hispaania keelest saan muidu üldjuhul juba aru, aga ta rääkis nii kiiresti ja rannikul levinud aksendiga, et võttis aega, et tast aru saada. Õpetasin talle natuke inglise keelt ka ja leppisime kokku, et mina õpin hispaania keele selgeks, tema aga peab inglise keelt harjutama. J

Tagasi Quitosse jõudes küpsetasin järgmiseks päevaks porgandikoogi ning jäin oma tuppa jõudes kohe magama. Uus töönädal ootas ees!

Suurepärast nädalavahetust soovides,

L.

Mompiche

Mompiche



Mompiche



Vaatepilt rannas. Augud on krabidele, keda rannas ohtralt leidus/ At the beach. The holes are for the crabs and there were lots of them.

Hommikune saak ja linnud kalu pätsamas/The birds stealing the fish

Tuve kookospähklit söömas/Tuve eating the coconut

Mompiche

Mõõn/Low tide

Atacames

Atacames

Küpsetatud banaan juustuga(sarnane Parmesanile)/Baked banana with cheese(similar to Parmesan)

Another great weekend full of adventures and discoveries! Neither me nor Tuve had decided which beach we wanted to go to by Friday afternoon, let alone had we packed our bags. We thought about going to Esmeraldas province in the Nort-West part of Ecuador and possibly to a town called Tonsupe. Our hostbrother wasn’t very happy to hear it though since he had lived in various towns in this region and new how dangerous they can be. So, he recommended going to Mompiche instead, which is known to be a surf town, a lot smaller and safer.

Omar gave us some insect repellent, wished us good luck and we left the house. We didn’t worry about bus tickets since we had never encountered problems with tickets before and the locals had said that the tickets have to be bought in advance only during big festivals. It turned out that sometimes it helps to be as organized as people usually are in Northern Europe... We were told that there are no tickets for thet night when we got to the bus station, they also didn’t know whether the bigger bus station, which was about an hour away, had any or not. Neither could they give us a number to call to. It was already past 10 PM by then and we knew that the last buses left around 11.30, thus there was no point in going to the other bus station. We went to a different company, which was only a few blocks away, instead. We shared a taxy with a local family, to be safe, but the other company had no tickets either. We were a little disappointed by then since we had both looked forward to escaping rainy Quito and spending the weekend at the sunny coast instead.

We weren’t ready to give up though, so we returned to the first company. The ticket seller had either had enough of our questions or some people actually did cancel two tickets, but we finally got on a bus! 6 hours later we found ourselves in Esmeraldas waiting for the next bus. The bus station was almost empty, besides the roosters who tried to get attention on the other side of the bus station J We got on the next bus soon and 3 more hours later we entered Mompiches sandy roads.

Mompiche was marvellous! Small and cosy, just as Omar had told us.The village was full of tourists who were heading to the beach with surfboards and there were lots of fishing boats and birds who tried to seal the fish that the fishermen had cought. Time had no meaning in Mompiche. The local children played on the sandy streets all day long while the tourists were resting in hammocks or enjoying the warm water and the sun at the beach. It wasn’t very sunny at the beginning, but the air and water were nevertheless warm, so we decided to head to the beach. The sun came out in a few hours and it was so strong that we decided to eat some seafood in the shade. We also tried the local coconuts and went on a boat trip to see a black sand beach, some birds that were told to live only in Mompiche and Galapagos. Furthermore, we went for a swim in the middle of the sea. It was great!

Surprise-surprise, we spent the evening also at the beach J The coastline had shifted by about 30 meters since it was low tide, but the tides were higher than before, which also meant that there were more surfers in the water. We had decided to leave surfing for the next day, but unfortunately it rained on Sunday...next time perhaps.

We also spent an hour in Atacames on our way back to Quito. Atacames is one of the most famous beaches in the province, and it was thus full of people. In addition, the city seemed dirty and commercial. We ate some baked bananas with cheese, some coconut dessert and took the next bus to Esmeraldas. We met another volunteer, Hannes, on the bus, who was also on his way back to Quito. There was a 10-year-old boy sitting next to me, who spoke the whole time. Even though I already understand a lot of Spanish, it was hard to understand him because he spoke so fast and had a typical accent to the coast. I taught him a bit of English and we agreed that I will learn Spanish and he has to learn English J

I baked a carrot cake once we got back to Quito and then went straight to bed to rest for the new week.

Have a great weekend!

L.