Same - Beach Bound

I know that I am beyond overdue for an update from Quito.  A thousand apologies to my avid readers, but we took a trip, had an anniversary, dealt with some internet troubles, yadda yadda yadda...you know the story. But I'm here now, ready to offer you a photo-filled update of our latest trip to Same (pronounced SAH-may).  Same is a gorgeous beach with a fancy neighborhood called Casablanca (where we and apparently many of our Colegio Menor students stayed).  Javier and I had originally planned a trip to Mindo (stay tuned, we're going there in November) but hopped on this beach trip last minute when some other teachers canceled.  The trip (on a bus) took 8 hours.  I'm learning quickly that going anywhere outside of Quito's mountain range requires some painful hairpin turns and back and forth up and down mountains...there are some trips even dramamine can't handle...

But once we arrived, I was pleasantly surprised with our accommodations.  Take a look at some pictures of the house!

I'll start with the view cause...well why not...it was awesome.  And that's our little lap/soaking pool as well.

Here are some dedicated teachers enjoying the pool later that weekend.

This is the 'indoor' dining area...you'll understand my air quotes in a sec...

lounging option, again in the 'indoor' area

Okay...here is what I mean - the house flows seamlessly from indoor to outdoor (as does the campus at Colegio Menor)
The weather is so ideal in Ecuador that is seems fairly typical for buildings to allow you to exist both inside and outside simultaneously.  I wonder if this is something I will ever get used to...
but here you can also see the duplicate living and dining area that exists 'outside'
(but again...it's all inside and it's all outside...)

Where we sat for our family style meals every day :)

This is Uve (OO-vay) She also came to Black Sheep with us.  She is awesome.

This was our room.  The entire house had cement floors which made walking around with bare, wet feet feel more appropriate.  It also added to the 'Am I outside or inside?' feeling I had the entire weekend.

Did I also mention we had a lady come help us clean and cook each day?  This was the lovely lunch Dolores made us on Friday.

While the house was AWESOME, I don't know that I would go back, only because of the walk we had to the beach.  There were some beautiful sights along the way, but we had such a great view because we were on top of a very large hill.  This made the walk to the beach very steep and slightly long (20-25 minutes).  If the weather had been better (it was always kind of cloudy and sometimes rainy) we might have made the trek a few more times.  As it was, we only traveled to the beach once over the weekend.  But I was happy to be headed to the sand and the waves and made the most of our day :)

View as we walked down the mountain hill

Walking to the beach.  There were these massive, white complexes everywhere.  I'm sure each contained homes as gorgeous as our spot - this is a nice beach in Ecuador!

The little town...town may be too strong a word.  There was a tienda!

And a fish market that we stopped at briefly :)

There were lots of people on the beach (you can see them huddled under their tents to the left in this picture).  The sand was dark (almost black) but the water was the perfect temperature and nice and calm.

There are lots of folks selling items on the beach (everything from beer to juice and jewelry to hats). 

Javier bought some coconut juice from one of said sellers - I rolled my eyes a bit, but it was SO GOOD.

He also brought his soccer ball in case any local beach-goers were interested in a quick pick-up game.
(Look! some blue sky!)

I spent my time on the beach doing what I do best...reading, napping and swimming.
(And wearing this awesome hat, courtesy of the Nguyens!)

Instead of hiking back up the mountain hill we took a 'cab'
(by which I mean we rode on the makeshift bench behind a motorcycle per usual in Same)

The rainy weather meant less beach time, but it did make for a lot of relaxation.  Javier convinced some of the group to join him in a quest for global domination.  We completed a puzzle one afternoon.  I read for the pleasure for the first time since I started teaching.  We also enjoyed banana coladas and margaritas by the pool.  (So you shouldn't feel too sorry for us about the cloudy weather...)

Global domination...

We were also lucky enough to be traveling with two Spaniards who promised us homemade paella one afternoon.  Their trip to the fish market and all day preparation made for quite a bit of entertainment (in addition to the delicious food!).  I was ambitious enough to descend from my lounge chair to document the making of the paella (in the hopes of sharing it with you!)

Oh yeah...they made us prawn appetizers cause they needed their shells for broth!
Thats a whole lot of garlic.

This is my mid-afternoon appetizer...and cocktail. 

There was much discussion about the purchasing of this pan.  In the end, I think it held its own. 

All the seafood shells and stuff to make a good broth. 

This is Michael attempting to take credit for the paella.  He has no idea what he's doing.

These are our real chefs: Javier and Poppy.

Lots of yummy veggies to start.

Filled to the brim with broth and spices.

Served up for our hungry bellies.  (It fed all 9 of us for two meals!)

Javier and Poppy weren't the only ones itching to get in the kitchen during our vacation.  My hubby was anxious to try a new recipe he had found on our naive adventurous beach crowd.  Canelazo is a popular drink served here in Ecuador.  It's served hot/warm, smells like Christmas, and usually contains the local liquor called aguardiente (made with anise).  It's the perfect drink for a brisk Quito evening.  While it wasn't exactly brisk at the beach (first time I've experienced humidity in Ecuador), Javier had been wanting to try to make some homemade canelazo and this seemed the perfect time.  He had purchased and packed all the needed ingredients and spent some time our list night in the kitchen.  I'm not a canelazo expert by any means, but I thought it was absolutely delicious!  And some of our more veteran expats agreed it was a quality batch (and I think not too difficult).  You can definitely count on a mug/cup when you come to visit us on a brisk Quito evening.

professional at work

my second steamy cup!

It was really nice to get away from the city for a long weekend.  And the relaxation was just what I needed.  Being away (and not working) made for a bit of a hectic week last week (part of why I haven't blogged), but the trip was totally worth it.  More updates to come soon (I promise!).