A Week at the Beach!

Hi Everyone,
I just got back from a week at the beach with the foundation! There was beautiful weather, so we're all tan and burned in some spots. We went to a place called Atacamas where some missionaries have a big house on the coast that they us use for free. It's a giant place that they rent out as a retreat center. It was perfect for all 35 of us (the kids under 10 years old stayed home). It took us almost 10 hours to drive there! And 10 hours back yesterday!! On the way down we passed an 18 wheeler that had flipped on the road. The roads are super curvy...some of the kids got sick on the way down. Blah! We did a lot of fun things while we were there! The 4 volunteers went to help be supervisors. My friend Joy and I got stuck supervising the boys becuase there weren't any guys old enough to supervise. It was fun though becuase they love to joke around and have fun. One night they stole my camera and took pictures of everyone sleeping, including me and Joy!! I didn't even know until I was scrolling through them the next day... Ay chay chay... But it was funny :) The waves on the pacific were much bigger and stronger than what I'm used to on the Atlantic. They really pulled us. Plus we saw some good sized fish jumping about 20 feet away from where we were swimming. I should've brough my fishing rod and we wouldn't have had to buy fish for dinner! We rented some boogie boards and the kids had a blast. :) One day we went to this place that sells cocadas. Cocadas are a sweet bar-like dessert that they make from coconut and sugar. They're really delicious! It was a cocadas "factory". We went behind the little shack where they were selling and saw how they shaved the coconut, mixed it in a huge pot over a fire and the put it out on a table to cool and cut it into slices. They let us drink some coconut milk and gave us samples! I'm going to look for this yummy recipe later! Later they made us a big batch of "batido de coconut" which is a milk/coconut/sugar mixture that was SOOOOOOOOO good! Yum! I love the coast!

I was very suprised this time though because the vendors were pretty rude! Some of the girls went to get their hair in tiny braids and the ladies were fighting over the girls- even pulling on their arms! One little girl was really scared until we finally said, no...none of you are going to braid us, we'll look for other people to do it. Another time there was a guy dressed in a barney suit walking around with boxes with suprises in them for kids "like a grab bag". He walked up to two of our youngest boys, shook their hands, and handed them the boxes with superman pictures, etc. on them. One of the boys started to open it and Barney said "okay, that's 3 dollars please!" Glenda was NOT happy, took the boxes from the boys and tried to give them back to Barney. Barney wouldn't take them back, so she forced them back into the bag. Barney insisted that she had to pay for the boxes, but she just explained that the boys thought they were gifts, and that she would not pay. Barney said "heeeey, we're just doing out job..." Eventually he walked off, but it was a scam to try and get the kids to open the box and force them to open. It was pretty rude. I've never experienced anything like that on the coast before... I like Guayaquil better I think ;)

Other things I did enjoy were hammocks, WARM AIR!, and eating oranges the special way they do on the coast. They peel the orange part of the rind off, cut a hole in the top and suck out the juice...then they eat the whole orange. It's SOOOO fun to eat it that way. :) I was excited when we found them selling oranges that way.

One day we got to take a boat ride. We had a guide that was telling us about the sea animals and the vegetation. They even gave us a demonstration about how they look for the sea shells. It was fun becuase as we strolled along the shore we could see the little red crabs sitting in the trees! They looked like little Sebastians from The Little Mermaid! :) It was fun! They we went up the other side and they let us get out and walk on an island. On the island we got a fresh coconut, but the top off with a machete and all tried coconut milk straight from the fruit- that had just come from the tree! Que vacaaaaaan! It was soo cool! The sand was really squishy and my feet would sink 2 or 3 inches with each step. They said if you go in a little ways and dig 2 meters down they get fresh water! This is because the sand is so fine that it acts as a filter. It was really interesting!

Well, I think I covered quite a bit. Last week Joy and I went out to eat tortillas with the cook from here. She wanted to take us out so we went with her, met some of her family, and ate yummy food!! That's another recipe that I'm going to have to look up. Sooooooooooooo good! :) Anyway...I have a lot of homework to do today and tomorrow! I'm leaving for Guayaquil on Tuesday where I"l lstay for two weeks before going home. From there I don't know how much I"ll be able to update you. Internet won't be as accessible. Love you and miss you all! See you soon!

Love, Emily