Oh I do like to be...

...in a Cuencan Internet Cafe listening to Robbie Wiliams´ turgid pile of catsick ´Angels´ being blasted out of the speakers at me. To make matters worse it´s all in Spanish and creepily, it sounds exactly like him. Urghh.

Anyway, what I really meant to say was:

...besides the seaside. Seeing the sea again has reminded how much I´m missing its permanent prescence in my life. The good ol´ Sarf coast ain´t exactly the grand old lady of the Pacific but still, ´tones of home´, as Blind Melon once sang. Poor old Shannon Hoon.

Escaping Quito quick sharp once more, I made for the coast and an 8-hour ride over the mountains (stopping only for a paltry landslide!) and winding down through mile upon mile of tropical banana plantations and wetland shrimp farms until we finally reached the ocean. The Pacific to be precise. I was kept smiling on this trip by the bus drivers son, a sharp ten-year old named Daniel. He insisted on sitting next to me all the way and practising his English. He was fond of saying random phrases just to watch my reaction when I finally worked out what he meant. Examples included "Spaghotti met-bols", "Where does the Panda go in the night?" and various Dragonball-Z related stuff. Funny kid though, he gave me all the info I needed and he even knew what tropical music was when I played him some of the Ghana Soundz album I´ve been listening to death. Sound parenting that.

Canoa is a very small, very laid-back surf village where not alot goes on, but the beach is massive and clean and the water is lovely and warm. Perfect for a few days of lounging. The beaches are littered with timid little crabs, some of them completely translucent. The sunsets were rather impressive:



Suitably relaxed and ready for something a little more constructive, I skipped down to Puerto Lopez, centre of Ecuador´s Whale watching and the closest town to the Isla de la Plata (or the poor man´s Galapagos). It took four buses, a small boat and a man-powered bike-taxi to get there but it was defintely worth it. I really like Whales. Something about their magnificent, ancient intelligence really strikes a chord with me so I was really looking forward to getting out at sea to find the gentile Humpbacks who swim down from the Arctic for their summer holidays every year to hang out off the northern coasts of South America. The tour includes a walk around the Island, 37km out to sea, with its variety of interesting birds -



- that Frigate´s red frontage puffs up like a balloon, some of them got so big their little faces were almost obscured! I love that other guy´s bright blue feet too. After the walk, we even got to do a spot of snorkelling which was amazing, multicoloured fish everywhere you looked, surrounded by tiny little shoals. The town itself is in an area designated a National Park (this includes a large area of the Ocean). It´s a fishing village and you can watch the guys bringing their catch onto the beach each day:




The land-based area of Machalilla NP includes a beach often whispered as Ecuador´s best, Playa Los Frailes, reached by a 4km walk that takes in deserted beaches and dramatic cliff-top views. Love it. You just can´t beat a good bit of rugged coastline:




I even found this little guy hiding in his half-created house. I think I disturbed him mid-build:

And, for my grand finale here´s one of the boys (or girls, I have no idea how to tell) performing for my camera. It was nothing short of magnificent to behold and they came so close to the boat at one point I thought they were going to go right underneath us:


In a word, WOW.