¿Hay tiburones?

I have a fascination slash intense fear of sharks. I read somewhere once that surfing is the most dangerous thing you can do in the ocean because you look like a seal and sharks will try to eat you. They usually stop once they realize you're a person rather than a seal, but I'd rather not be eaten at all than half-eaten and then leftovers. Luckily, the only time I've been surfing was in Oregon and there aren't sharks there, as I was assured many times in order to coax me into the water. This weekend I went with some friends to Atacames in the northern coast of Ecuador and my first question, of course, was "¿Hay tiburones?" I was assured that there were no sharks at that beach, but you definitely wouldn't have caught me on a surfboard. Or very far out in the water at all, actually. Instead I chose to soak up the rays on the beach (with SPF 55). I went with two friends who are recent arrivals from Germany and I don't know whether to chalk it up to my Quito base tan or my super strong sunscreen, but I actually wasn't the most sunburned of my friends.

In Ecuador the culture of people living in the coast, or Costeños, and people living in Quito, Quiteños, is drastically different. When we arrived in Atacames after a night on the bus it felt like we were in a different country. It's much hotter on the coast and people walk around in as little clothing as possible, often sans shirts and shoes. Some of the streets are paved and some aren't and every restaurant, hotel and store is fighting a losing battle with sand. Or in some cases they have given up the battle. Atacames has one main street along the beach and it is populated by one thatch-roofed bar after another. It's almost impossible to tell them apart since they all share the same decor and menu, more or less. The restaurants are all on the other side of the street and also seem to share the same menu and more or less the same decor as well.

After our brief stay in Atacames we endured a 7 or 8 hour busride back to Quito. At our one stop my friend Toby was about 5 seconds away from being left behind as he waited for our sanduches mixtos. After arriving home at 11:30 I fell into bed and dragged myself out what felt like moments later at 6:30 in the morning to get ready for school. My saving grace was a free afternoon today which allowed me a heavenly nap and a chance to do my laundry. I'm pretty sure I brought home about half the sand on the beach with me and I'm a little worried about what it will do to my washing machine. Vamos a ver.

After my stay on the beach I'm pretty sure that I'm more of a Quiteña than a Costeña. I like the beach for a little while, but I prefer the cooler air of the mountains and the expectation of wearing shirts on the street. But if I'm being honest with myself I'm still much more of an East Coaster than anything else. My years in DC have left me somewhat ambitious and more than a little bit of a workaholic. Ecuador still has 4.5 months to mellow me out though, so I guess we'll see what happens.