Atacames

Aviva and I spent a few days after the program at the beach in Atacames. Adrianna and Francisco, Nora's host parents, let us use a hotel room that they own, so the trip was really reasonable and a great way to de-stress after the final papers and presentations. We left Quito around Midnight and arrived around 6:30 in the pouring rain and took a motorcycle taxi to the hotel. We got our hair braided, sat on the beach and had to say "no" about a million times a day to people selling everthing from coco water to sunglasses. Aviva also runs cross country, so we went on a couple of early morning runs on the beach before it got too hot outside. At night the beach town turns into a huge party on the weekend and the beach cabanas turn into bars with swings and tropical drinks.