I had made it a point to get to the coast within the first couple of weeks of being in the country. The idea of relaxing on the sand, taking in the sun and the humid air with no obligations but to find a place to stay and the occasional meal...heaven. A period of relaxation before beginning real work, I convinced myself.
I left last Thursday afternoon from Quito. A 6-hr bus ride up into the mountains in the east, past the páramos, descending through montane humid forests down to the humid forests of the coast...and I would find myself in Atacames, 2800 m. later.
The descent itself was worth the daytime trip. Clouds hugged and flirted in and out between steep hillsides lush in vegetation. Clustered houses in small valleys composed isolated communities that this sierra-costa highway connected. For the first couple of hours the route was almost entirely switchbacks – the bus easing down the mountain sides, back and forth. It soon straightened out, however, and we picked up speed. Though, the clouds that had hovered over Quito for the past week seemed to be following us.
As the evening began to darken, obscuring the views from the bus window, I turned to conversation with the man sitting next to me, Julio César, on his way to visit family in Esmeraldas for the weekend. And that’s where my mini-costaventura began.
Not having any plans but to enjoy the sun and the beach, I accepted his invitation to spend the weekend with his family in Esmeraldas.
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Esmeraldas is a small to medium-size city on the northern coast of Ecuador. Its 100,000 inhabitants spread out in neighborhoods along the coast and up into the folds of the small hills nearby. The majority of the people here have strong African descendency. The story goes that three Spanish frigates laden with slaves on their way to the port of Guayaquil fell victim to a fierce storm. All three ships wrecked and those Africans who were able, swam to shore. The area where they landed was so similar to their native lands that they stayed and settled down.
....
Though the cloudiness and the rain never really gave way the entire weekend, and even though I never realized my vision of soaking up the sun at the beach in Atacames, I passed the weekend much better that I could have imagined.
The family with which I passed those few days lives at the foot of the hills in Esmeraldas. A neighborhood by the name of La Boca del Lobo (“The Mouth of the Wolf”), earlier this century it was notoriously the sketchy part of town where shady happenings characterized daily life. Since then, from what I could see, it had converted itself into quite a homey and comfortable place.Children were everywhere, of all colors and ages. They ran about in groups from house to house, to the center of town, the markets and back carrying with them pinchos (“meat skewers”) and other sweets. It wasn’t hard to hear their squeals and shouts from the back of the house. In fact, it wasn’t hard at all to hear everything else that was going on in the surrounding houses and neighborhood.
The houses are tucked in snuggly next to each other, often sharing walls and roofs. Because of the humidity and heat, windows that can shut are left open, in addition to open doors (for passing breezes and to encourage neighbors to drop by for un ratito (“short period of time”)). Often there aren’t even windows, simply large open spaces in the cement wall over which decorative steel bars are draped to keep out the unwanted.
Two of my favorite moments each day were morning and evening. The activity of the neighbors, their children running about inside the houses would wake me. A serenade of music would waft in at the same time – salsa, merengue, bachata, marimba, some reggaeton – playing softly, coming from some unidentifiable house in the neighborhood. And in the evenings, I would go to sleep to the same sounds of music and people – comforting signs of an active and cohesive neighborhood.
Not to mention looking forward to sleeping in a tank top and shorts with a simple bed sheet, not the two comforters I use to fend off the cold nights in Quito.
....
In addition to the vegetation, one of those night and day differences between la costa and la sierra is the people itself. Los costeños en Esmeraldas are full of life. Well, those in Quito are as well, but the costeños show it and share it so well. They are easily disposed to joking and loud laughter that it’s hard for anyone to resist wanting to join them.
I was welcomed into Julio Cesár’s family as a close friend - hugs and kisses upon meeting his aunts, his parents and later his
brother, sister-in-law and their two little girls.I was incorporated into every activity that weekend, from going to the beach in Súa (south of Esmeraldas), paying friendly visits to friends and neighbors, to attending a relative’s quinceañera (15th birthday – a big deal in Latin America). They referred to me as their "amigita".
The most enthusiastic welcome I received from the two chiquillas (“little girls”) of the house – constant kisses and hugs. And such energy!! Darya Alejandra (4 yrs) and Maria Liliana (2 yrs) constantly were tumbling around the house, the younger following the elder. While I noticed that Lili’s favorite word seemed to be mío (“mine”), I was also told by Alejandra that Lili speaks English – since no one in the house can understand her when she speaks. I became the tía or ñaña for the weekend.Otras observaciones:
-A large oil refinery in Esmeraldas prepares the petroleo for export. It arrives from the Oriente on the other side of the Andes mountains via an oleoducto (“pipeline”) that has seemed to always suffer illegal expropriations – a little bit here and a little bit there always seems to be tapped from the oleoducto, though not accounted for. Thus, the petroleo that arrives in Esmeraldas is routinely less than what is officially accounted for. It is the place of work for Julio’s father.
-I was told that in recent years many people in Esmeraldas have come down with illnesses and in some cases cancer, though no one knows why. And no one has yet to perform an investigation to determine the cause. And the role of the state? At least the Ministerio de Salud?
-Comida tan riiiica!! Another difference between la sierra and la costa – la comida. Rice is a staple throughout the whole country, but the costeños really know how to do it well. Often mixed with carne asada (beef), camarones (shrimp) or fritada (pork), it’s served for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
One plate in particular, Bandera, refers to the Ecuadorian flag, which possesses three horizontal stripes of different colors – yellow, blue and red. While the food does not come in all of these colors, it is presented in three rows on the plate: camarones, rice, and guatita (cow gut) in a yellow sauce. Tasty!!
Also: coco y manjar (small balls of coconut and manjar, which is similar to dulce de leche), sweet plantains, jugos naturales todo el tiempo (limonada, naranjilla, sandia...)
Garua → Llovizna → Lluvia → Aguacero → Aguacerón = words to describe the rain, from low to high intensity.
-Despite the llovizna (which the family consistently referred to as aguacero, no matter the strength of the rain), Súa was plenty full of those who had come to swim in the warm waters.
-Salsotecas on the beach in Esmeraldas. We went dancing the first night we were all together (Thursday), along with the two chiquillas, helping them to do turns along with the beat of the music.
-The entire weekend in skirts and tank tops! Un calor suave que quise abrazarlo bien fuerte, con aspiraciones de llevarlo conmigo al regreso a la sierra.
I couldn't have asked for anything better for my weekend en la costa. Ya tengo ganas de regresar lo más pronto posible!
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Picture 1: View of Esmeraldas from the back terrace of the house in La Boca del Lobo.
Picture 2: La Familia en Esmeraldas - Me, Julio Cesar, el papa, Alejandra, la mama, Carlos (hermano), Mari (sister-in-law).
Picture 3: Alejandra y Yo, snacking on bollos de leche.
Picture 4: La Lili smiling for the photo.
Picture 5: La Marimba statue near the entrance of town. A dance special to the region, it originates with the afro-ecuadorian community.
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