SOMETHING SPECIAL

Grace and Heidi arrived last Friday night, and on Saturday we set out to find a local travel agency to figure out a trip to the Galapagos Islands. The first place we stopped was a place called Centro Viajero, a small travel agency run by a man named Douglas Chang and his trusty sidekick Fernando. Fernando was quick to offer us some cold beers as we discussed possible itineraries, and we ended up hanging out, laughing a lot, and making a new friend. After talking about travel plans for an hour or two we headed back to Douglas's apartment around the corner for some more beers and a light dinner. Fernando's wife arrived soon after and they announced that they were planning on heading back to Fernando's hometown for the night, a small village called Pedro Carbo about an hour or so outside of Guayaquil. And then he invited us to all come along. And before we knew it we were in a minivan heading out of the city, picking up friends along the way, and Douglas Chang and I were in the back seat sharing a bottle of scotch called Something Special. What an appropriate name. Whatever was blended into that Something Special ended up helping me acquire the nickname "Gringo Loco" that night...

We arrived in Pedro Carbo and went to Fernando's home, a humble concrete block house on a dirt road. We were greeted by a mob of little kids, nephews and nieces, and Fernando's two year old son Benjamin. The kids all piled into the minivan and we drove into the little town for a delicious chicken and rice dinner. After the meal we dropped the kids off and went out to the discotec. On the way we stopped at a little carnival that had been set up in the street, ate some candy apples, and went for a ride on a sketchy make-shift ferris wheel. The discotec was fun, and apparently the DJ called me out for being the gringo with the crazy dance moves. (How embarrassing.) We didn't end up making it back to our guesthouse in Guayaquil until the wee hours of the morning. What a night...

There was a point earlier on in the evening when Grace and Heidi and I wondered whether we should go along with our new friends, hop into a van, and head out to an unknown village on the outskirts of Guayaquil. We had only been in the country for a short time, and we didn't really know too much about our surroundings, but we decided to trust these people, and it ended up being a night that I will never forget. Fernando and Douglas shared with us a little slice of life in Ecuador that we would have otherwise never experienced, it was something special...