The last bit of the way was the most beautiful one, on a small road through a lush forest, that reminded me a lot of the jungle. It seemed even greener, if that's possible.
I arrived in the small village around noon, and started looking around. It seemed like a quiet place, populated by fishermen and hippies, and there were also quite a few hotels. All in the "traditional" wooden style of the coast.
I rapidly saw a sign with an arrow to a camp site, and I thought it sounded like a good idea.
I turned left, walked along the muddy road and the beach, passing little restaurants and cafes. It was easy to find the campsite, even though it wasn't clearly marked. Behind a fence right next to the beach I saw some hammocks and a small bar, in the background some tents and bathrooms. Behind the bar was a little outdoors kitchen.
I entered and tried to find the owner and ask for information. Apparently he wasn't there, and so I got talking with a girl from Uruguay offering me some fresh pineapple. We got along from the first moment and she told me just to put my tent up, the owner would show up later.
As I found out later, the owner was a hippie from Uruguay as well, settling in Mompiche and trying to put up a bar. He bought the terrain and was now using it as a campsite until he got the money to build the house.
In my opinion he was a little too relaxed and all too cool, but I'm also not the person to lay around in a hammock all day long without doing anything. If that't what he enjoys, he should do it.
After putting up the tent and storing my stuff I got something small to eat and motivated myself to go for a walk. Since the weather wasn't too bright, Gabriela (the girl from Urugauy) didn't want to go yet, and I took off alone. I went for the beach called playa negra. It was a walk of maybe 20-30 minutes, and I wasn't sure if I was on the right path.
But then I got out at the beach, a beautiful place with deep black sand and trees behind. Only the ocean was typical Pacific, grey and cold. There was only one other group of people and soon they also left. I went for a swim for a little bit, but the waves were so big I couldn't really enjoy it. So I spent my time there reading and taking pictures.
After a while I started my way back to the town.
In the middle of the way I met Gabriela who was just on her way to the beach.
At night the plan at the campsite came up to make pizza. All of us hippies put money together, bought the ingredients and spent a large part of the evening and night making and eating pizza. There were lots of them!
It was a nice evening, but the company wasn't really were I felt comfortable, so I went to sleep after a while.
The next day again was a rainy day. There was an island close to Mompiche, called Portete, which I wanted to go to, but the weather wasn't motivating at all. It was drizzling from early in the morning and I spent my time reading in the hammock, watching the grey sea.
It got noon, and it then finally looked like the weather would be getting better a little bit.
Gabriela also wanted to go, and so we risked it and started off in early afternoon.
We walked along the road until we got to a point where the road just ended. There was a small canal where the water separated the island from the mainland. There were little boats and some young guys offering transfer.
We got on one of them and were road to the other side. It really wasn't that far, but for the people of the community it was a way of generating income.
On the island we just started to walk around and soon got to the main beach. It was equipped for tourists, but looked abandoned and there were only a few people. It was off-season.
We walked along the beach for a while, collecting shells and other stuff that we found. We were surrounded by the wide sea and coconut trees, and almost felt like in the Caribbean even though everything looked pretty grey.We found a spot to go swimming for a while, but again the water was cold and the waves big. Due to the rising water we almost lost out bags, and so had to back up a little. We had some lunch there, before looking for a way to continue our walk.
We had to go back a little and cross through the coconut forest until we got to one of the two communities still living on the island. It was a small and peaceful village with wooden houses, colorful clothes drying in the wind and kids playing around. A big part of the population was black, since all the Pacific coast, starting from around Mompiche, up through all Colombia until the Caribbean was used by the incoming and escaping slaves as refugee.
The people were friendly, and we watched some guys playing football for a while. Then we started to go back to the canal where we waited for one of the little boats to take us back to the mainland.
When we started walking the both of us agreed that we didn't really feel like walking all the way back to Mompiche. So, when cars started to drive by we tried to hitchhike, just for the heck of it, and surprisingly the first car already stopped.
Inside the car was on Ecuadorian and two Colombians, all of them very friendly and glad to help us out. And I was happy, because I love spontaneous actions like this.
Getting back to Mompiche I ate one of the best things ever - something fried out of green bananas and fish and filled with salad and mayonese.
The late afternoon we spent at the campsite, with the other guys, teaching each other knotting techniques for handicraft bracelets.
We had pasta for dinner, and then I went to bed, since I was already planning to leave the next day. I don't know why but I just couldn't enjoy doing nothing and hanging around at the beach all day long. I couldn't even go swimming since the weather was just terrible.
I packed my stuff early in the morning and then left for a short walk in the other direction, so to speak land inwards. There was a river, and following the crystal clear creek I found myself in the jungle. I haven't realized until then, that, instead of desert or some other type of vegetation, the Pacific coast in northern South America was surrounded by a deep and wild jungle. In many parts there wasn't even access by land through it, and that's what the fugitive slaves used to their advantage.
It was crazy to be at the beach one moment and then turn around and find oneself in such a different landscape.
I took some pictures, but when I wanted to look at them on the camera I found out that there were many missing. It didn't seem like they were deleted but I couldn't see them either.
Later I would find out that while putting the pictures on the computer at the isla the corazon, I caught myself a virus which messed up my memory card. This is also why the only picture on here I from Gabriela's camera.
After the walk I got my stuff from the campsite and went to the bus. I wanted to get further to the North, to a place called San Lorenzo. I had to change bus in Esmeraldas and the traveling was going to take up all day. It was a beautiful road, along the coast and through the jungle and passing some pretty villages where people were selling food and snacks and fresh coconutmilk.
From Mompiche to Esmeraldas it was a 3-hour ride and just entering Esmeraldas I noticed that I forgot my camera charger in Mompiche. I sat there thinking about the options I had, but at the end I knew I had to go back to get it. I got off the bus and onto another bus and went back to get the charger.
Esmeraldas
I stayed in Mompiche a moment and took the next bus to Esmeraldas, where I now arrived at night and had to spend the night there at some place close to the bus terminal. I didn't like it, didn't feel comfortable in the area and was pissed off, but I didn't have a choice.
I went to a bakery to get something to eat, which in that case was chocolate cake. The owner of the bakery was Colombian, and as the lady in Latacunga, he made my day better. He was very friendly and came to talk to me. He told me about his country, gave me tips and invited me to try "avena polaka", a cold drink made out of oats and milk.
With this experience I went to bed in a little better mood, and prepared myself to get ready and leave early in the morning on the next day.
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