Part 10.a: Doom and Gloom

Ecuador was Mama's Peru. I had zero expectations and had done zero research, but I was along for the ride. We headed to a little beach town called Bahia de Caraquez. On Google, it looked like a thriving beach town filled with lots of things to do. In reality, it was almost totally abandoned, and the sun almost never shone.

This was my first Workaway experience. We were living in a really pretty hostel that in its heyday must have been the place to be. As it was, there were a lot of Workaway travelers and very few people actually coming to stay in the hostel.

As if our failed expectations weren't enough, I hurt my back trying to lift my suitcase on the very first night. I've had back problems my entire life, but this was the worst pain I've ever experienced. We ended up in the emergency room late that night. After giving me intravenous pain medication, they told me that there was nothing more that they could do, except for (against their advice) they could give me morphine. When I heard those words, I passed out for the first time in my life.

When I woke up, I was in a hospital bed with Mama beside me. The adrenaline from passing out gave me the energy I needed to walk out of the hospital. For the next week, I could barely walk. I was so embarrassed, because all the new people I had just met saw me at my weakest state. Mama had to help me walk literally everywhere, and I felt like a freeloader at the hostel.

Mama was contributing her artwork to the walls of the hostel, and as I regained my ability to walk by myself, I started making promotional videos for the hostel. The owner was super grateful, and I felt like I redeemed myself.

Hurting my back while traveling was a really terrible experience for me. I spoke Spanish pretty well at the time, but it's different when you're in crippling pain and the Spanish being spoken is all medical terms. My back pain has always made me feel weak and helpless, but this was a whole new level. You would think that this would've been a wake up call to take better care of myself. You'd be wrong. That wake up call came much later on.

It turned out that both of us hated the vibe of the hostel. The owner was super angry and bitter, and we decided to leave after only a short while there. We headed off to another beach town about forty five minutes away.

This town wasn't any better. The sky was cloudy and gray, and it rained every day. The water was too cold to swim in, and we saw dead sea turtles everywhere. Ecuador was doing its best to push us away! I told Mama that I'd stay for as long as she wanted, because I knew how much she wanted to love Ecuador. One morning I woke up to the news that she didn't want to stay a second longer, and for the first time in our travels, we left a country without staying there for the full month.

Mama's Ecuador dreams were crushed, and my back was destroyed. We both hoped that our next location would bring a little happiness.