Manabi, Jama - Ecuador September 10 - 13

Miguel and Bella recommended us to visit Jama located on the coast of Ecuador and to stay at a Hotel Punta Blanca. We invited Miguel, Bella, and two of our good friends, Patricia and Fernando Landazuri to go along with us to this location. The trip takes seven hours from Quito to Jama. It is an adventure, the distance is not more than 130 miles as the crow flies but due to the roads, traffic, towns in between and the “chapas acostados” “chapas” a word meaning “policemen” and “acostados” meaning “lying down” basically “speed bumps” the trip takes 3.5 times of what would take on a road here in the USA. The “speed bumps” are not standard size, they are of any size and height from one to the other therefore you have to really slow down to a stop and make sure that your vehicle is high enough to go over the bumps. We arrived at the Punta Blanca Hotel in Jama. The Hotel is nice, it has rooms made out of tents and provides a nice bedroom and bathroom. The view of the Pacific ocean is great, the hotel seats about 150 feet above sea level. The beach is clean, wide and deep into the ocean. We had a great time playing in the water and walking along the beach. The food in the hotel was excellent throughout our stay. We had a nice time visiting with the family and friends, talking and playing “Telefunken” at night. No television and radio. We slept easily 8 hours a night.