Up the coast to Rio Chico

On sunday, we headed north from Montanita and Olun, into the rain forest and to Rio Chico. Rio Chico has a small open-air museum that sits alonside the river (Rio) with artifacts from the Valdivian culture, inhabitants of this land way before the European invaders arrived. As seen at Le Mitad del Mundo near Quito, strange burial grounds are scattered around the site. In the Valdivian culture, corpses were placed into large clay pots which were buried in small tombs with fruits, jewellery and other offerings (presumably for the time of reincarnation). Several of these sites have been discovered in rural Ecuador and rumour has it that the wives of the men who died would be poisoned and put into a pot of their very own, which was subsequently sealed and buried, leading to suffocation on awakening. Not sure which year women got the vote here. The picture above is of one of these pots....presumably thoughtfully arranged for the tourist with bones of the two said persons in the same pot. It's what they would have wanted.


So, following this , we headed onto the beach and once again watched the surfers (3) at their very own point break, here in the middle of the forrest. Once again, it was a great spot to sit in the sun and watch those who know what they are doing...giving the occasional commentary on what you would do if you are on that very same wave right now. Here are a few shots of the break for those with an appreciation for that sort of thing. Also, a picture of man standing on rock next to surf to give a little perspective!



The point break at Rio Chico



I went and surfed on these waves just after this shot was taken....

Ok, so a little marine biology to finish off the day (a crustacean pathologist never rests, even at weekends*). Here are a few pictures of some of the local crustacean fauna on the beach at Rio Chico. The sand crabs that live in the burrows on the beach are pretty difficult to photograph due to their nerves (i.e. they head to their burrow as soon as they smell a pathologist approaching). However, I did manage to edge ever closer to the burrow of this specimen and waited for about half an hour for it to emerge to get these shots. I wonder what parasites they have?!

Sand crab guarding the burrow (emerged after 30 minutes of waiting)



Hermit crab, shamelesly manipulated to camera

Ok, tomorrow it's back to work proper. I am now back in Guayaquil and have unpacked my creased shirts into the same wardrobe of the same room of the same hotel I was in on friday anf this week will attend the AQUA EXPO 2006 that showcases aquaculture for Ecuador. Most of it will be prawns so I hope to get a good overview through the week. I'll keep you informed. Ciao.

*text included for benefit of Cefas managers