Don't I look relaxed?! We had to take a picture... I don't get this relaxed often!
Another bar had come up with yet another cool way to make chairs out of bamboo bark.
One of the street sellers of the refreshing coco drink. This guy's marketing pitch included calling out "coco" in a very high voice. Always made us laugh.
View of the beach... where umbrellas and chairs were available to rent.
Lots of kiosks with snacks (cocado -- sweetened cooked coconut, guaba fruit, etc.) tempted vacationers who lazily strolled the streets and had lots of time on their hands to pick up and relish sweets.
Inside the long bean shaped guaba fruit, lies little fuzzy cotton balls that surprises you pleasantly when you take your first bite. It is so much more juicy that it looks!
Finished with the beach, I headed to the far south end of Ecuador to Puyango, the petrified forest. It always amazes me how you find extremely well fortified bridges everywhere in Ecuador, even in the smallest and poorest towns.
Next to the bridge, lies this small green shrine. Simple yet it definitely held a presence in the town.
Venturing into the woods, we came across these ancient 120 million year old relics.
You can see the different in appearance between a rock and the petrified tree here.
Still, even at close look, the tree does not appear petrified. Yet, at the touch, it is as hard as a rock.
For the heat that the fossil collects, lizards sit a top the petrified tree to collect heat and energy.
This is an odd looking tree that populated the road to the forest. Its pear-shaped fruit contain cotton inside it's hard shell.
A cousin of the rainforest Ceibo, this Giant Petrino Tree can also be found in the petrified forest of Puyango.
The tree's trunk straight and majestic, and only at the top, do its branches seem to go haywire.
The roots as well were of a peculiar shape and style.
Following the hike, we visited the park's museum where displays upon displays of fossils had been laid out for our discovery, with everything from fossilized birds, shells, leaves and even one that are believed to be dinosaur eggs and bones.
Walking back to the main road, I was greeted by several varieties of birds (parakeets, ducks, canaris, quails) and animals (cows, a fox,...
...and I even almost stepped on this one and a half foot coral snake, who in its disgruntled state hissed at me long enough for me to take his picture.
Back in Quito, I finally had the chance to take a picture of this gothic church which always peeked at me teasingly from the main street whenever I did not have my camera or the time to pause and appreciate it.
Upon taking the time to walk its perimeter, I discovered that the church was nicely adorned by gargoyles... a rare sight on Ecuadorian churches.
Another shot of the gargoyles.
