After we last wrote, we walked around Muisne for a while, and we really got to liking it. It's a really laid-back coastal town, which as all the residents say is "muy tranquilo." People were super friendly, approaching us and asking where we were from, etc. The beach was pretty but had so many jellyfish washed up on the shore that we were scared to swim. Our hostal was also really cute, with a nice courtyard and hammocks. We just wished we weren't the only ones there
The next morning we woke up and ate breakfast with myfrendes, the guy who had taken us in an ecotaxi to the beach. We sat for a long time, and he told us a lot about the political situation in ecuador (they are having runoff elections next week), and about his work and family. The runoff is between Naboa and Correo, both of whom have really strong grassroots support. Everywhere you go people have painted their HOUSES with murals saying "vota tod Naboa 7" (everyone vote for naboa, number 7 on the ballot), and one in ten people are wearing shirts supporting one candidate of the other (mostly we've seen Naboa, but apparently the biggest city in the country is a stronghold for Correo). People drive cars and trucks with 50 stickers and posters for one candidate, flags supporting candidates, etc. We saw one truck with a giant speaker mounted yelling out to vote for correo. It is so incredibly different than in the U.S. Judy (the canadian we stayed with for a while) said that her employees all went to go register for naboa's party because he offered $100 for registering!!!! Naboa is a candidate who is strong on economic development in ecuador, including tourism and i think oil. Correo is a radical leftist (in ties with castro and chavez) who thinks ecuador right now is a colony of the US, and that ecuador needs to break all ties with the US. We are a little scared of what might happen if he wins.
We asked myfrendeds what percentage of people vote, and he told us that voting is compulsory here--when you vote you get a card that is the only way you can buy or sell anything (we were unclear as to what exactly anything meant--can you buy groceries, etc?) He also told us that military service here is compulsory for a year, which explains why we've seen so many soldiers and military bases all over the place. In that way it feels a little like Israel.
Myfrendes also talked about how he works like 5 or 6 jobs to make a living--he's a drama instructor paid by the government, he drives an ecotaxi, he gives tours, he works for the tourist bureau, he teaches dance classes. It seemed crazy. The whole economy here really seems crazy, at least where we've been--we really don't understand how it's sustainable, and maybe it really isn't (after all they are in terrible shape economically, with unemployment or underemployment at something between 40 and 70 percent.
But in every little tiny town, there seem to be tons of little grocery stores selling the same things, tons of fruit stands selling the same fruits, tons and tons of ecotaxis waiting to give you a ride somewhere for 50 cents, and lots and lots of restaurants, hotels and fishermen. And these are in little bitty villages--we don't understand how they earn money to buy these things. Do they export? Or really is everyone just living at around subsistence, and nobody is really making it.
So, after that enlightening conversation with myfrendes, we left muisne and went a few miles south to mompiche (it took us about 2 hours to get about 10 miles south, because of teh way we had to take the buses). The second bus ride was very eventful, because a construction vehicle backed into our bus. 
Luckily nobody was hurt at all, and even the bus was barely hurt, but it was definitely scary. Other than that, the buses have felt much much more safe than I ever expected, and the roads have mostly been well paved.
Mompiche is a tiny fishing village with a beautiful beach, and our hotel had pretty grounds with flowering bushes. Twice a day a herd of cows walks across the beach, which was just striking to us. 
The people there were also really friendly, and we met the first american we've seen here. she and her ecuadorian boyfriend were spending months at mompiche. Benjie and i wanted to spend at least a few days, but then we realized we were almost out of money--only the bigger towns here seem to have ATM's, so we spent one night and then headed out the next morning. The strangest thing about mompiche was that there were about 10 restaurants, but at any given time only like one was open. we would go to the door and ask if they were open, and then either they would open up or would walk us over to another restaurant.
We saw one other really funny thing--this woman was watching tv in her house, and then she came out and started twisting this bamboo, that seemed like part of the house structure, but it turns out was really just covering her antenna--she was twisting part of her house to get better reception. i don't know if i can quite convey the humor in written form, but it would have been awkward to take a picture, so it'll have to do.
Today we are in quito, and then we're heading down to baños. We had our first non fish and rice meals in a week, which tasted amazing. This morning we had a great breakfast at the magic bean (blackberry pancakes with fabulous coffee), and we sat with a french canadian guy whose name i don't actually know. he said baños was great, and he recommended some other places in ecuador and peru.
Onto Baños!!!!
-R (someday benjie will write another entry--in the meantime he's too busy downloading pictures at the speed of a dial-up modem from the early 90's)
P.S. Happy Turkey Day!!!!
Ariella