A Beach Vacation Unlike Any Other

I never cared for the idea        everywhere. Now, you might think   of a beach vacation. Most       this is annoying, and in fact,     people love the idea of         the vendors would be removed from  relaxing in the sun and maybe         most beaches in the world.         swimming in the surf, but I am        However, once you get used to it,  just more into exploring a            this part of the local culture is  wilderness or even a city.            what makes the beaches here so     Sitting at the beach has always       special.                           just sounded boring. Salinas,                                            Ecuador changed my mind.              Would you like a chair? A man                                            will rent you one for fifty        When my wife Ana and I were           cents. In our case, we chose to    visiting her family in Ecuador,       sit on our towels. I quickly       her father took us to the coast       learned to chase off the jewelry   for a beach vacation. First we        vendors with a glance. They did    toured several coastal cities,        have some necklaces that Ana       then we ended up in Salinas,          would love, and I suppose it       where the five of us stayed for a     could be fun to shop while laying  couple days. Our first night we       on the beach, but we had been      went downtown, which was busy and     shopping enough already.           alive and full of good                                                   restaurants. The next day was to      Then along came a lady with cold   a day at the beach - a boring         beer in an old cooler. At less     one, I assumed. I was pleasantly      than a dollar per bottle, I        surprised.                            couldn't help but buy a couple                                           for me and Ana's father. The       The beaches in Ecuador are            woman said she would check back    different. The first thing you        again later, and continued down    notice that is that there are         the beach. I was beginning to      people trying to sell you things      like this idea of sitting here     and being waited on.                  us, and got us two jet skis for                                          thirty minutes for ten dollars     Ana and her step-mother had some      each. We had a blast, much more    ice-cream when a vendor went by.      fun than when we were towed        I bought some peanuts covered in      around the harbor earlier on the   lime juice from another vendor.       inflatable banana for two          Ana's father said these were          dollars.                           considered Ecuadorian Viagra, so                                         I handed them to him and flagged      Later, I relaxed again and let     down the beer lady again.             the deliveries of food and drink                                         continue. For five dollars, two    Ana's brother wanted to try a         very talented musicians stopped    jet-ski. I told him I would try       by and put on our own personal     it too. Since I'm not a beach         concert for almost thirty          person, and thought it was            minutes. I was starting to think   expensive, I had never been on        that a beach vacation isn't such   one, but this was a vacation.         a bad idea. We returned to the     Ana's step-mother negotiated for      beach the next morning.            About the Author: Copyright Steve Gillman. For travel stories, tips and a free Travel Secrets e-book, visit: http://www.EverythingAboutTravel.com Read more articles by: Steve Gillman Article Source: www.iSnare.com