"The Beach Photographer" -- My friend Jules snaps a photo of something while I catch her in the act. Though this photo was incredible in color, I decided on a black and white filter because it reminded me of an old National Geographic photo. Also, I am a sucker for black and white photography... Photo taken with an iPhone 4s | Kate Hiller 2014
Quick review: Since February 20, when I last blogged (sorry about the wait, by the way. I've been busy...), I took my first set of final exams for school, spent a week at the beach, and finally found high-quality hot cocoa in Cuenca. There isn't a lot to say about my vacation, so most of this post is photos... but first, here's why I don't have a Facebook album to go with my week at the Pacific Ocean.
Whenever I travel, especially abroad, my Nikon D7000 is always at my side. While I am here in Cuenca, I can't carry my camera at my side every day (mostly for safety reasons), and when I went to Montañita for spring break last week, I left it locked in a drawer in my room in Cuenca. Definitely an uncharacteristic maneuver. I was going to bring it (hello, beach photos! Gorgeousness all around!), but at the last minute I decided to step out from behind the lens and just live. Typing that out and rereading it made me realize how cheesy that sounds, but that doesn't make it any less true. I took my iPhone 4s with me to Montañita...let's be real, I need some sort of lens when I'm traveling...and it was one of the best decisions I have made in a long time. First of all, I barely used it anyway. There are about 20 photos on my Instagram account from the trip, and I'm okay with that. Secondly, I would have been absolutely paranoid about someone stealing it out of the room of my hostel, even though the room came with a safe, four different keys, and a dresser drawer that sometimes locked.
So I only used Instagram on this trip. It was definitely a different experience, since I usually have to take all photos through camera raw (I shoot in raw), but instead I could upload a few every day, wifi depending. Having the chance to take a break and live was a great experience, and there is no better place to do that than in Montañita -- it is one of the most relaxed and friendly beach towns I have ever heard of. The party scene is definitely prevalent ("cocktail alley" is exactly what it sounds like -- a line of cocktail stands leading to the beach), and everyone I met there was extremely nice. The food...well I could talk about food in Ecuador for months. Everything was fresh and inexpensive (compared to what it would cost in the US, at least). The hostel my friend and I stayed in had a communal kitchen instead of a restaurant, so we were able to buy a few groceries and cook our own food every day. We also did our fair share of purchasing empanadas, ice cream sandwiches and pizza from beach vendors, as well as having a few meals at local restaurants.
We also took the time to walk all the way down to the "point," or the thing sticking out in the water (see photo above) to take photos. Though I got soaked, fell over several times and almost broke my only pair of flip flops, I had an absolutely wonderful time. This time, my lovely friend Julianna brought her iPhone since mine doesn't always work when it is in a plastic bag, so I wasn't even worried about ruining mine. Which, granted, I wasn't actually worried about until we got there. (No worries, her phone is totally fine) Again, only via Instagram and an iPhone 4s, here are a few more photos. After all, a picture is worth 1,000 words...
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AuthorKate Hiller is a wannabe world traveler studying journalism and Spanish at Ohio University. This blog is about her experiences living abroad in Cuenca, Ecuador for a semester. (Spring 2014) Archives
May 2014
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