After a month in Cuenca, we said goodbye to friends, played our last pickleball match, and headed for the beach and our worldschooling meet-up. We stayed in a hosteria on the beach, in a small town called San Jose near the bigger towns of Olon and Montañita.
We opted to hire our friend Jon to drive us to the beach instead of taking public transportation. It would have taken us four hours by bus to Guayaquil and then another 3-hour bus up the cost to Olon and then a taxi to the hosteria. It would have cost about $80 to go that way. We ended up paying $125 plus tip for door to door service. It was worth it because we accumulated things in the month living in Cuenca. It would have been difficult to transfer our stuff when we switched vehicles, and to watch it all on the bus. Buses are safe to take, but you do have to be aware of petty theft. We were also able to stop whenever we needed to stop.
We booked this worldschooling adventure last summer and hoped that COVID wouldn’t cancel it like the last meet-up we booked in Mexico. The meet-up had ten families. Two families tested positive for COVID and were not able to come. Two new families came half-way through the month. There were 16 boys from ages 8 to 14 at the meet-up and two young girls.
The families are from the US and Canada. There were going to be even more families from Europe, but those families could not get travel insurance because of COVID, so they did not come. There is a mix of families that travel full time and those that travel several months out of the year and have a home base.
The instant we arrived, the boys were making friends. They played in the ocean, played soccer, and other games. We all took Spanish lessons. Michael and I also jumped in talking to the other parents.
Meeting other families while we travel is important. This meetup in Ecuador is the first organized meetup we have gotten to attend. Meeting other like-minded families is a big reason why we travel.
