Having arrived only a few hours prior, it felt most appropriate to enjoy the splendor of the tropical ocean waters of the equator with a swim. My friend and I gleefully swam, taking full advantage of the much-needed respite from the rough, but beautiful life of farming in the highlands of the ginormous Andean Mountains. We decided to travel to the majestically bountiful beach town of Puerto Lopez in Ecuador, because of the supposed humpback whales that flock to these warm waters. Being a mere 19 years, bravo and overconfidently brave, I was very much a thrill seeker. I choose Puerto Lopez for the ease of catching a daylong boat trip to Isla de la Plata, humorously coined, the “Poor Man’s Galapagos,” because of its affordability compared to that of the famous Galapagos Islands. With similar flora, fauna, at a cost of the price that economically meek folks like myself could afford. Besides, Isla de la Plata was home to the legendary Blue-Footed boobies, who are giant, awkward blue feet act as a rudder in the wind, gracefully aiding these funny looking birds during post-flight landings. Our next day was shared exploring the thrifty Galapagos-esque island. I had the opportunity to scuba dive and see a sea turtle, that indeed looked similar to the surfer-bro depicted in Finding Nemo. Exhausted, we returned to Puerto Lopez and slept. Rested, we made it back to the beautiful beach located smack dab in the middle of the little town of Puerto Lopez. We befriend two young girls and were invited to play a lively game of Marco-Polo… “Marco!”… “Polo!”… “Marco!”… “AHHHH!” A terrifying scream screeched with every last breath from my friend’s lungs! Thinking she had been bitten by a very large fish or worse a shark! I threw her on my back and began running towards the faintly seen neon lights lettering, “Farmacia.” As I was running, my friend on my back trembling, three yelling Ecuadorians, with their shirts rolled-up exposing their potbellies, pleading me to stop. Later I would learn, that this purposeful rolled-up shirt, potbelly protruding was to portray pride of being well-fed. These Ecuadorian men had seen the whole thing, hastefully explaining that my friend had been stung by a stingray! Urging us to quickly come with them, we followed. In a blur, we were hurled into a dark garage, where one man prepared a fire. Another skillfully and stealthily smooth like a ninja, cut a variety of herbs and ground them into a poultice, while explaining how stingray poison spreads in cold bodies, hence the fire. These wild circumstances necessitated my friend holding her foot uncomfortably close to the fire! The fire’s heat stopped the poison’s spread and the prepared herbs soothed and healed my friend. This impromptu healing experience lasted for several hours and in the process we all become friends! We returned to our hostel grateful yet overwhelmed by the wild magic and generosity we experienced. As an offering of our appreciation, we returned later with salad fixings, fixing to cook them all dinner. Our little gesture of gratitude sealed the deal on our friendship. Jose, who had earlier expertly prepared the poultice, invited us over for lunch the following day to meet his family. The much-anticipated lunch went better than expected. During the encapsulating moment Jose, a pescadero (fisherman) and papa of four touched his heart and pointed to his family, proclaiming that family and the sharing of life were essential. This humble fishing family prepared for us fresh-caught fish from Jose’s fine craft; served on-top of the prized rice from the bottom of the cooking pot, buttery, crispy, and so very tasty! Jose invited us to stay with his family. With our bags packed we made our way back to Jose and the fam’s tiny house, with its one shared lightbulb connected via extension-cord, dragged from room-to-room. Before my heavy eyelids fell, Jose excitedly and happily declared that tomorrow we would see the whales. Jose’s brother escorted us deep into the sea to see families of humpback whales. There, I saw over a hundred humpback whales! Witnessed shockingly close backflips from these mighty creatures, landing 15 feet from our small fishing boat! Wild, huh?