As I look back on my childhood memories the first image that comes to my mind is a place known as General Villamil Playas. This a very small coastal city located in Guayas, Ecuador. It was named after the independence hero General Jose de Villamil. My parents decided to buy a house there when I was approximately one year of age in 1980, and every time school was out, my family and I would spend our vacation days there. It was only an hour and a half away from where we lived in Guayaquil, Ecuador. Not only did my parents buy a house there but other relatives did so too. Every time we traveled there, we never went alone. My aunts and uncles went with us as well. Playas is a coastal city, therefore its economy is based on tourism. It has undergone …show more content…
Playas is known as having one of the best climates in the world. Guayaquil on the other hand, has always been a polluted city. So as you entered Playas the change in the air is very noticeable. I loved feeling gusts of salty wind in my face as we approached Playas. My father drove straight to the center of the town to get the goods we needed for our stay. I remember vividly when we walked to the fish market. It was in the beach, on the opposite side from where the tourist go to sunbathe of course. The canoes would approach the shore full with the days catch. The smell of fish guts was very intense and nauseating since the fishermen would open up and clean the fish in front of you. But I didn’t mind because I was with my dad. Sometimes I was lucky enough to see when the fishermen brought in my father’s favorite fish; albacore. This is a type of tuna fish that weights approximately 132 lbs. and 55 inches long. When my father bought albacore I knew he would make his favorite dish called “Encebollado de Pescado”. I also enjoyed looking at the crustaceans. My brother would somehow find a small twig or stick and put it near one of the crab’s tongs and I would watch them break it. My brother would joke around and tell me to put my finger. I would then run back to where daddy was. Once all the shopping was done we finally got to go to our beach house which was approximately located ten minutes away from …show more content…
All the cars would line up, each of my uncles with their families, my father and us. We all headed towards the beach early to get a good spot otherwise the beach got really crowed later on in the day and we all wanted to stay together. While the grownups settled down with their beach chairs and towels, the children all went straight to the water. Sometimes my older cousins would rent a float. This float is what we know as the inner tube of a tire. Villagers would rent them on the beach and they were big enough for up to four people to fit in them and play around in the water. It was a fun activity to do while at the beach but also very dangerous if you weren’t careful and didn’t know how to swim because the current could pull you out to the ocean. The strong waves would rock us back and forth. My mother would watch us from the sand and if she thought we were going too far, she would wave at us and we had to swim back to shore or we would get into deep trouble. Nowadays they no longer rent these floats. The jet skis and boat rental businesses have taken