Last things first. Mission Keep Everyone Off The Bottom: Accomplished. There were zero drownings in all of Montañita and surrounding areas in Ecuador during Carnaval 2025. 

Barbecue birthday party celebration of long-time friends from across the tidepools and across the planet. Retired local lifeguards, friends and family of local lifeguards, wannabe local lifeguards. 

It was an energetic, fun vibe. The 5 lifeguards from South Texas taught the locals how to shoot a can of beer complete with chaotic cheering and spilling. 

I talked marathon swimming with the only other female lifeguard, and she plans to swim Catalina Channel in 2026. A dude bragged and flirted with me, you know the usual party stuff. 

In this party though the food was hooked, grown, and/or purchased by the local lifeguards and massive plates were piled high with plantain, whole small fish, shrimp, and I’m not sure what all but it tasted good 🙂 Local lifeguards insisted that their guests sit at the table and chairs they carried to the beach before they served themselves. 

The meal was gently interrupted by politely, whispering rain drops. I ate faster trying to beat the rain but within 2 bites the drops became rudely large and insistent. All but two crazy water people fled to the shelter of the palm fronds extending like a carport in front of the lifeguard headquarters.  

Surprisingly slowly I realized the palm fronds  only served to delay and consolidate the ultimately enormous dripping. The party only grew in joy and intensity as we clustered more tightly under the quasi-shelter. 

Around 10:15p after few thank you conversations with the organizers and fist bumps and declining a few hetero male invitations later, I excused myself from the still-going party. 

I thought about the mile long walk back to my lodge and whether I should go with a second person for safety. Solo female in a foreign country who looks like an outsider… then I looked down the beach and reflected on the totality of my recent experiences and decided: nahhh see ya!

The walk was delightful. Sounds of the discotecas faded gradually as I walked toward the quiet end of the beach where a 100 foot narrow slice of cliff towered over tide pools, a place aptly named La Punta. 

Along the away were couples quietly sitting in the wet sand and a few kids daring to run into the dark mild shallows. Lifeguard mode resumed autopilot—they were playing safely enough. Mostly I was present to the soft Ecuadorian air, the cool but not cold rain, shoes in my hand and backpack with the day’s gear light on my shoulders. 

The party was a fun and authentic expression of camaraderie, loud in volume and smiles, absent of unspoken second thoughts. The closeness came from a glue that binds — all of us were there in honor of the lifeguarding mission of the whole 4-day event. Most of us there were participating directly as lifeguards and others supporting as spouses or in appreciation. 

The realization dawned on me that effectuating a laudable, higher calling also called forth an agape love among the disparate persons called our team. 

With agape consciously in focus, the warm sensation overwhelmed all else conscious to my body-mind. My body stopped walking and turned toward the celebration like an iguana angles to soak up more warm sun. 

I took a photo toward the party and down the beach toward La Punta. Of course the action and under-exposed images don’t adequately capture the experience, but it precipitated something, so I share those blurry photos in this post.  

During this timeless life-moment, my feet and ankles were in a creek emptying into the ocean. The temperature was quite warm. This was the effluence of Montañita’s “sewage system”.  It had been stagnant and heating up in the sun all day. With the addition of rain water it rose enough to spill across the sand into the ocean. Yes, I was standing in Shit Creek!

The situational irony and symbolism triumphed over out the simultaneous urge to flee in disgust. My ankles obeyed for another heartbeat in the warmth and then leaped across and out. 

Ew!/¡Jaja!

Lessons were learned, cultural experiences treasured, flavors savored, and dreams fulfilled in Carnaval Ecuador 2025. The cleanest, clearest, most communicable among them is this:

Gratitude is possible even when ankles deep in Shit Creek. 

Thank you to the people who donated to my non-profit to help make this trip possible. More such international aquatic service adventures are planned later in 2025. I will share details closer to the time.  

Please support my journey of service by engaging in this post, sharing, and donating tax-deductible funds to my non-profit 

https://www.zeffy.com/donation-form/donate-to-make-a-difference-in-safe-aquatics

Tikkun Olam

Heal the World