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WOW! What a day. So needless to say I didn´t get much sleep in the Quito airport. There was construction, cleaning, and music being blasted all night. Neither I nor the other two ladies near me...and numerous other airport crashers got some sleep last night. I gave up on trying to catch some shut eye around 2:30am. I managed to roam around and twiddle my thumbs for about 2 hours until I could finally check in for my flight to Guayaquil.

While I was waiting to board my flight, my name was called over the PA speaker. I went where I was asked and was told security wanted to open my bags. I said OK and followed the security guy outside of the airport, past security doors and was wanded once since I was entering a secure area. They ran my bag through the x-ray machine and wanted to look at the first aid kit and toiletry bag in the bottom of my bag. They found nothing, I sealed it up, went back through the secure doors, bypassed security screeners and boarded the plane to Guayaquil.

FINALLY SOME SLEEP! I slept the whole time on the 45-minute plane ride...it was magical. I landed in Guayaquil around 7:15am, grabbed my bag and then I was off to find the bus station to hop on the bus to Montañita. I asked the information station at the airport and was sent to another station to an english speaker...it is not easy getting information out of people when there´s a huge language barrier! I found the english speaking information booth and was told the bus terminal was "on this side of the avenue, that way." And the quest was on!

I walked out of the airport...didn´t see a bus station. I walked a few blocks (not the safest looking neighborhood) and found a cop. I asked for "bus montañita" and was pointed a direction. I followed that direction for about 5 minutes and asked another cop who pointed in the same direction I was headed, so I felt like I would make it eventually. After walking another 5 minutes I finally turned a corner and saw a HUGE bus terminal with what looked like a hundred or so busses. And so began another adventure of finding the kiosk to CLP busses to Montañita.

I walked into the station and asked the information person, who of course didn´t speak any english. Again, I asked for "CLP bus Montañita." She pointed me down the hallway and to the right. I walked down the hallway and found myself in the midst of over 100 bus kiosks that would take you ANYWHERE in and around Ecuador. Wow, now to find CLP. I walked up and down and found nothing. I asked multiple kiosk people "Bus Montañita" and was just brushed off because I wasn´t going to purchase from them. After another 5 minutes or so, I finally found the CLP kiosk at the other end of the terminal. It was now 8am and the next bus straight from Guayaquil to Montañita was at 10am. After waiting around an aiport all night long, I was not in the mood to wait around a bus station for 2 hours. There was another option, I could take a bus to Saint Elena or Salinas on the coast and then catch a bus to Montañita from there. I bought my ticket to Salinas for 2.50 and hopped on the non-air conditioned smelly bus to Salinas (what my ticket/receipt read).

Guayaquil was absolutely disgusting. The smog was so thick and there was trash everywhere. You definitely know it´s a third world country...BUT I kept my window open for some "fresh air" because I wanted to take it all in...get the full experience.

The bus stopped a few times and let people on/off. Everytime it stopped, I asked the people sitting next to me "Salinas?" And they kept saying "no." At one point, the bus pulled off to the side of the road and street vendors got on to sell their food. Some bought, others didn´t...I planned on staying away from the street vending food...just for safe measure. After about 10 mintutes, we hopped back on the road and were on our way. The bus stopped a few more times briefly when finally about 2 hours into the trip, it stopped and a lot of people started getting off. I asked "Montañita" in hopes it would be the transfer point...I was told Salinas would be the transfer point, but I remember Santa Elena was also a place to catch another bus to the small beach town. Then I looked out the window and saw the road sign that said "Montañita" with an arrow pointing to the left...when the bus planned on going straight...I immediately hopped off and grabbed my stuff because this stop was Santa Elena...I was halfway there!

Needless to say, it´s a little sketchy hopping off a bus in the middle of Ecuador with no idea of where you´re going and you don´t speak any spanish and you´re by yourself. Lucky for me, I asked a guy waiting around the bus stop about Montañita and he told me 20 dollars. At this point, I´m sure I could have talked him down to less, but it was worth 20 to hop in a cab and head straight to the beach. When he pulled his car around...it was an unmarked cab...a silver chevy to be exact. It was VERY sketchy but he seemed like a nice enough guy. I said a little prayer for my safety and hopped in. He handed me a map, showed me where we were and where we were going. The first 10 minutes of the ride, I was making sure cities we were driving through matched up with the way to Montañita according to the map...the last thing I wanted was end up in an alley being mugged. The driver was super nice and pointed things out along the way. I learned a few spanish words while we drove along La route del Sol (Route of the Sun). After a 45 minute cab ride, passing through multiple towns, many animals along side the road (lots of wild dogs, roaming cows, donkys, chickens, and even a baby pig), we finally arrived in Montañita around 11:30, my home away from home for the next month.

I checked into my cabaña and dropped my stuff in the room. It´s nice. 2 beds, mosquito nets, a private bathroom with hot water, and a hammock outside the door...my trip here is gonna be great. I met a few kids when I was checking in. They told me to stay away from Hola Hola because several people were getting sick the past week. Also, it had rained for the past few days and had finally "cleared up"...even though it was heavily overcast out.

I walked into town...about a 3 minute walk from my cabaña. It´s definitely a third world country and town. The houses are blocky and made with cement and bamboo. The dirt roads were pretty muddy and wet. There was construction going on to one of the new hostels. There is no machinery. Bamboo is hoisted up with ropes and cement is mixed on site. Very, very cool to watch.

I made my way to Montañita Spanish School to check-in. I decided to take spanish classes my first week to hopefully make the most of my time here. I found the building and made my way upstairs to speak to Manuel or Rosamelia. I met a cute girl named Julia from Sweden. She´s here for over a month too so who knows what will happen with that. I paid for the classes, 20 hours@ $140 for one week, my cabaña @ $105 for the week, and my surboard rental for $130 for the month. I was told my spanish classes were starting tonight at 5pm and there were 2 other people registered for the small group, a guy named Braeden and a chic named Raya. I had some lunch at one of the restaurants and walked up and down the beach to get an idea of what home looked like. After my walk I headed back to the cabaña for a nap. I took a nap in my hammock for about two hours and then headed off to class around 4:45pm.

Braeden and Ray were from Canada and were pretty chill. We had 4 hours of class tonight (5-9pm) with our first instructor Erica who taught us grammar for 2 hours and then our second instructor Jenny who worked with us on speaking. Towards the end we played spanish scrabble...VERY HARD! We spent the whole time learning about grammar rules (not what I was expecting) which wasn´t a lot of fun...since spanish and french are VERY similar, I knew most of this stuff already. After class the three of us headed into town for dinner. After dinner, I headed back to the cabaña to get some sleep...I was running on fumes. Time for some sleep.

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