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It has been another glorious few days here in Montanita. We survived the long, busy, weekend and its array of cumbia, salsa, reggaeton and drunken ecuadorians.
The heat has dropped a bit and cloud cover has kept it cooler. On average, we've probably seen about 85 degrees each day, adding a few more for the humidity.
The ocean, on the other hand, grew dangerous and swift, producing large riptides along the beach just searching for someone to cross the safe-line.
I was able to go and see some beautiful properties, a few that I think have special potential.
The next town south of Montanita, about one mile down beach, is Manglaralto. It's much smaller, quieter and doesn't really have the tourist draw that Monta does.
It has a hospital, a fire station, a town square and a beach break. It's kind of like the infrastructural center of the small region. The rest of the pueblo is mostly normal ecuadorian style, nicer houses plopped in the middle of 3/4 finished homes and their neighboring mini-stores and home-based businesses. There is one road leading east into the hills, adjacent from the main entranced into Manglaralto, a road that carries you to Dos
Mangas (Two Rivers). About 2Km in, I went to see a property that has me asking myself if fate is bullshit or not.
It is exactly what I am looking for. It's about 7.5 hectares of land, set on a tri-level hillside, with river access at the bottom, a long, flat, middle tier and a hilltop that has untouched ocean views.
There is water, electricity, a large number of laurel and cedar trees 25 feet and up (planted by the previous owner). The land is lush and full of plants, some fruit trees, birds and bugs.
The best advantage of this particular lot is the amount of useful materials and structures already in place. The owner was a chicken farmer and has built 8-10, 100 yard long by 15 yard wide chicken houses.
Built from bamboo and corrugated metal roofing, these are perfect for storage, perhaps repurposing the structures for their materials and building something new. In terms of farming or producing something, we would have a huge amount of dry space that could act like workshops or processing, say for vegetables or roses or teak wood.
The price is a little high for what we are hoping to
pay, but there is definitely flexibility in the real estate market as in any other businesses in Ecuador.
Max made a interesting comment on the use of space around here. Instead of using garages for cars, camping supplies and storage, they are turned into whatever storefront the occupants see fit, from laundry service to small restaurant, to motorcycle repair shop or jewelry store. Houses are usually more than one story and the locals are keen on using every foot of space to turn over profits.
People keep asking us where we stay, for example, but our building has no name. It is a three story apartment/hotel, with rooms advertised on a small sign outside. On the bottom floor they live, and have a small mini market with anything from laundry soap and t.p. to bread and coca-cola.
Our week long adventure with the motorcycle was great. We got to explore much around the area, take up into the hills, rip the beachfront at low tide. The week went by with few problems.
Max did get three flat tires in five days, which was a bummer. As I mentioned before the bikes were a little beat, but they provided
us with great fun. About 500 yards east of the main highway that passes by Montanita and the coastal towns is a off-road trail that runs parallel. It is the established oil pipeline that feeds the smaller town in the area and spans about 15 miles if not more. It's fairly well travelled, mostly by farmers moving crops from source to point of sale in town. But what makes it so damn fun is the rolling hills you can climb and descend along the way.
Imagine sets of hills 150-200 feet tall, with steep ascending peaks that drop down into 200 yard long chutes that you just fly down in order to keep speed for the next. So ya, after we found that trail, we hit it about everyday.
Spin the bottle: I never would have thought it would pass in a group of people over 20 (or even 16), but, when we had no form of entertainment such as cards or music or anything, I thought it would be funny to try the classic game of spin and kiss. And boy was it fun. With a 1-3 ratio for guys on girls, it was awesome. Nothing dirty, just
people spinning a bottle, making a funny exposition of the kissing on the cheek or neck or, if lucky, the lips, and we spent a good three hours on our balcony one night just having a hearty, old fashioned fun time. Because knowing people in depth is not really a perspective you get when traveling, this was a simple, efficient way to break people down into acting goofy and enjoying themselves without apprehension. Only one rule, guys can't kiss. Not a bad night in all.
Because there is little to do in Montanita, and I'm a sucker for a good time with pretty ladies, many of the photos we have are of nights in Cocktail Alley, beaching it with two hot twins from Guayaquil, and well, being a shoeless, shirtless gringo in the sand. Whatever we were doing, it never failed to leave us pleased and a little dehydrated.
After failing twice to catch the early morning bus at 5am to Guayaquil, third time became the charm and the necessity. With a nice farewell party at the bus station we said hasta luego to the wild little town. Once in the Guayaquil main station and after a dose
of Mack Deezy's, our pleasant morning was adjusted by the fact that that particular day had only two buses to Peru, the next not being until we passed 6 hours sitting on some nice metal chairs and perusing the mall/ bus terminal. (Our timing has been pretty on point this trip, accented by our local research of bussing schedules 😊 )
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