Blogs from Montañita, West, Ecuador, South America

Vamos a la playa de Montañita Matka Montanitaan meni sujuvasti, vaikka vessaa ei ollu. Lindalla oli hiukan nukkumisvaikeuksia, mutta loikoileenhan rannikolle oltiin menossa niin väsymys ei sinänsä hirveesti haitannu. Bussimatkalla tutustuttiin kahteen ranskalaiseen matkaajaan ja yhteen sveitsiläiseen, joista oli suuri apu, kun meidän piti vielä ettiä vaihtobussi Libertadista Montanitaan. Montanitassa meni viä tovi, kun kilpailutettiin hostelleja. Pisimmän korren vei netillinen huone, joka oli yöltä pari dollaria toista suosikkia hintavampi. Käytiin katteleen biitsiä tulopäivänä ja kylää muutenkin. Montanita on kalastajakylästä pieneks surffikyläks kehittyny rantalomakohde, jossa on hostelleja ja ravintoloita vuoronperään muutamalla pääkadulla. Kojuista myydään koruja, vaatetta, pikkupurtavaa ja irtokarkkeja. Selvittiin siis koko yhdeksäntuntinen bussima... read more

Wow, what a surprise Ecuador was. I just learned to go into every country with low expectations. Ecuador was a place I haven’t heard to many backpackers talking about, and after Colombia kinda disappointed me, I wasn’t expecting much. The only thing I heard about Ecuador was the weather can change within minutes (being only a few miles from the equator though the weather is constant all year round) and the high amount of crime, often involving the police scamming the tourists. Nicci and I landed in the capital Quito late on the 30th and checked into a hostel called the Colonial House. The first night we just crashed cause we had to catch three flights that day, Santa Marta to Bogota, Bogota to Medellin, Medellin to Quito. On New Years Day I just walked around ... read more

Back in the mountain town of Cuenca, we missed the sweet life of being beach bums and decided to head back to the coast and see what the Ecuadorian beaches have to offer. We picked out the small village of Montañita along the "Ruta del Sol", the route of the sun. Sounds pretty promising, doesn't it? We could not do the whole distance between Cuenca and Montañita in one day, so we stayed in Ecuador's biggest city, Guayaquil, for a night. Even though the city sounded really nice from the travel guide, we did not see anything of it besides what we saw from the taxi to the hostel and on the short walk to a restaurant. Next time. The next morning, we were on our way to the coast and Montañita turned out to be ... read more

Montañita is a ´hippie' surf town in the south of Ecuador. Despite being low season, the bars and clubs were so loud that even with ear plugs in an early night was near impossible. Saying that, on our first night we were feeling pretty rough (had eaten too many veggies the night before!!) and so slept all afternoon, then went for dinner (where steph was the only one who could manage more than a few mouthfuls) and we were in bed by 9.30pm. Definitely not the typical first night there for most travelers. The next morning we were devastated...We had been so excited about getting to the beach, we hadn´t even contemplated the possibility that it could be cold. Alas, we paid our $5 to sit on the most uncomfortable beach loungers in the world and ... read more

A few weekends ago, my roommate and I decided to get as many teachers together as we could and go to the beach. So, we ended up getting about 10 people together (which was very difficult) and then we headed to the beach. As we drove down off of the mountains and towards the beach we could feel the warmth and the humidity immediately. Cuenca has nice mild weather, but every now and then it is really nice to feel some real sun. On the way there was decided to rent a van because it is much faster than taking the bus and we only had Friday, Saturday and Sunday off. Well, it turned out that the driver of the bus had no idea how to get there, and did not bother looking at a map ... read more

I´ve been in ecuador for about 10 days now and to say its been eventful would be both an under and an over-statement. Quito was great fun for the first few days and a good starter for what has been a complete culture shock. On the flight I was having my doubts about what I was thinking when i planned two months on my own in south america, but as we flew over the vast mass that is Quito at night that all vanished and was replaced by excitement similar to what I felt when I was driving through Bangkok for the first time. Only problem with Quito was that my hostel and seemingly all others in town were pretty empty (i was infact the only one in my hostel for the first night) this has ... read more

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 ... read more