Blogs from Montañita, West, Ecuador, South America - page 3

Geo: -0.866667, -80.2667In commemoration of your birthday, Jeff, we've been luxuriating in the hot sun for a week now, laying by the pool, strolling the beach watching the bikinis flirting with the surfboards, eating our guts crazy and getting in a little more luxuriating.Take this morning's breakfast for instance. Crepes Suzette filled with apples and topped with a dab of vanilla ice cream, fresh pear juice, fresh rolls w/butter, dulce de leche (caramel) and jam, and for the second course--shrimp cocktail. We don't have to eat again until dinner. The owners here are a Swiss/Ecuadorian couple who run it like a Swiss clock--a gregarious Swiss clock. It's a most delightful place and we recommend it highly. So Happy Birthday Jeffrey! We're enjoying the sun and surf FOR you--maybe we'll even bring you home a bottle.... read more

Theft in the Night Apologies for starting this entry on a serious note, but for those reading this who may travel Ecuador, I figure it's important to include. During our journey from Baños to Montañita two Argentinean's (not travelling together) had their day-packs stolen; here is how I believe it happened and the simple way to prevent it. There were two times during the hot and horrible journey when the bags were most likely taken. The first point was on arrival in Guayaquil where every single local left the bus, leaving only backpackers on board to carry on towards the coast. It was around 5am and so myself and the rest of the backpackers were in various states of sleep making it easy for an opportunist to grab a bag left on the floor wit little ... 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

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