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What can you really say about Mointanita? It´s a must-stop tourist trap along the coast of Ecuador. Generally people seem to get stuck here for a while because it´s an easy place to get into the routine of sleeping in, surfing, eating, and partying.
There were actually a few gringos around and I found myself having some mid-afternoon beers with a Canadian guy, a Portugese guy, a guy from somewhere in the middle east, and a couple Ecuadorian guys from a nearby city. This was quite an odd gang. The older Ecuadorian guy was having the time of his life becuase the others had hired him as their personal transport all over Ecuador. They paid him $500 for the use of his car, paid all his food, drink, and accomodation on top of that. So even though he didn´t speak a word of English he was more than happy to be sitting there at the beach drinking a cold Brahma.
Clindt, the Canadian guy was intersted in doing a little surfing for the first time. We rente3d some boards for half a day and basically got our asses kicked for an afternoon. The waves were coming in with a ferocity that had me scared a couple times. I definately didn´t hang 10 on any big waves.
My biggest problem in Montanita, besides constantly being distracted by the beach babes, was that I had no good place to relax. My room was cheap so it had no fan and was much too stuffy for just hangin´ out. So the problem was that I´d have to go buy a juice in a restaraunt just to get out of the sun and maybe read a book or something. Food here is way over-priced, so even just relaxing costs money when the only place to relax is in a restaraunt.
It just so happens that I ran into a guy I had met before at the hostel in Lima. (I was there for 2 weeks, surely I´ll run into others as well!) I was in line waiting for a hamburger on the street and recognized him because of his trademark fedora style hat, blue jeans, and converse all star shoes.
Yep , it was Jaakko from Finland. He was in town alone as well so we decided to have a beer that night. One beer turned into a few more and we found ourselves having some drinks on ''alcohol street´´, we called it. Every night guys set up their different booths on the street and sell any kind of drink you can imagine. A good value too! The conflicting styles of music they play so close together is a bit unpleasant but that´s pretty much what happens every where you go. Later on we found ourselves in some dingy bamboo disco, dancing and covered in foam which was spraying out of the ceiling.
You´d think the next day would have been a rough one but there´s something about the beach that almost makes hangovers non-existent. We were gung ho to go for a surf. It had to have been the worst sufr conditions ever that day. The waves were crashing in so close together that it was tricky to make it out past the breakers. I think I caught maybe 2 waves in 2 hours. Oh well, as long as you don´t wash up dead on shore it means you had fun.
The next day Jaakko and I decided to catch some rays on the beach for a bit before hitting the surf again. Bad idea for Jaakko, who had just arrived from the cool climate of the Andes. I never had seen a guy burn so fast...especially his legs and feet. He was totally screwed. Now for the past few days he´s been feeling lousy with a fever. Hmmmm maybe it´s bad luck to hang out with ol´Scotty. Everyone seems to get sick! We had an ...ummm....intersting journey north to Canoa but it´s Friday night and I´m off to check out the scene! More to come!

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Photos

The mudhole known as Montañitas
It rained every night so just about the time the sun had everything dry it was back to walking around in the muck.

Real lovely water
See the fisherman there? I suppose I was eating the fish from this river.

Granny and the Niño
I was worried to ask her to snap a photo but she just smiled and nodded. She must have been 100 years old and just being awake seemed to be a hefty burden.

Boring boat shot
Jaakko and I decided to skip this lazy fishing village of Puerto Lopez.

Fantastic hotel room
We paid $6 each for this room but just look at Jaakko relaxing, watching TV and eating Doritos.

A bit jealous
Our hotel was across the street from this one. I´m sure it was nice inside....quite in contrast to the surroundings.

Nice looking bus?
Not bad, I expected worse buses in Ecuador.

Looks can be deceiving.
What a long day this was.