We left Cuenca and flew into Guayaquil and spent a quick afternoon wandering up and down the Malecon (a sort of promenade up and down the riverfront filled with shops and restaurants and people playing in the park space). Mom arrived late at night, 11:30 – we got the hotel to send a driver to the airport for her which turned out to be a good idea because not only is it safer than a cab late at night but also the airport was very quiet and there wasn’t much for cabs in sight. Mom woke us to let us know she was in and we all had a little sleep in until around 9:30 the next day.
We got our rental car eventually and sped quickly out of town though Brooke was continually certain that we were going the wrong way. You can understand the confusion when you note that the maps we brought with us have completely different road names than the roads currently have. The maps aren’t that old but they don’t fit with what we saw. We ended up working from some Ecuador tourists guides we got from the hotel in Cuenca and pairing that with the maps we had brought. In the end we sniffed our way directly out of town to the coast. I am not nearly as confident about the return trip we are planning on making.
It took us longer than expected to get to the El Retiro hotel near the town of Olon. We slowly drove the highways that run north along the coast. The highways all go through the towns and make for a stop and go style journey, you can’t do over 30kph through town. The roads through town are packed with speed bumps that I would refer to as speed mountains in order to be accurate. Our little car was sometimes completely on a “bump” – all 4 tires! This is a good idea however as the roads are also randomly crossed by pedestrians at their pleasure and cyclists that weave their way around. The locals drive quickly but I can’t for the life of me bring myself to go faster than about 70kph on the highway and around 30 in the towns.
Driving through some of the towns I definitely had my doubts as to how we were ever going to enjoy our time here at the coast. There are tons of rough looking shacks and unwelcoming spaces that just don’t appear to be comfortable. However, after a few days, your eyes begin to adjust to what you are seeing and you see it quite differently. The rough looking cabanas are actually nice little restaurants where you can get your ceviche and drinks from friendly people with their own little business.
The hotel here is very nice but more importantly, the beach turned out to be amazing. The beach at the nearest town, Montanita,is where we’ve spent most of our days. It’s absolutely packed with people smiling and playing, it’s a very young crowd. The town is mostly chaos. There’s bar stands, essentially street vendors for booze,are everywhere selling drinks – they have chairs around a small table and are like the smallest “bars” I’ve ever seen in my life – there’s dozens of them. Then the rest of the town is littered with tiny little shops and some pretty nice restaurants. “If you ever are going to Montanita, bring your earplugs” should be the slogan. If you plan on sleeping, don’t. We were fortunately not going to be staying in town but the place was lovely and fun to visit in that it was a feast for the eyes. Every single space has something in it and someone selling something or someone hanging out. However, the beach is so nice and such a fun place to spend day after day – we have. We can’t get enough.
Every day so far, we’ve gone to the beach and for $5 or so you can rent some nice lounge chairs and a big umbrella and sit by the sea. People come by selling you things but are pretty nice in that you can shake your head no and they move on. We, meaning Brooke, bought a few things that are pretty nice and most importantly, we’ve been able to supply ourselves with cold bevies like beer, coconut milk, and some cocktails. It’s been two days of cloud and two days of sun. But that has been a bit of a blessing as the Ecuadorian sun is so strong here at the equator. It’s more than warm enough even with the clouds and Mom has actually been ok with the heat and has enjoyed all her time at the beach, playing in the surf with us and just relaxing.
Brooke and I spent our anniversary dinner in Montanita. We were casually dressed but that was more than most people. Shirts and shoes are optional here – something I absolutely love. We had a wonderful pizza while listening to a band that sounded exactly like the Buena Vista Social Club.
The beach has been really therapeutic for us. Brooke has ditched the sling – no tan lines you know ;-) We’ve really enjoyed the freedom here and our time to just take it easy and relax.
The coast is probably the best part of this country. There’s a nice culture here and it makes for an excellent adventure without the same risk as in Quito and Guayaquil.
Oh the beach……
Doggies, doggies everywhere.
Montanita doesn’t look as big here as it is. Also, this is a “quiet” day at the beach.
Beach babe.
Oh yeah. Double fisting it.
What is it about sunsets….
Enjoying our boxed wine.
Brooke just opted for the box.
What a long beach. I had to be careful not to fall down the cliff here. I didn’t even want to park too close just in case the car weighed the edge down.
Seriously, would you want to own that house? A good rain and it could all come down.
Double X. Dos Equis.
Two bank machines. Enduring line ups.
This place was wall to wall with people at night on the 30th. I can’t imagine what it would have been like on New Years. All we know is we went into town the next day and it smelt –bad. Urine probably.
A steady stream of big beers have to be supplied to thirsty beach goers.
Beach goddess in her new coverup.
Tom Sellek came by to visit.
Happy Anniversary! Tenemos Siete Anos . Our 7th anniversary.
Mom loved this coconut. She kept it for days and chewed off little bits here and there.
These are the beach shacks I was talking about. But they serve up pretty good grub at good prices.
A new form of whale watching.
One of the more crowded days. This photo still doesn’t come close to capturing the insanity.
Matching apparel – you can do this at $3 per item.
We made some new friends on our last night out in Montanita. This is the wife and daughter of one of the band members at the restaurant.We had some beers and some pizza while the lights were out. The band couldn’t play without power so instead we socialized with them.
