Montanita, Ecuador

We arrived in Montanita in the morning to an obvious party beach town. For me it was a well-known surf break and was eager to get in the water since I hadn’t surfed all throughout Colombia. As for the town, it was covered in hostels, restaurants, bars and lots of unfinished construction. The first hostel we stayed at was halfway finished and the top floor where our room was was just concrete. It did overlook the beach so it was worth it for a night. I grabbed my surfboard and we all headed to the point. Pele and Arve didn’t surf but they were renting boards. They went straight out in to the whitewash while I headed to the point where the waves were looking really fun. The paddle out was pretty far. It was a series duck dives and about 150 meters out. The real point was crowded with locals and then one foreigner: me. They were all really good surfers too and really surprised by the technical lines they were pulling. If you got in the right wave it would take you all the way into shore no problem. Luckily, I got a few so it was all worth it. About 2 hours into the session about 15 locals paddled in, all wearing their colored rash guards. They politely asked everyone who was not in the Ecuador surf club to leave. This polite gesture meant business and looked like they were the local Huey from Hawaii. I somehow got the next set wave and took me all the way into shore so I called it a day. I headed back to where the guys were, grabbed them and we went back to the hostel.

That night we found a Argentinean steakhouse and decided to treat ourselves to some good food and a bottle of wine. I haven’t had this yet on my trip so I couldn’t say no. While we were eating a group of Argentinean girls sat down next to us and ordered food. Later on they were trying to take pictures and I offered to take some for them. Pele then jumped in with his Spanish and we ended up eating dinner with them for the next few hours. What a team! We told them about our crappy hostel and they recommended one down the street where they were staying.

That night we headed to the beach to see what the fuss was all about. It reminded me of Thailand and the full moonlight party. Tons of people were on the beach, small one-person bar stands and workers wondering around trying to sell you stuff. Once you walk in from the beach on this one road, thousands of people were dancing. No one was even going into the bars. Mainly because there were so many mini bars outside you didn’t need to go anywhere else. It was pure chaos. Once again this involves another one on one story but these people didn’t stop partying on the beach until 8 in the morning.

A few days pass and it looked like all three of us were getting sick. First it was Pele, then Arve, then me. For a solid 2 days I couldn’t move or eat anything. This next few days also involves a personal story that I won’t write.

That next day we woke up at 8 and got on some boat tour that was taking us the national park. This was a tour that advertised adventure and snorkeling. We were wrong. We ended up being on a bus for 2 hours to get there, hanging out at some beach for half the day, and then getting on a boat for a few hours to snorkel an empty coral reef with no marine life. If it was the next day and I had managed to get some sleep and be 100% healthy the trip may have been good. I look back at the pictures now and knew it could have been fun, but it was another tour that tells you when and what to do, which I can’t stand. Still can’t belief I fell for the tour again.

Montanita had its time and was ready to go. It was turning into the same thing everyday and needed to get out. Next stop was Guayaquil.