Hotel Baja Montanita

... instructor had to leave us for a week because there was an international (South American) surf competition in Salinas- top 4 surfers from each country competed. A group of us wanted to go and watch him so we organized a trip through Ademar the instructor who filled in for Isidro. We hired a van and make the hour trek to Salinas (I was extremely hung over but forced myself to get up and go). None of us knew but the surf competition was on a military base. Ademar ...

... do I start? Life is simple! Dirt streets, thatched roof small simple houses, no supermarkets, few cars, and simple life styles. It is amazing to watch the day to day life of these people. They hand wash their clothes, make daily trips (often with infants and toddlers) to small markets to buy simple vegetables and items for their meals. Most stores have mini carts deliver items to them- a truck or cart on a bike will yell the items they are selling and stop ...

... was completely back to normal, I felt well enough to hop the bus 15 minutes up the coast to Machalilla. The response from the locals in Machalilla when three gringos stepped off the bus carying full backpacks was one of surprise and confusion. However, once they realized that it was me, their expressions changed to complete shock followed by overwhelming excitement and warmth. It is very rare for foreigners to spend any time in ...

... front, which Brian was very happy with.....we were moving in. The next day we got company. A couple from Australia and a guy from America they had picked up along the way. There was also another couple from Australia staying in the place and slowly but surely our little community was forming. The Aussies were great craic, one couple more so than the other but we all got on so well. The weather was pants for the whole week and I really ...

... good sense of humour for a Belgian, which he puts to good use observing our early attempts at hello.
In summary we are all hopeless, copy each others homework before school, or even resort to excuses of hungry dogs for not completing it. The genius of the week is in our group ability to confuse basic spanish with crude inuendo, as follows -
1 Johan "can i take a bottle of water" translated to "can i have sex with that bottle of water" (wasnt ...

So on an early chilly autumnal morning we scooted towards heathrow full of glee, without credit cards and a grip of spanish similar to that felt in mud wrestling. Two flights, a bottle of wine, and many **** films later we touch down in Peru. This is in comparison to our travel companions (phil and alex), who managed 5 flights, 5 countries (half of south america), and numerous bottles of wine to get to the same destination.
Montanita, Ecuador al-lucy-lost

... met back up with them for some (apparently famous in town) street burgers. They were decent. At a dollar a piece and being good sized, they weren’t bad at all - but still not sure if they warranted the hype.
Perpendicular to the beach and one of the last streets in town, there were a bunch of vendors making mixed drinks-juices, betides (smoothies made with milk-not yoghurt), and alcoholic beverages. I asked on guy if he could make a Mojito, one of my favorites. He could ...

... served cold and with popcorn and chifle. The fish or seafood of choice is cured in a lime sauce that apparently kills the things that can get you sick. After a fish ceviche before noon, and a calamari in the afternoon, I quickly became of the legions singing San Clemente´s ceviche praise. Que Rico! The second field trip was a fence building operation. Several years ago, PD partnered in a purchase of 60 hectares ($8000) of primary forest for the eventual building of ...

... et billigere inne i byen! Det virket som en god ide, helt til vi utpaa ettermiddagen kom hjem fra stranda og det ikke fantes VANN paa hostellet..Dvs, ingen do, ingen vask, ingen dusj.. Saa da kranglet vi litt med resepsjonisten som ville ha penger for en natt, tok backpackene vaare og fant oss et nytt hostel MED vann =) Saa gikk vi ut paa byen! Og jeg maa si, Montanita er en kjempeliten by, men har det storste folkelivet i forhold til ...