Fun, with no sun!
Trip Start
Jul 16, 2008
1
25
84
Trip End
Ongoing
Montanita,
Ecuador
Sunday, October 26, 2008
It is a little beach town, very laid back and relaxed. The town is pretty small, about 4 blocks by 3 blocks. Lots of tourists and lots of friendly Ecuadorians-very different from the locals I had met in Mancora. Here, they really do just want to talk in a friendly way, didn`t make me uncomfortable at all. There`s always a party going on but in a relaxed kind of way, just music playing somewhere and people hanging out, drinking fresh banana daquiris and piņa coladas. I stayed at a great hostal, with Alexi, Charlie, and Billy (the people I had met on the bus) and quickly met some more great people-Jess from Australia, Lindsey from California, and Marlies, Jelle, and Sarah from the Netherlands. We had a little Montaņita family going-cooked dinner together (amazing feasts!), watched movies (got hooked on Dexter...it`s a great show), and just hung out having great conversations.
The sun only came out 1 day while I was there so I didn`t spend a whole lot of time laying on the beach, reading, as I usually do. I spent my days taking long walks on the beach. With all that time you notice some really cool things. There are so many tiny animals that live in the sand and in the water-these little slug creatures, little crabs, sand dollars. The little slugs crawl around and make designs in the sand. They`re beautiful, really, like sand paintings. It took a bit of time to figure out how the designs were being made but then, with some sleuthing (patience and careful watching), Charlie, Alexi, and I figured it out. The sand dollars also make shapes in the sand. You can`t see them but just these little designs. I finally dug under a design to see what it was and there was a sand dollar. There were beautiful rocks and shells all along the beach. It`s amazing what you can find when you take the time to really look, rather than worrying about getting sun or reading a book, just noticing the nature that is all around. Charlie and Alexi study Capoeira. One day Charlie gave me a lesson on the beach. It was very challenging and I was sore for 2 days afterwards. But it was a lot of fun.
The food in Montaņita was delicious. Every morning I started my day by going to the fresh fruit stand where I would buy a bunch of fruit for less then 50 cents and then make a big fruit salad. For lunch I would get freshly made bread from a bakery, maybe a smoothie from one of the stands all over the streets, or ceviche from a cart along the road, where they crack open the oysters when you order it and make the ceviche in front of you. Dinner was either a feast that we cooked in the hostel or at this delicous vegetarian restaurant. It was nice to eat such healthy food after all of the rice, potatoes, and fried chicken and fish I had been eating in Peru.
The one sunny day was a lot of fun. It was gorgeous and everyone was hanging out on the beach, whether reading, playing volleyball or soccer, swimming, or surfing. Montaņita is a big surfing town and it was a lot of fun to watch the surfers. I am amazed by their ability and also by the joy that they get out of it. I was way too scared to try but I did go swimming a few times.
I really enjoyed my time in Montaņita, even with no sun and lots of stray dogs!
