Montanita...surfer dudes!

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  Montanita, Ecuador
Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Feeling refreshed and relaxed from 5 nights in Puerto Lopez we got on another bone shaker bus and headed down the coast again to Montanita. Itīs a bit bigger than Puerto Lopez and feels very different. This is the first place we have come to that is really set up for gap year students. Itīs the sort of place I expect to meet (my brother) Tim coming back from a surfing session and choosing which bar to have a beer. I have to admit we feel slightly too old and not quite cool enough to be here! This was confirmed at 3am this morning when we were both woken, despite having ear plugs, by thumping dance music from a club near the hostel. We both a agreed that this was really rather excessively loud and these kids should be thinking about getting to bed soon!!!! But it's still a nice place to spend a few days.

The town is all about bars and restaurants competing to be the coolest in town and the pace of life is VERY relaxed. The main street actually feels like a film set, it's all palm tree roofed huts  We've both had tummy trouble over the last week so it has been nice to relax and get better again. I blame the evil malaria pills we had to take in the jungle for this unfortunate turn of events. We really did pick the wrong ones there. Only 18 days to go though, sigh! We found the most amazing vegetarian cafe, called Cafe del Mar, run by a lovely English lady and her food (plus a gallon of yoghurt!) has really helped us to get back on track.

We're staying in a lovely hostel right by the beach and we are lucky enough to have our own balcony with a sea view and a hammock. It has been nice to sit there and watch the surfers and people playing volleyball on the beach. The plan this afternoon is to hire body boards and make idiots of ourselves next to the surfers!

However the relaxing times will come to an end tomorrow as we prepare to leave to coast and head back up to the mountains. We're going to attempt to have a marathon travel day tomorrow and try and get to Cuena in the south (which is supposed to be beautiful) via Guayaquil, Ecuador's biggest city. It will mean a 5am start but I'm looking forward to getting back to the mountains.

Sorry about my pretty boring photos on this update, I proved to exceptionally terrible at taking pictures of whales and didn't get any good ones. But Dom has some great photos so have a look at his blog to see some more interesting pictures of the coast!

Until next time...thanks for all the emails and messages from people, it's great to hear from you and keep up to date with all your news. Lots of love. George xx

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View from our balcony	Dom in the hammock	It's my coconut!	Montanita at dusk
Montanita main street

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