Exploited tourism

Trip Start Jul 15, 2006
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Trip End Jul 31, 2006


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Flag of Ecuador  ,
Wednesday, July 19, 2006

The drive to Salinas was very nice.  The highway from Guyaquil to the coast is under construction, with large chunks of it already completed.  The sections that are completed are a beautiful, wide open road, while the few older sections are still a simple one lane road that quite often run through small villages and towns. 

Salinas was a disappointment.  It's downtown is centered around a very beatiful beach, but it's full of high rise hotels and expensive restaurants catered towards tourists.  Just looking at a picture of the Marriotts and Hyatts everywhere, one would have a hard time figuring out whether it's Ecuador or Florida.

We grabbed some food at one of the many restaurants on the main strip and spent most of our time fighting off local hustlers trying to sell us everything from pot, booze, seadoos and hotel rooms.  If it was the summer, the place would be much livelier and it probably would be more fun, but after a few hours of exploring we decided to continue on to Montanita without staying.  The hotel prices were just too much for what you were getting.
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