February 19-22
To celebrate Carnaval, Latin America’s version of Mardi Gras*, I
traveled to Montañita, a coastal town described as having a “Rasta vibe
and laid-back ethos [making it] the end of the road for some [tavelers]”
by my Ecuador guide book. This surfer town was my destination because
the American medical student (Rebecca), who worked at HPVM the month of
February, had a med student friend who was learning Spanish, surfing,
and working at a clinic in Montañita. I’d heard fun things about
Montañita, so was happy to have a travel buddy, especially during such a
fun celebratory time here in Ecuador.
We started our venture at 4am, having to get up in time to catch the
4:40am bus to Santo Domingo. From Santo Domingo we quickly caught the
6:30am bus to Guayaquil, Ecuador’s largest city located on the southern
coast, a seven hour ride. Rebecca and I took turns sleeping, but as we
approached the southern end of the journey, the landscape was interesting enough to keep me awake. After seeing miles and miles of banana, pineapple, coconut,
and other fruit or nut plantations, the I began to notice that the roadside fields were inundated
with water. Stilted houses spotted the sides of the road, which
appeared to have been animal pastures at one point. There were a few cows here and there, and trees and other plant life still
grew in the water fields. It was odd to see trees growing
in lakes! It reminded me of the swamps my mom and I drove through on
the way to New Orleans from Houston. I think these water fields may
have been a result of it currently being rainy season in Ecuador. I
unfortunately did not take pictures, as I don’t like flashing my camera
around unnecessarily.
We had been warned that the journey to Montañita would be teeming with
people and the buses and beach would be madhouses. It wasn’t until
Guayaquil that we experienced this craziness. The bus station in
Guayaquil is huge—two floors of bus terminals—and was filled with
people! But the crowd near the Montañita ticket office, oh my. There
were police officers and portable fences lined up to create a path for the line for the ticket office of the bus company that travels to Montañita. Tickets for the next
bus to Montañita were not going on sale for another hour, and there was
already a long line. Because there were only three scheduled departures
that day and more than enough people in front of us to fill those three buses, we chose to take a taxi instead. Fortunately we met an
American traveler in the crowd (we were pretty easy to spot, haha), so
the taxi fare was only $25 each. A steep price, but worth the hours of
waiting and potentially unsafe bus ride. However the taxi did not prove
to be a quick ride, either. The trip was almost bumper-to-bumper the
entire three hours; everyone and their mother were headed to the beach
for Carnaval! It was an interesting ride though, seeing the countryside
and roadside vendors, profiting from travelers made hungry and thirsty
by their long journeys to paradise.
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I actually took this on the way back from Las Tunas beach--the traffic was so bad, the bus driver told us we'd be better off walking back into town, rather than waiting on the bus.
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| An outdoor hallway in Montañita Spanish School. |
Finally, once in Montañita, we found the Montañita Spanish School where
Rebecca’s friend (Jessica) was staying and taking classes (it also
functions as a hostel, so we conveniently were staying there, too). We
checked into our room—a dorm style with a shared bathroom, beds
outfitted with mosquito nets—right as Jessica was returning from a day
of surfing. After hello’s and introductions, we found our way to
“cocktail alley,” a street lined with drink vendors. Jessica had her
go-to-guy that serves her a special price of $2.50, where we grabbed a
maracuya mojito before searching for a recommended vegetarian
restaurant. A delicious spinach and ginger soup and tofu stir-fry was a
much appreciated break from chicken, rice, and beans.
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| Jessica and Rebecca on cocktail alley. |
On our way to dinner and throughout the rest of our wandering around, we had to beware of the foam spraying that is customary of Carnaval. Rebecca picked up a few cans of spray for us, so we were armed to spray anyone who dared spray us. At first it was kind of annoying, but it was all in fun and kind of refreshing! The dirt streets of Montañita were lined with restaurants, hostels, clubs, coffee shops, and many, many jewelry, hair braiding, or food vendors. Each night we saw a man doing intense juggling or acrobat tricks (think flaming torches or machetes being thrown in to the air) in the middle of the street. I again refrained from whipping out my camera, so sorry for no visual of the active streets.
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| Las Tunas |
Our first day we took a short bus ride to Las Tunas, a town/beach just north of Montañita. It was B-E-A-U-TIFUL. We left in the morning so when we arrived there were practically no beach dwellers. We played in the water, relaxed in the hammocks, lounged in the shade, and ate delicious rice with shrimp. The sand was so hot on my bare feet, but the sun even hotter! Even after four applications of SPF 50 I was red as a lobster, but unknowingly so until we returned late that afternoon. Definitely underestimated the intensity of the equatorial sun!
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| Las Tunas |
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| Las Tunas |
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| View from the main road in Montanita, looking towards the beach. |
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| Surfing lesson! |
The next day we stayed at the beach in Montañita, under shade, of course. Another very relaxing day or watching surfers and leisurely chatting. Jessica, a former world champion surfer from Hawaii, taught me how to surf on a long board borrowed from a surfing instructor from Montañita Spanish School. I’ve never been super comfortable in water, so I was definitely overcoming some challenges/fears while facing the waves…and it was tough to balance on the board at first. Although I never stood up on breaking waves, I did stand up on the easy ones! So now I can say I know how to surf—it was definitely exciting yet tiring! We ended the day watching the sunset with the ever-popular Pilsener.
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Me surfing!
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Beautiful sunset, rightly enjoyed with a large bottle of beer.
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Colors of the sunset.
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Another 12-hour trip back to Pedro the next day, but relaxing in Montañita was well worth the tiresome traveling.
*I call Carnaval “Latin America’s version of Mardi Gras” not because it mimics Mardi Gras, but because both celebrations occur the days preceding Ash Wednesday and Lent, reflecting a similar religious foundation.
