Montañita is blanketed with cocktails ….and twenty-somethings…peacocking. This Ecuadorian beachside village is described by Lonely Planet as a party place with a surfing problem, which is probably a pretty accurate assessment. Fortunately we didn’t see party mode in full throttle, but I’m sure it’s somewhere we would have appreciated twenty years ago. The main town included heaps of tourist infrastructure like vegan-friendly food shops, irresistible clothing shops, laundry mats, packaged tourist options and English.
That said, we were very happy with our location, which was about a 15-minute walk down the beach from all the action. And, after a three-hour bus ride and 13-minute walk, we stepped in our little Shangri-La called Casa de Sol, which felt a bit like stepping into SE Asia. This yoga/surf hostel was steps from the beach at the north and quiet end of Montañita where you could find a deliciously chill, inviting and quiet vibe. Perfect for those who prefer to be in bed at 10. 🤣
To get here, we took a three and a half hour bus ride from Guayaquil on an very comfortable bus with movies and A/C. You confusingly need to buy your tickets on the third level of the massive Guayaquil bus station through Cooperativa Libertad Peninsular (CLP) and it cost $14 for two tickets.
One of the main attractions of this beachside enclave is the surfing. El Monumento del Surfista invites you in. We enjoyed the fact that the surfista appeared to be senior surfer, confident in his wisdom of the sea. We also found it interesting that, considering we’re in Ecuador, not Mexico, that an entire hillside monument seemed to be devoted to crowning the great Corona king.
Our Accommodation: Casa del Sol
The entrance to Casa del Sol, where we were greeted by an extremely white American guy who’d been living on the Ecuador coast for the last eight years. You wouldn’t know it. He gave us a tour around the property and immediately made us feel welcome. The room above the entrance is the yoga shala, which was incredibly zen and thanks to the temperatures, felt mostly like hot yoga all the time. The next photo was the main entrance and breakfast area for the hostel.
That’s one big Buddha. At least for Ecuador. 🤣 Mandy, of course, jumped at the chance to do some proper yoga classes in her element. Fire Flow was an appropriate name for the climate in the room.
Our casita.
We paid $32 for a private room and shared bath with AC, but got upgraded to private bath. Whoohoo! Our bathroom surprisingly had hot water, but disappointingly we’ve found no critters in the toilet here.
A high quality breakfast was included everyday. The fantastic fluffiness of the eggs paid for the room themselves.
The community kitchen. Most people staying at Casa del Sol were Americans or Europeans and in their thirties or forties. It was easy to tell by the number of Macbooks teetering on the many workspaces, many are digital nomads.
Exploring Montañita
The colorful beach is sprinkled with umbrellas and chairs for rent ($2.50/day), ceviche sellers, and lots of eye candy, both of the male and female variety.
How you know it’s a party town: the Calle de Los Cocteles (sponsored by Monster Energy drinks.)
A token umbrella street and an Açaí bowl beach shack.
Down at our end of the beach, it never felt too crowded or chaotic.
The pleasant walk “to town” included waded through a river outlet flowing into the sea.
The not-so-white guys playing hacky sack here. Instead they use full size soccer balls in the same manner. This guy on the left nailed his Warrior 1 pose in the process.
Our first splurge meal in Ecuador was Peruvian at Tambo Sabores Peruanos. Ha. Go figure. Mandy had regular fish ceviche and Greg had mixed seafood, each about $9. Our cocktails were $3.50 each, which seems to be the going price on the Calle.
One of those irresistible clothing shops.
This must be the tuna line. 🤔
Montanita by night. By night, we mean 8:00 🤣 Of course, being in Ecuador the sun rises at 6 and sets at 6 all year round.
The Montanita Brewing Company, however, was directly across the street from our hostal, which of course was more our speed! Craft beers were $5 and decently tasty.
Collections of hostels and apartments line the river connecting to the Pacific.
One of the many pastry shops.
A “high end” food market featured goodies like boxed wine and Top Ramen. They know their audience in this town.
More street scenes of Montañita. In our opinion, every street needs an inflatable whisky bottle!!
A church, a Christmas tree and a surfer girl. In April.
Street art.
Most of the food in the town is very backpacker friendly, in offerings and in price.
Ceviche carts appear to be cute street food, which is usually a bargain price. Uh…it’s not so much here.
It was definitely overpriced at $7 a bowl. But pretty tasty.
After that, we washed it down with a $2 avocado smoothie. Avocados are everywhere in Ecuador so we’re kind of in heaven.
Drink specials!! This place was clearly made for partying.
But totally tranquil at 10 am 🤣
More incredible street art.
Vitamins on wheels. Now they’re speaking our love language.
The Catholic Sanctuary of Maria, White Star of the Sea, a 15 minute walk north, is carved into the seaside cliff and the first boat church we’ve ever seen. We waited for two giraffes or monkeys to emerge but that never happened.
The church as seen from the sea.
Nearby offered a gorgeous mirador down the coast.
Heading to Puerto López
From Montañita, we quite literally were tossed onto an exhaust-belching green local bus for our hour-trip north to Puerto López. ($2.50/each+suggested life insurance😂.) We caught the bus by the side of the road and the assistant told us there was no room in the back of the bus, which was separated by a door, so we needed to stay in the front. Of course, we, along with our bags, another person, and a closed bus door, created quite a kerfuffle until we configured a way to wiggle out of our backpacks and place them around us allowing Mandy to clamor up onto the seat next to the maniac driver who was all-to-ready to haul ass to the next stop. Fortunately, no one was behind us and the assistant was being helpful.
As the bus quickly cleared out, Greg, still standing, was whisked to the back with everyone else but Mandy, who with permission of a driver that seemed friendly enough, stayed up front with our bags. However, she soon learned, this driver may have had a bit of a chip on his shoulder, or at least a death wish for all of us as he whipped through the serpentine roads. In fact at one point, someone from the back started yelling, “No nos mates!!” (Don’t kill us!) and rather than slowing down, the driver proceeded to shout back at her in rapid fire Spanish. In the meantime, the assistant, traded smiles with Mandy, helpfully shouted “Muro!” (Bump!!) for every upcoming speed bump which at least Grumpus the Lead Foot seemed to respect a little. 🤪
Puerto López
Somehow we arrived all in one piece to Puerto López, where we decided to walk to our apartment which we had rented…up the hill. You’d think after five years of travel we’d learn not to walk 25 minutes uphill…with our bags…in the steamy mid-day sun. But alas, we’re gluttons for punishment. 🤣 The arduous walk up the hill, which immediately had an air of Sri Lanka. As you can see, there are tuk tuks readily available which probably would have cost $1.
Happily arriving to our apartment, which we got on Booking for $30/night, and a helluva view. The walk had paid off. Or so we thought at first.
As the listing had indicated, it was massive and spacious with floor to ceiling windows, none of which unfortunately opened, and one meager ceiling fan in one of the bedrooms. Hey, but it was all ours!!
It had enough space to sleep nine people. Unfortunately all the bed linens smelled quite wonky. We later learned during a deluge that this was because the ceiling leaked in various places including on some of the beds. Fortunately we chose two beds that only got affected in a small area. 👍🏻 Maybe we’ll just sleep out on the balcony…. (It seemed like a good idea until the mosquitos started feasting on Greg.)
Discovering more treats in the fridge which had to be at least 40 years old. Yummy. Unfortunately this was a theme that ran throughout the apartment.
It did include a friendly kitty named Pixie.
After settling into our mismarketed dream apartment, we headed back down the hill to the town to fetch groceries. After a long overdue two month drought in Panama, we were elated as the rain started to sprinkle, cooling us off immediately. But soon a downpour evolved and Mandy gleefully got to test a new Spanish idiom…”Estoy hecho una sopa” which means “I’m soaking wet,” or literally, “I’m made of soup.” Greg didn’t find the soup as amusing.
We later learned that Puerto López, an active fisherman’s village, is often known as Puerto Lodo, which means “Port Mud” during the rainy season.
Indeed! Look at it glisten! Finding exactly what we were looking for! A Tía, which seems to be “the” supermarket of Ecuador so far, where we got three days of groceries for about $20.
Lots of fun beach bars along the water front. We had considered staying down here but had read the street dogs were a big problem. And we know from experience what that does to our sleep. So perhaps no matter where you land, this town should just be called Puerto No-Sleep.
We grabbed dinner at Spondylus for $18 which included two fish dishes and a large beer to share. This was when we were introduced to the brilliant concept of fish doused in peanut sauce. In coastal Ecuador they even put peanut sauce in their ceviche, which seems a bit strange until you taste it. (It also looks like a blob of threatening ground beef at first.) But then, the explosion of citrus, savory, spicy and salty are “ser para chuparse los dedos,” which I think means something like finger-licking good. 🤣 However, the best ceviche we had was at a more local place called “Ceviche Christiana” for $6.50.
A Ferrari Ecuadoriano
We arrived back “home,” ready for a cozy nights sleep (ha!) after having the owner deal with the flood of water which had entered our apartment. She said that the winds and rains were uncommon for Puerto López? Later that night, Pixie the friendly kitty turned into Pixie the ferocious lion demanding to come into the one tiny busted screened window we had in our massive room. We obviously unfortunately didn’t have any food for her although we fixed that problem the next day.
We awoke to a monsoon which had continued for most of the night, and would do so all of the following day. A perfect day to do laundry. Mandy uses a wooden spatula to “agitate” our clothes in the kitchen sink. Because we had been sweating a lot, we had a lot to do and the process took over an hour (not including the two days of drying time!)
At last the sun emerged again…
…which created some fantastic sunsets over the water.
We tried to eat Embocellado which is an typical Coastal Ecuadorian soup, at the local market, but unfortunately we later learned they only serve it for breakfast. Hope we didn’t miss something amazing!
Mandy at the Puerto López official sign. Probably not a place we’ll return to, but it served its purpose as a jumping off point for the upcoming adventures to Agua Blanca and Isla de La Plata.
