Sun, Sand, Surf. On route to Montanita Ecuador.

                So  after a long day of travel I made it to Montañita. I made it at night, I was super hungry, my blood sugar low and I’m not going to lie... Such a bad mood. Ill start at the beginning.

                I woke up early in Cuenca and packed my things, went across the street and at some toast and peanut butter with coffee. I made it to the airport with plenty of time. Checked in and surfed the internet while I waited for my flight to Guayaquil.  I arrived in Guayaquil and sat down at a café in the airport. I wanted to charge my laptop so I could use it on the bus. I ordered a veggie sandwich and an orange juice. 10 dollars... omg… why do airport stores and cafes always have to gouge you? Maybe because the airlines gouge you on your ticket, they feel they should should too. Seems unfair. Is this what capitalism is? I digress. So I charged my laptop. Ate my sandwich, it was pretty good and caught a cab to the bus station. Wow. This bus station is no Greyhound Nelson.  It was bigger than the airport!! 3 levels of pure mayhem. No English, no tourists, I was on my own. I walked around with all my stuff for 20 mins and finally found the ticket counter. Or should I say the 120 ticket counters.. No joke. 120 counters. So up and down I went looking, looking. Finally I asked someone and they pointed me to counter 87. Thank god Cati taught me numbers in Spanish before I left. Anyways I bought my ticket which was on the first floor and and trudged up to the third where my bus was. On the ticket, all in Spanish was my departure time. 345pm or so I thought. Thinking I had plenty of time, I found a corner and decided to write for a while.

                Afte 20 mins pasted I opened my translator on the computer and started translating the bus ticket I had received. Ok I bought it at 1:22. Great. And it leaves it 1:50. Wait.. what.. shiiiit!!! A quick check of my cell revels the time. 14:08…I laughed and thought to myself “totally going to be one of those days” before I picked up my bags and boogies to the right departure door. I went through the gate, walked to the bus and some guy checked my ticket. He said something I didn’t understand, half glared and half smiled while he talked driver. I had defiantly missed my bus but I think buddy felt sorry for me and let me on the bus. The bus was kinda like a greyhound but the driver is separated by glass. I was happy I could see the driver because the whole drive he danced in his seat, arms in the air, fist pumps, all to the beats of the Rocky theme song and other such classics. I sat in the front  row so I could see out  the front window and take in the view.. I met an old lady we chatted and then she and I promptly fell asleep.. HAHA oops.  Missed the first hour or so. I thought the ride was supposed to be only 2 hours but 3 hours later I was in a small town called Salinas. Here, I would change busses and continue my trip to Montañita Ecuador. Well I was watching for a terminal so I knew where to get off. Damned if I wasn’t the last one on the bus when it stopped and they told me to get off.. WTF?! Hahaha so there I was, standing on the street in a small town with my bags and my thumb up my ***! Again, playing the poor dumb gringo card I asked the driver where the bus to Montañita was. As we were speaking a silver car rode up flashed his lights and buddy’s amigo rolled down the window. I’m not sure if its just the language thing or what, but why does it always seem like everyone knows each other when I’m in a different country?  I was told this guy was a taxi, and against my better judgement but with seriously no other option I paid for the taxi to the terminal. I don’t get it, why didn’t the bus stop at the terminal? Ill never no.

                The driver whipped around the streets, up dirt roads and through stop signs for 15 minutes until we reached the terminal. This terminal de auto bus was quite different from Guayaquil. I wished id got a picture, but I was hot, sweaty, nervous and slightly angry. It was 430pm and id only had a small over priced sandwich and I honestly had no idea where I was. There was people running around selling random fried things i didn’t recognize, little kids selling pirated dvds and dudes yelling everywhere! Luckily I knew a few important words for this situation. I asked the driver, what bus,  what color and I knew where I was going. Something I’ve come to realize is when you ask directions, people will tell you the wrong ones before they would admit they didn’t know. He pointed to the Azule auto bus. Another pointed to the Verte bus. Finally a guy pointed me to the Blanca y Verte bus. Success! The driver told me he was heading to Montañita and I sat down with a breath of relief. We drove through town in the rickety colourful old bus picking up people on random corners. We finally made it out of town and I got my first glimpse of the ocean. Ah, the Pacific Ocean. Bliss. Oh how I missed you sweet sweet ocean. I asked a guy how long it was going to take to get to Montañita. 50 minutes. Cool.

After an hour and a half we arrived in Montañita. Or I should say I arrived in Montañita. The bus stops, your quickly ushered off the bus. You have to be quick or they will drive away with your bags before u blink. I got off the bus, walked down the main drag and quickly saw guys holding surf boards, dreadlocked rastas riding long boards and thatched bungalow style buildings. On the bus when I realized id be showing up in the dark I had called Emily to see if she could book me a hostel. My original plan was to show up and just walk around and find a place but since it was going to be dark I wanted a place to go to directly and ditch my stuff. Emily didn’t have any luck finding anything so I called Cati and she said she would work on it.

                I had walked half a block and ducked into an internet café to call Cati back. She said she hadn’t found a place yet so I told her not to worry about it. I walked down the street towards the ocean, found the first place that said “hostal” and inquired about a room. 10 buks for the night. Seemed like a good deal. I took the room, ditched my stuff and went to the main drag of town. I found a little pizzeria and sat on a bench out front and drank a beer while I waited for my pizza. I met  3 ausie surfers and they told me they  were staying in a dorm for 3.50 a night. Stoked. I finished my pizza, walked around a little bit and took in the scene. It has the same vibe as little party towns in Thailand do. People drinking at renegade bars on the street, everyone hippied out and embracing the surfer vibe. Hemp Necklaces!!! Vegan Cookies..! haha.

                So this morning I woke up, and promptly switched my sleeping status to the hostel just down the beach that had the cheap dorms. The dorm is is on the top floor. Its just a loft style open air concept with little sleeping areas separated by trunks you can lock and store your stuff in. It over looks the beach, you can hear the waves and a bug net is included. Perfect. At first I wasn’t overly stoked on the place but I’m quickly starting to love the vibe here and I’m defiantly happy  I made the long sweaty journey here. Im going to stay here a few more nights and then my plan is to take a bus 20 km north where my guide book says you can visit this Nation Park and camp on the beach. I’ve got 10 days before I have to make it to Guayaquil for my flight to Lima. I hope to spend the next 10 days chilling, breathing, and doing yoga, hiking, swimming and practicing my Spanish. Beach life is a nice change of pace and I think it will be a good way to spend my last days in this diverse country. I find it hard not to be excited to go meet Cati in Peru but I also tell myself to not dwell on the future and enjoy the moments that are upon me. Esta es mi vida!

Ps. Te Amo Gorda, miss you lots..