Surfing in Montañita

One of the many sunsets viewed from our hostel balcony.


Just as everyone who had been to Montañita before told us, it is a very hard city to leave but due to our need to rush down to Cusco for Machu Picchu we managed a departure. It was a small, quaint town consisting mostly of restaurants, bars and hostels and had so nçmany gringos it was hard to remember that we were still in Ecuador at times. The streets were either cobble stone or sand and the beach stretched for miles. On busy days there were no fewer than 75 surfers out on

the waves, but luckily the waves broke at so many spots that you could usually find a spot with just one or two other surfers to share the glories of the ocean with. Mitch and I nearly surfed everyday that we were with the exception of Mitch taking a couple days off to have a quick cold before jumping back on the board. Mitch managed to remember everything he learned in Brazil but I sadly was set back nearly square one. With some determination and a lot of patience I managed to get back to my Brazil surfing level and then some. We could have easily spent a month or more in Montañita.

My mosquitoe net, matress and trunk.
Our hostel was situated on the beach and was the
cheapest place we have stayed yet. Sure all we had was a matress on the ground, a mosquitoe net and a trunk for our belongings, but it was a great place to meet people and we had to walk all of ten steps to check out the waves. I did however find sn English guy who was supposed to be sleeping on the matress beside mine curled up in my bed, snuggling my pillow one night. It was quite a mission to get him out too as he really thought that was his space no matter how much I told him that that was in fact my pillow and matress.





So on top of great parties with live music, delicious food and a lot of surfing, we also were lucky enough to see hundreds of little song birds as they were on their migratory path to Peru. They would sit on the power lines in the middle of town to rest for the night before taking off in the morning. We saw about three different sets of them, which is a lot of little birdies!

Lots and lots of little migratory song birds on their way to Peru.

We are now in Mancora, Peru and enjoying the sunshine and beach. I have yet to surf but Mitch was up bright and early this morning to get in a session before the crowd. Soon off to Cusco for Machu Picchu!