Montañita

This past weekend I took a trip to the town of Montañita on the coast with my American friends. All of our families had warned us that it would be cold but none of us believed them because we thought that the Ecuadorians clearly had a different scale for heat than we did. It was an adventure from the start. We thought we´d get a cab but realized that none came to the area we were in and instead had to hop on a bus with the guy hanging out the door announcing ¨Terminal, Terminal¨where we were headed. After bumbling our way through the bus terminal and finding $5 tickets to Montañita we enjoyed the onboard movie El Hombre Cero Cero Siete or more commonly known as 007.

We were in for quite a surprise on arrival. It was cold. The wind off the ocean and the dark was enough to make us all reach for longsleeve shirts (of course only to find I didn´t bring one..). We found a place off the main drag to stay the night for $2. It was rustic to say the least. (Hopefully I´ll figure out how to post photos soon)


The next day it was overcaste but the water wasn´t cold and the waves were plenty big for some great body surfing. I don´t think I got any color though. I tried my first Ceviche Mixto which is a dish of fresh seafood and green onions ´cooked´over lemon. Johnny, our director at UEES had warned us about the bacteria and parasites in the food here, but what would be the excitement of listening to him? Well, I´m paying for it...

We had a great time, and I was glad to get to know the other students better. We have a lot to talk about and it was good to escape from all the Spanish for a bit.