Montañita Redux

Visiting Ecuador again has been a blast. Just seeing the city and visiting my host family brings back so many good memories of my first time here. I´ve been staying with my host uncle´s family in their small Villa in a gated community on the outskirts of town and hanging out quite a bit with my host uncle´s son. This past weekend we decided to make a trip to Montañita, that fabled town of endless beach, hippys and dancing late into the night. Upon arrival I was surprised to see how much the little town had changed in two years. It had grown to about double the size it had been and many of the hostals had been newly renovated and expanded. Where just two years ago the town had the reputation for being a getaway for hippys (read drug addicts according to my host family), today one finds police patrolling every street on foot and motorcycle. For everything that has changed, more has stayed the same. The hippys were still there, (although their drug trade was by necessity not so explicit), the ceviche still upset my stomach and the bump and grind of the discos still lasted well into the wee hours of the morning.