Surf's Up

There’s just something about the seaside, isn’t there? Despite the accumulation of sand in every possible orifice, annoying bugs that seem to irritate only YOU and the dodgy smell of sea flora during tide-outs when exposed to the sun, ye gotta just love being by the sea.

So, we arrived in Montanita on Ecuador’s Pacific Coast last night at about 6.30pm, after a 6-hour trip from Riobamba via Guayaquil. Guayaquil, from what I saw from the window of the bus is f*cking  huge, and the bus terminal is nearly as big as an airport. Buses drive in and out of there at the rate similar to worker bees to and from a hive. Buses to all Ecuadorean and some international destinations can be sourced there.

We had preliminarily picked out a hostel, Hostal Pakaloro in the town centre; it seemed nice and had a decent off-peak season rate of $10 per person. But, thinking that the noise of the town at night might drive us prematurely insane, we decided to have a walk around. A sweaty walk around with a 45L bag on my back that was…… we ventured slightly further down the road and found a quieter spot for $8.

The hostels here seem to be a different breed altogether from city hostels and hostels in the sierra (mountainous regions). Here they’re all wattle and daub walls, thatched roves or reed roves and the general feeling of itchiness in your hair. And the prices? Some are dirt cheap, around $7 and up for basically living in a glorified shed with the added bonus of spiders and some then brand themselves as “eco” hostels and “yoga retreats”, charging up to $75 per room per night (including breakfast and dinner) but are basically snobby hippy communities, probably with stinking compositing toilets “so you don’t pollute, man”. Bullsh*t; just full of 40+ early retirees with unshaven faces / legs, hair matted worse than a shitty-arsed sheep who just can’t let go of the ethos of the swinging 60s and having a joint for breakfast.

After one night in our $8 shack, Hostal Maui, we bailed due to lack of promised WIFI and a very septic-looking fridge in the communal kitchen. We returned to the Pakaloro place and bargained them down to $8 for a sea view room, due to the fact that they seem to be banging through all supporting walls in the floor below us, so there IS a chance we might die……I think we deserve a discount………