Montanita: Little Mountain

Ah, yes, Montanita. This is the first place I visited outside of Guayaquil when I was in Ecuador. A group of the American volunteers took a bus down there, and stayed our first weekend. Montanita is not like any other beach I've experienced. It is not commercialized. There was no sun, ever. It was a meeting place for international travelers to go and party, surf, dance, and mingle with other travelers.
This is the only beach I've ever been to where I was able to walk for five minutes and be the only person in sight. This is the only seaside location I've been to without enormous hotels towering above and without having to fight with young children over a sea shell.

Montanita has one little strip of bars/restaurants with hostels towering above. The diversity in this short piece of dirt road is astonishing. There's an Israeli hostel, "Hola Ola" with its fresh mojitos and the most flavorful falafel known to man. There's a little English cafe, with bread and butter and hot tea. Argentina, Germany, Thailand, Venezuela, and the list goes on of each country represented by food, beverage, and beds. I loved this little town, with it's melting pot filled with love and respect and enjoying the presence of others in a place so simple and free.

One thing I loved about Ecuador is their method for drinking beer. I dubbed it drinking "Ecua-style". Pilsner, their local beer (similar to our Bud Light), came in a 20 ounce bottle. You could by an entire crate, but rather than each person have their own, you share each one and drink the beer out of small plastic cups. It's such a miniscule gesture, but it changes the meaning of "drinking socially." Not to mention, you drink a lot slower.

 

Hammocks Everywhere!!

Surfing is not my sport.

There will be a lot of talk about Montanita, as the excerpts continue on. Montanita became my focal point for freedom. I could think in Montanita. I could feel in Montanita. I could dance, and sing, and dip my head under the salty waters and drown all of it out. Montanita is one place in the world that made me feel absolutely and utterly free; free to love people, and free to love myself.