Finally on the coast!

We had a lovely 11 hour bus ride with 2 transfers to get to Montañita. Bad time to travel as it was the last day of carnaval and people were all wanting to leave at the same time. The bus was packed and the highways were even more packed. But we had a bus driver on a mission and we zoomed past everyone, he passed on blind corners. Made me feel really safe. Good thing I took some gravol and was able to fall asleep for a while. I woke up and realized people were sleeping in the aisles on the bus. Reminded me a bit of India actually.
We arrived in Guayaquil around 3:45 Am and had enough time to use the washroom and jump on a 4 AM bus to Santa Elena and from there to Montañita. We got here quite early, people weren´t even awake yet, but we wandered around looking for a hotel that was open so we could have a nap and get rid of our backpacks. It seemed that everywhere we looked was full though because of Carnaval, but we finally found a place, had a nap and a shower and hit the beach! It is soooo hot here! Quite a difference from the mountains. Tuesday was the first day we didn´t need to wear our sweaters and jackets, but man are we sweating......It has been quite a temperature change from the mountains. It was likely give or take about 12-15 degrees on average most days. We still did manage to get sunburnt in Baños though. Chris is peeling quite badly!
Anyways, that night we went to bed early as we were tired from our night bus ride. As we walked back to our hotel we noticed the disco-bar was under our room. We were on the 3rd floor. Pumping out dance music. Good thing for earplugs, we fell asleep no problem, or just maybe good thing we were damn tired! I woke up with an itchy leg around 2AM and realized I was scratching a cockroach. I tell you though, I am braver than last year, I killed it and went back to bed! That is acually the first one I have seen all trip and I think it was a flying one ( if there is such a thing) cause we slept with the window open. Well, until I saw the cockroach that is!!

Wednesday we decided to leave for the day to a nearby town (5 minutes north) What a difference that was, from about 200 people on the beach to 2 (Us!) We stayed there that morning and then in the afternoon went 5 minutes south of Montañita. It was more a local tourist beach, but there were still only about 20 people. Chris had some shrimp for lunch and we relaxed there for the day. What a tough life!

Today we woke up to rain. I found a coffee place that had a decent coffee. Its funny, we are in a country that grows coffee and borders Colombia, the country of Juan Valdez, and when I order coffee with milk I get a cup of hot milk and a bowl with instant coffee in it. Talk about discouraging! We shared a taxi with a couple from Montreal to Puerto Lopez, 1 hour north. It is way more our style. Way fewer tourists here. We got here and all the power was out though. Chris was certainly worried he wouldn´t find a cold beer for hours!(he eventually did!) And I had the best blackberry juice ever. Fresh squeezed goodness!!! I think its the reason I came here...... I might just miss that more than anything when I go home. I would have to buy loads of costco blackberries to make juice that thick and delicious!
We were approached by a man today about a tour we will most likely do tomorrow. He assures us his name is Winston Churchill. Not sure i believe that, but he had some books of positive comments from people so we might go along with him! Its a boat trip to an island, snorkelling, fishing, and lunch. Its the poor man´s Galopogos since it doesn´t look like we will make it to the real islands. I fly home in a week tomorrow already. Wow, thats gone by fast.

Well, poor Chris is all alone in the hotel room. Likely watching spanish TV since I have abandoned him to blog! I better go keep him company. Hopefully he will blog again soon for your entertainment! Talk to you all soon! Hope its not too cold at home!