MONTANITA

Just back from the bus ride from hell—2 hours in an uncomfortable seat squeezed next to a fat, stinky Ecuadorian on a bus with no suspension riding over old roads down the coast back from Montanita; and to add to the pleasure I had no open window nearby. This after doing the same thing 24 hours earlier on the way up to Montanita—home, I am told by every surfer I meet down here, to Ecuador’s best waves. Problem was there wasn’t any real swell, so good wave or not the surf was small but fun.
Upon arriving in Montanita Mike and I found a Hostal to stay at (2 beds in a small room with AC) on the beach. We dumped our things in the room and walked down the beach to the point at its north end where the main wave is—a right point break that peels off the cliff. The surf, as I said, was small and the waves were slow, but despite it I had a good time surfing the best-formed waves I’ve come across in Ecuador. After a couple hours the tide came up too much and the crowd was getting thick so I went in and finished the day reading on a seawall overlooking the beach. The day was capped off by a glorious sunset as a faded orange globe emerged from a cloudbank and disappeared into the grayish-blue sea below.
When I awoke this morning the sun was out and the sea was calm, with the surf even smaller than yesterday and the point even more crowded. Instead of grabbing my board I grabbed my book and read the morning hours away on the seawall, reliving Wanderer after too-long an absence. After breakfast we boarded the long bus back home, so to speak.
Maintenance work continues on Avventura, meanwhile, slower than I’d hoped, so our departure from Salinas is still a few days away at best. Till then it’s more work and surfing the small stuff Salinas has to offer.