After the Galapagos, Rogers and I decided to fly into Guayaquil and catch a bus to the beach town of Montañita to meet up with my friend Sam from high school. Montañita is a very chill surf town, where people come for a week and stay for years. The surf is the best in Ecuador and the town hosts an huge international surf competition every year. What better spot for me to learn how to surf?! I took a lesson and was doing quite well on a longboard. After the morning surf session, however, I became a little too cocky and traded the longboard in for a shorter board (it was still close to 8 feet tall!) and paddled out in search of bigger waves. This proved to be a painful and humiliating mistake, though it was a badly needed reality check.
Montañita also proved to be an ideal location for my first paragliding experience. The flight was exhilarating and the view of the beach and surf was stunning. If I could have spent more time in Montañita, I would have definitely taken a paragliding course to become certified to fly solo. Hopefully, I will have more opportunities to paraglide in the future.
The tail end of our time in Montañita also happened to coincide with Carnaval. By Friday, the town had been invaded by thousands of tourists (mostly Ecuadorians, Chileans, Argentinians) looking to go crazy for Carnaval, and the town itself was transformed from a sleepy surf town to a raging, non-stop beach party. Well, it wasn´t that crazy, but it was still the most fun I´ve had partying in a long time.
Montañita also proved to be an ideal location for my first paragliding experience. The flight was exhilarating and the view of the beach and surf was stunning. If I could have spent more time in Montañita, I would have definitely taken a paragliding course to become certified to fly solo. Hopefully, I will have more opportunities to paraglide in the future.
The tail end of our time in Montañita also happened to coincide with Carnaval. By Friday, the town had been invaded by thousands of tourists (mostly Ecuadorians, Chileans, Argentinians) looking to go crazy for Carnaval, and the town itself was transformed from a sleepy surf town to a raging, non-stop beach party. Well, it wasn´t that crazy, but it was still the most fun I´ve had partying in a long time.
View of the point from a trail above the town. The small foothills behind the town were interlaced with dirt roads and hiking paths ideal for trail running.
Flying high.
My shoes.
Montañita had some absolutely stunning sunsets.
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