Driving Out to Montañita and the First Days
Our flight from Quito was an hour late. We arrived in Guayaquil with only 20 minutes to catch the bus to Montañita. We got our bags and jumped a taxi to the Terrestre station with 10 minutes to spare. The Taxi drive conveyed that we wouldn’t make it and that he would drive us for $100.
I hadn’t done my homework. I had no backup plan for Guayaquil if we didn’t catch that bus and the size of the city was daunting to say the least.
The station was was a massive 3 story shopping mall with a huge number of alleys leading to the various bus lines that spread out through Ecuador from the city.
I managed to get the gist of where I needed to be from a cop. Noah and I moved swiftly through the mall and found the window. A greasy looking dude started talking to us telling us we missed the bus and pointing at his phone. He tried to convince us that we should go with him for $100 dollars (and our lives). I told him to go away and focused on the bus. The Guy told us we missed it and I thought for a moment about the next step. Do I find a place in Guayaquil to stay the night or do I choke down the $80 – $100 bucks and pay for a Taxi.
I looked to my side there were two backpackers who were also in the process of realizing they missed the bus and were wondering what to do. I introduced us and asked what their backup plan was. Neither had one and I suggested we look at splitting a taxi together.
Within minutes we were setting out as the greasy dude eyed us up and down. We walked out and a smiling 50 something Taxi driver asked if we needed a ride. We said Montañita and he beamed “Si”. He offered to drive us for $70 which was $10 – $30 cheaper than I had seen online or what anyone had offered so far.
His friends were smiling and commenting on his obvious good fortune to get a carload of Tourists to take to Montañita.
Noah rode upfront and would occasionally ask the driver the words for things in spanish. The drive was happy to play this game and throughout the drive he would occasionally point out the window at things and say their names.
I think this may have been the first big eye opener for Noah on what things are like in Latin America. Quito was still so clean and refined compared to what the roads and ditches of Guayaquil were like. Littered with debris and piles of refuse, the occasional dead bloated dog and the fields of Plantains that sprung up as we sped past the rough dwellings along the road.
We came to the Pacific Ocean around sunset and for the first time in a long while I looked out onto the ocean and felt a wave of emotion as I was reunited with an old friend.
Montañita did not disappoint
The Pueblo is pretty amazing. The combination of Thatched roof, tin roof, roof concrete, bamboo and a cacophony of lights and competing music from live bands and discoteca’s was amazing. Noah I walked around the town that first night in awe as street vendors sold Empanada’s and jewelry.
