más montañita, por favor

Just a heads up to you all, when I win the lottery, I am going to buy a house in Montañita, Ecuador. You're all invited to visit any time.

After a luxurious flight to Guayaquil Friday we grabbed a bumpy bus to Montañita, town of 1,000 people on the coast of southern Ecuador. The town is known officially for 2 things: tourism & surfing. It's also known unofficially for two things: hippies & marijuana.

To sum this town up: it smells like coconut, it sounds like Bob Marley, it feels like warm ocean breezes, it looks like rows of tiki-huts, and it feels like...total relaxation. The entire town has a relaxed surfer vibe, with everyone walking around in swimsuits and sarongs or laying in hammocks soaking up the sun.

Katie and I tried surfing the next day, and instead of taking a lesson we just grabbed a board and had our a Dutch friend we had met the night before show us the ropes. For those of you who think surfing is probably some easy sport anyone can do: you. are. wrong. It's incredibly easy to underestimate the power the ocean has...and not only is your body being rocked by the waves and undercurrent, the surfboard you are attatched to also is. Thus, when it goes flying, so do you! Especially when you are a 5'2'' girl. Once I got the hang of flipping the board over to go beneath the waves, it got much easier, and Joe helped me catch a bunch of waves! Unfortunately..(or maybe fortunately?) there are no pictures of me making a fool of myself on the ocean, so you'll have to do with a mental image.

ALSO: I managed not to see any sharks this week. (Kari Mickelson, I know you're happy to hear this)

The rest of the days blur together a lot, because they were mainly spent with our new Australian friends Shane and Steve getting fresh fruit for breakfast, spending the day at the beach, and going out for dinner and drinks.

One evening the 4 of us (Ashley was unfortunately sick at the hostel) went down to the beach to build a bonfire. We were all relaxing together when out of nowhere a group of about 15 locals decided to join. All were thoroughly drunk and on anywhere from 1-5 drugs I would guess. One started going on and on about Mother's day and about how important moms were, how beautiful the female body parts were, and how abortion was the worst thing in the world which led to a heated debate in Spanish with another local. I must say, never did I ever imagine my vacation would include a debate in Spanish about abortion between 2 drugged out hippies. Awesome.

Probably the best part of this place, besides the beach and perfect weather, would be the never-ending juice bars. There are all these tini tiki-like huts where for $1-2 you can get a huge blended juice drink with as many kinds of fresh fruit and alcohol as you please. They are all on one long road, and everyone sits around them on plastic chairs telling stories and dancing. The smaller ones normally just have one person and one blender, and one of them we went to had this crazy old man dancing as he made our smoothies. After he handed them out to us, he came around to each glass pouring more rum into each glass. My kinda guy. Yessss.

The only downside I could possibly find from the week would be the killer mosquitoes...And the allergic reaction to the itch-cream I used on them. Which I find slightly ironic. Itchiness made itchier. Eh, so my legs look like I have a slight case of leprosy. Minor price to pay for a week in heaven.

Hope you all are well & surviving finals.

Besos y Abrazos! (Please see following pictures for the YMCA...leaping on a beach in Ecuador style)