Bahia de Caraquez/Manta/Pto.Lopez/Montañita/Guayaquil

I've been lagging hard with this blog, my apologies. The past few days have been great and I've been struggling to find time to type on my phone and be antisocial.

From Chone to Bahia de Caraquez was a brutally hot ride. The mixture of that hellish sun and jungle humidity is the perfect recipe for dehydration and severe sunburns. Getting in to Bahia is pretty nice, there's a really long bridge that connects two small towns and the view is nice. I looked down and there was a turtle eating jellyfish, not expecting that.

I stayed at two hostels, Tropical hostel and coco-something. The first one sucked, it was so fucking hot and mosquitoes everywhere. The stupid fan had the blades inverted or something because it wasn't doing shit. I got out of there next day with no sleep. The second hostel was way, way nicer and about the same price. It had a bar/restaurant at the entrance and the staff was pretty cool, owner was a bit of a dick to his employees. I met some cool Danish girls and we went out to get some food and beers a few times. It was honestly eye opening how well travelled, mature and eloquent these 20yr olds are. I guess that's what happens when you have like 2 months a year of PTO to travel and a great social system. One of the girls said she was meeting a local military dude for a date, they had been talking previously. I was kinda concerned for her safety and asked if she wanted me to tag along just on the way there, she looked at me like I was an idiot, fair enough. 

On to Manta, it rained the whole time I was there, hostal was leaking, expensive, lots of traffic and the North entrance to the city smells like shit, I think its from the fish processing plants, that's about it. I heard the beaches were nice but I didn't see them.

I strongly suggest Puerto Lopez, small party town with really nice beaches and a cool little island off the coast. There are a lot of activities in case you don't like drinking beer by yourself like I do. Tons of biking/hiking trails, diving, coastal exploration by the rocks etc. I tried camping at the beach nearby, it was friggin' HOT and there are tons of mosquitoes as well. I didn't like leaving my bike outside on a beach, too many drunkards and sketchy people roaming at night. The next night I stayed at a hostel to the north end of the beach front street, I forgot the name but it's Portuguese. Hands down one of the best hostals I've stayed in so far.

 Montañita can be summed up pretty quickly. Drugs, party, women, Billabong-clad surfers with really long torso/short legs and Argentinians. Holy shit 90% of the people here are from Argentina, the street performers, hostel owners, hostel people, employees, everyone! To be honest I felt too old for that vibe. They sell weed brownies openly on the streets, smoke weed in front of the 5-0's and just are in a constant state of fuckedupness. The town itself is nice and the beaches too but the whole vibe isn't really for me. If you like getting shitfaced go to Montañita, 24/7 party boludooo!

I'm currently in Guayaquil, I recommend the area around las Peñas. Its a mixture of colonial and very modern architecture. The "boardwalk" by the river is a pretty nice walk. The surrounding areas are PACKED with cops that look like they're ready to fuck shit up but at the same time are extremely friendly and helpful with foreigners and locals. I'd say it's amongst the safest places I've been to. I met a random South African lady, probably late 40's, she was asking for money. She had a bit of a whacky story about her passport being stolen and other misfortunes, my gut told me she was just zonked out on drugs and ended up homeless. Hope she's ok. 

The walk up the 400+ steps to the lighthouse is nice, the view is spectacular and there are bars along the steps so you can get hammered for really cheap and tumble down the steps for extra adventure. I like how they managed to integrate this attraction/monument into this area where people live in, it kinda' feels like invasion of privacy but the good kind. The locals were happy to show me around their homes. 

To Bahia de Caraquez

Bahia de Caraquez

Tent drying in Bahia

North Manta

Manta Boatyard

Towards Pto.Lopez

Lots of scissortail albatross

Don't remember

After a hill

Hostel in Pto.Lopez

Lux Aurum Montañita

Montañita

I

This is a club...I'm scared.

Alcatraz club in montañita

This gets busy

Classy part in Montañita

Stoned canine

Barrio las Peñas in Guayaquil

Lighthouse after about 500 stairs

Church up there