Montanita

Breakfast had improved to a cheese toasty yesterday and today was a cheese croissant - I think the breakfast lady likes us! We are easy customers turning down the ubiquitous eggs which South Americans seem to think constitute an American breakfast.

We checked out and grabbed a taxi to the bus terminal with a crazy man - once he discovered we could speak some Spanish he didn't shut up, giving us a tour of the city, gesturing wildly and turning round frequently to chat to us. Luckily we arrived in one piece despite a narrow miss with a car swerving across 4 lanes right in front of us to make a slip road.

We took the 1pm bus (CLP, $6) which took 3 hours to get to Montanita, a small surfy town up the coast. We checked into Hostal Galeria Hurvinek ($38) and then went for a wander to see if there was somewhere nicer that wasn't listed on bookings.com. After checking out several options we decided on one that had a sea view and put down a deposit for the next day. To try and make up for Guayaquil's unhealthy eating we had a huge fruit smoothie to inject some vitamins into us ($2 each).

As we wandered out to dinner, a ton of motorbikes and then cars came shooting into town, some were types of floats on the back of pick-ups. A Columbian man came over to tell us they go up and down the coast every 2 weeks but he has no idea why.

Dinner was at Tiki Limbo ($22), a very popular place with an extensive menu. The place was packed with Americans, mainly young girls who made us feel drab in our backpacking rags. I chose falafel and Anna had sesame shrimp, which she made me try - both were huge and delicious.Okumaya devam et