Montanita

So we left Quito two nights ago. We took a night bus to Guayaquil and then an early morning bus to this really awesome town called Montanita. This place reminds me of  OB. Tons of  "shitties", as Theo calls them, but here they are actually productive members of society, all artisans and craptspeople making beautiful jewelery. I couldn´t help but buy about 4 necklaces of amazing wrapped stones, not wrapped in traditional metal, but rather in hemp. so cool. The one I bought has a small, oval shaped quartz cluster in it.

This town has some charm, i might say. Pretty much every storefront is topped with a hostel with balconies drapped in hammocks. Its one of the few places in Equador where their expectations of vertical expansion has actually fullfilled itself, and the buildings look unusually tall, rickety and somewhat¨"Seusical" . But that all adds to the charm of the place. The only problem is that the bars don´t close until 6 am and the construction begins at 10. There are limited hours of sleep available in a town like this.

Its really safe feeling here, too, becuase the town has thrived on backpacking tourism. The townies appreciate the business from north americans and europeans. In Banos, for instance, they were so grateful, they had painted a mural paying tribute to their light-skinned and light eyed patrons and their dolla bill$$. Every person in the mural had blond hair and blue eyes.

The beach is one of the most beautiful I´ve seen here. Dark sand, strewn with colorful stones. So much nicer than Atacames.