¿What is Montañita?

I came down with my first stomach flu on Sunday. After a day of eating and drinking nothing but tea and water, I recovered. Due to my sickness I was not able to start volunteering or surf on Monday, but things have been worse. I did not start working in the school until Thursday because of logistical reasons, and I'll write about it in my next blog.

A couple of people have asked me to write about where I am living. Montañita is a small surfing town on the coast of Ecuador. Everything is at most 5 minutes away from everything else. I live 3 minutes walking from the ocean, and my Spanish school is on the way there. Around a thousand locals live in the vicinity, and the closest city, La Libertad, is an hour and a half away. I am constantly surprised by what Montañita does not sell- most food items, books, watches, and light bulbs. Locals are constantly taking the public bus to go to La Libertad for their grocery run. The town is a strange mix of locals that live off of the sea, international tourists on the weekends (mostly from South America), and a couple washed up hippies that are growing their dreads, walking around barefoot, and selling their crafts.

As I said in my last blog, mi madre runs a laundromat out of the kitchen. Yesterday, I made some advertisements for her to put in the Spanish school and around some of the local hostels. The family seemed really excited about the advertisements, and I spent 10 minutes before dinner explaining to them what it said. I have attached in in my email for those that are interested.

Other than that, I have been hanging out a lot with the Spanish instructors. They only speak Spanish, are all female, and are very affluent compared to their peers. They have been a fun group to hang out with. One took me surfing to a different beach yesterday, and we were the only people on the 2 mile long beach!

Hasta Luego.