Journey:

This was meant to be a 4 hour journey but instead only took 3 hours (the first time a journey was faster than it was meant to be so we were very surprised.) It cost $6 each and our bus was virtually empty. A very simple journey.

Accommodation:

Hotel Hurvinek. We had originally gone for a different hostel but it was a lot further from the centre so we cancelled and changed to this one. This location was perfect, still in the centre of the town but far enough away from the clubs/bars area that you could get some sleep. It was also really nice and clean (although whenever we stay somewhere for longer than a day we manage to make the room look as big a mess as possible.) Only bad thing was that the beds were really hard. It almost felt like sleeping on the floor. Although, this is apparently meant to be better for your back (?) and I was kind of used to it by the end of our 5 nights.

Sights/activities:

Surfing

The town is known for being the best surf spot in Ecuador, and the obsessive surfer was thrilled to finally be able to surf. (I mean he had dragged his boards around the whole of Colombia and half of Ecuador now without having much luck so he had earned a few waves.)

There are other surfing spots nearby but we were happy enough to stay at this beach. There are also lots of other activities available, but for us Montanita was a good place to relax for a while, it’s a very lazy little beach town (travelling gets tiring and you sometimes need a few days to recharge – honest!)

Food:

Almuerzos

Sticking to the set lunch menus is definitely he wisest (cheapest) option – you can easily find soup, a main meal, and a drink for $3. Don’t be fooled into eating on the Main Street it’s a definite tourist trap, with food sometimes over $10!

Fish and chips

There’s a decent little fish and chip shop where you can get a portion for $3.50 (although it’s definitely a small portion.)

Pancakes/crepes/juices/omelettes/toasties/fruit salads

Along one of the streets is a row of vendors selling the above range of food (for a maximum of $5.) There’s a huge range of different pancakes (and I tried a fair few of them – obviously), but I think my favourite was either nutella/banana (classic combo) or honey, lemon and sugar (and they are big portions too.)

Drinks:

Montanita is known to be a party town. We were there in low season so it was pretty quiet but still a lot of fun.

Cocktail street

Lining one street towards the beach on both sides are loads of street vendors selling a huge range of cocktails, normally for between $3-$5 per cocktail with very generous amounts of alcohol. The Banana Colada was my favourite by far. The Margarita on the other hand was very bad – I’m not sure if they quite understood that the salt is only meant to go around the edge of the cup and not in the actual drink – so it was a bit too much like sea water mixed with tequila, yummy.

Cana Grill

A really cool place with sand in the middle area so it felt very beachy (although it’s really hard to dance on sand as your feet feel really heavy.) There was also live music at the start of the evening, and recognisable tracks later on (something quite hard to come by in South America unless you’re a salsa music expert.)

Summary:

Our favourite place in Ecuador so far (apart from the amazon.) A very laidback beach town, and a nice place to do some surfing and recharge for a few days. Might not have quite the same relaxed state in high season (but I might be wrong), we really enjoyed it here.