My nephew Joe is taking an international studies course in Ecuador. Here’s his latest message.From: Joe
Sent: Wednesday, December 17 2003 06:48:22
Subject: Montanita
nHello again friends,
Classes are winding down here. I have one more final and then I’m free from this terrible university. I guess I shouldn’t complain, we did take some amazing trips with my classes and got to see Ecuador in a way that would be impossible for just any tourist.
Speaking of seeing Ecuador, last weekend I had the amazing luck of being able to go to Montanita, a little beach town just above Guayaquil, peopled entirely by hippies. Basically, Montanita is a surfer town, but actually not terribly popular with tourists, either because it isn’t well known, or possibly because the waves are so freakin’ huge that they verge on dangerous. Anyway, my group of about 7 friends and myself headed down, taking a bus 8 hours through the night. After being stuck in Quito for so long, it was amazing to see bright blue waters and smell the salt water washing up on shore. After finding our hotel we ran straight to the beach and swam the day away.
While the swimming and the beach were awesome, there was an even cooler part. After walking north about 10 minutes you come to this rocky point that looks like it was created by a lava flow. Walking around this point for about 15 minutes on painfully sharp rocks (my sandals had broken earlier in the day) you arrive at a little rock that juts out a bit further than the rest. If you walk up onto this rock, the waves rush at the “mini-cliff” in front of you and break in huge walls of water that come crashing down on top of you. I have never felt the pure power of the ocean so much in all my life. When I brought people back to the spot I had found, Corinne got so excited that she ran up without me being able to warn her about the waves. Well, sure enough a large one came as she was walking out there and knocked her flat. Honestly, it looked like she was flying. I ran over and looked down at her, and she was lying there just smiling. That’s how amazing this place was.
Anyway, I could go on and on about Montanita. Let’s just say it was my favorite single spot in all of Ecuador.
I hope everything is well with all of you, and that you are all having equally amazing experiences.
Love always,
Joe
Sent: Wednesday, December 17 2003 06:48:22
Subject: Montanita
nHello again friends,
Classes are winding down here. I have one more final and then I’m free from this terrible university. I guess I shouldn’t complain, we did take some amazing trips with my classes and got to see Ecuador in a way that would be impossible for just any tourist.
Speaking of seeing Ecuador, last weekend I had the amazing luck of being able to go to Montanita, a little beach town just above Guayaquil, peopled entirely by hippies. Basically, Montanita is a surfer town, but actually not terribly popular with tourists, either because it isn’t well known, or possibly because the waves are so freakin’ huge that they verge on dangerous. Anyway, my group of about 7 friends and myself headed down, taking a bus 8 hours through the night. After being stuck in Quito for so long, it was amazing to see bright blue waters and smell the salt water washing up on shore. After finding our hotel we ran straight to the beach and swam the day away.
While the swimming and the beach were awesome, there was an even cooler part. After walking north about 10 minutes you come to this rocky point that looks like it was created by a lava flow. Walking around this point for about 15 minutes on painfully sharp rocks (my sandals had broken earlier in the day) you arrive at a little rock that juts out a bit further than the rest. If you walk up onto this rock, the waves rush at the “mini-cliff” in front of you and break in huge walls of water that come crashing down on top of you. I have never felt the pure power of the ocean so much in all my life. When I brought people back to the spot I had found, Corinne got so excited that she ran up without me being able to warn her about the waves. Well, sure enough a large one came as she was walking out there and knocked her flat. Honestly, it looked like she was flying. I ran over and looked down at her, and she was lying there just smiling. That’s how amazing this place was.
Anyway, I could go on and on about Montanita. Let’s just say it was my favorite single spot in all of Ecuador.
I hope everything is well with all of you, and that you are all having equally amazing experiences.
Love always,
Joe
