ECUADOR, LA VIDA FANTASTICA

Inbox full of messages touting foreign countries where the living is easy, beautifully exotic, breathtaking views...all at a fraction of the cost of most other places, especially where you are living now; does any of this ring a bell with you? Well, it had been pounded into my brain for so long that extensive internet searches were conducted. Endless pages of material on various countries examined until it jumped off the page and smacked me right in the face. Infected me with the desire to explore the alleged paradise at any cost, to become one with the world around me?? Nope, but it did give me the brilliant idea of possibly retiring to a more affordable, slower paced and exotically beautiful beach town. Ecuador thusly became the mainstay of all thoughts and all actions were geared toward that end. With that in mind, let's go!

Searching for affordable flights from Miami/Ft. Lauderdale/West Palm Beach, Florida proved exhausting, but it was done about 2 weeks prior to our departure on June 7th, 2006 @ 0750 hours, Miami-Panama-Guayquil, Ecuador. Sluggishly, up at 4 in order to finalize preparations and be at the airport 2 hours prior to departure. 2.5 hours early, the scurry to check-in and the security checks and at the gate 30 minutes prior to departure. Unfortuantely, row 25, port side, the very last aisle. Seats in this row don't recline, the leg space is less than any other row, and of course the passengers in front insisted on reclining their seats. Isn't that the way it always seems to be? Almost three hours later, Panama was a relief. Once the legs were finally unfolded and stretched a bit, it was off to immigration and customs for the Panamanian government. Then to our next gate for another 30 minute wait. This time, Exit row seats with leg room and comfort. Oh yes, stretch those legs, tilt that seat back..make yourself at home for the next 2 hours. Nap time...ZZZZZZ....ZZZZZZ.....ZZZZZZ!

Next stop Guayaquil (pronounced: goo eyeah kill), the first stop in the Ecuadorian adventure. A car was reserved through Hertz. It was a great little low profile economy car (Charade) with a 5-speed manual shift. The intent here was to make our way to the southern coast of the Guaya province, Salinas, then take the coastal road the 140 kilomters to our destination of Montanita. Fat chance of that happening. Traffic in Guayaquil was chaos. No marked lanes on the roads, no sense of order at all! All you hear are horn toots and here comes someone cutting in front of you. No road signs, making things a challenge to say the least, and the wild drivers were both to blame for missing our turn and ending up going north rather than southwest (have to blame something other than self, you know). At any rate, we ended up north of our destination almost 100 kilometers. So, we finally found the coastal road and began making our way south. Hunger and fatigue won, so it was time to stop. In a small fishing village, Machililla (mock ill eee ya), we found a hotel on the beach with two beds and private bath for $8 each. The inn keeper saw us driving around looking at the area and ran into the street to get us to stay at the Hotel Machililla. How could we say no! So off to our rooms to unload our bags. Expressing that we were hungry, Jose took us across the street to the restaurant where we dined on grilled shrimp (lots of them), rice, potatoes and fried green bananas...get this.. $6 bucks each.

From the balcony down the beach in Machililla

Straight out from the balcony of the Hotel Machililla

The table and restaurant in Machililla where we had dinner

Up the beach in Machililla


From here, it was on toward Montanita. The road was quite easy to drive the. coastal highway providing many photo ops, but we waited until Puerto Lopez. This is a small village noted for "whale watching". It seems these guys come here annually (June-November) to mate! It was in a guide book that we learned of this terrific spot and the Hotel Mandala where, by the way, we found great cabins, the individual kind with a private bath and HOT water unlike the Hotel Machililla which gave me the huge wake up with the "cold" water only showers..yeow! The food here was also tasty and offered a good variety. Cost was a tad more but reasonable none the less. $24 each night ($12 each person) plus food and taxes. $6-8 dinners....unbelievable but true.

Path to our cabin at the Hotel Mandala

The Caballito del Mar cabin (Sea Horse)

Two twin beds with mosquito nets (we didn't need them) in our little cabin

The front door to our cabin with the bathroom at the back

These cabins were set within a jungle-like garden with small crushed shell pathways to each one. The vegetation was lush and in bloom, my favorite being the Angel Trumpets. They were everywhere and various colors as well.