Montanita, Ecuador or Hippie-Vegas as Leah coined it is a small party and surf town on the coast of Ecuador. It is busting at the seems with restaurants, hotels, and bars. Most of them owned and operated by expatriots from the US, Canada, and Europe.
The town was devoid of any cultural significance. However, there were lots of places to have a good time. Leah called it the “Hippie Vegas” because hippies had taken over completely.
While traveling, we’ve seen a lot of traveling hippies selling jewelry on the streets. Their product is always interesting and usually high quality. Usually the necklaces are metal twisted in some interesting pattern or hemp tied in intricate knots around semi-precious stones. Montanita was apparently their mecca. Atleast half the people we saw had long dreds and were selling jewerly on the streets.
Travelling hippies also juggle, fire dance, make music, and paint. So there is never a shortage of entertaining street performances in Montanita.
Also, we ran across a friend we met a while ago in Bolivia. It was fun exchanging stories, pictures, and going out together.
While there we had some AMAZING grilled plantains with little slices of mild cheese in the middle.
All in all Montanita was a great little town to relax, sit on the beach, meet interesting people and take a break from moving around for a while.
I Love this picture of Leah
Abandoned Playground
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