Montañita is a typical surfer town, quite popular with backpackers but also with young South Americans coming for holidays or for the weekend to party and surf. I wasn't sure if I'd love it but thought for New Years why not?! And Montañita seemed to be the place where everyone I met along the way was heading for New Years as well. I'm usually not bothered with New Years but the stories of the beach parties and crazy surfing traditions at midnight appealed. The main one I had heard about being at midnight on New Years where all the surfers run to the beach with their boards, chant in a circle and run into the water to catch the first wave of the new year...in the dark.drunk.hundreds of them! SAFE. I was also getting to the stage where I wanted to stay somewhere for more than the standard 3-4 nights. I randomly stumbled across a blog writing about the small town of Mongloralto, about 3km South from Montañita. The couple who wrote the blog had stayed in a locally owned lodge the owner Luis had an organic farm and a lovely courtyard with outdoor kitchen. I had emailed Luis back while I was in Quito and he gave me a really good deal for a double private room for seven nights. Seeing as most of the dorm rooms in Montañita were booked and the remaining were really pricey I booked it straight away! Luis also didn't seem to mind my friend Hannah coming to stay in the room for three nights over New Years. When we arrived in the sleepy town of Mongloralto and at Tagua lodge I was really happy, it was so quiet with only three other rooms, Luis, his girlfriend and their one eyed cat. It was also a luxury to be able to unpack and actually hang clothes up! Funny how quick you become accustomed living out of a backpack full of creased clothes.
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| Tagua lodge kitchen |
That afternoon Hannah and I walked into Montañita along the beach, stopping off at a hostel called Kamala about five minutes from mine to see a friend Hazel who had been volunteering there. It was a really cool place, backing onto the beach with a pool, table tennis, pool and volley ball. Three of us then strolled the rest of the way into town to Amy's hostel where we stayed and had a few drinks, meeting the people that were in her hostel. We also went and got some food in one of the hundreds of places lining the crowded streets. I went to one of the local street food places and took advantage of being beside the sea, getting grilled fish, salad, plantain and the biggest side of rice and beans for $5.
The next day, New Year's Eve, we had a day on the beach, body surfing/getting knocked out by waves and getting geared up for the night. Later that night after getting ready for the celebrations Hannah and I headed back to Maoi hostel and met the others and had a few drinks and of course the obligatory game of 'ring of fire'. We headed down to the beach at about 10.30 which was already crowded full of people drinking and dancing. There was no official countdown but at midnight what can only be described as absolutely treacherous, amazing carnage broke out! Indeed hundreds of surfers flooded the already packed beach with their surfboards, chanting messily in a circle before sprinting for the pitch black sea, there were thousands of fireworks going off all along the beach, they were being thrown everywhere. Random bonfires were being lit everywhere with people running around them and jumping through them along with everyone hugging and shouting a mix of 'happy new year' and 'Feliz año' in Spanish. At about 1am we headed to a club called Caña grill and somehow managed to get into the jammed bar where danced there until the early hours....best New Years in a long time.
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| New Years pre celebrations |
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| Live drummers |
On New Year's Day we went to a pool party a friend had told us about in Kamala hostel. It was a pretty chilled out affair actually with a DJ playing, volleyball, card games and swimming in the sea. We wandered onto the beach at about 6pm and watched the first sunset of 2017 on the beach with everyone and after five of us went for an impromptu meal on the beach which turned out to be pretty special. It was a local little kitchen on the beach. I actually think they were closing up but when we asked if they could feed five, the man there said his mum could make us fish, rice, plantain and salad for $4 each. When we agreed he pulled a table and chairs out under a small cabaña in the middle of the deserted beach and we ate the fresh fish with big beers while listening to reggae and local regatone. We went back and had a few more drinks before calling it a night after our first day of 2017.
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| New Year's Day sunset and beach dinner |
The next day we had planned to go to Isla de la Plata (the poor mans Galapagos) for a day trip. I knew when I woke up the next morning I wasn't well but decided to brace the walk into Montanita to see if I got any better. By the time I got into town I knew it wasnt just a hangover and I retired to bed for the rest of the day....thanking god had a private room! By 7pm I had managed to keep down a Powerade and 7 crackers. Random tummy bug, we established it wasn't the lovely fish on the beach as no one else had got sick.
The next day feeling slightly fresher we went for round two of the island. Five of us took the hour bus journey from Montanita to Puerto Lopez at 7.15am costing $2.50. The others had already booked a tour so I tagged along. We paid $35 for a full day including lunch. The boat journey took an hour out to the island where we then did an hour long trail around Isla de la Plata with our guide who knew everything about all the birds and animals inhabiting the island. We saw lots of blue and white footed boogies with their babies, 3cm large hummingbirds, storks and lots of other birds. The island was very dry with not much....and the heat was almost unbearable but the scenery and the birds were worth lathering on the factor 50 for. After the hour long walk we were all ready for some food and snorkelling. We got back on our 'amazing' boat and had some sandwiches and fresh fruit for lunch before heading to the snorkelling spot around the back of the island. Snorkelling was definitely the highlight, luckily we were one of the first boats there. Our guide came snorkelling too and swam with us pointing out the sea turtles, starfish, sting rays, many beautiful fish and eels. It was hands down the best snorkelling of the trip so far.
Eimear and Kirsty arrived later that day and it was great to hear about their real Galapagos trip! The next three days consisted of swimming and sunbathing, eating fro yo, recovering from New Years and the tummy bug and unfortunately saying goodbye to Amy, Riley, Michelle and Hannah as we all parted ways however with plans to meet back up in Asia in a few months time.
Next Stop : Mancora, Peru
Food/Drink: street food - burgers, marinated chicken kebabs, local fish, rice, beans and plantain. Frozen yoghurt! You can get pretty much any type of food in Mancora. Kamala hostel for drinks on New Year's Day. Caña grill on New Years night.
Stayed: Tagua Lodge, Mongloralto. A quiet, locally owned place with a few private rooms about 3km outside of Montañita.
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