What and where?
Montañita was the first town on my trip, it’s located in the pacific coast of Ecuador. It’s a little beach town with just few streets and avenues (without names). Here you can experience ”the holiday feeling” because everyone is so relaxed, you can chill at the beach and savor the ocean and sunshine on your skin. You see people from all over the world, but also Ecuatorianos (Ecuadorian people) spending their weekends there. Most of the crowd is young. Good place for a holiday. Even though it’s so small that you can walk through it in just 5-10 minutes it has lots of things to offer like restaurants, bars, few surfboard stores, beautiful beach and great parties!
This pic is taken in our fave beach cafeteria where you can get good coffee, fresh juices and smoothies and of course wifi haha.
How to get there?
I took a direct bus to Montañita from Guayaquil. It costed $6 (they use USD in Ecuador) and it took maybe 2,5 hours to get there. I recommend you to take The CLP (Coop Liberdad Peninsular) ”the luxury bus”. It really was luxury compared to other bus lines that looked like hippie-busses, with all the colours and decorations. The CLP was like the long-distance busses I’ve used to in Finland.
What to do in Montañita?
Montañita is known for surfing (they are hosting many surfing contests in a year) and many people come there to learn how to surf -that’s what I did. Is there a better place to learn how to surf than in the warm waves of the pacific ocean? I actually managed to get on board in my first day, yaay! It’s so rewarding! And a good workout too, you can feel the excercise in your body in the next days for sure. I had booked my spanish classes and surfing classes together. Every day from monday to friday after spanish classes our surfing teachers took us to another beach ten minutes drive away from montañita to surf in a ”private” beach. It was good to surf there beacause everyone had more space to practice. Beach was quiet but beautiful. 
When you are in Montañita i recommend you to buy bracelets! There are so many options between color, size, model….I bought my fave Ecuadorian bracelets from Montañita. And beacause we are in Latin America it’s okay to bargain from the price. Spanish skills helps you ofc. I was even misunderstood for Chilean and Argentinian when bargain in spanish haha.
Where to learn spanish?
I studied in The Montañita spanish school, located five minutes away from the beach. I had group lessons from monday to friday in two parts, from 8am till 10am and from 1pm till 3pm. In the middle we had siesta (break because of the sun is so hot) and after classes we went surfing. In the first day we had to do placement test to see on what level you are. There were many different levels of groups with 4-6 persons in one group. Studying is laid-back. We had our classes either inside or outside in the garden. Few times we had our classes in the rooftop terrace, 180′ wiew to the ocean. I had booked my classes in advance but you can just walk in and book classes. You can choose spanish, spanish&surf, spanish&dive, spanish&salsa, spanish&yoga…whatever you like.
That’s the sign to the school (because like I said they have no street names) but that’s easy to notice because it’s placed in the main road where all the busses drive.
How to get to know people?
Montañita is very good place to make new friends because everybody there wants to socialize and get to know new people. I met my friends in the spanish school, at the surf classes, at the cabañas…When everyone there is in the holiday mood, it’s easy to make friends.
I met lovely people there and spend many great days with them. I almost started to cry when I had to say goodbye to them.
Where to stay?
My accomodation was a paradise just minutes walk away from the beach and everything in Montañita. It was a hostel called The Cabañas and we had a pool middle of the hostel area, just five meters away from our door. The hostel area was like a tropical paradise, with bamboo constructions and thatched roofs. Everyone had their own hammock in the front yard. They have like this big outside livingroom where all gather around in the evenings. In the nights we had our own guard at the main door of the hostel just in case which was cool. I can only recommend this hostel!
Where is the party?
No matter of what day of the week it is, there is always a party in Montañita. La calle de cocteles (coctail street) is the place where all the parties and evenings start. Drinks are delicious and cheap. People are packed in the little street full of music and people just few meters away from the ocean. Good place to meet people and to hang out before going into a bar or a club. My favourite was the bar/club called Caña Grill. Dancing in the sand without shoes, great music from reggaeton to LMFAO, open roof so you can see the sky, a lots of people having fun and very relaxed feeling. I miss this place.
Surf curls & strawberries!
You have to try icy smoothies in Montañita! Oh I loved that one with maracuya y fresas (passion fruit and strawberries) …just like heaven!
