2 Weeks of Spanish Lessons in Montañita

We arrived in Montañita mid afternoon after a roughly 3 hour and $6 bus from Guayaqil. Petrol prices (along with plenty of other fossil fuels) are heavily subsidised by the Ecuadorian Government. Gasoline costs on average $0.58 US per litre, and hence transport is ridiculously cheap, with buses costing only $1-2 per hour of travel.

We had booked a weeks worth of well needed spanish lessons at Mar Azul spanish school, and were pretty excited to extend our skills beyond ordering lunch or asking if this was the correct bus stop. 

We got off the bus and wandered around town for a while before finding “Hugo’s Place,” a nice little hostel near the centre of town. This was a good little spot just far away enough from the centre of town that you could sleep. That is until some jerk pulled up across the road from our room in his hotted up honda civic and began blasting reggaeton around 2:30am on a Thursday. I absolutely love this part of the world, but the one thing I don’t think I will ever grow to love… or even tolerate for that matter is reggaeton. I know I probably sound like some 1960’s parent talking about their kids listening to the Beatles, but I just don’t get it!

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Anyway, first morning in town we began our spanish lessons at Mar Azul with our new teacher Miguel. Miguel was awesome! Super patient, thorough and great at explaining translations. And the best thing is that after a couple of lessons we could hold decent conversations with him all in spanish! After 2 lessons we booked an extra week of lessons. 

After 2 days in town we stumbled on Hostel Sole Mare just across the road from our lessons. This was a 5 minute walk from town situated right on the point, and only cost $30 per night for a double room right on the beach with breakfast included. We could literally open our bedroom door and check the surf, so needless to say we stayed here for the remainder of our time in Montañita.

We ended up spending 2 weeks here. 4 hours of spanish lessons per day along with early mornings and afternoons filled with sun, sand and surf - the time flew by. This was helped along even more so by us catching up with some friends from Uni - Caelum, Caley, Mitch and Steph - Hey guys!

On our second last night in town we got invited to a party by Miguel. This wasn’t just any party, but his niece’s daughter’s 15th birthday party. Yep that’s right. Ecuadorians have very big families. Oh and it didn’t start until 10:30pm. On a Monday night. Anyway a girl’s 15th birthday in many places in Ecuador is a gigantic occasion, and in this case the family had blocked off the entire street with a huge stage and marquis to celebrate. 

We got to sit with the family and watch some super elaborate entrances and choreographed dances done by the birthday girl and her closest friends and family of a similar age. The 14 boys and girls involved were wearing matching dresses and suits. Oh and there were plenty of 3-5 year old boys and girls running around in mini suits and ball gowns.

After plenty of beers shared between us, Miguel and his Dad, we had a boogie and before we knew it, it was 2:30am and I was starting to fall asleep. We left the kids to party and headed back to the hostel. Later on we found out it had kicked on until about 8am! Luckily the kids were on school holidays.

We had an awesome time in Montañita, thanks largely to Miguel! It was also great to be able to stay in the one spot for a while and not have to constantly repack our bags.

We’re heading back inland now, next stop - Cuenca.