Life's a Beach

We knew that we would be heading farther away from the equator and into South America's winter based on our trip timing and planning, so while we still could, we headed to Montanita, Ecuador, for some serious lazing about and fun in the sun. This town is the quintessential surfer bum town, as indicated by its official mascot:

In general, shoes/shirt/sobriety are optional, but we decided to *try* and be productive by taking a week of Spanish classes.

Andrew using a headlamp to do his Spanish homework
during apower outage. So diligent!

We stayed at a lovely hostel on the ocean, and when not in class or playing in the water, spent most of our time swinging in hammocks, nursing beers and sunburns. Tough life!

Our daily views:

About the most exciting thing we did was walk 4 kilometers out of town on the hunt for the Montanita Brewing Company, the only microbrewery on the Ecuadorian coast, and possibly the only microbrewery in the country! (The owner is American and has to import all his barley. Go figure.) Turns out that those 4 kilometers out of town were also 4 kilometers past the restaurant, but it did afford us a view off the nearby cliff line.

And with this stop, our time in lovely Ecuador drew to a close. Gearing up for a 20+ hour bus ride into Peru, on which going #2 is prohibited (don't ask me how they regulate this) included some major faith in the little Pink Pill. Andrew had his doubts but was basically willing to try anything, and I kept the faith. Here's to you, Pepto!