We got dropped off at the intersection after our 2 rides with strangers from Mangahurco. We got off the car and the lady who was riding with us got us a ride to take us to the next town. We weren't 100% sure where we wanted to go, I had heard that Guayaquil was dangerous and there wasn't anything to do there so depending on how our ride schedule was going to work out we would plan where to sleep. The lady who got us the ride said that probably the guy was trustworthy because he was friends with some police men so it was ok to go with him.

Our 3rd ride!

The first part of the ride was ok because the lady was with us and the driver didn't talk much. As soon as the lady left he started talking to me and the conversation was a little weird to say the least. He started by asking me if I was married and I responded that I was and that my husband was at home! He then asked me how they called unfaithful women in my country, by then I started getting uncomfortable. I told him that there were a lot of subjects that we could be talking about a lot more nicer than that, I said that we could talk about Ecuadorian landscape, or agriculture, or its people and traditions. So then he changed the subject to religion and talked about incest... I was disgusted! All this guy could talk about was sex related so I told him again to change the subject.

We were in the middle of nowhere so if I asked him to just leave us there we could be stranded for hours so we decided to keep going. He changed the subject again to tell me how they would bring slaves from Haiti and sell them for $10 and a lot of very dark stuff. By then I was extremely uncomfortable and although Anna doesn't speak much spanish she got the sense that I was very uncomfortable, to the point that she had taken her knife out just in case! haha

After my experience in Jordan I have learned that following my gut is super important and that if a situation doesn't seem right it probably isn't safe. I looked at my phone and saw that we were close to the next town so we asked to be dropped off.






We got to a town called Puyango and immediately looked for a bus in the direction of Guayaquil. We had to wait about an hour for the bus so we walked around the charming town, checked out the church, and found some food.

Banana Stand!

Puyango view

In the afternoon we hopped on the bus heading to Guayaquil!

The scenery had totally changed, we were no longer going through high altitudes, driving through cloud forests, and mountainous windy roads; we had now reached the sea level and the heat!


The more I looked out the window the more banana plantations I saw! We literally rode for miles and miles next to banana trees!

The area around Guayaquil is the #1 banana exporter and from what I heard there is nothing to see there but trucks full of bananas and the docks loading crates full of bananas!

Typical stores on the side of the street!

Bananas!!!!!!!

As we rode in the bus I kept looking at the time and the map to make a decision wether or not we should keep going to the coast or stay in Guayaquil. I consulted a couple of times with Anna and we decided to just have an extremely long day and keep going for 2 extra hours all the way to Salinas.

I told the guy from the bus our new plan and he dropped us off on the side of the street outside guayaquil at the "y" (intersection) and pointed out the Salinas bus. Within 5 minutes we were on our way to Salinas.

We arrived late at night and got a taxi but we had nowhere to stay. We were tired, it was late, and we ended up in a super shitty dump of hotel! It was terrible but we just wanted to sleep. First thing next morning we left and found a very nice hostel with ocean view!

Busy beach on a sunday

Empty beach on a monday!

Salinas was like the typical big city beach town with huge buildings near the water.
We arrived on a saturday and on sunday the beach was so full of people it was impossible to walk through so we didn't! We stayed away from the beach until it was sunset time and the crowds had gone home.







By monday we knew it was time to move on!

But first, we stopped for some traditional encebollado!



And then we headed to Montañita!

Montañita is the party beach town of Ecuador and although neither Anna nor I wanted to go, we heard from a couple of people that it was A MUST. We don't like to party or drink but people still kept saying that is soooooo nice we needed to go even if we didn't want to party.
Finally we decided to stop by and get a hostel far from the main street and check out the amazingness of Montañita!


The main  town was lined with a lot of shops, bars, and restaurants.



One could get all kinds of beach souvenirs.


The beach itself was okay I would say. Some people said it was amazing for surfing but all I saw were sad little waves, but maybe that's because I'm comparing it to El Salvador that has up to 10feet high waves!



To be honest Montañta wasn't all that amazing but they did sell some of the best empanadas we tried in Ecuador!