Manta: That's All.

For my second leg of my christmas break trip, I booked a room in Manta in Manabi. It is the fifth largest city and second largest port in the entire country, so I figured that there would be some adventure to be had. Also, it is in close proximity to Montecristi, the city where Panama hats originiate, as well as areas where you can view some interesting wildlife like howler monkeys. I made plans to be there from 29 December to 1 January... being here on New Years was a great idea, right?

Getting There

I was getting ready to leave Bahia, but I wanted to make sure I had enough traveling supplies. Mostly just water and snacks. After returning from a quick shopping trip into Bahia, I packed my luggage and waited for a taxi to pick me up to go to the terminal. Dude tried ripping me off. I had a vague idea of where the terminal was in relation to my hostel, so I worked hard on negotiating him down... I only got down about 50¢ but good enough for now. Immediately after getting out of the taxi, the ticket collecter for one of the buses roped me into a seat to Manta, kind of. It was going to Portoviejo ($2 Bahia --> Portoviejo) first and then he promised he would help me change buses. He took my suitcase and nothing short of threw it into the bottom of the bus. He proceeded to grab the back of my backpack and "walk me over" to the ticket counter. I could tell this was going to be interesting already. I got on the bus and tried finding me seat according to the ticket, but my seat was apparently taken by some other man's belongings. Do seats not work the same in Manabi as they do in the Sierras?! Shortly after the bus got going, I fell asleep. One hour later, I woke up in Rocafuerte. Another 15 minutes we arrived in Portoviejo, and shit got real.

I knew this is where I had to make my transfer so I got off the bus. At this moment, I noticed the ticket guy reaching for my bag under the bus and he starts SPRINTING through the terminal. I had some kind of look on my face like "WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING?! SHOULD I FOLLOW HIM!?" I was half-convinced he was robbing me but I followed him at a close distance. I made a sharp turn around a bus into the middle of the terminal and saw "my guy" yelling out: MANTA!MANTA!MANTA!MANTA!MANTA!MANTA!MANTA!MANTA! This attracted three other men from the periphery to run toward him. Each grabbed onto my suitcase and started yelling: MANTA!MANTA!MANTA!MANTA!MANTA!MANTA!MANTA!MANTA! One of the men "won" and threw my suitcase under the bus, quickly ushered me onto the bus, and sat me down. I literally had no idea what was happening, if I was going to end up in Manta, or.... what to think of this all. A few minutes after resuming travel, I paid my $1 seat from Portoviejo to Manta and waited patiently to arrive. In total, it took about 3 hours to arrive in Manta from Bahia, so my taxista friend from my first day was not whistling dixie. 

Getting to Know Manta

Finally we made it to Manta. Still surrounded by confusion, I exited the bus, got my suitcase (surprisingly in one piece after the multiple battles for it that day), and searched for a taxi to bring my to my next habitación, Hostal Milan. I arrived to my place after an overcharge cab ride and relaxed for a bit. This was the most stressful traveling experience of my life. After feeling satisfied by my rest, I decided to walk around the area to understand where I was a little bit better. A free, self-guided walking tour, if you will. Without a map. I headed first in the direction of water, and noticed a high number of boats, outdoor cafeterias, and roundabouts with marine-flavored statues adorning the centers. Using the little geographical knowledge I had, I knew where the main beach was. If this was where I was staying, I had to know the beach for my one scheduled beach day. Ended up spending about an hour at the beach. It was kind of dirty(-looking). I got approached by a group of early 20-somethings and had a brief conversation in Spanish before heading in our own directions. About 5:45 PM I was getting hungry so I looked for food. I wanted something other than ceviche... maybe Lomo, Credo, Carne, or Pescado. I found NOTHING but eight empty bars about 10 meters x 10 meters in a line, separated by "walls" of cinder blocks no more than 1 meter tall. I really wanted to find a place with some "real food" where it looked like locals were but there was no luck. I changed plans to find a tienda instead. Luckily but not surprisingly  I found one a block away from my hostel. There wasn't much of anything so I bought a $5 box of Clos wine and a small snack and went back to my hostal. I drank my wine in my air conditioned room and watched TV. I don't watch any TV or news in Ecuador because my apartment isn't hooked up with cable, so this was a luxury.

Playa el Murciélago

The next day, I set out on a mission to find adventure no matter what. I got more than I bargained for.

TripAdviser for Manta showed very few attractions or things to do in Manta, but I figured with it being a bigger city there should be something. Two of the entries showed different tour companies with great reviews. One was near my hostel and the other on the opposite side of the city. I decided to make an early start so I left at 8 AM for the one near my hostel. I literally walked around for 30 minutes and found nothing. I went back to my hostel to double check that I wrote the address correctly. Well, I did. So I devised a new plan and a backup in case that fell through. Plan A was to find the other company, and plan B was to take a bus from the terminal to Montecristi and figure it out on my own. I started my walk to the other side of the city, which I soon started to regret. Manta is nothing like Quito, and at times I felt a little unsafe. I also made the observation that I was the only gringo in the whole city so I felt something was wrong. Furthermore, the only shopping I observed was for kitschy things that I could easily find in abundance in Quito. An hour later, I arrived at the dirección.... NOTHING. Just like the other! TripAdvisor was going to get horrible reviews for these two places. Onto Plan B. I attempted to get a taxi back to the terminal and, after 20 minutes, I finally was successful. At the terminal, I found the one bus company that advertised a 50 cent ride to Montecristi. I asked politely for a ticket and the woman at the counter responded by yelling at me in Spanish: WE DON'T GO THERE! TAKE A CAR! I was thrown off so I asked if there was another company and her response, before walking off, was: TAKE A CAR! I felt completely defeated; however, I refused to have a horrible experience so I made a new plan. I angrily walked back to my hostel, vowed to get out of Manta, and booked a room in Montañita for New Years Eve. A new friend I met in Quito, Adrián, was going to be there so I knew I was going to have a fun time. For the rest of the day, I napped, watched TV, refused to see anymore of Manta. After a couple of naps, I walked to a nearby SuperMaxi and bought food I could make quick meals from, beer and water and had a little fiesta by myself for my now final night in Manta.

The bess street art I found in Manta... appropriately describes my feelings

Manta was not what I thought it was going to be.

Escaping Manta

In the morning, I found a branch of my Ecuadorian bank, packed my things, checked out, and walked my way to the terminal. I lucked out because I got a $5 ticket leaving in about 15 minutes for Montañita... the next one was about another 2 hours of waiting. My seat ended up being next to a Dutch man, Gijes. He is working at a Spanish school in Montañita for two years. Our conversation was good and it was nice to sit next to a "normal" person after my bad experience in Manta. I was so tired, though, because I slept terribly. The night before, I woke to the sounds of someone trying to open my private room, so I napped for a while on the way to my next destination. I woke up in time to see a hot mess of a terminal in Jipijapa. It reminded me of Portoviejo all over again and I was thanking my lucky stars that I didn't have to exit or transfer buses there.

After resuming, we began to pass the places I would soon see on my third leg of my trip, Los Frailes and Puerto Lopez. The further we got from Manta, the more relaxed I became. Soon, we were in a new province, Santa Elena. As we passed into it, the landscape became lush, green forest. Along the way we also passed many small surfing towns, leaving me with this feeling of fantasy.

Montañita

Once we got to Montañita, Gijes helped me find where my hotel was, which was also in the direction of his work. I met up with Adrián and we went to the beach. The party, the energy, everything about this town lifted my spirits. One thing we did at the beach was walk to La Punta, a rocky point at the northend of the beach. During lowtide there are tide pools that housed a plethora of creatures... crabs, sea urchins, limpets, snails, clams, and mussels. The tide was coming in and I was splashed with several waves leaving me drenched in my clothing. It was time for some dinner and getting ready for the party. 

We hit up a couple of bars along the way, also bought a bottle of Ecuadorian spirits called Zhumir, and found a nice place on the beach to call ours for the night. The party was alive and well. Fireworks going off in all directions from all locations. Loud music. Dancing.

Adrián told me, a while back, of a tradition on the coast for New Years. At midnight, families will walk into the ocean together wearing all white to symbolize a fresh start. I did just that when it was time, wearing a white tank top and white shorts. It was truly magical. After a little bit of time, we headed for a club and I danced until about 2 AM before retiring for the night and dreamt of Puerto Lopez for the next day. I haven't been awake that late since Brady Street Day last July. 

Verdict

Manta: Definitely wil not be staying there again. I might use it for the airport as a quick way to get to the coast but that's it. 

Montañita: I had preconceptions about this place beforehand. It has a reputation for being a crazy party town with rampant drug use. This was almost not the case. I did not observe crazy drug use. It was actually quite safe and had great energy. This is going to be one of my beach towns.