Beach Buzz: Surfs Up
Welcome to the last chapter of the ¨Beach Buzz¨series. If you are tired of reading about the beach in Ecuador then please accept my apologies. In other news I kept wondering why ¨Beach Buzz¨sounded like a good title, and finally found the answer. Did you?¨Beach Buzz¨rhymes with ¨Peach Fuzz.¨Caution: Genious at work. Back to you Paula.
Wow. Did you ever wake up in kind of a weird mood? Maybe it´s because the Super Bowl is tomorrow and nobody has any inkling about the words ¨touchdown, quarterback, or media day.¨I think I am going to have to make the trip to Quito tomorrow in a desperate search for a place to watch the game. After living in Chicago for a summer, checking out soldier field in person, and being invited to the Bears´first home game this season, you can bet your bottom dollar that I will be decked out in George Halas Dark Blue this sunday. I keep having visions of Rex Grossman wearing dark blueblocker aviator sunglasses and a bandana trying his best to do the shuffle and can´t help but giggle inside.
Back to the beach. After our trip to Puerto Rico we hopped on a bus heading south for the hour long trip to a place called Montanita-Ecuador´s surfing capital. I absolutely love visiting new places, as you never really can have any sort of image of what the place will look like, but I will try to give you a picture anyway: Montanita is one part hollywood, one part 8 Mile, one part Kansas, and one part Half Moon Bay. Allow me to explain:
Hollywood: I have never been to a place that looked more like a movie set in a my life. In the center of town all of the bars, hotels, restaurants, and shops look like you could just tip them over, as they all just form part of an old west movie shoot. I kept finding myself recalling that scene from the Michael Jackson movie ¨Moonwalker¨when Michael is running around that Hollywood movie set trying to escape those fat twins riding with Micky Mouse hats on tricycles. On top of the buildings, random people pass in front of you doing strange actions, and then disappear only to be replaced by new randoms. It´s almost as if someone is backstage saying, ¨All right cue the Fire Swallower¨and then the Fire Swallower appears for his ten minute stint only to be replaced by that unicyclist. Absolutely one of the oddest, most exciting places I have ever been to. In fact, now that I think about it, watch the scene from Yellow Submarine when the Beatles are in that hallway and bizarre objects come pouring out of different doors only for a split second. Ladies and Gents Montanita, Ecuador.
8 Mile: Montanita is split, almost completely down the middle, into two disparate places. The first is the hollywood movie set. People from all over the world run around the streets enjoying beautiful weather and gorgeous beach. On the other side of the bridge, however, is one of the poorest, most down trodden communities I have seen to date. If you ever travel to such a place, make sure you go to the bars, clubs, or restaurants owned by the locals. What happened in Montanita is that none of the locals could afford to finance a good club or bar, and got stuck on the outside looking in while people from Chile, Columbia, and Spain came in setting up shop recognizing the beauty of the location.
Kansas: I have never seen a flatter beach in my whole life. You could pretty much place an entire football field on the beach without a problem. Unreal.
Half Moon Bay: Two reasons. The first is that the atmosphere in Montanita is serenly laid back. Everyone just lives life from paycheck to paycheck, never takes off their swimsuit, and frequently says such brilliances as ¨Yeah man,¨¨Dude,¨or ¨Totally.¨I loved it. Ecuador meet the LG. Secondly, as stated earlier, Montanita is home to Ecuador´s finest surfing beach, and thus Kanedogger the Ecuador Traveler got to ride his first couple of waves.
As I see it there are two types of beach people: Type 1 beach people are perfectly content to relax, sunbathe, and read all day at the beach. As long as they have a towel, sun, sunblock, and a book, they could literally marinate for days without moving, save for a casual dip to cool off. I am NOT one of these people. The only time I ever laid out on a beach for an extended period of time without moving was the day after a night spent in Cocunut Grove where my three best buddies and I couldn´t afford a hotel, and thus decided to sleep on top of our car in a Parking Garage.
Therefore I feel I confidently fit into Beach People Type 2. The Type 2ers go to the beach to run around and do something. Whether it be volleyball, soccer, swimming, body surfing, or that football game where you ¨interrupt¨the sunbathing of all of the attractive women, I love being active at the beach. And, after my trip to Montanita, there might be no better way to stay active at the beach than to hope in the ocean with a surfboard and swallow salt water for three hours. It´s a ridiculously awesome sport, and I am giddy at the thought of going again during my next trip to the coast.
One final observation. After surfing, a three hour bus ride to Guayaquil, and a 9AM class the next day, I decided to board my first Ecuadorian airline flight. The result? I rediscovered why flying as invented in the first place. Here´s how flying works in Ecuador:
I arrived at the Guayaquil airport at 4:25 without a reservation, ticket, or any idea of when a plane would be leaving. I bought my ticket, checked my bag, passed through security, went to the bathroom, and bought a refreshment by 4:50. I was on the plane by 5:15. After a delicious juice and small chicken sandwich I was in Quito at 5:45. I was out of the Quito airport, bag in hand, by 6:00. Would have taken probably 10 hours by bus. Total cost? Less than 50 dollars.
My trip on the airplane was SPECTACULAR. I cannot even describe my state of elation at the ease, convenience, and pleasure of my airplane trip. The only thing I can think of is that Ecuadorian planes are only used by people who have a strong state of financial security. Everyone was dressed to the nines and nobody eyed anybody else trying to steal something. Nobody tried to sell me anything. Nobody tried to take advantage of me. What it comes down to is that no matter where you are, whether it be the US or Ecuador, the upper echelon of amenities will be similar experiences. Quito´s nicest hotels are just as nice as the US´s nicest hotels. The difference between the two places is that adherence to Social Norms, Laws, and Behavior Patterns drops much more severely between Economic classes in Ecuador than it does in the US. In Ecuador the middle class does not conduct itself with the same amount of social respect as the US´s middle class. The reason for this could be any number of things, but maybe just maybe, this is where the strength of a capitalist exists. I think that the US´s middle class is much more secure in the idea that lawful action will lead to success much more than Ecuador´s middle class. Government stability also probably has a lot to do with it.
I am rambling. Go watch football.
Wow. Did you ever wake up in kind of a weird mood? Maybe it´s because the Super Bowl is tomorrow and nobody has any inkling about the words ¨touchdown, quarterback, or media day.¨I think I am going to have to make the trip to Quito tomorrow in a desperate search for a place to watch the game. After living in Chicago for a summer, checking out soldier field in person, and being invited to the Bears´first home game this season, you can bet your bottom dollar that I will be decked out in George Halas Dark Blue this sunday. I keep having visions of Rex Grossman wearing dark blueblocker aviator sunglasses and a bandana trying his best to do the shuffle and can´t help but giggle inside.
Back to the beach. After our trip to Puerto Rico we hopped on a bus heading south for the hour long trip to a place called Montanita-Ecuador´s surfing capital. I absolutely love visiting new places, as you never really can have any sort of image of what the place will look like, but I will try to give you a picture anyway: Montanita is one part hollywood, one part 8 Mile, one part Kansas, and one part Half Moon Bay. Allow me to explain:
Hollywood: I have never been to a place that looked more like a movie set in a my life. In the center of town all of the bars, hotels, restaurants, and shops look like you could just tip them over, as they all just form part of an old west movie shoot. I kept finding myself recalling that scene from the Michael Jackson movie ¨Moonwalker¨when Michael is running around that Hollywood movie set trying to escape those fat twins riding with Micky Mouse hats on tricycles. On top of the buildings, random people pass in front of you doing strange actions, and then disappear only to be replaced by new randoms. It´s almost as if someone is backstage saying, ¨All right cue the Fire Swallower¨and then the Fire Swallower appears for his ten minute stint only to be replaced by that unicyclist. Absolutely one of the oddest, most exciting places I have ever been to. In fact, now that I think about it, watch the scene from Yellow Submarine when the Beatles are in that hallway and bizarre objects come pouring out of different doors only for a split second. Ladies and Gents Montanita, Ecuador.
8 Mile: Montanita is split, almost completely down the middle, into two disparate places. The first is the hollywood movie set. People from all over the world run around the streets enjoying beautiful weather and gorgeous beach. On the other side of the bridge, however, is one of the poorest, most down trodden communities I have seen to date. If you ever travel to such a place, make sure you go to the bars, clubs, or restaurants owned by the locals. What happened in Montanita is that none of the locals could afford to finance a good club or bar, and got stuck on the outside looking in while people from Chile, Columbia, and Spain came in setting up shop recognizing the beauty of the location.
Kansas: I have never seen a flatter beach in my whole life. You could pretty much place an entire football field on the beach without a problem. Unreal.
Half Moon Bay: Two reasons. The first is that the atmosphere in Montanita is serenly laid back. Everyone just lives life from paycheck to paycheck, never takes off their swimsuit, and frequently says such brilliances as ¨Yeah man,¨¨Dude,¨or ¨Totally.¨I loved it. Ecuador meet the LG. Secondly, as stated earlier, Montanita is home to Ecuador´s finest surfing beach, and thus Kanedogger the Ecuador Traveler got to ride his first couple of waves.
As I see it there are two types of beach people: Type 1 beach people are perfectly content to relax, sunbathe, and read all day at the beach. As long as they have a towel, sun, sunblock, and a book, they could literally marinate for days without moving, save for a casual dip to cool off. I am NOT one of these people. The only time I ever laid out on a beach for an extended period of time without moving was the day after a night spent in Cocunut Grove where my three best buddies and I couldn´t afford a hotel, and thus decided to sleep on top of our car in a Parking Garage.
Therefore I feel I confidently fit into Beach People Type 2. The Type 2ers go to the beach to run around and do something. Whether it be volleyball, soccer, swimming, body surfing, or that football game where you ¨interrupt¨the sunbathing of all of the attractive women, I love being active at the beach. And, after my trip to Montanita, there might be no better way to stay active at the beach than to hope in the ocean with a surfboard and swallow salt water for three hours. It´s a ridiculously awesome sport, and I am giddy at the thought of going again during my next trip to the coast.
One final observation. After surfing, a three hour bus ride to Guayaquil, and a 9AM class the next day, I decided to board my first Ecuadorian airline flight. The result? I rediscovered why flying as invented in the first place. Here´s how flying works in Ecuador:
I arrived at the Guayaquil airport at 4:25 without a reservation, ticket, or any idea of when a plane would be leaving. I bought my ticket, checked my bag, passed through security, went to the bathroom, and bought a refreshment by 4:50. I was on the plane by 5:15. After a delicious juice and small chicken sandwich I was in Quito at 5:45. I was out of the Quito airport, bag in hand, by 6:00. Would have taken probably 10 hours by bus. Total cost? Less than 50 dollars.
My trip on the airplane was SPECTACULAR. I cannot even describe my state of elation at the ease, convenience, and pleasure of my airplane trip. The only thing I can think of is that Ecuadorian planes are only used by people who have a strong state of financial security. Everyone was dressed to the nines and nobody eyed anybody else trying to steal something. Nobody tried to sell me anything. Nobody tried to take advantage of me. What it comes down to is that no matter where you are, whether it be the US or Ecuador, the upper echelon of amenities will be similar experiences. Quito´s nicest hotels are just as nice as the US´s nicest hotels. The difference between the two places is that adherence to Social Norms, Laws, and Behavior Patterns drops much more severely between Economic classes in Ecuador than it does in the US. In Ecuador the middle class does not conduct itself with the same amount of social respect as the US´s middle class. The reason for this could be any number of things, but maybe just maybe, this is where the strength of a capitalist exists. I think that the US´s middle class is much more secure in the idea that lawful action will lead to success much more than Ecuador´s middle class. Government stability also probably has a lot to do with it.
I am rambling. Go watch football.
posted by ecuadortraveler at 7:48 AM
1 Comments:
That WAS me in Montanita wearing dark blueblocker aviator sunglasses and a bandana. They ran me out of Chicago and I'm ready for football on the beach with KaneDog.
rex grossman
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