Montanita to Olon to Puerto Lopez

Monday, February 23rd 2015 Puerto Lopez
On our last night in Montanita, we ate at Tiki Limbo again. All of the restaurants are open to the street and there's lots of action. While we were eating, the eternal soccer game was blasting from the big screen TVs in every restaurant and bar, the music was blaring from every speaker and a water truck was unloading water through the front door of our restaurant. Potable water seems to be delivered by truck to restaurants everywhere we go. The bad juggler was dropping batons on the street and a busking duo on electric guitar and some wind instrument were playing requests. We love Montanita for the entertainment value.

Just when we thought we'd seen everything, we heard a bongo drummer on the street. The crowd formed a circle and, as unlikely as it seems, there was a bellydancer who danced for a while, passed the hat and posed for photographs. We were getting tired of the bad juggler/skateboarder/unicyclist anyway.

Yesterday morning after breakfast, we checked out. Anita waited with our bags while I walked into the taxi office and ordered a cab to take us to Puerto Lopez. However, on the way we wanted to stop at Olon, the next town, and meet the owner of an apartment that we had seen advertised online for $1,000 a month. Instead of $25, the taxi driver wanted $35 to cover a 20 minute wait in Olon. We agreed on $30. We picked up Anita at the Swisspoint and were soon in Olon.
Annette, the owner of the apartment, is from Toronto. Her husband still drives transport truck on the ice roads out of Yellowknife but is here the rest of the time. She was very nice and the apartment seems quite clean, secure and just across the road from the malecon in Olon. The Olon beach was very busy on Sunday with Ecuadorians. Apparently buses bring people for Sunday from Guayaquil and Manta.
Although we liked the apartment, we didn't see ourselves staying there for an extended period next winter. Since we arrived on the coast, our travel has turned into a fact-finding mission for future long stays. We believe that we could spend the winter on the coast of Ecuador for about $2,000+ per month, including rent, food and everything else. We're spending about double that now while traveling and staying in hotels. "Why wouldn't we stay longer for less?" is what we keep asking ourselves.
After about another 3/4 of an hour, we arrived at our hotel, the Hosteria Mandala, on the beach on the north edge of Puerto Lopez. The taxi driver was a good guy so we gave him an extra $2. He seemed pleased.
We have a huge upper floor room in a building with 4 units, set in a beautiful garden/tropical forest. We have an ensuite bathroom and massive balcony. We're paying $70 per night plus tax. It feels like the fanciest treehouse ever.

The floors are all pegged hardwood and the whole place has large screened windows. There's no AC but there are fans. There are mosquito nets over the beds but we didn't use them last night because it's nice to get more of a sea breeze without them. Neither of us seemed to get bit. The Mandala has a very good restaurant for guests only where we ate breaded shrimp, breaded calamari, salad, rice, fries and beer for about $20 total including service charge.
Afterward, of course, we had to do the obligatory viewing of the sunset over the Pacific.

From the restaurant, there's a great view of the ocean through the palm trees.

 

There are fishing boats at work in front of the setting sun.

This morning we walked into town to find the ATM. On the way, we ran into two Canadian guys whom we met in Cuenca and again in Vilcabamba. They're staying near us in the Victor Hugo hotel, which is apparently quite good and a bit cheaper. They told us about a cevicheria (ceviche hut on the beach) just past the pier, which apparently has great mixed ceviche. We went to scout it out.
Just north of the pier is the fish market. There isn't a market building, just a spot where the fishing boats are beached at low tide and big refrigerated trucks back down onto the sand to buy the fish.
The birds like it too.

The pier is not for fishing boats but for tour boats to Isla del Plata and whale watching or diving tours. We're going to Isla del Plata tomorrow. On the pier, we talked to some Americans, 2 of whom are here doing volunteer work for the Jehovah's Witnesses, of course.
This afternoon, we walked north along the beach for 2 or 3 km. Past our hotel, the beach is virtually empty. In an hour or so, we'll walk back to the pier and dine on big bowls of ceviche and beer.