Things to Do in Montañita

Sunset surf session at El Punto

The point break peels clean when the tide pushes, glassy left-handers scented with seaweed and sunscreen. Paddle past the rock stack where blue-footed boobies dive for sardines. The water is warm. No wetsuit needed.

Cocktail alley bar crawl

Between Calle 15 and the beach, the corridor explodes after 10pm. Bartenders juggle rum bottles. Cane liquor sweetness sticks to salt air. Ecuadorian students shout for 'cuba libres' that taste more like gasoline than cola.

Whale-watching boat to Isla de la Plata

June through September humpbacks breach so close you feel spray. Their songs hum through the wooden hull while frigatebirds wheel overhead. The boat stinks of diesel and fish guts. Then a 40-ton mother surfaces beside the bow, exhaling fishy mist that coats your arms.

Beachfront ceviche breakfast

Fishermen drag corvina onto the sand at 7am. You sit on plastic stools while lime juice stings your lips and onions crunch. The broth carries ocean and cilantro, served with chifles that snap like styrofoam.

Full-moon drum circle at La Curia

North-end church ruins wake up when travelers gather with djembes and didgeridoos. Fire spinners trace orange arcs against the black Pacific. Someone always brings mushrooms from Vilcabamba. Drums accelerate until the tide almost soaks everyone's feet.

Stay near cocktail alley for 3am access to 2-dollar mojitos and speakers that throb until sunrise.

Pick the north end by the point. Surfers crash early. Howler monkeys replace reggaeton alarms.

Cross to Olón border for hammock gardens that smell of ylang-ylang and cost half Montañita prices.

Beachfront hostels coat your pack in salt spray. You wake to fishing boat engines.

Move inland two blocks for real sleep. Roosters still crow but the bass drops by 2am.

Book the rooftop dorm at Iguana. Breeze carries doobie smoke and 6am bakery aromas.