Days 122 to 125: Puerto Lopez and Montanita, ECU

Puerto Lopez sucked; the beach was ok, but the place itself was dirty and didn't have much to offer. The day after my arrival, we left the town and checked out the nearby Machalilla national park. 

The visit included the entrance to the museum of the artifacts of the Manteno people, who were a West-Ecuadorean maritime culture flourishing between the 800's AD. The Manteño were a 'league of merchants.' In the modern day they might be called a cartel. They organized mainly for commercial gain. Their business was the highly lucrative Spondylus trade. The Spondylus conch shell could be converted into beautiful burgundy-colored ornaments, and everybody wanted it, especially the Inka. The Manteno disappeared a few years only after the arrival of the Spaniards in the early 1500's, dying from European diseases.

One of the several snake species that can be encountered in the area.

The national park also features the Aguablanca sulfur lagoon (stinky hot springs), so the boys jumped in for a mud bath. I passed, as I was too lazy to dig out my beach shorts from the bottom of my luggage.

By 2 PM, we were done with the national park, and headed down to Montanita, another coastal town 50 km south from Puerto Lopez. Now Montanita turned out to be the ultimate surf and beach party place, even more than San Juan del Sur in Nicaragua. The backpacker crowd parties on the streets and on the beach every day, until the early hours in the morning. 

Our hostel in Montanita.

Once again, the bikes attract attention as soon as we show up. 

Parking the bikes at the hotel.

Three nights of the mayhem was all that I could handle, and on day 126, I decided that it is time to go. Mihai and Josh stayed an extra night; Mihai would meet me down the road, and Josh would head back towards Colombia, where he would ship his bike to the States from Bogota. Therefore, after about 2 months of riding together, the trio was separating for good. It was a heartbreaking moment, and we promised to Skype each other every night (just joking ;) But seriously, it's been a lot of fun, and we already had talks about hooking up for another ride in the near future.