Montañita: One Sore throat 2 hippies and 40 winks

Location: Montañita, Ecuador

i woke up yesterday morning with a slightly sore throat. i had decided it was time to move on to another town later in the day. so i proceeded to pack my bag and left it on storage so i could nip out for breakfast. after about an hour though a wierd feeling began to come over me. i felt that heavy fuzzy feeling, aching bones etc that nearly always means a flue. my energy was zapped to 20% its normal level. i went to the internet cafe to research the nearest towns such as salinas,puerto lopez and guayaqil and decided today was not the day to move to a hectic built up area, i am better off recuperating in a tranquil country town like montañita. given that my bags were packed already and also i had killed a cockroach last night in my room i figured i may aswell move to another hostel (yes i know about the eggss ,sorry!) so anyway i checked into another hostel. met a nice couple there, the girls accent had a twang so similar to friends back home that i almost felt she was a friend from the off. she is from donegal and the boy is english.they are coming to the end of a 9 month trip and she was quite amused to hear my coloquial idioms that she said she hadnt heard in a while. we chatted for a a long while in the communal area of the hostel. which is a shabby building with lots of holes in the floor, i dont think it would survive a year in a harsher climate, but here it would probably last for decades and obviously has. the only thing that bothers me about holes everywhere is the possibility of rats....... and sure enough i was stopped in mid conversation as a rat ran accross the floor in the kitchen. i told the owner and he set a trap for it i think.
but on the plus side the actuall bedrooms are in another better building with stone floors so i dont think any will come into that part of it. the couple are on a tight budget and insist on using the kitchen to prepare lunch .. i would be reluctant to even have a cup of tea in there now.
but it is still a nice hostel and the owner is very nice guy so i will stay a little while.

i went to the farmacy this morning to see if they could help with my flue, as with many shops and restaurants here i could see into the familys kitchen from the shop front. there was a huge furry cat asleep on the counter. the lady came out when she noticed me, and when i described my symptoms, the she seemed to know exactly what was wrong with me. she gave me two kinds of pills (and when i asked "can i drink beer" she chuckled and said "no!" ).
i have to say, i feel a little better now, and hopefully will be ready to party again by friday.



a stroll around to see what was going on this wednesday on the carefree streets of Montañita.

living the dream
after a few days here there seems something quite idylic about finding a nice spot on the street and sitting down with a nice girl a nice dog and just making stuff!

also the dog reminds me way too much of our dog "Zach" at home ... how i miss him ..



man catches 40 winks. good beach to do this on, you wont get burned and you wont get cold.
but you might get photographed! hehe




this is the street im currently waking up to. music and laughter never seem to be far away. there are lots of children, stray dogs and even hens and gooses walking around.
just to the left of here there is a restaurant, they had some kind of party there last night.. the salsa music to was raging all night long while i sweated my flue out in bed just a few doors down , apparently they didnt finish up till 8am. this was fine until a baby started roaring at 9am (for an hour) which broaght my sleeping to a bitter end.






this goose followed me after i took her foto, the family found it amusing.


volleyball.