montañita
There isn’t much to do in the hippie beach town of Montañita besides surf and relax, but there were plenty of friendly and interesting characters to meet. Here is a sampling:
A half Iranian/half Ecuadorian guy who plans to travel to Cuenca in search for an allusive mushroom field.
A precious young, round-faced Colombian with an awesome haircut selling empanadas on the street. He wants to eventually study architecture in Brazil after traveling for ”no longer than two years”.
A Peruvian surfer who was a disappointing salsa leader.
An Argentinian magician and his cute and stylish girlfriend who are traveling for two years
An aspiring tattoo artist from Patagonia, also Argentinian, who saved money to travel in Europe, but decided that he likes the chaos of the Americas better.
An Italian woman who travels here every three months to be with her Ecuadorian boyfriend.
A Cuban who came to Ecuador with his dance group on a cultural visa. He defected from Cuba, along with every other member of the group.
color of motion 
Ooh, I want to go to the elusive mushroom field too! Sounds fun, Bethany! 🙂
Sounds like some great characters for a play, a comedy.
I want to hear more about the Cubans who defected!
Hi Haleh! This one guy was an amazing dancer who was working at a restaurant. He said that when the group left Cuba they were asked to please, please not defect. But every single one of them did. He was the only one in Montañita. He hates Fidel and Raul. He said that if he can make it to the Mexico border, he can enter the US as a political refugee. Never heard that before, but it makes sense. Unfortunately, Ecuador is very far from Mexico so he’s not too hopeful about doing that.
Wow, that sounds like a really interesting group of people! This is exactly why I love traveling…you meet so many colorful people!! Half Iranian/half Ecuadorian? Sounds hot! 🙂