We headed into nearby touristy surf town Mancora for a few boozers and learnt what it is to surf in the morning still drunk on a borrowed malabu with twenty other tourists. Needless to say, I had to move on so I announced a plan to go North to Ecuador.

Seano put up his hand to be my corrupt accomplice and after another all nighter in Mancora, we left Peru and hit Ecuador’s largest city Guayaquil. Along the way we befriended (Seano befriended especially) a tip top German/Peruvian girl named Cecilia who speaks five languages and strangely enough, thought we were hilarious. She hung out with us and came all the way to Salinas with us and left only yesterday to have Christmas with her extended family in Peru.

Guayaquil is a big proud city with two and a half million people residing and probably my favourite city so far. The docklands have been newly renovated with museums and gardens and huge Iguanas in the trees dropping fruit on your head. It was at the docklands that we had a phenomenal meal of honey soy Crabs. It was a massive ten dollars with all the beer you could drink. You were supplied with a mallot and a bib and the crabs and pilsener just kept coming until I fell off my stool into a pool of spilt beer.

The surf beckoned so we headed for seaside village Playas. There was no swell still so we spent a couple of days in this fairly nice little Hamlet relaxing and swimming. There are epic setups there with a great potential for surf but I’m guessing only through the winter months during North wind and big South swell.

That’s when we came here to Salinas. It is a Gold coast style resort city beckoning tourists from Guayaquil with beautiful beaches and condo’s a plenty. We were quickly whisked to Hotel Salinas where it is Twenty Dollars twin share for thee stars. After the dustbowl town of Lobitos this definitely is surfers paradise. The hotel has a pool, cleaned daily, hot showers, breakfast and the biggest nightclub you have ever seen that thumps well into the wee hours on the weekend (it’s a good thing we’re there till the wee hours or it would be hard to sleep). And of course the best thing is the twenty odd surf breaks within twenty minutes drive, one of which we are told, always has waves. The very best bit is the fact that there is no-one surfing around here and it seems devoid of western tourists. This place isn’t even in the lonely planet book that we are carrying so that might explain the lack of white guys.

Oh yeah, there was the earth quake that saw me bolting from the room down the stairs fearing the poorly constructed hotel would crumble to the ground, Seano laughed his head off at me but I’ll still tell his mum that I could have saved his life…
We have also befriended a great local guy Jimmy and his mate Luchy, who have been taking us into the military base (where the best surf is) and scoring us huge meals for a dollar! He seems to be well liked around town and has been really good to us thus far. I never thought I’d meet a nice bloke who is called Jimmy the Killer but this is South America hehehe. Pie arrived yesterday and Tommy is due today and the swell is looking good for a fantastic Christmas despite being away from the family and Hayley. At least I have the fellas to keep me smiling ;).

Falic Navidad Y una bueno nuevo anyo.

Emerson

P.S. Chrissy dinner at the Hilton (Colon) was fantastic and so was the hangover. Surf has pumped and the boys and our new mates have been lapping the Salinas lifestyle up.

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