Up the coast towards Colombia.

After one day in Guayaquil I continued my ride towards the coast. First stop, La Playas very popular beach destination for residents the largest city in Ecuador Guayaquil. I was planning to spend one night there but La Playas, despite its popularity with locals,  didn't inspire me. I continued my ride north towards Salinas. Shortly the road turned into dirt. Some creek crossing and plenty of mud. Very nice ride. I reached Salinas late afternoon and searched for the hotel. It seamed, in Salinas the prices for hotels were higher then anywhere in the rest of Ecuador.

Salina's Beach - view towards the Yacht Club.

Salinas is very popular with richer population of Ecuador and the boaties. There are several luxurious hotels and the exclusive Yacht Club, despite this, only two streets away from the beach the suburbia is pretty beaten up.

The street are lined up with hotels and restaurants, this is low season, not many tourists.

I spent two nights in Salinas, more then initially planned. I suffered uncommon for me, at least on this trip, stomach upset. On the third day when I was leaving the hotel, a taxi arrived with two German men and the woman. I learnt, Eryk and his Ecuadoriana  wife accompanying by their friend came to Salinas to look for lost treasures.....

To cut the long story short. They brought metal detectors and are searching beaches for lost jewellery and lost Spanish treasures. This really appealed to me. I was interested in metal detecting for some time and nearly bought one while in Australia. Now, I am in the country with great potentials. First, metal detector in Ecuador is nearly non existent, second there are 100s of undiscovered Spanish Galleons wrecked off the coast of Ecuador.

I learnt from Eryk, Ecuador has one of the richest gold resources in the world, after all, Spaniards shipped hundreds tons of gold and silver to Spain during their colonial days in Americas.

After exchanging emails I continued my ride up the coast, continuously thinking how this can become my next adventure and possibly how this can help me to finance my further travel. I have been travelling for nearly one year without any income relaying only on my savings............

My next stop party town Montanita.

Montanita - The streets were lined up with low key hotels and restaurants. .

This beach town is attracting young travellers and travellers on the budget from all around the world.

During the night party never stop here.

The beach.

I liked the place so much I spent two weeks in Montanita. While there I was planning my next move. At first, I decided to buy metal detector. My  friend Ted helped me to buy one in USA. I bought MineLab Excalibur 1000 claimed to be the best metal detector for treasure hunting capable to be used under water up to 60 metres. It is Australian made but like everything in Australia it costs more at home then in USA - in Australia costs $1650 and USA $1250; figure this one out.

I did some research on the net about gold and treasures in Ecuador. I came across Stan Girst's site, he is self-acclaimed expert for matters related to gold, archaeology and treasures in Ecuador. I posted the message on his website about my intention and waited for some feedback. It didn't take long before Jack Livingstone replied, an US expat now living in Ecuador. I wish I would never met those individuals but life has to go on, more on this story later in my future blogs.
Second reply I had from Rob an ex archaeologist now living Malta. Rob has strong Aussie connection. He was educated and spent most of his life in Australia before migrating with his father back to Malta. Now he travels all around the world collecting artifacts. We are planning to meet when I come back from Colombia

Montanita is very popular with surfers

I wish I could do it.....

The surf brake is off this rocky point.

The sunset.

Para sailing another popular past time over here.

Montanita is a place where party never stops full of travellers from all around the glob. Conveniently I stayed in the hostel located on the outskirts of town, this gave me chance to sleep during the night and I had only short walk to the beach during the day.

The beach in the early afternoon sun,

The sunset.

While there I did several day trips exploring the area.

Going north just outside Montanita.

This is Montanita's surf brake just on the other side of the cliff.

.... and looking North

The church on top of the cliff.

Some coastal views going north

These waters claimed many Spanish Galleons loaded with gold and silver.

I investigated every little road going off the main road.

This track led me to the gate of this magnificent property. When stopped at the front gate...... 

  

.......the lady owner invited me in and showed me around.

Walking on the edge.

The place was magnificent.

..... with breathtaking views.

later on I continued my ride towards Puerto Lopez.

Puerto Lopez from high above.

My destination for the day was Agua Blanca.

Agua Blanca river in Machalilla National Park

Agua Blanca village has small museum displaying artifacts for the local indigenous community thought to be descendants of Manta people. The remains of their capital is only a short walk away from the village. Only bases of the building remained , about 400, most still waiting for excavation.

Agua Blanca's museum.

The following day I ventured a few kilometres further north, to Los Frailes Beach, absolutely magic beach which in some ways reminded me Australia. 

Some magnificent views of the beach.

High on top of the mountain there is lookout overlooking two secluded beaches...

,,,, to the South  

.....and to the North

The sand was white and the beach was very clean - saddly not very common in South America.

I was here.

Part of the beach is rocky - good spot for snorkeling.

After about two weeks it was time to ride on again. My next stop not very far away - fishing village Puerto Cayo.

The beach in Puerto Cayo from my hotel window.

The Vulture.

Beach restaurants in the late afternoon sun.

The next day I continued towards capital of the district Manta. 

Fishing villages along the coast.

Manta large and busy city with typical big cities problems. I decided to ride on. I visited small town Montecristi just a few kilometres west from Manta.

Montecristi - the church on the main plaza.

The town is famous for its Panamanian straw hats but my bike already carried enough luggage.
Interesting trivia. Most of us heard about Panamanian hats but they should be called Ecuadorian hats. All these hats originated from Montecristi in Ecuador. In the early days they were send to Panama, major trading post those days and then sold around the world as the Panamanian hats.

Going north toward Bahia de Caraquez

These trees are common and pretty unique to this area.

Finally I reached Bahia de Caraquez

I found hotel and started to settle in, but suddenly I noticed my pouch with all my documents and all my cash is missing. I tried to think back and analyse what happened. I decided I must have left it under the pillow in the hotel in Puerto Cayo. It was about 5:30 in the afternoon but I decided to do a U-turn and go back. I had about 200km to cover. I had to ride at night, not my favourite. I reached Puerto Cayo and Gringo hotel about 8:00 at night. The lady owner claimed she doesn't know anything. She said she didn't even cleaned the room after I left. I ran upstairs and found my pouch under the pillow as expected,  $100 was missing, I was more then happy to sacrifice this knowing I have my documents back.
Next time I have to be more careful. I spent another night in the hotel and the next morning I rode back to Bahia de Caraquez.

This time I reached Bahia, earlier around midday.

Some views of the town.

This newly build bridge connects Bahia with San Vicente.

After crossing the bridge I rode for another 20km and reached Canoa, little town  full of expats.

 I stayed in the hostel right on the beach run by English expat Bill.

I spent a week there, mostly relaxing in my hammock just outside my room.

The hostel's restaurant.

Main street along the beach

Everything was low key and rustic - this the way I like it.

Local kids playing

On the weekends the beach was very popular with Ecuadorians.

Family taking a splash

The Ice Cream man.

Hard on the job.

Local spiky seashell

The town doubled as a fishing village.

 Early in the morning...

....going fishing...

.... but first they had to cross this bar.

My time in Canoa came to an end.

Time to move North again.

The country side became more lush and tropical.

Timber industry is important for the region

View towards the coast and Muisne village.

Fishing village Mompiche

Like everywhere on the Ecuadorian coast, fishing is an important part of economy. Interesting to say, majority fishermen are not locals but usually young men drawn from the cities attracted by better than average  income.

Going north toward Esmeralda and Atacames.

Atacames most popular beach resort in Ecuador, every year drawing tourists from all around the country. Atacames felt too busy for me, instead, I chose to stay in little quiet town Sula, 5km before Atacames.

Sula beach and Atacames in the distance.

In Sula, ocean front was lined up with these rustic bars and restaurants.

View of Sula beach south towards river estuary.

I stayed in very nice hostel  run by young Frenchman.

My apartment.....

......and well maintained pool in the courtyard.

After about a week there, there was time to leave.

Going north again towards Ibarra and Colombia.

Typical dwellings in the area

A lot of fruit and veggie stalls roadside 

Predominately the area is inhibited by black African descendants.

This was the end of the wet season, the rivers were still high.

Shortly before Ibarra I entered mountains again.

In Ibarra I met with my friend Juan.

In front of Juan's Pizzeria where I stayed while in Ibarra.

Juan y Yo

Some of Juan's motorcycle friends.

My bike safely parked for the night.

Next morning we rode to nearby hot springs.

In the car park at the entrance.

..... and the entrance to the complex.

Hot springs complex have three pools with varied water temperature.

When we left hot springs we came across these unlikely amigos.

Buzz off - I've got a friend

Mountain views on the way back to Ibarra.

My time in Ecuador was coming to an end. My visa nearly expired and I was well overdue to meet with my girlfriend Maria in Manizales Colombia. My metal detector was arriving shortly too.

The following day I left Ibarra and travelled toward the border with Colombia.

Back in Colombia - the first obstacle.

It took local guys no more than a few minutes to clear this road block.

The view of the river band just before Pereira in Colombia.

I spent one month in Manizales with Maria. Unfortunately not many pictures. My Camera got stolen shortly after I crossed back to Ecuador. This happened after I passed through town Esmeralda famous to be one of major crime spots in Ecuador. 

These are the only picture during my stay in Manizales:

 Trip to the mountains just outside the Manizales.

After one month in Manizales there was time to go south and try my new toy - metal detector and more.......stay tuned.