Mompiche

So I had two places I really wanted to visit in Ecuador—the Amazon and the Coast. I’m happy to say that I have successfully made it to both! This past weekend I went to Mompiche, a small fishing town right on the coast of Ecuador. The town has about 4 or 5 roads in total and is known for its surf during the fall and winter months (of USA weather that is). I asked my Ecuatorian friend Luis for a good spot on the coast to visit and he suggested Mompiche. That’s how I heard about it. It’s not very touristy and has a beautiful beach—exactly what I was looking for. I couldn’t find anyone else to come with me, so I ended up taking this trip solo. I decided to just go alone the day of, so I bought my first bus ticket and was told there were connecting buses in Atacames (where I was headed). But basically I was just kind of planning as I went. Mompiche is the type of place with no internet and little phone usage, so its not like I could plan much. The bus I took was an overnight to Atacames, and once I got their I sat around waiting for the ticket office to open…only to find out you pick up Mompiche buses on a corner of a street. While I was waiting I ran into a girl from Germany (Constancia was her name) going in the same direction as me. Once I arrived in Mompiche it was Friday around 10:30. Luis (a local—not my friend from Quito) helped me find a hostal (although it turned out I could have gotten one cheaper. it was still good only 8$/night). I set myself up and decided to hit the beach. I was walking along the shore and ran into some guys who I talked with for a bit then went for a beach run and a short swim. (Man the ocean is Salty. I don’t really care much for the salt; I prefer lagoons and lakes.)

I got some almuerzo and read in a hammock at my hostal. There I met Jose who lives there with his brother Enrique. I talked with him off and on during the day. He was telling me how he teaches surfing and works on construction. It was really cool to talk to locals who had lived there for so long. I was so glad to get out of the touristy edge of things and soak myself in Ecuatorian culture at its heart. 

Anyway he gave me some tips on surfing and offered to give me a lesson, but it turned out I ended up doing other things (more of that later). I also took a walk down the coast and I found some tide pools (but not super cool ones with sea anemonies). There were tons of sand crabs everywhere on the beach and in the tide pools. They were so incredibly fast so I didn’t catch any. I built a sand castle and watched the local kids play soccer on the beach. It was incredible how much the tide changes the shore. At mid-morning there’s barely a beach but by late afternoon/night time the beach is huge.

I tried Ecuadorian Ceviche..although it was cold and my plan is to try it one more time and give it a chance to redeem itself because it was not as good as the Peruvian kind I had in NYC. I was hanging out in a hammock in the evening when I met Enrique (brother of Jose). It was something to do so we walked around on the beach and talked—with many attempts to overcome the language barrier. His favorite word, and the word that describes Mompiche is tranquila. He kept telling me tranquila tranquila whenever I was attempting to try and say something in Spanish and couldn’t remember or didn’t know the words. Everything in Mompiche is very relaxed. Even the workers don’t really seem like they are working. On the way back Enrique introduced me to Jefferson and Manuel who were semi running another hostal—which was an excellent hostal (I kind of wish that I was staying there—and I ended up hanging out their more than my own by Saturday). They are both surfers as well. Actually all the guys I met were surfers. Anyway, Enrique said he would take me to another beach the next day and I actually realized on Friday how not as much fun I was doing stuff alone—so I was thankful to meet all these people and hang out with them.

Saturday started after I woke up lazily, got some breakfast and as I was doing so I saw another white person who looked about as out of place as I did. It turned out he was Canadian and there with his brother and friend staying at the DCMA (small town). We talked for a bit (in English—most people in Mompiche don’t know any English) and then I made my way over to begin the day doing whatever it was Enrique had planned. It was much more than I ever realized it was going to be.

I went with Constancia, Gerry(A woman who was retired and done with the U.S. but originally from Alabama), Manuel, Jefferson, and Enrique. So they tell us we are going to a lagoon (not the other beach) and that it was like a 45 minute walk. We start out walking and realize it’s definitely much much longer than 45 minutes, but if you hitchhike it’s not. Hitchhiking in Ecuador is so much more common and somewhat safer than in the US depending if you are inside the car or hanging on to the side of it. Anyway we got a ride to the crossroad and I was literally standing on the steps up to the door of a truck and holding on hoping not to fall off and die. It was a good time. We got another ride in the back of the truck the rest of the way. It turned out we weren’t even going to the lagoon first. We were at a house of a friend of Enrique’s (Roberto). We hung out there for a bit and then Enrique was like you all need to put on these boots (like black rubber rainboots)—because it will be better than wearing flip flops. I really had no idea what we were doing and I think Gerry, Constancia and I were all under the impression we were still on our way to the lagoon. So we started walking and Enrique asks me if I brought my tennis shoes in my backpack and he was like ok those are for Manuel. Apparently we didn’t have enough boots and Enrique told me to wear my tennis shoes…only I come to find out they are for Manuel and he’s about to get them really muddy. And he’s lucky my feet are so big and my shoes are for men. So Manuel wore my running shoes and later cleaned them in the lagoon. They still kind of reek and are a bit damp…lol anyway…so we make our way up this super muddy hill and into the jungle. For the most part we are following paths but I have no idea where we are going. Eventually we get to a river. It reminded me of Turkey Run how the river is the trail and on either side are rock walls. We saw a lizard and came to a cave of bats. It was pretty sweet. We also had to scale some rock walls, another thing they failed to mention was involved. It was great. Total adventure. The entire time I was like man I hope were going to get to this lagoon eventually.

We were walking for like 2 hours maybe 3 and for part of it we weren’t really on any trails. We also went to get some fruit. The cool thing about the jungle is it just has free cacao trees and the seeds are surrounded in a sweet jelly kind of fruit and its really tastey if you suck on them. So we had some fruit on the way and I saw a snake! We also heard howler monkeys. So we were all getting rather tired and finally realized we weren’t even on a walk to the lagoon. The guys were planning on going back to Roberto’s house to rest a bit and then go to the lagoon. It turns out we had passed the lagoon on the way to Roberto’s and it was actually much closer than we thought.

Por Fin, after our jungle treck we got to go swim in the lagoon. The water was very fresh and cool, not salty like the ocean and it was very relaxing. We caught a dump truck back to Mompiche and finally had some time to relax. A siesta in a hammock has become a favorite thing of mine to do and that was exactly what I did. Constancia and I went out to get a bit of food and we ran into Luis again and another gringo (whose name I have forgotten). He told us he was just traveling around South America and couch surfing, which I didn’t know existed until he told me about it. It’s an actual organization where people open their couches up to travelers to stay and you can search for places to stay as well. Sounds pretty cool. He said he had been hitch hiking and hadn’t spent more than 700$ in 2 months on traveling around. He told me he was coming from Colombia where he picked up Spanish. After awhile, Constancia and I decided to make dinner (at the DMCA they have a kitchen for you to cook your own food) so we bought some papas, huevos, platano verde, etc and cooked it up. It was excellent. After dinner, I just chilled at the dcma, talked to the Canadians and Jefferson. He told me about his surfing and showed me videos of professionals. They also made up batidos (a fruit drink with leche and ice). It was actually from fruit that we had picked on our jungle hike. It’s pretty good, but the fruit by itself is only good for monkeys in my opinion.

The party in Mompiche starts around 1130 on Saturday at the only discoteq in town. So we were talking and waiting until it was time to party. The other visitors at the hostal were smoking joints and drinking and talking. Finally it was time to go to the discoteq but once we got there the music was so loud and it was so hot, so I bailed. I ended up going to check out the sky. I walked a ways down the beach away from the lights and it was the BEST view of the stars I’ve had yet. In combination with the sound and breeze of the ocean it was absolutely perfect. I just really loved how I got to hang out with the locals and learn about their life in Mompiche. It was so relaxed there. If I could go back again one day and visit I would.

Right so I had to make my way back on Sunday, back to Quito. Unfortunately I woke up late for the 8 o’clock bus to Atacames. There wasn’t another one until 11 so I decided to ask around and maybe hitchhike there. I ended up getting really lucky. I found small bus that gave me a ride to the crossroad and literally 2 minutes later a bus heading to Atacames came by. On the bus I talked with the guy who sat next to me and he was also going to Atacames. He helped me get off at the right stop and get to the bus station. He was really nice. He even made sure I got a ticket before leaving me. It turned out that I wouldn’t be able to leave until 3:15 pm and it was around 11am at this point. So I had a lot of waiting to do. I was hoping to get back in time on Sunday for Mass in Quito, but I couldn’t with this bus. So I asked around to find the church in Atacames. I found it and Mass had finished but there was like a mass baptism of all these kids going on. There were about 15 of them all being baptized and all dressed in white. It was cool to see. So after that ended I asked the nuns if there was another Mass or anything I could do to find one. Another one was happening in another town but had started 20 minutes ago and not another one in Atacames till late in the evening after I left. They even had to close the church so I couldn’t stay. It’s so different from being in a big city were there are literally like 5 Masses a day and 5 churches. There wasn’t even a church in Mompiche that I could tell. Well so anyway, I hung out, got some almuerzo and read 1984 until my bus came.

Mompiche was a great experience. I loved the atmosphere of it. Living in huts, chilling out in amacas, and just taking it easy. Sure they aren’t college educated but I asked Jefferson if he wanted to stay in Mompiche and he said he did. He said his job of preference was to be a fisherman. It’s so shockingly different from America in a good way. It was also great to just hold entire conversations in Spanish, especially conversations that didn’t have to do with finding directions or how much something costs and logistics. I was glad I went even if it was by myself—because I wasn’t alone for long. I made some friends there, unfortunately who I will probably never see again. Another thing about Ecuador is people are much more likely to help strangers—like give them a lift somewhere or help them find a place. I was even about to lose my phone on the first bus ride but the conductor came back to give it to me when he found it lying on the seat. And that was MOMPICHE.