Travel Day - Cuenca to Olena

We left Cuenca yesterday and headed towards the coast. The owner of the hotel we stayed at was heading west to Guayaquil and offered us a ride, which we gladly accepted. Just about a half hour out of Cuenca, we entered Cajas National Park and experienced another beautiful drive through the Andes, complete with a few llama sightings.



We arrived at the Guayaquil bus terminal with an hour to spare before our bus departed for Montanita, so we headed to the food court - we had McDonalds, KFC, Pizza Hut and plenty of Ecuadorian fast food options to choose from.

We boarded the bus and left Guayaquil. After passing through some very poor areas on the outskirts of the city, we entered into a desert area with cacti and low lying vegetation. Before we knew it (three hours and one Spanish-dubbed Bruce Willis action flick later), we were at the ocean.

The bus dropped us off in Montanita, but it seemed more like Daytona Beach at spring break. We treked through the surf looking for a hostel, but didn´t like the vibe. We´d heard of a small town just north called Olena and decided on that. We found a hostel with views of the ocean. At $20 per night, it´ll probably be the cheapest oceanside lodging we´ll ever pay for. We fell asleep to the sound of the surf after a long day of travelling.