In need of a little break from an extended stay in party-capital Montañita, I found myself taking a few days away to the southern-facing coast of Ecuador. The main city on the south coast after Guayaquil is called Playas, and 15 minutes from Playas are the smaller pueblos of Engabao and Puerto Engabao. Somehow, in all the research I did about surf spots before coming to Ecuador, this one didn’t land on my radar and so I was super stoked to find myself here for a few days after settling for a few months in Montañita.
Puerto Engabao and the surrounding coastline is nice because it picks up more southern swells unlike the northern coast of Ecuador, which means the best waves here come slightly later in the year, from March to August. Playas itself is supposed to have some awesome right hand points, but because its a bigger city it’s not very surfy nor tourist oriented, so I strongly recommend you continue onto Puerto Engabao if you’re looking to find other travelers. From Montañita, you can either take the direct green TransManglaralto bus direct to Playas for $5, or transfer halfway in Santa Elena (which might be the only option depending on the bus schedule). Once in Playas, there is a 20 minute, $1 bus that goes through Engabao and Puerto Engabao. On the way there, I took a 20 minute taxi instead for $7, so whatever is your preference.
I stayed in basically one of the only hostels in town (and arguably the nicest hostel in Ecuador), Free Spirit. They have a sister hostel in Nicaragua which is super plush, running at $25 a night for a dorm, but with breakfast and dinner included! When you consider the daily cost of food and accommodation in Ecuador, $25 is not that bad because Free Spirit basically takes care of you all day and keeps you entertained without even having to leave the property.
very nice foods served by the volunteers, 10/10
While Free Spirit is very clean and beautiful and green, has surf lessons, yoga lessons, free planned activities, a pool, the food, hammocks and slack lines and guitars and basically everything you can ask for— it does come with the small caveat that it is super ~white~ considering you’re in Latin America. Maybe I’ve just been in more local spots, but it was pretty funny to me that the most commonly language in Free Spirit wasn’t English or Spanish, but French! That doesn’t mean there isn’t really fun community here, and lots of great travelers that enjoy being in this place off the beaten path. Dinners happen with the whole hostel and there is definitely a big push to socialize and interact with other guests more than your typical hostel. In general, this hostel seems to have lots of people that stay longer term, away from the party of Montanita and the people of the cities. And for good reason! If you want to stay for cheaper, you might want to look into volunteering as a bar person or cook, then you are basically living in paradise for free!
The surf spot directly in front of the hostel is a pretty powerful, good quality beach break that works at high tide. I was pretty sick in my 3 days in Engabao, so I couldn’t take full advantage of the wave though it was pretty freaky for me above 1.5 meters. The first evening I showed up I had the most magical sunset session and couldn’t believe how empty the water was— I was the last one in! The waves were very consistent and the beach break is better for more advanced surfers and shortboards. There’s a just a small group of local surfers and tourists on the weekdays, though I hear every surfer in Guayaquil comes up for the weekend, so keep that in mind. The more famous surf spot in Puerto Engabao is the actual right hand point, which gets more crowded with beginners learning at low tide. Unfortunately I didn’t get the opportunity to surf this wave, though I loved watching the good guys catch some gnarly 2 meter rides when a swell came through. It looked pretty heavy out there and broke far out, so I would leave the big swells for experienced surfers. There are also rocks out by the point, so the approach looks a bit more technical if there’s a lot of water moving around.
The town itself is pretty tiny and still relatively untouched by tourism. Free Spirit Hostel sits at one edge of the town and it takes no more than 10 minutes to walk to the other edge of town. For my lunches, I wandered into the town and found some cheap food and got them to make it vegetarian just for me. Like most small towns, there is no ATM so keep that in mind and come with enough money (Playas has the nearest machines). Although the town is tiny and still mostly local, I happened to be there in time for a monumental event— the completion of a gorgeous new skatepark!
A nonprofit organization called World of Wonders has been volunteering and donating skate parks around the world to help make skating accessible to everyone. After they did some projects in Southeast Asia and elsewhere, I was there right in time for them to finish the incredible skatepark in Puerto Engabao. Take all these little groms that excel at surfing and put them on a board on concrete— they were absolutely sending it and having so much fun. I brought a surfskate board with me so I got to do a little practicing in the brand-new bowl and have a fun session with the local kids. The night I left was the official opening ceremony of the skate park and every local kid got a skateboard from World of Wonders— literally the most stoked thing I’ve ever seen. I am most certainly going to have to go back to get better at skating and learn from those little shredders.
My few days in Engabao were very peaceful — surrounded by the sea and the beautiful hostel— but one thing that did stand out about this fishing town was the excess of trash in their waters. The hostel actually will discount your night of stay to half-price if you pick up trash for 2 hours everyday! I wish I knew that before I came, because I ended up spending several hours everyday cleaning up anyways :) there are infinite amounts of big plastic trash and even more micro plastics…. This also meant the water was a bit dirty to surf in, so just keep that in mind if you are concerned about health and water quality. The hostel gives you a free beer for every bag picked up, even more incentive to give back to this beautiful pueblo and clean the shorelines! little earth day clean up :)
In sum, this place is awesome for the slow traveler that loves the beach and wants to explore places a little less touristic. Free Spirit is definitely the place for now and I'm sure in 10 years this place is gonna be super different-- visit sooner than later to get Puerto Engabao while it's still in its special little era. Disfruta!
