Chris in the Sweet Spot...

Again, almost everyone was gone, and the only people that I hung out with before and who were still in Montanita, were Karin (CH) & her new boyfriend Miguel (COL) and Mariella (ARG). Karin & Miguel maybe knew each other for 4 days before they somehow had the glorious idea to move into a place in Montanita together. Maybe because they liked each other so much and maybe cuz Karin was homeless, as her hostel needed the 3-bed room for ripping off tourists. Miguel was somehow cool with the moving together thing and since he worked 13hrs a day as a vendedor at the beach (selling these wristbands and other random shit), he was glad to have someone keeping the bed warm…

Mariella was a girl that Karin randomly asked at the beach to watch over her things for a few minutes and the same evening Karin brought her to a group dinner and from then on she hung out with us. Actually, she was here to work a bit for a month and earn some money before her boyfriend from Buenos Aires would also touch down in Ecuador and they’d then start travelling a bit. At the beginning she worked in the Casa Blanca, a for Ecuadorian standards expensive restaurant and attached Hotel, but one day they let everyone go for no reason.

Contradictionary to some others, Mariella was someone who I really liked to be around. She was witty, smart and had the same great humor that I am lucky to have. :D
Don’t get me wrong, not that I didn’t like the others, but sometimes they just shot over the top, exaggerated a bit too much and had the same attention span like squirrels. So Mariella was a good change for a while and despite the fact that we mostly ate in a group of 4 it was bearable.

A few days into the week, my buddy Wladi from Quito, who Chris and I met thanks to Russ, came to Montanita to celebrate a few days with Chris and me. Unfortunately he could only stay for two days, which was unfortunate, because Chris wanted to come to visit me too, but not until a day later. But never the less, Wladi and I met up and also encountered with a Belgium/ Australian couple that Russ also introduced to Wladi in Quito, just a week before we arrived there. So again it was the 4 of us hitting it hard in Cocktail Alley and the nearby Shisha-places.

During this night we came up with a really stupid idea. As a few of you might know, last year when Chris came to visit Jens, Stefan and me in Eastbourne just before Christmas, we did a Roadtrip up to Leeds to meet the 5^th person of out little entourage Caru. There he told us about a thing called “Otley-Run” which basically consists of hitting 18 Pubs, drink a pint each and then be able to get into any club in Leeds for free. Sounds simple, but it isn’t, trust me!!
It took us about 12hrs to get to every bar, we spend about 150 pounds each that night and had lunch/ dinner like 4 times in between. The night is now commonly known as our personal “Hangover” experience.

Well, I don’t know what I was thinking, but somehow I suggested to apply the Otley-Run onto Cocktail Alley in Montanita for the next day, when Chris would be there as well.
Just to give you an idea what Cocktail Alley looks like:

It is 36 places giving out really good but also strong drinks. At first I said to only have small drinks for the challenge, but later we decided against it, mainly cuz we´re MEN and don’t fuck about, and 2^nd not every place offers small cups. So the decision was actually made for us.

The next day, when Chris arrived and we told him about the challenge, he was thrilled and scared at the same time. I also had a weird feeling that this might not end good, as it was really a lot of places!!! After lunch we rested for about an hour and then started the party. It was 6,5hrs of real good fun, and we aborted our run after 9 cocktails when Chris asked me to bring him home cuz he was absolutely plastered.

If I think about it now, it all seems like a blur and I wonder that it was 6,5hrs all together. In my head it seemed more like two hours. But then again we have loads of pictures from that, mh… well, let´s call it “long afternoon”… which indicate that we were on a run for a few hours at least. According to the pictures, these are the drinks that we had along the way:

-         Mojito

-         Strawberry Daiquery

-         Maracaibo

-         Caipirinha

-         Cuba Libre

-         Pina Colada

-         Long Island

-         Maracuja Daiquery

So here are a few impressions of how the Cocktail Alley Run looked like.

  

 Unfortunately, Wladi had to leave the day before New Years, and since Chris and I had more or less failed our challenge, we decided to keep playing. Because we didn’t want to get plastered again, we only had another 6 cocktails in the following stands. One of them was an absolute delight: “Extasis Playero”. As the name already gives away, it’s a beach drink and will most certainly be one of the drinks I bring home with me.

The next day was New Years Eve and Chris and I were the luckiest sons of bitches ever, because this day, Petrus pulled all his skills one last time this year and performed absolute magic during the sunset. And with Chris’ new camera we actually got pictures that are even cooler than the sunset itself, although I must say it was breathtaking.

 After this, Chris and I were psyched to be in a warm country once more for New Years and couldn´t wait to celebrate the change of year at the beach between about 50.000 other people who had come from everywhere on this CONTINENT!!! and to kick 2011 to the curb and welcome 2012. In the midst, Chris and I witnessed the Ecuadorian tradition of burning figures, who represented the last year, and bonfire jumping, in which we of course joined.

Also, the hardcore local surfers had gotten all their surf gear and welcomed the new year by hitting the waves at sheer darkness. A few times, while they were out in the water, I saw some guys crashing into each other. Not that the waves were massive or anything, it was just absolute chaos in the water. Chris and I continued through all the cocktail stands and little bars that were open everywhere along the beach. It was actually not that enjoyable as each place had their own speakers, an although everyone was more or less playing the same salsa / raggaeton music, each places’ speakers were heavily fighting the other speakers, which resulted in a massive mixture of 6-7 different songs, all played at the same time. Like a mash-up, but just really bad. The only way to actually hear one song clearly, was right next to the speakers, where a common illness called tinnitus would be the sure reward.

Thus, we strolled along the different places until 4 something in the morning and had a short hit into Cana Grill before leaving the town for the last time in 2011 and going to bed at 6 in the morning in a fresh new year. The next day we had a last cocktail at Emilia’s Cocktail stand and Chris finally left the coast with the Bus at 3pm. Great times and I cannot wait to repay the favour and come visit Chris in Quito once more.

From me, of course, to all of you “a happy new year” as well!!!!