And so our expedition to unknown places in South America continues. So far I have taken you to cheapest places in Costa Rica, we have failed to enter Mexico and now, finally, we are going to discover one of the rarest places I have had yet chance to visit. Isla Bolivar also known as Portete in Mompiche.
As I have probably mentioned in my previous blog, Mompiche was the reason I came to Ecuador in the first place. Travel is luxurious activity - even if you do it on very cheap at least you need to be privileged enough to have a passport that allows you to travel. So even though I have met people that maybe cheaper for less than me, they have the background backup of either status of their country or family etc. Some of the hardest of them all - the bike trippers are probably the only ones that have none of this. Sleeping raw and going to places with little to no tourism to stay on the absolute cheap side of life. And there is nothing wrong about living or travelling cheap. I created my own version of budget travel which combines cheap flights, hostels and blogging for profit as a strategy to go further.
Mompiche sits in a bay surrounded by jungle. There is hence not that many places to go, but those where you can actually get to are absolutely amazing. The most appealing of them is the Bolivar Island.
Crossing the town beach full of fishermen first, I quickly made it to the road to the island. It is a mellow three kilometers long walk. Plus as a bonus there is a place called Playa Negra. A sizable beach and probably the most reliable surf spot. On my visit there were unfortunately none. So I have just went for a short dip and swim in the water. As the only visitor it was sheer pleasure to have such marvelous place for myself only. The name Black Beach is rather fitting as the volcanic sand is really dark and rather sticky - almost a magnetic experience.
For some reason unknown to me there is not much sun around here. Maybe it is the seasonality, but it could be the location more than that. It would be a sad realization as sun is such a vital part of our lives. Without it we often feel sad or weak if not straight on depressed. This isn't the case here though, even with this "grayness" around one feels good because the ocean and the lush green flora everywhere.
To get to the island I had to cross a river with local tiny boat. Fifty cent was the fare and I have stepped on the island in no time. Like, it literary takes less than a minute to cross. Immediately I have encountered multiple shag restaurants and bars on my way to the main beach where it looked quite busy for close to low or no season here...
It felt weird to see so many people suddenly around the corner but hey, let them enjoy the beach too. At the end of the day I don't have to be everywhere alone and have the whole place for myself. Even though when I ventured further I did had the beach for myself again.
Now I should mention that one of the reasons I went so far from my comfort zone is my real estate hunt. Mompiche might be the cheapest place to invest into land in Latin America. Signs for sale were to be seen all around. On every street in town there is at least one sign and prices are priced rather fairly. I am not going to get into it too much as I think it is such a hidden gem, that I might want to take advantage of it myself. Let me put it this way. If you're a modern day cowboy or gold digger you'll like this place and quite possibly investing here will pay of big time. On the flip side it is Ecuador and Latin America and everything can happen. The whole bay area can be overrun by gangs or some crazy weird president gets elected and renders Ecuador second Venezuela.
In any case I can only recommend visiting Mompiche and that is for people of all ages and walks of life. There is even very small expat community and wouldn't it be for covaids lockdowns and blooming worldwide recession, Mompiche wouldn't have been this cheap and empty like it is now.
All the best,
Global Local