The Airbnb We Stayed in Montañita, Ecuador 2020

I don't think we shared where we stayed in Ecuador! We managed to snag a great place called the Petit Maison just a few minutes' walk from the main street. It gave us a good distance to be away from the partying crowd but close enough to get to the beach (and the bakery) in less than 10 minutes! We paid about $400 for the month that covered Wifi, water, and electricity. We did have to pay for potable water but that wasn't too much more per month.

On our first day in town, we were unsure where to go. Because Montañita is small and does not have a mail delivery system, there are no actual addresses. You have to find the house based on key landmarks and the few street signs on the main road. To get to our Airbnb, we walked out of town, across the bridge, and up the street. Our taxi driver didn't even know how to get there and had to ask a local. Actually five locals. The lady that gave the correct directions we saw in town our whole stay. Good to know some people are kind enough to help! We were really nervous being in a new atmosphere.

Taking a street off of E15, we turned into sector Barrio el Tigrillo until we hit Rolling Stone st on the right. Walked to the end and took a left and the first set of doors on the left was where we stayed! We encountered many animals on our short walk to our entrance: cats, dogs, birds, chickens, and cows! We did notice that the more animal poo there is on the ground, the more caring the people are about their animals. Doesn't do well for the sanitation of the people but the animals look well cared for.

Our location had a private area to park your vehicle. Many locals, during our stay, had their own vehicle and would park it here during their stay. It was both great and a bit loud as our bedroom was right by this area so we encountered a lot of sound noise from late partiers. Generally, the town is pretty noisy anyway so after a few nights we got accustomed to all the noises going on. The little building by the gate is their maintenance storage to help clean and fix their apartments. I believe there was a total of eight places to rent? Though we think only about half were rented most of our stay. Luckily that did make things a little quieter for us. Don't forget, we purposefully went during low tourist season during a pandemic, When you first enter the gate, to the right is a larger place to rent that I believe has two bedrooms. Another family took over and moved in about a week or two after we did. They stayed the whole time and perhaps stayed longer after we left. They had younger children that unfortunately were pretty loud. Didn't help that the lady also liked to talk loudly in the morning (right by our bedroom window), and get into loud fights that travelled into our side. We shared the same roof (our apartments connected in the same building) so a lot of sounds travelled.

It also didn't help that the lady liked to let her young kids play in the rocks and yell....standing right outside our window. You can see this walkway correct? Well, it curves around showing you another door to another apartment, also facing our window. The white marked tree grows right there and that's where the kids played. So at random times of the day, we will get kids screaming by our head until we finally spoke up and they tried to stay further away. Being Autistic, we weren't trying to be rude, but it really hurt and we weren't sure how to communicate for them to stop (and that it hurt) but without getting angry. It didn't help that the neighbor across the fence had a kid that thought it was hilarious to scream at the top of their lungs at 11 pm at night. And for 30 minutes would do so until we contacted the owner to ask the neighbors if they could quiet down. They complied and it still sometimes happened, but much less from then on. I'm so glad they were nice enough to try and we were able to get some rest!

Below are the images of the path around where we stayed. You'd weave through these two buildings to go around and find another two-story building. On the way back, you can see our entrance. There usually weren't many people out here and occasionally we would watch the local puppies play around in the yard. We also had a great view of the local birds that would make very unique sounds.

We had a small area around our home against the fence to another unrelated property that we thought would be a bit private for us...except our neighbors connected kept walking around to this side. Yes further down they have windows closer to the fence...but you would have to walk past TWO of our open windows to get there and the space between the fence and the building's wall was filled with thick brush. Only a small kid could possibly get through, The lady liked to talk on the phone and walk on this side. Very awkward for us as we wanted privacy but to be able to leave our windows open (it was hot ok?).

Now onto the interior! We did have the place fully furnished so there were items there for us to use when we got there. however, we realized that we have different preferences on what we deem as a necessity. So after a week of gathering said items, we were complete.

The first image is of our entrance. We had a rack that we would dry our clothes on. I ended up doing laundry almost every day (if not multiple times in one day). Though I was limited on what I could clean: underwear, socks, shorts, light pants, and shirts. I had to wring a lot of the water out to speed up the drying process so I kept to items I could actually work on. About once a week we took our larger items (bed sheets or thick pants) and went to the closest Lavandería to have it cleaned instead. I was also limited by how much I could fit in the kitchen sink. Yes, I had to hand clean the sink every time I wanted to clean the laundry. We also had a lot of dishes every day to hand clean because there was no dishwasher. Quickly, we learned that we either have the energy to cook food, eat food, or clean up after making food. Because we did not have any real responsibilities to get to while there, we were able to rest in between each task or just spent all day cooking, eating, cleaning, and sleeping. You may think that is a lazy day/life but for Autistics, this actually takes a lot of mental energy to make sure we properly execute our executive functioning. Each task takes a mental toll before we even get to perform the task. Personally, my brain already runs through each step mentally, planning it all out before I even get up to start the task. For someone who, if my mind wanders, forgets how to hold a simple tool, it can get frustrating and exhausting real fast. I actually have to be aware of every little movement to make sure that I don't do some stupid mistake.

The kitchen is also very small, with not a lot of counter space or appliances to cook with. We had a toaster oven and a gas stove to work with. So we also had to be a bit creative with what we made. We ended up doing a lot of fried foods since it was quick, cheap, and pretty easy to clean up. The fridge was tiny and could keep things cool, but nothing could be kept frozen. If we moved to Ecuador long-term, we would definitely need a full refrigerator. We also really need an oven to cook. John got a bit creative and made some lime tarts in their toaster oven. It wasn't the best method but it worked and tasted delicious! On top of the mini-fridge sat our potable water. This was, of course, for drinking, for cooking rice in, and for brushing our teeth. Cleaning our dishes/silverware, showering in it, and even boiling eggs were fine with using tap water.

The bathroom was small but a good size. Easy to clean and when we weren't showering, could leave it as Sherlock's litterbox area. When we showered we stuck it under the bathroom sink until the shower area dried enough. It was everything we needed!

Lastly is the bedroom! First, four pictures were how our room typically looked. We tried to keep as much as we could off the floor. After our first night, we didn't want another encounter of the surprise gigantic spider hiding in our clothes. For some reason (probably airflow), they do not have their doors touching the bottom floor. There is about an inch opening that allows bugs to freely walk in and out. For us, we get really antsy about bugs randomly showing up in our home. We have had too many disgusting memories from various places we have stayed at that it kicks up tons of anxieties within me. So another note, if we move to Ecuador, we will adjust to make sure no outside intruders can just waltz right in. To take care of this in Ecuador, we bought some bug repellent and sprinkled it around the home and targeting the window sills. It was a dangerous powder not allowed in the US so we also made sure to keep it away from areas that Sherlock would be able to sniff at. Also, after some really rainy days, we would have to reapply and it worked out pretty good for the most part.

Do what do you think? Not bad for $400/mo! For those looking for a nice place a little ways away from the loud commotion but close enough to walk to, this is the perfect spot for you! If you want the number to this location, please shoot us an email!