Roaming South America

Montecristi, Ecuador

December 11, 2022

Montecristi, Ecuador: founded in 1536/1537 when the indigenous people living in the Manta region ran away from the Spanish invaders. Apparently, the official name of the town is Ciudad Alfaro. The population is about 46,000. Montecristi is famous for it Panama Hats. Montecristi is the original birthplace of Panama Hats, not the country of Panama, or anywhere else for that matter. I saw more hat shops in this little town than I've ever seen anywhere. And, I had the opportunity to talk with the two men in town who actually hand-craft the hats. They have a large hat press machine and dozens of molds for different shapes. If you're ever in Montecristi look for Modesto Hats, modestohats.com. The two men there speak English. The climate is very nice: the daytime high average 27° C (81° F), and nighttime lows average 22° C (71° F).

So, my impressions: I like this little town. Granted, it's not particularly beautiful, has very little historic architecture, but I like the downtown area and the location of the town at the bottom and going up the side of Mount Montecristi. This town will be on my possibilities list.

This is my goal: to find a new place to live. So to reach that goal I am traveling most of South America, visiting the countries of Ecuador, Perú, Bolivia, Chile, passing through Argentina, visiting Paraguay, passing through a bit of Brazil, and finally visiting Uruguay. I have a list of towns, about 70 towns, that meet these qualifications: Cities with average day temperatures of 22-28° C (72-83° F) and night temps of 14° C (57° F) and higher; and a population between 28,000-300,000 (preferably under 100,000). I analyzed climate and population data of around 700 towns in the above-mentioned countries and then pulled out the ones that meet the previously mentioned criteria, which leaves about 70. My preference leans towards towns of less than 100,000 people. Of the 70 towns, about 20 have populations of 100,000 - 300,000. And, now that I've been here on the coast for a few days I've decided I will probably want a town more inland. I love the beach and walking in the warm water, but, getting sunburned is just too easy, even on a cloudy day. At least, here in Ecuador.

Next up: Manta.