Salinas Santa Elena, Ecuador

We visited Salinas, Ecuador (Santa Elena provence) for 10 days this year.  We stayed at The Ocean Hideaway, it is very comfortable.  It is exactly like the photos on their website http://theoceanhideaway.com/home .  The rooms are minimalistic (no amenities).  The TV is in the main house not in any of the rooms.  It is right on the beach.  The best accomodation there in my opinion is the little bungalow that sits by the swimming pool.  They are in the process of refurbishing the property.  There is a dirt road from the main highway to The Ocean Hideaway and it is located 20 minutes south of the malecon. 

 
We liked the downtown location better because we like to be in the middle of things.  The Ocean Hideaway is a remote location.  If you are looking for great service you will get it there.  Susan's domestic help are wonderful and very nice.  You will need to know Spanish as the only English speaking persons are the expats and a few Ecuadorians.
 
We met several of expats and met with Hector & Kimberly Quintana several times.  They showed us several properties and invited us to go with them to meet several of the other expats while we were there.  If you want the best expat hangout it is Will's place "Score" located at the beginning of the Malecon.
 
We will be going back probably the second half of 2011 for 3 months to see if we will be happy living there.  Rent is inexpensive if you can afford between $400.00 to $700.00 USD a month.  Gas and water are very resonable.  Cleaning personnel are $10.00 per day if you want to hire someone.

The expats that live in Salinas have drivers they know personally and trust who they call when they need to travel somewhere or they take the local bus.  Some of them own cars but do not drive their cars daily unless they need to travel a great distance.
 
The highway from Guayaquil is very good but do not have dividing lines so you will see drivers crowding each other and they honk their horns constantly to make other drivers aware of there location.  I would recommend you have someone from your destination location  arrange a driver to pick you up at the airport because it is a major zoo trying to drive in Guayaquil.
 
We were not impressed with Guayaquil because it is extremely crowded and noisy.  The rooms in the hostals (hotels of 20 rooms or less) are small usually no more than 500 sq ft including the bathroom.  They are clean but minimal.
 
You will be able to read several things about Salinas by doing a google search on the name.  We liked it most in the downtown area.  The outlying areas are nice but you will see stone or cement (8 to 12 feet high) fences around most of the properties.  The Ecuadorians insist on their privacy.  The condo's downtown are all high security and the police are present all the time which increases safety. 
 
Take small bills with you because you will have a hard time finding a place to accept a credit card.  Before you go contact your bank to let them know you will be in Ecuador so you can get money from an atm other wise your card will be blocked.  We took $250.00 with us for 9 days and had to get additional money because we could not use our credit cards.

For more information contact me directly at donna@escapetotravel.com