Olon had been on my radar for two or three years before I actually went. I found Outdoor Ecuador — a surf and Spanish school in the small coastal town of Olon, about ten minutes north of Montanita — when I was originally planning the Argentina and Chile trip and looking at options in case my plans changed. I watched YouTube videos on the town, read reviews on the school, and something about it stuck. A sleepy beach town with good waves and a school people seemed to genuinely love. I filed it away.
When my friend and I were finishing up the Peru portion of this trip I told her I was tacking a month onto the end for the school. She asked if she could join for part of it. I said yes, but know that I am going to school and taking surf lessons every day — you will have your own time, your own space, and I will not be a tourist with you. That worked perfectly for both of us. She joined for the first week and a half, we traveled together through the transition from Peru, and then she went home and I had three weeks in Ecuador on my own.
On the Safety Question
When I told people I was going to Ecuador a few of them said some version of are you sure, the cartel stuff. I had done the research. I had reached out to a local realtor who told me she lived there with her eight-year-old and felt completely safe. The school was honest about it — yes, there are parts of Ecuador with real problems, and Olon is not one of them. The northern coast, the isolated rural areas, those are different situations. Olon is a small beach town where the local economy runs on tourism and the people there know it.
I have traveled to places under advisory before. Nicaragua is technically a dictatorship and has advisory warnings. Sri Lanka was coming out of a civil war when I went. The news covers the worst version of a country and sometimes that is the only version people have. I have seen this happen with Mexico too — tourists stop coming to Puerto Vallarta after a cartel incident somewhere else in the country entirely, and the locals who depend on that tourism suffer for it. Do your research. Talk to people who are actually there. Then make your own call.
I made my call and I was right to. From the moment I arrived in Olon I felt safe. The town gave me the same feeling as any small beach town I have ever been in — people going about their lives, no aggression, no edge. It was fine.
Getting There: Lima to Olon
We flew direct from Lima to Guayaquil, which is the closest major city to Olon. From the Guayaquil airport you need a taxi to the main bus station — it looks walkable on a map and is absolutely not, the road is chaotic highway traffic. A taxi costs about $5 and drops you at a massive, overwhelming bus terminal with hundreds of company counters going in every direction.
The bus you take to Olon is run by the compnay CPL that is located at counter 85 in the bus terminal. This is only bus line running to Olon so if you walk up to the wrong counter they will point you to the right one. Tickets to Olon run about $10. There is not a strict set schedule so expect to wait anywhere from a few minutes to thirty or so. Grab water and snacks from the stalls inside before you board — it is a three-hour ride.
The buses are genuinely nice. Air conditioned, assigned seating, big comfortable seats, usually a movie playing in Spanish. You take an escalator up to the second floor platforms, find your bus, show your ticket, and settle in. Three hours later it drops you directly in town and you walk five to ten minutes to wherever you are staying.
On departure: check the bus schedule the day before, not the morning of. I assumed there was a 9am bus and showed up to find it was not running that day. The next bus was at 10am, which still got me to the airport by 1:30 for a 4pm flight, but it was an unnecessary stressor. Give yourself a full four hours from bus departure to flight time to account for traffic.
Where to Stay
I booked through VRBO and found a two-bedroom, two-bathroom condo with a full kitchen, great views, and a location walking distance to both the beach and the school. I negotiated the rate down by messaging the owner directly and asking — I was staying a month and it was the off-season, so they had reason to work with me. Total cost was $1,400 for the month. My friend covered about $300 of that for the time she was there, making my share around $1,100.
That is on the higher end for Olon. Outdoor Ecuador also offers homestays and private rooms in their hostel for significantly less — probably $600 to $700 for a month. If budget is the priority that is a completely viable option and you would be closer to other students. I was coming off working a full Jersey season and was arriving a little intimidated by a country I had never been to, so I prioritized having a comfortable private space. No regrets on that choice, but know the cheaper options exist and are good.
Outdoor Ecuador: The School
Outdoor Ecuador is a surf and Spanish school — you can do one or both or switch between them depending on what you want. For two weeks of Spanish lessons and one week of surf lessons, including thirty hours of class time, five surf lessons, all supplies, and board rental, I paid around $550 total. That pricing is exceptional for what you get.
The school assessed my level on arrival with a short test and matched me with a teacher accordingly. My first two weeks were with Nadine, who was patient, warm, and good at pushing me without overwhelming me. The school intentionally rotates teachers partway through longer stays to give students different perspectives and teaching styles. My second two weeks were with Luis, who brought a different energy and caught things the first approach had not. Both were excellent. That rotation structure is smart and I appreciated it even when the switch felt abrupt.
Classes run three hours with a break in the middle — an hour and a half, break, hour and a half. Three hours was the right amount for my brain. I did four-hour days in Nicaragua and three works better for actual retention. After class my brain was genuinely spent and needed to recover before I could absorb anything else.
Fridays were different. One Friday my friend joined us and we went to Naufrago restaurant for encebollado — the famous Ecuadorian fish and onion soup — and just talked in Spanish, answering questions, practicing conversation, ordering in Spanish. Low stakes and fun. Another Friday Nadine took us to Montanita for the day, showed me how to take the local bus so I could do it independently afterward, and we walked the town and did some shopping. Those Friday formats were some of my favorite class time of the whole school.
Surf Lessons with Bruno
My surf instructor was Bruno. Lessons ran $125 for five days including board rental — the board was mine to take whenever I was not in a lesson, so I could surf mornings on my own if conditions were right. That flexibility made the value even better.
My first day was humbling. I told Bruno I surfed three to four foot waves comfortably and he took me out on a day when the swell was running two meters. Olon means something like big wave in the local language and there is a phenomenon specific to the break where out of nowhere, outside of the regular sets, one massive wave will roll in from nowhere. I learned this on day one by being in the water when it happened. I got worked. I came back to the apartment that afternoon, looked at my friend, and said why do I like surfing, that was so stressful.
It got better. The swell dropped back to the three to four foot range and Bruno was an excellent instructor — patient, encouraging, always in Spanish unless I had a deer-in-headlights moment, working on my pop-up speed and my turns making me a better surfer. He knew the break well and positioned me in the right spots for my level. Having someone who knows a beach break intimately is genuinely valuable because the wave quality varies dramatically across the beach depending on the sandbar. He put me where I needed to be.
Weekend Surf Trips
One of the best things Outdoor Ecuador offers is weekend surf trips for about $20 a person. The surf instructors load everyone into a car, drive up and down the coast looking at conditions, and take you wherever the waves are best that day. No fixed destination, no tourist itinerary — just locals who surf every day of their lives taking you to where they would actually go.
We surfed Olon’s main break, Montanita’s break, and Playa La Rinconada, and a few other spots we found along the way. We also went to a beach break further north whose name I never got, which is actually the point of these trips — the guys knew spots that were not on any tourist map and the day’s destination was wherever conditions were best.
On one trip back from La Rinconada we stopped at a roadside spot and I had Corviche de Camaron for the first time — fried balls of green plantain stuffed with shrimp, served with sauce. One is filling. They are exactly the kind of thing you eat standing up after surfing with salt still on your skin and they are perfect in that context. On another trip we ate at Restaurante La Rinco at the top of the La Rinconada break — some of the best ceviche I had in Ecuador.
The last surf trip I remember being tired. A full month of surfing was catching up with me and the break that day was big and crashing hard and I just was not getting over my hesitation. At some point I brought my board in, put it down on the beach, and spent an hour bodysurfing with one of the instructor’s kids who was maybe seven years old. We had the best time. Sometimes you have to let go of what you think you are supposed to be doing and just do what is actually fun in that moment. That beach was beautiful and empty and the bodysurfing was exactly right for that day.
Being Alone: What It Actually Felt Like
When my friend left I was on my own for three weeks in a country I had been nervous about and in a town where almost no one spoke English. I will not oversell the difficulty — by the time she left I already knew the school, knew my instructor, knew the surf break, and had a comfortable apartment. The groundwork was laid. But I had been leaning on her Spanish the whole time she was there, and when she left I had to stand on my own.
It made me better. I had to order my own food and actually work for it — knowing how to ask for chicken breast without bone, how to read a menu, how to handle a transaction without defaulting to English. I had to go on the surf trips alone and make friends there. I had to navigate the small moments of daily life in a language I was still learning. That is where Spanish actually improves, not in the classroom but in those small uncomfortable moments where you have no choice.
The day-to-day rhythm was genuinely good. I got up around 7am and ran the beach — it is long, hard-packed at low tide, and beautiful in the early morning. I usually got five to six miles in. One morning a local dog joined me for the entire run and stuck with me the whole way back. I had a good breakfast, went to class at 9am, finished by noon, surfed or recovered in the afternoon, cooked in most evenings or went out to one of the small restaurants in town. I was exhausted in the best way — three hours of Spanish followed by surf lessons followed by being in a foreign country without a safety net is genuinely tiring. I did not have as much energy for the blog work I had planned. I was okay with that.
The town helped. Olon is quiet enough that being alone in it never felt lonely. The people were kind without being pushy, the beach was never chaotic, and the school gave the days structure that solo travel sometimes lacks. I would do it again — and I plan to.
CrossFit in Spanish
I asked Nadine about gyms in town and she said there is CrossFit, I go four days a week, do you want to come. I had never done CrossFit. It has a reputation in the US for being aggressive and cult-like and I had always avoided it. But I said yes because Nadine was going to be there and because the alternative was doing apartment workouts alone.
The classes were run by a woman who was patient and thorough about showing me every movement. The workouts of the day are written in English regardless of country because CrossFit as a system uses English terminology, so the language barrier was actually minimal — I could read the workout even when I could not follow the verbal explanation. Nadine helped fill the gaps. The class was almost entirely women, which made it immediately less intimidating than the American version I had imagined, and those women were strong in a way that was humbling. They were lifting weights that embarrassed me. I loved it.
Cost was about $7 or $8 a class, with an optional protein smoothie made with oats and creatine for $2 afterward. In the US a CrossFit class runs $35 to $40 minimum. I went once or twice a week and came away knowing some lifting techniques I had not known before and having spent two hours a week laughing at myself in Spanish with a group of strong Ecuadorian women. No complaints.
Where to Eat in Olon
For a town this small the restaurant options are genuinely good. Here is what we ate and what is worth seeking out.
Naufrago is where to go for encebollado — the classic Ecuadorian fish and onion soup that the coast is known for. We had it here with Nadine on a Friday class and it was exactly what it should be. La Churreria has the best churros, cakes, and muffins in town and we went multiple times. If you have a sweet tooth this is your spot. Pigro is the Italian restaurant — good food and an exceptional cookie and ice cream dessert that I still think about. Bahia Restaurante Argentino is a nice local spot then Tikilimbo and MOMO are all slightly pricier but worth it for a nicer evening out. All along the beach are amazing little Ecuadorian spots for cheap local cuisines too! There are plenty of spots I have not mentioned, the town for its size have a decent amount of restaurants to choose from. For Montanita specifically, The Wave Surf Resto Cafe is where we had excellent margaritas and a good meal.
For groceries the closest option is a taxi to Montanita — about $2 each way — where there is a proper supermarket. Stock up when you go rather than making multiple trips. We also found small shops on Olon’s main street for basics, meat, and produce that covered most daily needs without leaving town.
What Ecuador Is and Why I Am Going Back
Ecuador worked for me the same way Nicaragua did — the combination of language school and surfing creates a structure that makes slow travel feel purposeful rather than aimless. You have somewhere to be every morning and something to work on. The rest of the day belongs to you.
Olon is the right town for this if you want quiet. Montanita is ten minutes away if you want nightlife. The waves push you — this is not a beginner-friendly beach break on a small day, and on a big day it will test you regardless of your level. That is actually a good thing if you want to improve.
I left wanting more of Ecuador than I got. There is hiking near Quito, Cotopaxi National Park, and the Galapagos — where a friend of mine spent years as a scuba instructor and tells me I have to go, and where apparently you can surf as well as do the wildlife tourism. I did not have the energy to extend at the end of this trip but I will go back and see those places. Ecuador has more to offer than one month on one coast and I only scratched it.
Practical Notes
School: Outdoor Ecuador, based in Olon. Surf and Spanish — can do one or both. Two weeks of Spanish plus one week of surf lessons including thirty hours of class, five surf sessions, supplies, and board rental runs approximately $550. Board available for independent use outside lesson times.
Spanish teachers: Nadine (first rotation) and Luis (second rotation). Surf instructor: Bruno. All three excellent.
Getting there: Fly into Guayaquil (GYE), taxi to the main bus station ($5), find counter 75-85 for Olon tickets ($10), three-hour comfortable bus directly to town. Or look into a transportation service. It will run you about $100.
Leaving: Check the bus schedule the day before. Allow four hours from bus departure to flight time. Taxi from Guayaquil bus station to airport costs about $5.
Accommodation: VRBO or Airbnb. Message owners directly and ask for a monthly rate — especially in November which is shoulder season. School also offers homestays and private hostel rooms for roughly $600 to $700 per month.
Language: Olon is Spanish only. Menus sometimes have English but conversations will not. Know your basics before you arrive — how to order food, ask for directions, handle transactions. You will improve fast out of necessity.
Surf: Beach break, can get large. Montanita and Playa La Rinconada are the nearby named breaks. Weekend surf trips through the school for $20 are highly recommended — locals take you to wherever is best that day.
Food highlights: Naufrago for encebollado, La Churreria for pastries, Pigro for Italian, Restaurante La Rinco for ceviche after surfing, roadside Corviche de Camaron after any surf trip.
CrossFit: Ask at the school. About $7 to $8 a class. Worth it.