When you think Ecuador your first thoughts normally are towards the sweeping reaches of the mighty, snow-capped Andean mountains. You think of the ancient majesty of Quito’s Spanish Colonial palaces and cathedrals, or the vibrancy of the Quichua natives and their colorful markets. Yet Ecuador’s name comes from the fact it straddles the Equator, and if you descend from the land of the Incas down to the Pacific Coast, you find a bewitching paradise few Westerners know about.

Flowing along the lowlands is the “Ruta del Sol” (Sun Route), a roadway which follows the Southern Coast of Ecuador through all of her many facets and characters.

Puerto Lopez

Once a sleepy fishing village, Puerto Lopez has recently taken advantage of her dazzling location and is quickly becoming an eco-tourist’s delight. Close inland is the Parque Nacional Machalilla, which is an astounding reach of cloud forest and stupendous hiking. It is also quickly becoming nested with eco-tourist lodges that offer unique windows into the archeological and biodiverse natures of coastal rainforests on the Ecuator.

Even closer to home is Isla de la Plata (Silver Island), touted by locals as “The Poor Man’s Galapagos.” In fact, this is the only place outside the Galapagos Islands you can see such unique sights as Blue-footed Boobies in their natural habitat.

You’re in luck if you are here between July and October, when the Pacific’s Humboldt Current drifts south and brings with it an ideal habitat for Humpback Whales to mate. Whale watching here is a purely breathless display of leaping, tail slapping behemoths as they try madly to attract their mates. This is one of those outings that are even more memorable than the tour guides promise!

Montañita

An hour’s drive south of Puerto Lopez lays the tiny, beachside hamlet of Montañita. The tiny downtown area of only two blocks are stuffed with palm-fronded party caves bedecked with brazen names like “Wipe Out” or the “Funky Monkey.” Montañita is world-renowned for outstanding surfing in the day and energetic partying at night.

High season is December to April when the waves break high and hard against her rocky beaches. Then the town is swarming with bare-footed, longhaired and bronzed god lings of the surf. It is particularly popular with Australian surfers but you’ll hear accents from every continent save Antarctica.

Salinas

While Montañita is a South Pacific surfers delight, another hour south lays Salinas at the end of the Santa Elena peninsula. Salinas is the rich Ecuadorian’s playground with quiet, sheltered strips of white sandy beaches. In fact, with her towering condos and chic stores and restaurants, Salinas has a definitive Miami Beach quality to her: Modern yet retro with her yacht clubs set next to funky dress shops.

Here the prices are high and the beaches are crowded. But all the modern amenities you’ll ever desire are here and a good time is always had by all.

Las Playas

Farther down is one of the cheapest resort areas of South America, Las Playas. Here are some of the broadest, longest beaches you’ll see. Because she is so close to Guayaquil (over 2,000,000 people) on weekends the town itself becomes packed with busloads of those unable or unwilling to pay the prices at Salinas. Yet most of the time, the beaches are amazingly uncrowded and the seafood fresh and tasty. While most hotels are pretty crude, there are a number of quite comfortable accommodations, especially off the Eastern beaches of the town.

The exceptions are hot season weekends and major holidays, when the beaches fill to overflowing. Be especially careful during Carnival, the massive four-day festival immediately proceeding Lent. The celebration here is just as wild as in New Orleans or Rio de Janeiro, with wild drinking, eating and partying all through the day and night. One local custom for Carnival here is to douse others with water balloons, water hoses, even splashes of paint. Party time in Playas during Carnival is not for the faint of heart or the sober.

Guayaquil

Finally, a stop along the Malecón 2000 in Guayaquil is a quiet time to appreciate the subtlety of Ecuadorian Coastal offerings. The Malecón actually is a renovated waterfront along the tidal estuary that flows past Guayaquil, Ecuador’s largest and most populated city.

The Malecón is a delightful 2.5km of rich gardens, cultural exhibits, and artesanal markets, docks for tour boats and dinner cruises, mixed with chic boutiques and pounding nightclubs. There is even an Imax Theater along with the museums to broaden a quiet, thoughtful time. It is a fine way to recharge your mind and body after several days of hot sand and even hotter nights.

All in all, the Ruta del Sol is a world-class area of chic, modern pleasures interspersed with eco-tourism and cultural offerings, spanning from Third-World openness to the height of Western sophistication. It is a hidden gem largely unknown outside Ecuador.