montanita vs puerto lopez

i just finished reading this book called collapse by jared diamond which attempts to explain the environmental factors that caused past civilizations to collapse. so, maybe its just on my mind, but ive been thinking about the last two towns ive been in in that context.

on the one hand, there is Montanita, a town on the coast that is like many latin american coastal towns. there are dusty streets except for the random paved one here and there. there is a vibrant doggy social life, with more stray dogs than people walking down the streets, and not much for people to do except fish and lie around in hammocks. however, there is some sort of wave phenomenon that takes place on the beach that attracts surfers to the area. with the surfers having found this spot, an industry around the surfers has also emerged. so, there are hotels - fancy ones that have leafy hut-like roofs and restaurants on their lower floors. all of these hotels are clumped together in the middle of town in a two block radius where all of the resulting tourist infrastructure has followed suit. so, when you walk down these two streets, you can eat a lot, drink a lot, buy beaded things from hippies, watch people twirl fire, and buy bootleg cd's. there is much bob marley blaring into the streets and many people walking back and forth. all of this industry for the surfers? you may ask. well, yes and no. not only do surfers hang out there, but so do other people such as myself who have been told that it is a nice place to hang out. which it is. my intuition as to how it because a place not only for surfers, however, is based on a few inferences:
1. surfing is a lifestyle and not just an activity. people who surf do so for more than one day at a time. so, within the transient population of travelers and surfers, there is already a context for people to be staying in montanita for more than a day.
2. surfers do not surf once. surfing is a committment. you have to own a surf board, practice a lot, keep yourself in shape and be willing to talk about surfing after you surf. so, with the activity of surfing, there is an inherant culture for the hotels and ensuing industry to serve.
3. surfers are generally good looking. therefore, where they go, others will follow. guys will come to montanita to pick up surfer girls and girls will come to montanita to pick up surfer guys. so, there needs to be industry that serves this need as well. hence all of the bars and meet market type activities.

om the other hand, there is Puerto Lopez. another sleepy fishing village about 1 hour (2 miles on ecuadorian twisty roads) up the road. puerto lopez has all of the identifiable elements of a fishing village. a doggy life that is absolutely thriving, etc. there is a beach, but no surf, yet puerto lopez is also a tourist destination. there is no confined tourist area, yet people do flock to puerto lopez. people flock to puerto lopez, yet not to meet other single attractive people. in fact, people come to puerto lopez to see the whales. in fact, the waters off of puerto lopez is where humpback whales come to mate during this time of year. we went to see them, and attractive and athletic just like the surfers in montanita, the whales danced and jumped and did backflips out of the water, presumably to impress potential mates. but with all the people here in puerto lopez to see the whales, howcome a similar tourist infrastructure has not emerged as in montanita? well, there are bars, but they are perpetually empty, and blast music such as the offspring (pretty fly for a hite guy, etc.) into the streets. there is no street food to speak of, whereas montanita had people selling oyster based ceviche in the street, tasty and cheap, the streets of puerto lopez are marred by felled streetlights and random holes large enough for a cow to fall through. there are plenty of hotels around town, but they are spread out throughout the entire town. there are people selling juice on teh side of the road, but whereas in montanita these people would put rum in their natural juices during the night (we had one favorite juice/rum guy who went through the trouble of flicking some colorful lights on and off in such a way that earned him the knickname of 'the human disco ball' you have to try the passion-fruit/banana drink, and the strawberry/apple one too!), in puerto lopez, thejuice stands do not double as bars, and are genrally run by 9-13 year old kids who dump pounds of sugar into every juice if you are not quick enough to tell them not to. there is a beach to swim in, but ive seen more pigs on the beach than people and one sign that the pigs rule the beach instead of the people is that one pig, as he was walking non-chalantly dropped a huge terd spaning the space of 10 steps. not to mention, we are mired in a devestating glum cloudy phase where we havent seen the sun in 6 days. not even 1 ray. maybe 1 ray. why has puerto lopez not put in the effort to become the hotspot that is montanita?
1. the main industry for most people in puerto lopez is fishing. many of the fish, no doubt, as sent to montanita for eating there. therefore, fishermen are getting paid enough.
2. the main tourist attraction of puerto lopez are the whales. everyone walking down the street is offering you a whale tour. seeing whales is an event, not a lifestyle. so, if you want to see the whales, puerto lopez is the place to do it, but then you move on. therefore, the whale companies get their money from the tourists who would only pay once for such a tour anyway. the hotels are perpetually full of people on their way north from montanita - even if people are only in for only one night at a time, a hotel can only be but so full. the same goes for the restaurants. they are perpetually full, but with different tourists each night.
3. there is a bus that leaves puerto lopez at 7 at night and at 7 in the morning to go to quito, and there is not much for a tourist to do between puerto lopez and quito. therefore the bars are the big losers. the 7 pm people are gone by bar o clock, and the 7 am people want to get a good night rest before their morning bus ride, and besides are probably too tired for a big night out after their whale tours and hiking through the isla de la plata looking at blue footed boobies (hilariously cute duck-like seagulls with sky blue feet and no fear of humans).
so, the people in town make their money off the tourists the best way they can, even without going through the extra effort of covering the holes, picking up the felled light poles, completing random pavement projects, or cleaning the beach of pig crap. the big losers are the bars, and people who commit to spending three nights in puerto lopez, such as me, anna and vincent!