Travel Guide Salinas

150 km west of Guayaquil. About 50,000 inhabitants. Founded in 1918 by the commander Villacres, Salinas was built along a wide bay of golden sand. It has become one of the most popular resorts in the country, especially for Ecuadorians. Unfortunately, the brightly coloured wooden houses have given way to huge towers, and the seafront is covered in concrete with buildings whose tall silhouettes stand out against the blue sky. The local infatuation of the promoters for a modernist architecture gave to Salinas an air of seaside resort without great charm. The city is very busy during school holidays and weekends. Outside these periods, it can be very lonely. The summer is lively, the beach is full of people, all kinds of water sports are practiced, sailing, windsurfing, deep-sea fishing. At night, bars and discos stretching along the Malecón are always full. But Salinas is above all a place to observe humpback whales which, each year between mid-June and the end of September, come up from Antarctica to reach tropical waters, from Ecuador to Costa Rica, to reproduce. They leave four months later and return the following year to give birth to the next generation (twelve month gestation period). Being at the western end of the South American subcontinent, the resort is a perfect observatory to admire these marine behemoths. Agencies offer sea trips to try to get closer to them. The other advantage of Salinas is that here you don't have to pay an entrance fee like in the Machalilla National Park in the province of Manabí. This is not a declared national park, although the necessary measures are taken to protect the humpback whales that swim off the bay.