| Some call it a "little Miami," but except for the sun, sand | | | | where you'll find the docks of the Salinas Yacht Club. |
| and surf, it's really nothing like Miami. Then again, I was | | | | The sandy half-moon bay on the north side, where the |
| here during the off season. | | | | abundance of action takes place, is Salinas Beach. To |
| During high season, I'm told, the beaches of Salinas are | | | | the south is Chipipe Beach, quieter and more family |
| so jam packed with people that virtually every inch of | | | | oriented. |
| sand is covered by towel, umbrella, or oil-slicked body. | | | | As you'd expect, most of the activities here center |
| Streets are clogged by cruising cars bringing even | | | | around watersports: game fishing, whale watching, |
| more sand fans, and the malecon is wall-to-wall with | | | | wake-boarding, water skiing, yachting, sky diving, |
| vendors hawking everything from ice cream to | | | | parasailing, and surfing-the Quiksilver ISA World Junior |
| eyeshades and shark-tooth earrings to shrimp on a | | | | Surfing Championship was held here last Spring. |
| stick, hot off the grill. | | | | Despite the flurry of activity that is Salinas, though, it |
| If you're the least bit agoraphobic, then, the low season, | | | | may be one of the world's least-expensive beach |
| from mid-May to December, is the time to go to | | | | resorts. A nice private room in a sweet boutique hotel |
| Salinas, Ecuador's most popular Pacific Coast beach | | | | just one block off the malecon can be had for $30 |
| resort. | | | | night for a single. A steak or seafood dinner in one of |
| About 90 miles from Guayaquil, Ecuador's largest city, | | | | those trendy restaurants will set you back just $5 or |
| Salinas has long been a vacation home destination for | | | | $6. Or chow down on fish or shrimp, cooked any way |
| Ecuadoreans. Glittering high-rise condos line the beach | | | | you like, at the local mercado-more than you can eat |
| road. Fashionable seafood restaurants and trendy | | | | for about $2.50. |
| clubs come alive at night. (Even in slow season, the | | | | And those condos I mentioned? I found a brand-new |
| nighttime streets are thronged with young people out | | | | one on the eighth floor with a floor-to-ceiling view of |
| to see and be seen.) | | | | that gorgeous half-moon bay. With three bedrooms, |
| Unlike Miami, though, Salinas is a relatively small town. | | | | three bathrooms and a maid's quarters, it's priced at |
| The beach is divided almost perfectly in half by a jetty | | | | just $130,000. |