If you’ve been following us on Twitter or on IRC, you will likely know about our next destination already. Heck, you might even read this with your plane ticket sitting in your email inbox right now. But if not, and for everybody else, here’s our official announcement of Hacker Beach, Episode 4.
After years of trying to find a location in South America, we finally succeeded: fellow hackers and like-minded individuals, we’d be delighted to have you join us in Canoa, Ecuador next January! We hope you like surfing and seafood, because there’s plenty of both in this laid-back little fishing village.
In addition to 10 miles of deserted, quiet beach, there’s also a nearby jungle hosting a diverse array of plants and wildlife. In fact, Ecuador officially has the most biodiversity per square kilometer on planet Earth. So before, during and after Hacker Beach, you should really explore this beautiful gem of a country, located between Columbia and Peru in the North-West of South America.
Getting there
In good old Hacker Beach tradition, there is no direct and easy way to get to Canoa itself. You’ll have to fly to either Quito (the capital city, located 2850m above sea level) or Guayaquil (the unofficial capital of Ecuador). Both cities have buses going to Canoa. Alternatively you can try to make your way via neighboring countries and/or smaller cities. From Europe, there are good flight connections from MAD and AMS for example. You can ask on IRC for more tips, in case you can’t find a good option.
Visa
Citizens of most Western countries get a 90-day visa on arrival. In general, visa requirements seem to change frequently. If you come from outside the US or EU, please check with your embassy. Ecuador currently hosts Julian Assange in their London embassy, so I’d assume they won’t be total douchebags. 😉
Accommodation & Cost
Ecuador is rather cheap in international comparison. Prices look similar to SE Asia for accommodation and food. You can live on $30 a day. Probably less if you really want to. By the way, Ecuador uses USD as official currency. (And be careful with Bitcoin, because the government really doesn’t like it.)
As Hacker Beach is not an organized event and certainly no pre-packaged vacation, you’re on your own with finding a room or apartment. As always, it’s not a bad idea to find others you can share an apartment with, or to stay at the same hostel as other hackers.
Questions?
We’re hanging out in #hackerbeach on Freenode. You can usually catch a friendly person on the channel any time of the day. Here’s a Web chat, in case you don’t have an IRC client set up.
RSVP
In case you decide to join, we’d be happy to have your (nick)name on our list of participants. You can RSVP on the event page for HB4.
Join us!
Nothing left to do but looking for a plane ticket and coming to Canoa in January (or even for New Years). See you there!