Home Leave III: Puerto Lopez, Ecuador

In the pre-dawn morning we rolled into the bus station in Puerto Lopez, Ecuador.  The bus terminal was empty, devoid of life except for a few tuktuk (yes they have them there, too! They are just called moto-taxis.) drivers out front waiting to scoop up arriving tourists and take them to the handful of hotels in the town.  The air was salty, cool and damp, redolent with the scent of the ocean.  There was a slight breeze, and it was actually quite chilly.  Previously, my experiences from mountains to coast in Latin America were in Costa Rica, where you start chilly, and wake up in cloying heat.  It was not the case here.  I needed my sweater and jacket.

We hefted our bags onto a tuk tuk that took us to our hotel about 1 kilometer north of the downtown malecon (boardwalk).  We had to yell for some time to wake up the night guard, as it was still only 5:30 in the morning.  We even shook a rain stick, and tried thumping the gate.  Eventually he awoke and let us in.  We sat outside on the deck of the hotel with our bags as none of the staff were there to open the main building, and the room had not been cleaned because the previous guests had not left.  So we sat in roughly-hewn wooden chairs. As the day became grey, then light out, we could see the waves breaking just past a line of palm trees.  The ocean was in sight, not only just in sound!  By about 7:15 the staff showed up and let us into the main lobby/restaurant/public area of the hotel and showed us to an area full of wicker couches with pads where we could sleep until our room was ready.  We took full advantage, sleeping until nearly 11:00.  We had some breakfast, then went to our room which was finally ready.  We had a lovely little cottage with a giant porch, complete with hammock.  The room was open and airy, with only screens and glass doors.  It was set back in a lush jungle-y garden.  We had a private bathroom, and plenty of space, and it was only $30/night!

We put on swimsuits (covered by shirts and shorts-it was still chilly, only 70 degrees!) and we walked the distance to town to find some lunch on the malecon.  We sat at a restaurant on the beach, our chairs sinking slightly into the sand.  We had a view of the ocean and the pier.  We ate fresh ceviche, plantain chips, and drank fresh fruit smoothies, all for about $3 each.  Apparently this was steep for Ecuador prices, but we were in a touristy little town.

We walked around town, browsing the eclectic jumble of small artisan shops, clothing sellers, and jewelry-makers along the malecon.  We crossed over onto the beach and we walked back our hotel following the shoreline.  We put our feet in the water, and it was not cold, but not warm.  The day was still too overcast to swim, and a slight breeze was picking up again.  For quite some time we watched gulls fly over the water.  We slowly ambled back towards the hotel where there was a sign with hundreds of capital cities painted on wooden signs pointed in the direction of those cities, with the distance in kilometers from Puerto Lopez indicated on them.  Lee and I counted the places we had been separately and together.

We had a pretty lazy day overall, but traveling overnight, and sleeping/waking at odd hours had taken it out of us.  Later we went back into town for dinner, appreciating the glow of the street lamps, the sound of the waves, and the fine mist that made everything shimmer.  We ate wonderfully fresh fish with rice and limes, and enjoyed crisp local beers.  Then a random French girl and a Colombian came and played the guitar and violin very badly and sang in Spanish.  She did all the talking, though her accent was very heavy and she wasn't a native speaker.  The Colombian boy said nothing.  It was weird to see the two of the playing the instruments and asking for money together.  Why a French girl?  We wandered around a bit more in town, bought tickets to go on a tour boat to Isla de la Plata the next day, then eventually made our way back to our hotel for drinks on the porch before calling it a night.

In the morning we woke up hoping for sun, but it was still overcast and cool.  We ate a cheap breakfast ($3.00 each) and then we were picked up by the tour company and driven down to the pier for our adventure out to Isla de la Plata.  Isla de la Plata is known as the Poor Man's Galapagos, given that it has giant tortoises, blue-footed boobies, birds with big red neck balloons, lizards, fish, and all that other Darwin-esque stuff.  We got on a boat that sat 16 of us.  It was spacious and comfortable.  We headed out to sea into some pretty big waves for a boat ride that took about an hour and a half.  The farther out to see we cruised, the clearer the sky became until it was hot and sunny.  On the way we stopped to watch hump-backed whales hump out of the water and play only 50 feet from the boat.  They are so big and bulky and graceful.  Their movement was fantastic.

We arrived at the Island, and only one side has calm enough water to disembark.  We got out with our guides into crystal clear water, and trudged up to a reception hall with nice bathrooms and shady sitting areas.  We were then taken on a 5 kilometer hike along the cliffs of the island.  We did a fair amount of hiking up to the top of the island, then generally circumnavigated it along the cliffs.  It was beautiful.  Apparently it is called Isla de la Plata (Silver Island) due to how the cliffs are covered in bat poop and shimmer in the moonlight.  Simultaneously romantic/terribly unromantic.  We saw many birds, many boobies, beautiful vistas, and got some good hiking in.  It was sunny and spectacular on the Island.  It was incredibly dry, in the lee of the mainland, and so all the foliage except for the cacti was brown and crunchy.  It made all the blue feet seem extra vibrant.

It was so fun to see all of these beautiful creatures I had read about for the first time, and to do it with lee!  We walked holding hands, took romantic pictures with dramatic views to the ocean behind us, shared zone bars, and just enjoyed the simple things one cannot do when separated by two continents and an ocean. After a few hours we headed back to the boat where we got to go snorkeling just off the shore of the island.  We swam next to turtles and enjoyed the cool but pleasant water.  They gave us some small lunch, and then we headed back to the mainland over massive rolling waves.

We were tired when we got back so we napped in the cool of our room, then went out for dinner in the evening.  The street was packed as it might have been a Friday.  There were many young European tourists out to listen to live music and eat, and we struggled to find a free table on the malecon.  Again we ate delicious, incredibly fresh seafood, and we chatted up some locals who owned the restaurant.  We drank a few beers, then walked back to the hotel in the moonlight.  We were in bed early because in the morning we were setting off at 7:00 am for a bus back up to the Andes.

The next installment will be about Cuenca!