Puerto Lopez: I Found My Beach Town
My final leg of my Christmas Break trip brought me to Puerto Lopez, in the southern part of Manabi Province. This was the location I was most excited and ready to see of all my stops. I was previously told this is the place to stay if you want to make it to the "Poor Man's Galapagos," Isla de la Plata.
The previous night, December 31st, I partied in Montañita with Adrián before leaving back for my hotel at 2 A.M. After what felt like the shortest six hours of sleep after a crazy night, I woke up and ate my well-deserved free breakfast at my expensive hotel for one night. Sitting in the lobby, party-goers were still partying hard and bringing in the New Year. It was not even 9 A.M. and people were walking around with Pilsner Grandes, 24 ounces bottles of Ecuadorian beer that reminds me of MGD in taste and appearance. Prior to my arrival in Montañita, Adrián suggested we go to Los Friales together. He met me back at my hotel, loaded my suitcase into the back and headed north from Santa Elena back to Manabi.
Los Frailes is a part of Parque Nacional Macalilla, one of the few tropical dry forests in the world. This is where I finally made the connection of why everything looked so brown and dead during my trip so far. (When the rainy season would really commence, the landscape is supposed to transform completely. I would love to revisit the park again and hike while it is both brown and green to better understand the ecology of it.) When we arrived at the gate, we were instructed to wait in line until we could enter. There is a strict vehicle limit here because Los Frailes is a strongly-protected beach, left mostly untouched except for the visitors that arrive each day. After waiting about 30 minutes and several exiting cars later, we were allowed to enter upon sharing our names, passport / ID numbers, nationalities, etc. The winding road took us for about 15 minutes to through a dense forest to the parking lot. We exited the car, stepped on a short path to the beach and....
So freaking gorgeous! The beach is protected by these towering cliffs on either side and leaves a feeling of a secret cove, just much larger. The white sand beach steeply meets the edge of the Pacific ocean, where dozens of Pelicans are repeating the same hunting technique both far and near the swimmers. When I first stepped into the water, I felt terribly cold... partially because it was overcast and cooler than it had been all trip. A couple minutes later, the water was feeling comfortable. Maybe two or three meters into the water, I was neck deep and treading the water to keep my head about the waves. Seriously, this is what paradise is to me.
In the morning, I packed my bag and took some money with me to pay for my tour. In the lobby, the matron of the hostel was already awake but clearly on her way to breakfast down the road. She asked me how things were and I replied in my best Spanish to her that I was looking for a good company to take a tour with. She was so incredibly sweet and helpful, walked me down the road, and introduced me to several people to help me arrange my group tour. This is one of the many reasons why I will definitely be returning to Hostal Frigata when I stay in Puerto Lopez again.
I paid $40 for my full-day tour. The company instructed me to return by a certain time when they would be ready to depart. This gave me time to pickup supplies from a tienda and walk around. My eyes were set on the pier that jettisons into the water. Here I saw my FIRST BLUE FOOTED BOOBY ever! There were tons of frigates and pelicans as well, skimming and diving the water, respectively, for the fish swimming around the fishing boats getting ready to head out into open water. I returned to the company about 10 minutes early so I wouldn't miss a thing, even though I know that people follow schedules very relaxed in Ecuador. BUT I wanted to play it safe. My group was quite diverse: old and young: local and out-of-town; national and international. Two of the people were an old couple or brother-sister from Ireland. I couldn't tell what the dynamic was between them but I ended up sharing conversation with them for a while.
We boarded the boat, put on life vests, and headed northwest for 90 minutes. When we arrived to the island but before getting off, we were provided bananas and banana bread for a light snack before spending a few hours exploring the island. The main tour guide broke off pieces of his banana and threw them into the water... no more than 30 seconds later a green sea turtle breached and snatched the section. Another piece was thrown into the water and two more turtles surfaced. I was blown away! I was expecting to see only birds, but turtles?! This was a life-long dream come true.
We walked around for a while, broke off into different directions depending on difficulty level. I could go into all of the things I learned about the hundreds of Blue Footed Boobies I saw (or in Spanish Patos Azules) but you can just wikipedia it. I was shocked how much I understood considering the entire tour was presented in Spanish. The most surprising part of the entire tour was how many babies there were that had hatched over a course of three weeks and how large they had become. One nest was left unattended and, overhead, a falcon was gliding on heat radiating off of the rocky island. We waited near the nest quietly until the mother or father returned to protect the two-week old chick.
Before officially leaving the island, we had an opportunity to snorkel above a coral reef living next to the island. I must have seen at least a dozen different school-fish species, and some swam right next to me. I attempted at first to snorkel without a life vest because, despite not being a strong floated or conventional swimmer, I can tread and manage myself in water pretty well. It turns out I still have control issues and couldn't let myself relax in the water... understandable considering the depth of this reef reached maybe 25 feet. After getting out of the water and back in the boat to put on a vest, everything was much better. It did make me worried about my future plans to get SCUBA certified so I can one day swim with the sharks, seals, turtles, and iguanas among others at the Galapagos. Side Note: Slack lining has been surprisingly helping me with these control issues so I hope the more I train on them the more successful I will be with SCUBA diving.
When we returned to Puerto Lopez, I showered and headed out for dinner. Another area I struggle with is going out alone, but this was the time to push myself out of my comfort zone. I found the least packed restaurant, which had only one open table, and at some Chicharron de Pescado. Not ready to surrender and turn in for the night, I decided to have a good time until a reasonable hour because I was exhausted from the adventure during the day. I found a beach bar with hammocks, had a few beers and enjoyed the people watching. The loud music from the night before came from a club they must setup each night right on the beach. Speakers, light shows, and screens... the whole deal. In a thirty minute timespan this club played Marc Anthony's Vivir Mi Vida twice! I love the song but it was becoming overplayed. I stayed out until maybe 9 P.M. before going back to the hostel for my final full day at the coast.
When I woke up in the morning, I began to feel really homesick. Traveling alone was bringing me to a dark place, on top of not having a phone or real way to communicate with people. I was surviving without a phone and being connected to the outside world but it is really difficult. I spent most of the day at the hostel sending snapchats back and forth with friends before mustering up the confidence to overcome my sadness. Around 2 P.M. I found lunch in a burger, a luxury of home I haven't had in forever. This was followed by a long walk up the beach from one end to the other. When looking up information about the town, it is said the very north end of the beach has tidal pools of amazing biodiversity during lowtide. It took me over an hour to reach that area but the tide was moving in and I wasn't able to see the pools. I did however see dead starfish stranded on the sand, crabs digging homes, and churros filtering the water of the nutrients. I walked back to the town, which took another hour and went to a tienda for more supplies of food and water.
The previous night, December 31st, I partied in Montañita with Adrián before leaving back for my hotel at 2 A.M. After what felt like the shortest six hours of sleep after a crazy night, I woke up and ate my well-deserved free breakfast at my expensive hotel for one night. Sitting in the lobby, party-goers were still partying hard and bringing in the New Year. It was not even 9 A.M. and people were walking around with Pilsner Grandes, 24 ounces bottles of Ecuadorian beer that reminds me of MGD in taste and appearance. Prior to my arrival in Montañita, Adrián suggested we go to Los Friales together. He met me back at my hotel, loaded my suitcase into the back and headed north from Santa Elena back to Manabi.
Los Frailes
After about 40 minutes of driving, Adrián stopped first at my hostel: Hostal Frigata. I loved it from the moment I stepped in. It has this very relaxed resort type feel but isn't pretentious at all. Outside of my single-room were a dozen hammocks in a community area that I would later find myself relaxing in. I quickly changed into my swim suit, picked up snacks and water at a tienda, and headed for another 40 minutes north to Los Frailes.
Los Frailes is a part of Parque Nacional Macalilla, one of the few tropical dry forests in the world. This is where I finally made the connection of why everything looked so brown and dead during my trip so far. (When the rainy season would really commence, the landscape is supposed to transform completely. I would love to revisit the park again and hike while it is both brown and green to better understand the ecology of it.) When we arrived at the gate, we were instructed to wait in line until we could enter. There is a strict vehicle limit here because Los Frailes is a strongly-protected beach, left mostly untouched except for the visitors that arrive each day. After waiting about 30 minutes and several exiting cars later, we were allowed to enter upon sharing our names, passport / ID numbers, nationalities, etc. The winding road took us for about 15 minutes to through a dense forest to the parking lot. We exited the car, stepped on a short path to the beach and....So freaking gorgeous! The beach is protected by these towering cliffs on either side and leaves a feeling of a secret cove, just much larger. The white sand beach steeply meets the edge of the Pacific ocean, where dozens of Pelicans are repeating the same hunting technique both far and near the swimmers. When I first stepped into the water, I felt terribly cold... partially because it was overcast and cooler than it had been all trip. A couple minutes later, the water was feeling comfortable. Maybe two or three meters into the water, I was neck deep and treading the water to keep my head about the waves. Seriously, this is what paradise is to me. Puerto Lopez
We stayed there for a few hours before heading back. Adrián was returning to Montañita for one more night, which meant he had about one-and-a-half hours of driving ahead of him. Before he left for good, we had a quick dinner at a small restaurant, where I had ceviche mixto, con pescado y camarones. Adrián left and I returned to my hostel for a warm shower and quick nap. This nap turned into relaxing and staying-in at my hostel for the ret of the night. It was a good call because in the morning I wanted to visit Isla de la Plata, and those tours leave quite early in the morning. The last thing I needed was to be chuchaqui on a boat ride. At night, I watched a couple of movies dubbed in Spanish before trying to fall asleep. Seriously, I had to really work on trying to fall asleep! The hostel was maybe 100 meters away from the main road the follows the beach. Speakers were blaring music from every direction, especially the beach, until after 4:30 A.M.! Seriously, do all Ecuadorians party this way all the time!? Am I an old soul that cannot handle staying up late two nights in a row?!
In the morning, I packed my bag and took some money with me to pay for my tour. In the lobby, the matron of the hostel was already awake but clearly on her way to breakfast down the road. She asked me how things were and I replied in my best Spanish to her that I was looking for a good company to take a tour with. She was so incredibly sweet and helpful, walked me down the road, and introduced me to several people to help me arrange my group tour. This is one of the many reasons why I will definitely be returning to Hostal Frigata when I stay in Puerto Lopez again. I paid $40 for my full-day tour. The company instructed me to return by a certain time when they would be ready to depart. This gave me time to pickup supplies from a tienda and walk around. My eyes were set on the pier that jettisons into the water. Here I saw my FIRST BLUE FOOTED BOOBY ever! There were tons of frigates and pelicans as well, skimming and diving the water, respectively, for the fish swimming around the fishing boats getting ready to head out into open water. I returned to the company about 10 minutes early so I wouldn't miss a thing, even though I know that people follow schedules very relaxed in Ecuador. BUT I wanted to play it safe. My group was quite diverse: old and young: local and out-of-town; national and international. Two of the people were an old couple or brother-sister from Ireland. I couldn't tell what the dynamic was between them but I ended up sharing conversation with them for a while. We boarded the boat, put on life vests, and headed northwest for 90 minutes. When we arrived to the island but before getting off, we were provided bananas and banana bread for a light snack before spending a few hours exploring the island. The main tour guide broke off pieces of his banana and threw them into the water... no more than 30 seconds later a green sea turtle breached and snatched the section. Another piece was thrown into the water and two more turtles surfaced. I was blown away! I was expecting to see only birds, but turtles?! This was a life-long dream come true.We walked around for a while, broke off into different directions depending on difficulty level. I could go into all of the things I learned about the hundreds of Blue Footed Boobies I saw (or in Spanish Patos Azules) but you can just wikipedia it. I was shocked how much I understood considering the entire tour was presented in Spanish. The most surprising part of the entire tour was how many babies there were that had hatched over a course of three weeks and how large they had become. One nest was left unattended and, overhead, a falcon was gliding on heat radiating off of the rocky island. We waited near the nest quietly until the mother or father returned to protect the two-week old chick.  |
| A blue-footed booby incubating its egg |
 |
| A Parent with its 7-day old chick |
 |
| A young frigate resting in a tree... a few days before it will be able to fly |
Before officially leaving the island, we had an opportunity to snorkel above a coral reef living next to the island. I must have seen at least a dozen different school-fish species, and some swam right next to me. I attempted at first to snorkel without a life vest because, despite not being a strong floated or conventional swimmer, I can tread and manage myself in water pretty well. It turns out I still have control issues and couldn't let myself relax in the water... understandable considering the depth of this reef reached maybe 25 feet. After getting out of the water and back in the boat to put on a vest, everything was much better. It did make me worried about my future plans to get SCUBA certified so I can one day swim with the sharks, seals, turtles, and iguanas among others at the Galapagos. Side Note: Slack lining has been surprisingly helping me with these control issues so I hope the more I train on them the more successful I will be with SCUBA diving. When we returned to Puerto Lopez, I showered and headed out for dinner. Another area I struggle with is going out alone, but this was the time to push myself out of my comfort zone. I found the least packed restaurant, which had only one open table, and at some Chicharron de Pescado. Not ready to surrender and turn in for the night, I decided to have a good time until a reasonable hour because I was exhausted from the adventure during the day. I found a beach bar with hammocks, had a few beers and enjoyed the people watching. The loud music from the night before came from a club they must setup each night right on the beach. Speakers, light shows, and screens... the whole deal. In a thirty minute timespan this club played Marc Anthony's Vivir Mi Vida twice! I love the song but it was becoming overplayed. I stayed out until maybe 9 P.M. before going back to the hostel for my final full day at the coast. When I woke up in the morning, I began to feel really homesick. Traveling alone was bringing me to a dark place, on top of not having a phone or real way to communicate with people. I was surviving without a phone and being connected to the outside world but it is really difficult. I spent most of the day at the hostel sending snapchats back and forth with friends before mustering up the confidence to overcome my sadness. Around 2 P.M. I found lunch in a burger, a luxury of home I haven't had in forever. This was followed by a long walk up the beach from one end to the other. When looking up information about the town, it is said the very north end of the beach has tidal pools of amazing biodiversity during lowtide. It took me over an hour to reach that area but the tide was moving in and I wasn't able to see the pools. I did however see dead starfish stranded on the sand, crabs digging homes, and churros filtering the water of the nutrients. I walked back to the town, which took another hour and went to a tienda for more supplies of food and water. |
| A sign warning beach-goers about this protected area where sea turtles lay their eggs each year |
My last morning on the coast, I packed my bags. Even though I had only purchased two small trinkets the entire trip, my suitcase seemed smaller. Before officially leaving, I put on my shoes and they didn't seem comfortable at all... so I took them off and there was a freaking giant Grillo (cricket) in there! I checked out of the hostel before 9 AM, as I was paranoid of the bus situation. This would have been the last day of many people's vacation and I didn't want to be stranded on the coast without a phone and potentially miss returning to work the next day. My flight wasn't departing from Manta until about 8 PM so this would give me as much of a cushion for time as possible. Once again, my matron of the hostel helped me with finding a taxi, or should I say rickshaw-type motorcycle thing. I was charged only $1 for my ride to the terminal and we arrived minutes before the bus was departing. I was getting serious luck with these buses because the next one wasn't leaving for Manta for at least 2.5 more hours.
The bus ride was pretty terrifying for me because it rained hard the night before. That plus the humidity left the roads wet the entire way back to Manta. About two hours later, I was back in the terminal of the city I grew to despise so much. I didn't want to spend another second in Manta-proper so I picked up a taxi and headed straight to the airport for my 8 hour waiting-game.
It was at the airport that I began strongly feeling Ecuabelly... or this sensation of building gas, the need for the restroom, etc. This feeling has lasted me 3+ weeks. I finally, this week, took medication to wipeout any worms, amoebas or giardia living inside of my body. It took me a while to find what the medication was called. Fybeca gave me a two-day "bomb" called "Prothelmint"... day 1 of the meds are to kill the worms, and day 2 for everything else. So far it's working but leaving me with a feeling of constipation. ANYWAY...
The airport was empty for most of the entire day, except for myself and employees. As time wore on, I was losing my mind and getting anxious to return to Quito. While waiting, I updated my narrative on my trip in my iPod (most of which I am not including in this blog because it is a rant on how much Manta rubbed me the wrong way, including my wait at the airport).
After landing in Quito, I picked up my bag from the claim area and ran into Krissy, Chris and Marina. Krissy and I shared a cab ride back to the city and talked about our trips... a perfect way to finish my nine-day solo adventure.
Comments
Post a Comment