Puerto Lopez

Hola faraway family and friends,
I woke up at the early hour of 6am to the sweet sounds of Frank Sinatra to partake in the most festive breakfast of my life. Today is my host mom’s birthday and her daughter and sister who live with us decorated the kitchen with pink EVERYTHING….balloons, strawberry shortcake plates, confetti, pink marshmallows, pink cotton balls, etc. There was a feast of fresh croissants, fruit, coffee, and chocolate cake, all the while mi mamacita was wearing her birthday crown, vest, and lei. What a hoot! I guess that’s what happens when you live with a bunch of women; they can get a little loco.
Backpedaling a couple days, I went Puerto Lopez, a small town on the coast, for the greatest weekend yet. Three friends and I boarded the night bus on Thursday night and before we knew it the ten hour trek was over and we could see coastline. Our hostel was a slice of tropical heaven with hammocks galore and papaya and banana trees for shade and even a kitten for entertainment. Gladis and Galo, the hostel owners, took us under their wing for the weekend and made sure we had the best Puerto Lopez experience possible. And you know what, I believe we did.
I will just give you the highlights of the trip to ensure that this blog entry is a reasonable length. Well first off, the fish market down at the beach was quite a cultural experience: locals everywhere, fresh fish getting tossed off the boats coming in, vendors and customers bartering over prices, women grilling fish right there on the beach (it was 7am…fish for breakfast?), stray dogs and chicken running all around. I definitely felt like I was in a foreign place that morning.
We went on a 2 mile hike along the cliffs of the Pacific and eventually made it to a remote beach and went for a swim. It was glorious! Growing up on the tranquil Gulf side of Florida makes me sometimes forget that REAL oceans are powerful forces that can mess you up! Let’s just say body surfing was pretty extreme that day.
Fast forwarding to Saturday morning, the four of us and six others boarded up a boat and went on a hour long ride to La Isla de Plata, which is sometimes referred to as “Poor man’s Galapagos,” due to its similar flora and fauna (Yes, I saw Blue-footed boobies). And on the way there, we saw humpback whales! One of them even breached, but of course no one had their cameras ready. But I don’t think I will be able to forget the mental picture I took. The whales hang out by the equator for a few weeks to mate before heading south to the bottom of Chile. Mateo and I, along with two other people, went SCUBA diving while the others toured the island. I was nervous about the diving at first, but those feeling subsided once we were all down on the bottom (about 60 ft) and encountered manta rays! What a sight! Manta rays are HUGE and so graceful, and these guys were curious about our bubbles. We also saw greens sea turtles, eels, and an array of fish species I had never seen before. In between dives, we all celebrated our sightings and changed tanks for the next dive, which was even better than the first. On the boat ride back to land we saw couple more whales; one was a rambunctious teenager who was splashing around and showing off and the other was BIG momma.
That night, after a much-needed nap in the hammocks, the four of us, and two girls from Germany, cooked the fish and vegetables that Mateo bought at the market for $2 that morning. I hope hostels that I stay at in the future have kitchens! On Sunday, we explored Agua Blanca, an archeological site, and went swimming in a sulfur pond. After seeing the locals cover themselves with mud, we decided to do the same. It was hilarious. And it was a great exfoliant…haha. After one last stroll on the beach that night, we boarded up the bus to Quito for another ten hour trek. Apparently I slept almost the whole way because when we stopped in Quito I didn’t believe it. Night buses are the way to travel!
Traveling with Kristen, Mateo, and Allison was so great. We lived to together, laughed together, explored together, and survived the weekend with no broken bones, stolen backpacks, or food poisoning. We cheated death yet again in Ecuador. Until next time!