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Puerto Lopez is a city that is not necessary to visit, unless it's whale season. During the months of May-October countless Humpback whales make their way into the area and use it as a breeding ground. So of course since even October is rare to see them, November is just the wrong month for everything in this town. Not only was it out of whale season but we didn't see sun either. The summer months are December to April where the weather is beautiful and warm.
I arrived to Puerto Lopez with two friends I met from my Cuyabeno trip, Erik and Aleah. Michelle continued on her own for about five days to go to Quilotoa lake and I headed to the coast in search of scuba diving. Getting to Puerto Lopez from Baños was fine but like all long overnight buses still bloody awful. We left Baños at 10pm (on Halloween night so my costume was an exhausted smelly traveler haha) and made it to Puerto Lopez at about 10am. Our first bus stopped in Santa Elena and was $11 with a quick stop in Guayaquil. Once we made it to Santa Elena we immediately hopped on another bus bound north to drop us off in Puerto Lopez which cost $4. Once we arrived to Puerto Lopez we had to find a taxi to take us to our hostel which was north of town in Las Tunas, cost us $8 when later found out it should have been $5 tops but as always gringo price.
We stayed at Viejarmar Surf Hostel for two nights and did absolutely nothing. Erik & Aleah were both feeling a little sick so they slept quite a bit so I just spent a lot of time laying in hammocks staring at the crashing waves or reading a book. I even went on a run there which felt nice. This hostel was located in such a beautiful spot, literally to the beach in 30 seconds. But as it was on the outside of town and we needed groceries to cook meals we decided to find a hostel in town (also since it was Monday after the busy holiday weekend).
We found a kind of run down looking hostel called La Cueva de Oso, it had a kitchen (the worst kitchen I've used while traveling however) but it was only $8 a night, so we stayed for three nights. We also basically did nothing these days with the exception of our Isla de Plata tour and visiting part of Machalilla National Park. Many travelers and agencies refer to Isla de la Plata as the poor's man Galapagos but in reality it's not at all. During whale season most agencies charge $45 or so for the tour but we paid $35 each for it (plus an additional $1 for the boat tax) which was still too much in my opinion.
Agencies sell the snorkeling bit and the chance to see whales but both are false. I admit we saw a couple of "footprints" left from whales but no actual sight of them. And we snorkeled but only for about 15 minutes.
The island tour was still worth it in a way for me because I got to see a couple species of birds which interested me such as the red billed tropicbird and the famous blue footed booby. Also tons of pelicans and magnificent frigate birds which I have seen loads of before.
We booked our tour through Palo Santo Travel (the name comes from the tree on the island which is used as an incense/mosquito repellent/and medicinal purposes) and was a full day tour. After paying another $1 to actually get on the boat, all 12 people for the tour piled in. The ride out to the island takes about two hours and this is when the search for whales usually occurs. Once we made it to the island we sunscreened up (as it was blazing from the brilliant sun) and we went for a walk around a bit of the island. Along the trail we saw dozens of nesting blue footed boobies. You could get like five feet away from them and they wouldn't budge. We walked on a trail that lead us to the cliffs where we saw all the species of birds I mentioned previously. I would have liked walking more but it was already around 2pm by this point and we hadn't been given lunches yet and then snorkeling hadn't happened yet either.
While waiting to get back on the boat, we saw two peregrine falcons and some specie of finch. For animal sightings, birds can always be counted on but there were a lot of small lizards and crabs on the island as well. Once back on the boat there were about four good sized Green Sea Turtles that were hanging around our boat since our guide was tossing watermelon rinds to them. So that was a beautiful sight.
We then went over to the snorkeling area (still with no lunch) and our guide mentioned that there were two snorkeling areas on the island so I assumed we were going to both, but I was wrong.
We got equipped with a mask and snorkel and jumped into the water with visibility of about 15-20 feet so not that good. But it was the first time I had been in water with coral in four years so I almost cried I was so happy. I saw some good healthy looking coral, sergeant major fish, angelfish, a few other species of fish I was familiar with and then a good sized pufferfish. After about 15 minutes I was getting really hungry so I figured I'd eat my sandwich and then just get back in the water. But after we got out of the water for our sandwich we found out the trip was over and we were not going snorkeling again. So overall the Isla de la Plata tour was kind of lackluster but still glad I did it.
On another day in Puerto Lopez, myself, Erik and Aleah got on a bus to take us to Los Frailes Beach in Machalilla National Park. We were on a bus for about 15 minutes that cost $1.50 and we arrived to the entrance where we were told it was about a two hour walk to the beach. So we walked. The park is comprised of different ecosystems but to get to Los Frailes you walk through desert coast. Since it was dry season all the trees looked dead but they weren't. Along the way to the beach are a few miradores (viewpoints) where you can see frigate birds and views of a closeby bay. Also along the way are two beaches but neither are good for swimming due to high amounts of a chemical that is not good for your skin and the other beach has high swells. So you have to keep going and wait for Los Frailes. After about an hour or so we made it to the beach and saw maybe about a dozen other people there, so not crowded at all. It was an overcast day so not many beach goers. But we still went swimming and hung out for a bit.
We walked back along the road to the entrance and were able to hitchhike to Agua Blanca, which is another part of Machalilla but more inland. We got to the entrance and paid the $5 entrance fee. The guy at the entrance called a truck over and asked the driver to take us to the community since it was quite far to walk. Aleah and I rode up front and Erik was in the back with a tied up pig (still alive) and two dead chickens, always an adventure down here. After driving for about 15 minutes the driver drops us off and we saw a sign for the museum and sulfurous lagoon. First we visited the museum, which was small, but the guy working there was very informative and descriptive when talking about the artifacts and history. After he walked us to the lagoon. Erik had no desire to spread mud on himself or go in the water but Aleah made him go in the small lagoon at least. There were three local boys swimming at the same time and then just us. Every day a local man dives down to the bottom of the lagoon (which is about 12 ft deep) and collects goopy grey colored mud for people to use on their skin. So naturally Aleah and I covered just about our entire bodies with the mud but before we gave each other "beautiful" mud masks.
By this time it was getting colder since the sun had disappeared and we needed to figure out how to get out of Agua Blanca and back to Puerto Lopez. But before we left the lagoon I noticed a sign that said coco helado, so I assumed coconut ice cream. So I ordered one and was given a big coconut from the freezer and I straw. So found out it was just cold coconut water and then after the lady cut the coconut open and put all the meat in a bag to go for me. We walked back to the museum and asked how to get back to the entrance. We found a guy who had a motorbike contraption that could seat three people so he drove us to the entrance. Once back at the entrance we were on the side of the highway and were able to hitchhike back to Puerto Lopez for $5. We had our time in Puerto Lopez and are ready to move on to Montanita. I am way behind in blogs but I'll be writing about Montanita and Guayaquil within the next couple of days.
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