19.08. - 21.08.11

Puerto Lopez

On Friday morning, 19.08.11 after having breakfast with my dear friend Yessi from Guayaquil I took the bus to PUERTO LOPEZ. The bus ride took only 1 ½ hours and went via "la ruta del sol"…..and went all the way along the coast. The whole way I felt like being on a "fruit, vegetable and animal market".

Ecuadorians came inside the bus and were selling yucca bread, fruits, coconut water, sweets, nuts, tamalis, toothbrushes, sunglasses etc, etc…. ...and passengers came in with little chicken or ducks in boxes and stored them underneath their seats. Additionally mums came in with their babies wrapped in a blanket and later on they were breastfeeding them next to me. And as always the bus drivers pick up every single person along the road until the bus is absolutely full. So I offered the seat next to me to a young mother with her kids and I didn't realize that she had three kids and therefore they all squeezed in my seat and I ended up with two of the kids on my lap….and they were so cute!

When I arrived in Puerto Lopez a "tuk-tuk" driver came up to me and offered me to drive me to the "Hosteria Playa Sur" where I had a reservation for two nights. I had my own little room in a nice "cabana" (bamboo and wood house) right next to the beach. Only down point of the hostel was that they didn't have hot showers ….and unfortunately the weather during the two days was cloudy and a bit windy.

However, it was warm enough to put on my shorts and my flip flops and stroll along the beach. Thank God I took my camera with me as all the fisherman just came back from their fishing trips and displayed their catch. It was like a huge fish market right at the beach and lots of Ecuadorians came down the beach and bought some fish or just watched the crazy activities going on along the beach.

Puerto Lopez with its 14.000 inhabitants has a nice and beautiful fishhook bay, lots of cafes and cocktail bars along the beach and a crazy fruit, vegetable and meat market.

On Saturday, 20.08.11 I had booked a tour to the "Galapagos for poor people", which is the island "Isla de la Plata". The tour cost me 45 USD and was supposed be a tour for the whole day to the island including the whale watching!!! Well and this was the main reason why I came to Puerto Lopez…….as it was the breading season for the whales until they continue their journey further south!

The tour started at 10am at the beach where I met the rest of my group….a Ecuadorian family, a French family and a couple from Norway. So we jumped on the boat and left for the island "Isla de la Plata". After approx. one hour we saw the first whales and stopped. To take some closer photos we went up on the roof of the boat and suddenly we could see three wales. All of them were quite active and were jumping up and down for us. I was very lucky and caught quite a few jumps with my camera. Check out the great photos on my photo album "Isla de la Plata"!!!

When we arrived at the island we divided our group in two separate groups and walked to the top of the island. There we bumped into some "boobies" with their funny blue feet and later on we saw many frigate birds and some lizards. As we visited the island during the "dry season" everything was very, very dry and there were only a few green bushes. We walked for about 2 ½ hours before we returned back to the beach.

When we got back on the boat the crew offered us some sandwiches and fresh fruit. Then we drove for approx. 20 Minutes to a nice spot where we suddenly saw some giant turtles and beautiful colour fish, like Nemo in the water. Here the crew offered us to snorkel for 30 Minutes and provided us with the snorkelling gear. So most of us jumped into the refreshing water and snorkeled around the cliffs and the corals and we all saw hundreds of different and very colourful fish. Well...and I would have loved to have an underwater camera with me.

On the one hour trip back to Puerto Lopez we saw one more whale and just on time he did a nice jump right in front of our boat. Wow….we couldn't have had any more luck!

At about 5 pm we returned to Puerto Lopez and all of us agreed that it was a worthwhile trip. So I walked back to my hostel, took my towel and went over to the "Hostel Maxima" where I met my friend Jane from Melbourne the day before…..and luckily I could take a hot shower at Jane's private room.

For the night we just stayed at the "Hostel Maxima", uploaded our photos, surfed in the internet, chatted about the "whale watching tour", drank three bottles of beer and danced Salsa with the guy who works at the reception.

The next morning, Sunday the 21.08.11, I took the bus at 7.30am from PUETO LOPEZ to CANOA which took about hours.