Puerto Lopez, Ecuador Experiences & Stories from a Backpacker

The overnight bus from Quito to Puerto Lopez left at 7pm and should have taken 11hrs but due to the driver being in rally mode, it took only 9hrs, so we arrived at 4am, there were other travelers on the bus and we all sat out on the road for a while waiting

Pina Colada at the beach in Puerto Lopez at sunset.

for the bread shop to open and to find a place to stay but without arriving too early, so that we wouldn't be charged for the current night. We found a nice hostel by about 5:30am, the cost for a room was $5USD with a shared bathroom or $7USD with one. After a few hours sleep, we explored the beachfront street area where there are many cabanas on the beach selling nice food and drinks with hammocks and seats under umbrellas in the sand, palm trees and restaurants. For the next day we planned to go whale watching at Isla de la Plata in Parque Nacional Machalilla, as well as snorkeling and a walk around the island to see the birds and views. We booked a tour with 'Machalilla Tours' on the main street, it cost $30USD plus $15USD for the park entrance fee.

Enjoy the beach and shaded drinking spots at Puerto Lopez.

In Puerto Lopez we ate some great sandwiches for breakfast and lunch at the Blue Dolphin beside the beach, we also put an order in for hot garlic prawns for dinner for the following night after the tour. The next morning, everybody on the days tour met at the office of 'Machalilla Tours' and we all walked down to the boat in the fishermans area and village at the southern end of the beach where pelicans feed on fish and sit on the boats. There was about 14 people in the group and a guide, a guides helper and the boat driver, unfortunately there was a problem with the english speaking guide so we had a spanish speaking one, but luckily there was a few multi-linguists in the group to translate. It took about 90 minutes to get out to the Isla de la Plata from the mainland and it

Isla de la Plata is about 40km off the coast of Puerto Lopez.

was a glorious hot sunny day. We had all age groups in the group, so we split into 2 groups at the island, those who wanted to walk a lot and those who didn't. We were shown a map of the nearly 3hr walk we were about to embark on around the island in which we would see birds such as Albatros, Blue Footed Boobys and Fragata. The dirt track we walked along and surrounding bush and plantlife was very dry. We started to see Blue Footed Boobys nesting, sitting on eggs or with young chicks and we were able to get very close to them to observe and take photos. During the walk we enjoyed the views of the rocks by the sea, it was so hot but we were able to have a shady rest every 20 minutes in the shelters along the way. Walking was really fun but hard work, we saw many nesting

Monument in the square at the south end of Puerto Lopez.

birds and took a lot of photos, we were ready for lunch on the boat by the time we got back, we ate some huge Tuna sandwiches and biscuits that the tour supplied while we traveled around the island to the area where we would go snorkeling. We snorkled for about 45 minutes in the cool water and saw many colorful fish, sea snakes and other fish. After everyone had dryed off, it was time to head back to the mainland while looking out for whales! The whales are not in full activity in June but we and some other tour boats located a couple swimming along and we were able to get some good views of them appearing, then disappearing, then re-appearing in the water for about 40 minutes or so. We were able to climb up onto the roof of the boat to get a better view and everyone was taking many photos trying

Puerto Lopez has cabanas all along the beach that sell food and drinks.

to get the whales tail, it was amazing how big they are and we all enjoyed it a lot, it was a great way to end the day before the over 1 hour boat ride back to the fishing village and beach at Puerto Lopez. Back at Puerto Lopez it was time for hot showers, a cocktail on the beach and to watch the sunset and to look forward to our BBQ garlic prawns for dinner at the Blue Dolphin! We enjoyed the meal a lot and were ready for a night of fun sitting by a fire on the beach drinking cocktails with a small group of people from our hostel and tour. The night lasted to the small hours, cocktails cost about $3.50USD each at the beach bars, but there are so many to try! I tried some juggling on the street with some of the local boys and had a good laugh. By about 3am it was time to go back to the hostel for some well earned sleep. The next day while the others went to the beach in Parque Nacional Machalilla I wandered down to the fishing village and took some

Stunning rock formations on the edge of Isla de la Plata.

photos of the fishing boats, fishermen untangling their nets, pelicans and the vultures that were eating any spare fish. I spent the rest of the day just relaxing in a hammock, eating sandwiches and some internet. Later when my travel buddy was back we enjoyed exchanging the photos that we took during the 6 days we were traveling together, having a nice dinner and a couple of drinks with our other friends. It was my last night in Puerto Lopez as I had to head south to get back to Lima in Peru for a plane home in 5 days, I travelled via Cuenca, Loja and Macara. View all photos in the Puerto Lopez Photoset.

My Hostel & Hotel Reviews for Puerto Lopez, Ecuador:
	Hostal Fragata, Puerto Lopez, Ecuador (Jun 2009 - 4 nights) - I loved this place, great for beach life, rooms with or without a bathroom, close to the beach, cheap and run by a nice family.