Off to the Coast ...
Trip Start
Sep 04, 2008
1
3
26
Trip End
Jan 27, 2009
Puerto Lopez,
Ecuador
Friday, September 12, 2008
The main reason to go to Pureto Lopez is to visit Isla de la Plata, a bird sanctuary and national park about an hourīs boat ride off shore. We had to wade out to our boat from the beach where local fishermen were selling their catch and lots of children were hanging around. We saw brown pelicans, blue-footed boobies, red-footed boobies, masked boobies and frigate birds on and around the Island. The blue-footed boobies were pretty tame and as they nest on the ground instead of in trees you can get up very close to them and their chicks. The darker the blue feet the older they are - there seemed to be quite a few pairs of an older female with a young male
Blue-footed boobies!
! We also snorkelled on the way back. The water wasnīt amazingly warm but it wasnīt too cold either. It was worth it to see all the amazing fish we saw which came up so close to us and the boat. A big box-like blue fish with white dots looked like it could be quite nasty if it wanted to so we left that one well alone!
Also on the way back we saw humpback whales which are in the area in September each year. The best sight was when a family of three (including a baby) came very near to the boat. They didnīt come too far out of the water but we could see the spray from their blow-holes and their tails as they broke the surface of the water. There were also some dolphins riding the waves near the boat. They are so graceful it was wonderful to watch.
Puerto Lopez itself is a relatively small town. Around half of the roads are unmade or being made and the main form of transport was moto-taxis, a fusion between the front half of a motorbike and a small risckshaw. They are good fun!
Our cameras were stolen on the bus from Quito so we had to make a trip to the police station to get a crime report which was interesting. The policeman was very friendly and not suprised at what had happened, he wanted us to know that he couldnīt do much about it other than produce a report for us for our insurance.
He also found Tomīs name funny for some reason (weīve since realised that ītomasī in spanish means īyou drinkī and īcarpinteroī in Spanish can also mean woodpecker as well as Carpenter which might be something to do with it!)
