Blogs from Puerto López, West, Ecuador, South America - page 7

09h00 retour de pêche sur la plage. Nous apercevons au loin le ballet des oiseaux au dessus des barques de pêcheurs. Une grande surprise nous attend ce matin : un marlin (sorte d’espadon en plus gros) gît sur le sable. C’est l’effervescence sur la plage. Un pêcheur se charge de la découpe méthodique de la bête : d’abord la tête, puis l’aileron et les nageoires, ensuite le poisson est incisé sur la longueur et vidé de ses boyaux. La pesée suit, 220 (kilos, livres ???), c’est l’allégresse sur la plage. Une discussion intense s’engage autour du marlin, quelques éclats de voix plus tard, l’affaire est conclue, le marlin est chargé dans un pick-up, juste à sa taille… Plus loin, les pêcheurs courent, le dos courbé par une caisse remplie de poissons, vers le camion, sous les ... read more

yesterday my pilgramage to see the whales started.. ! I got up at 4oo in the mornign and arrived here in puerto lopez 12 hours later with a hellish change in guayaquil, a bus that should have taken three hours taking 5 and being squashed into a tiny seat. Ecuadorians have no respect for your personal space, if they sit next to you they lean on you put thier kids on you, generally just squash you and then the ones standing in the aisles lean on you from the opposite direction,(peta if youre reading this its a bit like goan buses) and there was a really rude french couple in front of me who stole my seat and wouldnt give it back so i had to contend with sitting on the wheel arch in an ... read more

JULY 23. PUERTO LOPEZ. BLUE DOLPHIN CABANA. HAMMOCK TIME. SEA LEVEL Montanita did my head in and I found myself still yearning for my little bit of summer. An hour north on the bus I found it. Bracketed by headlands to the north and south, Puerto Lopez is a lazy little fishing town made famous by the annual migration of Humpback whales to its warm waters between July and September. With my pack on I walked up and down the beach trying to find somewhere to stay. I could have easily found a hostal in town but I was determined to stay beachside and it took nearly an hour to find a room. Hostal Turismo near the fish markets at the southern end of the beach was far from luxurios but it was family owned and ... read more

We finally arrived in Puerto Lopez today after travelling pretty much the whole width of the country overnight. Puerto Lopez has to be one of my favourite places in Ecuador due to it's perfect balance of being lively enough for an extended stay yet not overrun with tourists. Apparently tourist season hadn't started officially yet (despite all hostels charging high season prices) as the touts which line the malecon advertising trips to Isla de la Plata and whale-watching tours practically threw themselves at us whenever we ventured out of the hostel. Cynical as always I refused to buy off one of the touts on their bicycles who ride up and down the malecon promising anything you want, 'yes, we'll be the first boat there', 'yes, you'll get your money back if you don't see whales', 'yes, ... read more

Well I need to keep this entry short, I have to catch a bus to Papallacta to soak in some hotsprings just outside of Quito, I know this trip is sounds aweful but such is the way of the traveller. Puerto Lopez was absolutely perfect, I made a concerted plan to do as little as possible when I arrived and with much effort I pulled it off. I had few goals, the first was I wanted fresh coconut juice, I wandered the little town for a for a bit and felt a little challenged because unlike JipiJapa (say that right and it's pretty funny) where the bus stopped on ethe way to Pto. Lopez where there were tons of people selling it, I couldn't find a vendor for most of my searching. Luckily, right along the ... read more