Road Trippin it down to the coast...

South America » Ecuador
July 26th 2007

Published: August 5th 2007

Edit Blog Post

Jeh Jeh

Nazca Boobie

Chilling out on Isla de la Plata

After I finished work for good, I decided it would be a good idea to head out to the coast... and so I did, along with my good friends and roommates, Miriam and Oliver. Miriam borrowed Maria Jose’s jeep for the week so we had some wheels of our very own to go wherever we pleased.

We decided to go to Canoa first, which is our favorite beach in all of Ecuador. We chilled out in Canoa for a couple days and then went south to Manta which is a very important port city in Ecuador. We then went to Montecristi, which I am in love with. Montecristi is the birth place of the Panama hat; apparently the famous Panama hat was first made in Montecristi (Ecuador). There was a festival while we were there; hundreds of children dressed up and dancing (reason for this festival is still unknown).

From there we headed south and made our way to Puerto Lopez, where we stayed for a couple days. While we were there, we had to visit Los Frailes (a famous beach there), Isla de la Plata (Silver island, which is swamped with beautiful blue footed boobies) and go

Darren and I at "Los Frailes" beach...

Looking for hidden treasures... and by hidden treasures I mean cute shells and rocks

whale watching. Puerto Lopez is a cool fisherman town. I loved it; it has a long boardwalk which is fun during the day and at night. Get up early in the morning to go see the fishermen in action.

After we showed off our frisbee skills to the local children, we headed out to “Los Frailes”, which is a reknown beach in he Machallia National Park.

We also organized a boat tour to go whale watching, exploring “Isla de la Plata” (Silver Island) and snorkeling. “Isla de la Plata”, also known as The Poor Mans Galapagos, is a small island about an hour boat ride from Puerto Lopez. It is solely populated by birds; seriously, they are everywhere. This beautiful island is well known for its Boobies and by boobies I mean birds. We trekked around the beautiful island for about 3 hours, trying our best not to distrub their natural setting. After the hike we went to a great snorkeling spot on the island. The second I jumped into the water, I was amazed. We saw a lot of beautiful fish of course, star fish, eals, coral reefs, etc. We then went whale watching. We had

Super heroes in Los Frailes?!

sweet

spotted a few during the day, from the boat and from the island. July and August is the mating season, so they show off by singing and water dancing.

I am currently in Quito, it is my last week in Ecuador. I will spend the next few days with the amazing friends that I have made here and of course relishing in the beautiful city that has become my home this past year.

Additional photos below

Photos: 54, Displayed: 23