Puerto Lopez: Blue-footed-boobies, whales, and whale sharks

            Last weekend we went on an excursion to Puerto Lopez, which is about 3.5 hours south and is known as a jumping point to Isla de la Plata, an Island which has species found on the Galapagos, such as blue-footed boobies. Here's the play-by-play:

Our hotel

            We wake up at 4:30 am, then leave around 5 for the van. We all packed into it and listened to reggaeton, salsa, and bachata music while driving away in the pitch black dark. It was the sketchiest night ride I'd ever taken. We were going up and down deserted dirt roads, and would only see the lights from houses scattered here and there. Megan asked us if we would rather walk a mile down the road at 5 am or 5 pm. It is still a question I cannot answer...I'm thinking at night because either no one else would pass by anyway, or you could hide on the side of the road. Such dark questions for such an early hour of the night/morning. We were fed simple buloni and cheese sandwiches and drinkable yogurt. Mine was guanabana "stone" flavor, and had a picture of what looked like a stoner. It did not taste like guanabana. We got to Puerto Lopez at around 8:30, and were blown away by how pretty the hotel was. We had it all to ourselves and had a pool with a little slide. The only problem was that there was a bees nest right next to the pool so it was scary going down the slide. We had a gorgeous view of the ocean too, and they always played latin music.
          At 9 am I rode in the one lawn chair in the back of the van because there were no more seats left, and we arrived at the beach that was full of fishing boats, dogs, pelicans, and frigate birds flying around everywhere. We took off our shoes, put on life jackets, and took a boat which I THOUGHT was going to take 15 minutes but we were on there for a good hour and a half to get to the "Isla de la Plata". On the way were other boats and whales. We stopped and managed to take pictures of a few surfacing only enough to see their dorsal fins and tails. Our guide kept saying "¡cola, cola!" which means "tail, tail!" in hopes that we would get a better view of it. We got pretty soaked on the boat, as it was not a smooth ride but riding the waves was fun. I'd love to have the guides' job.

           We got to the island, and got off the only small port which had one house. It looked like a desert, but we hiked up to see a ton of blue-footed-boobies. Our guide took us up at a gazebo, where a female was just chilling there. He told us that you can tell the gender from looking at the pupils. He kept asking us if we had questions, but we finished all of our boobie questions really fast and there was not much else to talk about regarding the deserted island. We walked a little further and saw groups of frigate birds (they had bright red pouches that they inflate to impress their mates), and they would tap the bright red bags with their beaks. We passed a ton of boobies doing their mating dances...they just lift their feet and squawk. We also learned that the color of the feet depends on how well nourished the boobies are. Some even had turquoise colored feet.

            After our hike in the hot equatorial sun, we got in the boat for lunch. We had a chicken salad sandwich and a sandwich with cheese and apricot jam. What odd mixes. I gave my banana bread to Keneshia because it was too dry. I have discovered here that I don't like dry things. Then, we jumped in the water and snorkeled. Apparently someone saw a whale shark swim next to the boat. I didn't see it, but they are harmless so I stayed in the water, which was surprisingly clear. We were lucky it was sunny. We got back in the boat and saw a ton of whales jumping. I didn't take pictures because I left my camera with Chio and she was on the other side of the boat, but here's one someone else took.

            I loved being on the boat. It reminded me of how much I love boating and just water in general. Back home one of my favorite things to do was to go water skiing and tubing, and I just have not gotten to do that in the Northeast. It's these little things that make me so happy that make me realize where I want to live later on. As soon as we got back, we were greeted by a huge St. Bernard on the beach. I have never seen so many dog species as I have in Ecuador! He was so big and fluffy! :) We spent the evening at the hotel chilling in the hot tub, which wasn't so hot. The pool was deliciously refreshing. Then came dinner, and we had a three course meal which reminded me of France. It was great getting whole vegetables again and the fish was yummy. In the night time we went downtown because there was a town festival going on, but we were all too tired to stay for the salsa dancing and there was a creepy man following us. I did get to speak French briefly with some tourists. They told me that I should go to Cuba because the people there are really nice. Then I told them how it is harder for an American to go, but I would love to head over there at some point and have Perníl!

Cebiche de pescado/Fish cebiche

          I was so tired from the early morning ride that I crashed on a hammock and slept through the fireworks. Apparently I can fall asleep at the club and through fireworks, but I still need a facemask and earplugs to sleep at the apartment. Weird.
         Sunday: The day to lounge and leave at 2. We decided to go walk to a beach, which we were told was 10 minutes away. FALSE. We walked down the side of the road and found this sign with sea turtles that said "No trespassing, turtle nesting site". This guy kept telling us to go in....so we did, and 5 minutes in we stopped and decided that we should go back because things were getting way to scratchy. There were bushes and thorns; something I'm not used to encountering on the way to a beach. I found it funny that that path was better carved out than some I have seen in national parks. We have a beach every day in Bahía anyway, so we chilled by the pool.
            At 2, our van was supposed to pick us up but it didn't get there until 4:30 because of an apparent accident. Then we left the gravel road of the hotel, then before we even touched the road, the van broke down. Apparently the driver knew something was wrong with the battery, but he tried to see if he could make it. So, we took a bus instead, which was full up to the point of having people standing. It was more comfortable than sitting in the van, and reminded me of the Senate bus from Wellesley to Boston because it, too, gets packed to that point. We got to Manta, one of the larger coastal cities, and took cabs to Bahía, which took another hour. We arrived safe and sound at midnight.