October 12, 2011

Yesterday was a “chill” day.  We slept in, had a leisurely breakfast in town, did some writing, photography, and generally just goofed off.  Our hostel is a beautiful place to just kick back and relax.  This has been the best hostel we have stayed in to date. The hostel is located on the north edge of town, engulfed in a lush, tropical garden that contrasts sharply with the bleak, dry vegetation that prevails along the coast during the dry season.

We spent the first couple of nights in a private cottage (photo to the right) which was lovely, but then we had to switch to a different room because the cottage was already booked.

Our second room was larger, the bed more comfortable, the shower hotter, and being on the second floor of a four-unit chalet made us feel like we were in a tree house.

The best part was our private balcony with a view of the ocean and two lovely hammocks that invited us to just relax.

We don’t think we fared to badly in the room switch.

The hostel owners are environmentally conscientious and “save the whales” information is everywhere, including the t-shirts worn by all staff.

The other unique features of this hostel include the amazing gardens and the artistic handiwork that appears everywhere, from the toilet seats to towel racks to the architecture of the main lodge.  I’m by no means an expert, but I think these gardens outshine the Botanical Gardens in Quito by a mile.

In the photo below, Chris is standing at the entrance of a second story deck equipped with multiple hammocks – a perfect place for a siesta.  Notice the woodworking detail on the floor.

Another feature of this hostel, believe it or not, were the resident dogs.  We have seen hundreds of dogs throughout our travels in Ecuador – dogs are everywhere and usually have free reign to roam wherever they please.  We have seen all kinds of dogs – good, bad and downright ugly and mangy.  The four dogs in this hostel are gorgeous and the one remaining pup (out of a litter of 10 – all of which have found new homes) is adorable.  Check out this video of the puppy playing with mom.

We did some “work” yesterday – sort of.  It was laundry day.  There are laundry services everywhere in Ecuador and Puerto Lopez was no exception.  It costs $7 or $8 to do a week’s worth of our laundry.  Money well spent in our opinion.  So far, we have only done laundry by hand once while we were in the hostel in Canoa.  The rest of the time we have used laundry services wherever we are and we have always been quite happy with the results.  Mind you, it is always a little unsettling as you drop off all your clothes to a little hovel or shack that happens to have a washing machine on site.  You don’t get a ticket or a receipt or anything to prove that they have your clothes.   I’m always amazed and relieved when we return at the end of the day to find our clothes fresh and clean, and all neatly folded and ready for us.

We also made some plans for the next leg of our trip – Galapagos Islands.  We have booked our flight for next Tuesday and we will be on the islands for 2 weeks.  The current plan is to find a hostel and do day trips to the various islands.  However, we might consider a boat cruise for a week if we find a good last minute deal.  Eduardo and Paola are planning to go in December and highly recommended basing ourselves on Isabela Island, something we are seriously considering.  We still have a week to figure things out, and even then, we really only need to know where we want to stay the first night or two.  At least our flights are now booked and we feel we got a pretty good deal:  $560 return for both of us, including taxes.  There is a national park entrance fee of $100 per person that we must pay at the airport before we leave.  It will be an expensive couple of weeks, but we think it will be well worth every penny.

We must be in Guayaquil in one week’s time so we have some time to explore the coast a little more fully.  We have decided to leave our wonderful hostel today and head down the coast to Montanita. After that, we may go to Salinas.  As you may have noticed, we are not making plans too far in advance.  This gives us the utmost flexibility.  This approach is working out really well for us so far.  We find that we are planning our itinerary based on the input we receive from people along the way.  For instance, we weren’t planning on going to Montanita, but based on Eduardo’s recommendation, we will stay there for a few days.

The following is a collection of photos of the town of Puerto Lopez that have been taken over the past few days.  Enjoy!

Under a blanket of heavy, low clouds, we headed out to Los Frailes beach by taxi on Monday morning, with our diving friends, Eduardo and Paola.   When we arrived at 10:00 in the morning, we had the entire beach to ourselves.  Los Frailes beach, with its large, sweeping expanse of sand framed by high bluffs, is one of the most pristine stretches of coastline in Ecuador. Part of the protected Parque Nacional Machalilla since 1979, the beach is only a small part of the 55,000 hectares of coastal land home to a variety of marine life such as dolphins and sea lions, over 200 species of birds, howler monkeys, anteaters, deer, squirrels, iguanas, and lizards.

We are in the dry season here on the coast and everything looks dead – very similar to winter in Canada.  However we have been told that by January when the rainy season begins this area will look lush and tropical.  Hard to imagine that right now.  Since arriving on the coast almost two weeks ago, the weather has been the same every day – cloudy with temperatures in the low 20’s and very little rain.  We have only had one day of sunshine while we were in Canoa.  This is definitely not lying on beach weather but it is very comfortable for hiking and sleeping.  During the rainy season (January – May), it is very hot and sunny during the day and then torrential rains pour down each night.  The rainy season coincides with the high tourist season.

We headed north towards a trail that would take us through a dry forest to a lookout at the top of the bluff.    The path meandered through unique dry forest vegetation with bottle-shaped trees adorned with heavy spines, spindly cacti, and fragrant trees up to a clearing that provided spectacular views of the coastline.  We only saw a few birds, mainly vultures and pelicans.  We encountered no other wildlife.  We continued our hike to a neighbouring beach, Playa La Tortuguita where spiky rock formations jutted out of the turquoise waters and large crabs scurried along the rocks.

In spite of the weather which was a little on the cool side, Paola was determined to go for a swim and bravely went for a quick dip into the cool waters.  Chris and I were content to stay warm and dry and enjoyed taking photos of the beautiful scenery.

Throughout the morning, we learned so much about life in Ecuador while conversing with Eduardo and Paola.  We were surprised to learn that they pay similarly high income taxes (pro-rated per income like us) but they don’t feel they get much for their taxes.  Ecuadorians must pay for their own health care although both were fortunate to have private insurance through their employers.  All schooling must be paid for privately, even the lower grades.  Getting a mortgage depends as much on who you know as it does on your ability to pay the mortgage.  And interest rates are very high – about 8 percent for a mortgage, although the government has introduced some programs to make it more affordable.  There are no social safety nets in place like employment insurance or maternity benefits.  Even today, it is typical for a middle class family to have at least one maid and perhaps a gardener.  Day care facilities are common just like in Canada.  Iam always fascinated to learn how people live and it’s so interesting to see both the commonalities and the differences in our respective countries.

The morning passed quickly and soon we had to head back to Puerto Lopez as Eduardo and Paola had to catch their flight back to Quito later in the day.

Back in Puerto Lopez, Chris and I decided to wander around town for a while, people watching and taking more pictures.  We met up with our friends a little later on for lunch at Patacon Pisa’o where we enjoyed a special dish of crisply fried plantains topped with a choice of toppings such as squid, shrimp, fish or a combination of seafood.  It was delicious.

As the afternoon came to a close, it was time say good bye to our friends. We hope they come to Canada one day and we would welcome the opportunity to share our beautiful country with them in the way they shared their country with us.