Unfortunately, it was my most miserable bus journey to date :( The trip down the mountain to the beach is extremely curvy and the bus driver is constantly braking, making sleeping impossible. About 2 hours in, I became so carsick that I had to sit up and breathe and look straight out the window at all times. To make things worse, we had the first five seats in the bus and the bus driver so nicely insisted on blasting music all night long. It was enough to put everyone in a terrible mood. Anyway, we finally arrived at around 7am and found our hostel.
Instead of going straight to bed for a nice nap, we met up with some friends who had arrived the day before and they advised to go to the beach for an impressive sight. We sleepily followed her and found the entire Puerto Lopez cove filled with fisherman boats, bringing in catches, cutting them up, selling them. It smelled horrible, obviously, but it was pretty cool. Apparently 80% of the economy of Puerto Lopez is based on this business. The one dismaying realization was how gross the beach was as a result - were we supposed to spend our day here?
We went back and napped until 9am, when breakfast was served. The hostel was amazing... there were tons of cute cozy rooms surrounding a giant courtyard of trees, hammocks, porches - absolutely precious. The hostel owner Gladys was so sweet, always answering any questions we had, letting us use her computer, and even lending us a DVD player one night to watch a movie. Each bed had a mosquito net, which I didn't use any of the nights we were there because there were no mosquitoes in our room (and I was taking malaria medication anyway). Obviously one of the biggest differences between Quito and the coast is the climate - I'm used to going to bed with 3 blankets and still shivering myself to sleep in Quito, whereas on the coast the rooms are warm and humid and you fall asleep with as little clothing as possible. I managed to sleep incredibly well regardless.
We had a tasty breakfast provided by the hostel and then set out for the day. Lauren had a phone interview for a summer internship, so she and I waited around for that while the others set out for the beach, los Frailes, which is in a national park about 20 minutes away in a taxi moto (as we found out, this is where most people go to the beach, not the fishy Puerto Lopez). When Lauren finished, she and I set out to join them. We had heard that a bus would drop us off right there so we found a bus and paid, telling the driver where we wanted to go. About 15 minutes later, a lady sitting next to us let us know we had passed los Frailes a while back, so, frustrated, Lauren and I run up to the front of the bus, where the driver unapologetically let us off. We were in the middle of nowhere...... there were small shacks and men lying in hammocks, roosters and chickens walking around.... We were pretty sure another bus would be coming soon but felt like sitting ducks as 2 gringas alone. Many trucks went by and slowed down offering us rides, and we were almost considering ride on the back of a semi back into town when a bus finally appeared. When we climbed on we could see all the sideway smiles - they all must have been thinking, "what in the world are these girls doing?!" (I'd also like to mention that I was only wearing my bathing suit.... a tankini and skirt, pretty modest, but still attracting wayyyy too much attention.)
Anyway, I asked the driver three times to let us know when we were at the park, which he did. We paid $2 to get into the park and walked for a bit, almost immediately finding ourselves at a crossroads - we could either take a pedestrian path or continue to the parking lot. We picked the path and started walking. It was hot, uphill, and deserted. We walked for nearly 2 hours.... Lauren and I managed to keep a good humor but we were both getting tired and discouraged - it was quite a hike and we were in flip flops and bathing suits. There were quite a few beautiful sights along the way, overlooking the beaches all around, but mostly it looked like we were walking through bushes in the desert. There were tons of little lizards scurrying around and cacti.
Finally, we ran into a beautiful deserted black sand beach. It was in a sort of inlet and therefore the water was calm and shallow. On the beach there were dozens of little crabs scuttling about. We jubilantly ran into the water and relaxed for a little bit. The stupid trek seemed worth it, if even for a few minutes. We decided to continue the path after that, seeing from the map that 2-3 beaches were on the way. The next beach was pretty close but there were signs posted warning us not to swim because the drop-off was too sharp. It was beautiful though - how often does one stumble upon clean, untouched, isolated beaches!?!
From here, we continued along shore, climbing over rocks and trying not to freak out because hours had gone by without finding our friends and not knowing where the path went. Lo and behold, about 15 minutes later, we found the path and immediately found our friends. Turns out... they had taken a taxi moto which brought them to the parking lot and the first beach, where they had been chilling for the past 3 hours. I was so frustrated at our luck, but happy we finally found them. We went back to where they had spent the day and spent the next two hours just lying out in the perfect sun and finally relaxing.
At around 4pm, we headed back, showered, and found a little restaurant to eat. I ordered arroz con camarones (yellow rice with shrimp) which is possibly my favorite dish in Ecuador. We came back to the hostel and watched the Blind Side in our room and went to bed.
The next morning, as organized by Gladys, we got up early, had breakfast, and were lead to the beach by our tour guide for the day. About 45 km away in boat there is an island called la Isla de la Plata (Island of Silver/money - so called for several reasons, one of them being that hundreds of years ago Sir Francis Drake hid a bunch of stolen Incan treasure there) which is known as the "poor man's Galapagos." The ecosystem there is known as a tropical dry forest and is the home to many of the same birds and plant species as the Galapagos islands themselves. (This week, most of my friends are actually at the Galapagos, which I decided not to do because it cost too much...) We walked back through the fish market to get to the tour boat. On the way, I got to see a shark being dismembered - they were cutting off the fins because they are worth a ton of money apparently. They also cut off the head and pulled out all the insides. It was so cool to watch. Anyway, we finally got on the boat and got on our way.
The Isla de la Plata tour was awesome, if not extremely tiresome. We were a group of 16 and our tour guide led us on a 2 hour trek, up and down the island. We got to see tons of blue-footed boobys, which are the famous birds of the Galapagos, right up close because they are not scared of humans. From up-top, the island had the most incredible views, so we took lots of pictures. We talked a bit to the other tourists; there was a couple from Italy, some German guys, and a family who lived an hour north of Toronto. The daughter had spent her year in Ecuador and so her dad was visiting. He's been skiing in Bromont apparently, so he knew where Farnham and Cowansville was!! I was pretty excited. Anyway, by the end of the hike, we were all exhausted and parched, but luckily the group provided a delicious lunch, which we ate on the boat. After eating and resting, they passed out snorkeling gear and we jumped into the chilly water and got to see the wildlife below the surface. We saw 2 giant turtles, a school of giant clownfish ("como Nemo!" said our guide), white corral, and a school of thousands of tiny fishes. It was pretty awesome. We all just hung out on the boat for a few more minutes, climbing to the top and jumping off, and finally set off to go home.
We found out more of our friends had arrived at Puerto Lopez, so we joined them for dinner that night, then drinks on the beach. Puerto Lopez is certainly not a party town like Atacames or Montañita, but there were a few places to sit on beach chairs and relax. We had a good quiet night with our acquaintances (I'll be completely honest - I actually can't stand most of them so it was interesting...) and then eventually went to bed.
On Thursday, we went to los Frailes again (this time without any trouble) and relaxed, soaking up the sun. Lauren, Juliana, and I were swimming in the clear-blue waves for quite a while, when all of a sudden, I felt the most horrible burning stinging pain on my wrist - I got stung by a jellyfish!!! A wave had just been crashed over me so it dragged along for a couple of inches. I ran out of the water and was yelping because it hurt so badly!!! I think most people know what the cure for the pain of a jellyfish sting is - and let's just say this: I love my friends who in a moment of crisis will do anything for me. ;) After a few minutes, it no longer hurt though I did have giant welts on my hand and wrist. It didn't stop me from getting back in the water later, though I was admittedly pretty paranoid... Now I just have a few nice little red streaks on my arm, which I'm pretty proud of.
We spent a few more hours in the sun, and I sadly got a pretty bad sunburn. Later in the night, we went back to the cabana tents on the beach to hang out and eventually found a group of people dancing and hanging out on the beach. They started playing salsa music and another guy tried fruitlessly to teach me the steps (it's never going to stick! I promise!). After that, I sat down in the sand with my other friends, and this other guy who sat next to me struck up a conversation. I'm so weary of creepers at this point, but this guy was actually just nice and chill, and we talked about Ecuador, dancing, and music. I had to convince him that I hated Justin Bieber and tried really hard to explain the differences between the dancing in the US and in Ecuador. I had a good time, but eventually we headed back and went to sleep.
On Friday, we didn't do much at all. I just wanted to lie around at the hostel and finish my book (Sophie's Choice - so sad!) We remembered the royal wedding was on so Lauren and Milijana and I sat down and watched the replay on Gladys' computer, with the picture freezing up every 5 seconds but at least we got to see it. Afterwards, we were told about a cool river just a quick bus ride away, so went there but were pretty disappointed. The river was nothing too impressive, but we did get another reminder of how Ecuador really is a third-world country - clay houses with holes for windows, women doing their laundry in the river, no electricity. It was quite something.
We headed back, found some food, and just hung out for the rest of the afternoon. I bought motion sickness pills and we packed up. After dinner, we headed to the bus at 8pm, where we were ordered to go the police station so they could check our bags. After that interesting process, we got settled in and I took my medication and was pretty much knocked out for the entire night. The voyage was only 8 hours this time, so we arrived in Quito at 4:30 am. Lauren and I split a cab and after dropping her off, we were driving and suddenly saw tons of cars with their caution lights on parked next to an overpass. We actually stopped and got out, Mr. cab driver and I, and stood with the other gawkers - a car at some point during the night had broken through the guardrails and wrecked pretty horribly below. There were firetrucks and ambulances and the car was absolutely totaled, but they were talking to the person inside, so I guess he/she was okay! It was a stunning sight.
Anyway, at that point, I was dropped off at home and passed out in bed until 11:30 am. I've already told my host family all my stories and we will be eating soon, I imagine. This weekend, I have lots of studying and essay-writing to do but I hope that means this week will fly by. I have exactly 15 days left in Ecuador and though it's bittersweet I am DYING to get home. So by keeping busy and going through my final to-do list, I imagine these days will fly by.
So there it is. I'll be around all weekend so I'd love to talk to everyone at some point! Hope you're all doing fantastic :)
Love, Cyn.
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