On the drive down to Puerto Lopez, it was grey but not raining. The ocean was beautiful as we drove along it and when we wound inland, the hillsides were incredibly lush and green. This transformation from dry and brown is a sudden one that is for sure. Once a little rain comes, the land becomes alive and greens up inside a couple of weeks.
We passed through several small fishing villages and were entertained by the frigate birds who hover around the boats as the fisherman bring them ashore with their daily catches. The Frigates, we are sure, are rewarded with the guts as the fish are cleaned and filleted. There are so many birds it brings to mind Alfred Hitchcock’s movie The Birds !! Except these birds are twice the size of Hitchcock’s Ravens and much more attractive to watch. Some of the villages appear to be more poor than others but the one common denominator is that they all look happy with life and know it as it is !! Their homes are tiny little boxes of concrete and brick or the bamboo wood, or a combination of both. Many have some laundry hanging on a line and it amazes me how white the ‘whites’ are. White t-shirts seem to be a common wardrobe item.
Entering the town of Puerto Lopez was quite easy but manuevering the side streets was very muddy. They had just had a big downpour of rain overnight and the main north and south streets are paved but the side streets are all very muddy. We did manage to find our way down one and knew we were at Mandala Hosteria when we saw the amazing wood gates and the amazing sign of Mandala Hosteria above them. A most impressive entrance to a most impressive property.
Suddenly, we are surrounded by a tropical paradise. The couple that own Mandala (and built it from the ground up) are hardworking and nice hosts. He is Italian and she is Swiss. I could write pages about this beautiful resort which will be an annual trip for us from now on, but you should go to their website and read all about it for yourself. www.hosteriamandala.info. It truly is a place of nature and of art. The breakfasts are delicious and we enjoyed dinner there two of the 3 nights as well. Everywhere you look on the property is amazing wood art.
On our second night we went to a fun restaurant recommended by some other Canadians staying at Mandala. The next day, we returned because they suggested we have the hamburger ... but also suggested we share it. Here is why !!
The couple who have just opened this restaurant are so sweet and hard working. Their dog and siamese cat greeted us and stayed with us knowing we are animal lovers.
After a lazy afternoon in the hammock and on the balcony, a wonderful tropical surrounding while enjoying a fresh fish dinner, we took to our room, pulled the mosquito net down over our bed and talked about our journey the next morning.
Isla de la Plata - here we come! At 9:00 a.m. the tour company truck picked us up at the hosteria. We were driven downtown (in the rain I might add) and dropped at the office of the tour company to sign our waiver and pay for the day trip to the Island. For $35. We set off on our adventure.
Isla de la Plata is an island about 40 KM from the mainland. It is part of the Manchalilla National Park system. There are 3 varieties of the Booby bird there. Dolphins in the area (our same boat had run across a huge pod of almost 500 the day before) , sea lions and turtles ... big turtles! They call this island “The Poor Mans Galapagos” because you can enjoy most everything here that you can enjoy in the Galapagos for very little money. Galapagos has become VERY expensive.
This same tour group offers some pretty incredible whale watching from June through September. The whales come from Antarctica to frolic and play and put on some very spectacular shows for the whale watchers.
So back to our day trip...
A 10 minute walk down to the wharf where “AMAZING” out boat, and crew awaited us. Our guide Galo had greeted us at the office and accompanied us to the wharf. In the rain, we made our way down the gang plank to the boat, were all asked to remove our shoes/sandals and toss them into a big bag... it was barefoot only in the boat !
We were then given a safety briefing and handed life jackets to don. The detail to safety really impressed Joe and I. The side of the boat had a plastic cover over it and so we did not get wet on the boat ride to the island and we were kept protected from the wind. Just before arriving, we were offered the most delicious piece of banana bread for a snack. OMG ..it was so good ! The rain let up for our arrival to the island. It was a beach landing so we had to be hasty getting off the boat... I mean fast !!!
Once on the beach, we reclaimed our footwear, and with water bottle in hand, we met at the base of the hike for a small discussion on the preservation of the island, some of the bird and animal life we might see on the hike, and that from a certain point at the summit, only groups of 10 at a time could be together. One minute into the hike, the heavens opened up and it started pouring... What to do !!! Keep on going ... the rain was warm, the temperature was warm and we were all in good spirits. We even had a large family of 8 from Toronto area on our boat. Two of them were 80 and 81 years old... and they joined in with great attitude!
Along the way Galo reached my hand over and rubbed my finger on a small bud-like spot on the branch of a tree. It came away with a spot of “blood-like liquid on it. He says they call this “Dragon blood”.
Some of the trail was as muddy as you can believe. Weighting our shoes down with more mud every step of the way. Every once in awhile we would stop and scrape it off. There was one very difficult uphill (with some steps) grade which took us all some time to get up. But Galo our guide was patient and just waited for us all to catch our breath and then continued on. He was constantly doing a head count. Again - so very conscientous!
We passed so many Blue Footed Boobie birds. Babies and adults. The feet are not that deep and brilliant blue until they are about 4 years of age. Above were hundreds and hundreds of Frigtate birds and Pelicans and numerous other kinds... soaring above the cliffs which are a nesting and breeding ground for them! Along the way were little lizzards scurrying out of our way.
After about 3 hours, the sun was shining and we were back at our start point and out came the bag for our shoes again... now just imagine how that bag of shoes looked back on the mainland after a few hours of trekking around in the mud !! Not a pretty picture...in fact laughable... but everyone claimed their yukky footgear and moved to where they could put it back on. I still don’t know how those with flip flops and sandals every made this walk... they were perhaps NOT informed of what to wear on the day trip.
Again, the boat was quickly backed up to the shore, we were all asked to very quickly get in the boat and make our way to the front which kept the rear in a float mode... and away we went...for 200 yards or so. We were served some delicious fresh fruit and sandwiches after which we were offered snorkels and masks and into the water we went. There were turtles and every kind of colorful fish a choral reef could offer. To make it more fun, a couple of the crew tossed bits of watermelon rind into the water which atrracted the fish and turtles like bees to honey !! We were able to enjoy snorkelling for about an hour and then it was everyone back on the boat. The water is so warm wetsuits are not required. Such a great experience!
Both sides of the boat were open on the return trip back to the mainland. The sun was shining, the ocean was beautiful and all 16 of us were happy tourists! We thanked Galo, our guide, and the crew for such a wonderful day. Joe graciously gave Galo $30 gratuity for his great attention to making our day fun, safe, and memorable.
Back on land, we stopped at the Palo Santo shop and stocked up on wood and essential oils and made our way back to the hotel in a moto-taxi ...tuk tuk. Later in the evening we found our way to a local restaurant and enjoyed some paella and beer. The day was done and back to our balcony we went for an evening of chatter, reading and smelling the smoke from the palo santo which keeps the mosquitos away.
The next morning, as usual, it was misty and overcast. We headed out to the beach after breakfast and walked north for about 15 minutes to a Marine Rehabilitation Center we had heard about. Here they care for injured turtles (of which there are many) and on this morning, there were some Booby birds there. The volunteer attendant let us come in and walk amongst the tanks. One poor turtle must have just died and others were fairly mobile. Mandala is very supportive of this centre and they sell lovely t-shirts with either whales or turtles on them to raise fund for a new x-ray machine that is needed. We each bought a t-shirt as did some other friends who were there.
Upon our arrival back at the hotel, I enjoyed the most amazing hour and 20 minute massage I have had in years! The massage therapist brings her bed right to your room so you have the peace and quiet of the tropical surroundings while you are receiving an amazing massage.
It was time to pack up and make our way back to Manta. Again, we enjoyed all the same sights upon our return as we did on our way to Puerto Lopez. Have a look at the website. www.visitPuertoLopez.com to read a little more about the town.
After a few days in Manta, on Saturday we are taking a bus to Guayaquil (3 hour trip) so that we can enjoy and experience Ecuador train travel. More on that in the next blog !
I post all my photos on Facebook. Just can’t get them all into the blog !
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