The coast

A little after July 4th, I hopped on an overnight bus from Quito for a weekend on the southern Pacific coast of Ecuador, specifically to a small fishing town called Puerto Lopez. Besides being a pretty good place to soak up the cultural differences between Ecuadorians from the mountains and the coast, Puerto Lopez is a great place to witness the annual migration of humpback whales from the south (like Antarctica south). The whales come to these waters to mate and to give birth between June and September, and there are lots of them.

Additionally, Pûerto Lopez is very close to Isla De La Plata, a small Ecuadorian island that is affectionally dubbed the ¨poor man´s Galapagos.¨ The name is very fitting. I hired a boat to both tour some supposedly mating-whale-infested waters and to get out to the island for some exploring. They were right about the whales -- there were lots of them, and they were big...like big grey schoolbuses that would occasionally surface right near the boat for a breath or to jump out of the water.

As far as Isla de la Plata, there was lots of wildlife that was not afraid of humans, just like you´d find in the Galapagos. And it was about $980 cheaper than a trip to the Galapagos (which I refuse to visit without scuba diving certifications, a significant other to share it with, and/or an AARP discount card). Of course it couldn´t compare to the real thing (Galapagos), but I got up close and personal to lots of creatures like the albatross, sea lions, frigate birds and my favorite, blue footed boobies.

I´m lacking the pictures department for the time being - my real camera was in the shop and I´ve been lazy about developing the disposable camera pictures I took...all in good time.