La Costa

This week, we took a vacation for our midterm break (as of today, we’re halfway through) and headed for the coast. We spent the time in Puerto Lopez, a fishing village directly next to Machalilla National Park.

We spent Tuesday relaxing on the beach and exploring the town. It was interesting to watch the fishermen bring in their catch, and all of the frigatebirds and pelicans swooping down on them.

I also found two live sanddollars! I’ve always loved sanddollars, partially because I remember my dad telling me stories of going to the beach with his family, and his father would find sanddollars with his feet and then have them swim down to get them. There were also some pufferfish washed up on the shore. The town also had a number of stray dogs which would follow you along the beach. That was a bit odd.

On Wednesday, we visited Agua Blanca, and on Thursday, we went to Isla de la Plata. Both deserve full descriptions, so I’ll try to get a post about each one up soon.

Yesterday, we hiked out to Los Frailes, a secluded beach in the national park. The hike provided some excellent views (including one of the continental plate), and it was nice to swim for a bit. Also, one of the beaches along the way had black sand. (It sort of reminded me of the bottles of blue sand you get on Neopets…)

Although the water was nice, the waves weren’t very good, so there was no way I could catch one, and I didn’t have anyone to play The President with. At least, I built a drip castle.

After Los Frailes, we caught a bus back to Guayaquil and then Cuenca, getting back home about 12:30am, so we all slept in. Now, we’re celebrating Halloween and Cuenca days.