January 31st 2015
First off I’ll say this, it may be good marketing to tie the Galapagos name into this island, but it’s utterly unfair to the amazing piece of paradise of the coast of Puerto Lopez, because while it’s truly incredible, it’s not the Galapagos, and it never will be. But it shouldn’t be blamed for it, and I find a lot of people go here with expectations too high, myself included. It didn’t disappoint exactly, it just wasn’t The Galapagos and really where is. Maybe just an illustration of the gap between a rich man’s life and poor man’s? Who knows.
At any rate I wake up at hostel Viajamar and stumble out over the beach into the crashing waves of the pacific. 15 minutes later I’m back at the hostel very much awake and ready for today’s adventure a day trip to Isla de Plata 80 minutes off the coast from Puerto Lopez. I’ve organized the trip though my hostel and because of this paid the standard price of 40 dollars (including taxi to and from the hostel) If you go to Puerto Lopez and bargain 25-30 dollars is normal and 20 can sometimes be found, just make sure you know what your getting.
After a quick breakfast our taxi shows up about 20 minutes later than scheduled but it’s Ecuador and I quickly hop in alongside a lovely Argentinean couple who’s decided to do the same thing as me. We zoom along the curvy coastal road and pile out of the car outside a tourist agency along the main pier of Puerto Lopez. Here we pay our forty dollars before heading to the pier and staring out quite a spectacle which is the daily catch in Puerto Lopez.
Tons of fishing boats are swarmed by pelicans and Frigate birds alike as fisherman try to transport their catch from the beach up to the city. They run with wildness in their eyes, huge crates of fish on their shoulders and birds circle closer and closer, looking for an opening to snare some fish. it’s honestly pretty fun to watch and I’m almost sad when the rest of our group and our boat shows up and we climb aboard.
The 80 minute ride is calm enough and passes quickly though the boats a little crowded with people. Eventually we slow down and drift in towards the barren looking Isla de Plata which I must admit, from a distance looks very much like the Galapagos archipelago.
As we pull up closer to the islands our guides hand out a snack, banana bread followed by a banana and then toss a few morsels into the ocean. Fish appear out of depths to feast and before long their joined by a few Pacific Green Sea turtles, too late for the feast but seemingly eager to check out our boat. For some people it’s their first sea turtles, so for the most part I let them enjoy it but do manage to snap a few photos.
Once they’ve left us behind we go in for a wet landing at the beach and I’m struck by the incredible heat. The island is without shade and has limited breeze, because of this it sometimes reaches temperatures in the 40’s and today is high 30’s. Hot enough to melt in for sure.
We climb up onto the beach, looking to our left we see hundreds of Frigate bids circling the cliffs, and to the right some boobies nestled into the rock at the edge of the beach. The sands too hot for walking though so we all don our shoes, use the only bathroom on the island and then make a circle around our guide. He speaks only spanish but the travel agency has given a free trip to a young french man who serves as the translator for those who don’t speak spanish. Maybe another way to get a better price?
We’re told a little bit about the island and then told that we’ll have two options a shorter walk with spectacular cliffs and blue footed boobies, or a longer walk up to more frigate birds and boobies. As we start walking towards the decision point atop the hill and the heat sets in my mind starts to feel the temptation of the shorter walk.
We stop briefly to learn about some local plants and to hear that while the rainy season usually starts here towards the end of December they still have not had any rain on the island, for this reason there are only the faintest traces of green to be seen.
As we listen to our guide talk about the natural glue hair gel plant I saw back on the Galapagos snake appears, our guides first of the year. He is surprised when it stops and poses for us instead of running away. As we snap a few photos we learn a few ways to tell if a snake is venemous, one is looking in their iris’ to see if it’s like a cat, another observing the shape of their heads, but both of which require being closer than I’d like, and also there are exceptions to both rules.
Either way , sheltered as best we can from the unrelenting sun (A towel worn like a hijab) we begin climbing up a decent set of stairs. About three quarters of the way up I get dizzy and nauseous and have to pause. It has to be the heat I decide, as I’ve climbed much higher than this without issue lately. Either way, I drink some water and stumble up the remaining stairs to a little gazebo like structure atop the hill with a refreshing breeze.
I take a seat and catch my breath as we try to figure out a problem. We have two guides, but only one translator, and here we’re splitting into two groups. Somehow I end up agreeing to be the translator for my group on the short walk, though sadly I don’t suddenly get the tour free. Still, at least it’s good practice for my Spanish.
We separate and myself and about 9 others head down towards some cliffs. Our guide pauses us and talks for a while before I realize there’s a small family of blue footed boobies some twenty feet down the path.
We get our info briefing (No flash, no touching the animals, don’t stop for too long beside them etc..) And then it’s photo time.
The boobies, two adults and a baby pose for us and stare up inquisitively at these strange giants walking past them.
As we continue down towards the cliffs we see a few more families of these photogenic birds and also see a few abandoned eggs which will never hatch.
It’s a sad sight for sure, but is quickly forgotten as we reach the cliffs and the sea below. It’s a shade of blue I’ve not seen since the Caribbean and as the sun dances of it’s ripples we watch Boobies fly overhead in the unblemished sky. It’s incredibly beautiful, and in my humble opinion belongs on a book cover somewhere.
We walk along the cliffs and marvel at a colony of Blue Footed Boobies hidden in the shadows of one of the cliffs before continuing on and meeting a few more families, including a mother who has a very young baby with her. For weeks the guides thought she’d gone crazy as she started trying to warm rocks as if they were eggs, but finally an egg appeared and a late but healthy baby was hatched. Hooray.
The Boobies are natural models and anything but shy. (Wow, that’s a sentence I never thought I’d write) They look at us inquisitively and put on shows, taking up perches at the edge of the dramatic cliffs allowing for photos like this.
Pretty awesome. As I’m losing myself in the world class vista, as impressive as any landscape I saw in the Galapagos I’m constantly pulled back into translating duties, but it’s both fun and appreciated. We look down at the bay with new respect when we learn it’s a major breeding area for several different species of sharks. Sadly they don’t allow snorkelling there just like they don’t allow snorkelling off the main beach after a few silly gringos got stung by the ample ray population.
We get really lucky when a few Nazca boobies fly in close overhead giving us a good look of them, and then get even luckier when a single red footed booby dives in close to us. I’ve already seen all three species but for those who haven’t it’s an unexpected treat.
Eventually we have to head back to the beach to meet up with the other group who saw only frigates and blue footed boobies (sometimes being lazy pays off). From there we hop on board and enjoy a lunch of fresh fruit and sandwiches before being given our snorkelling masks (no flippers). We drop anchor and I waste no time jumping into the water and heading away from the boat. Sadly the snorkelling, what I’ve been looking forward to most, is distinctly average. I’m sure part of this is having last snorkelled in the galapagos but the visibility was average at best and I only saw a few collections of tropical fish. Endlessly beautiful and pretty amazing, but nothing compared to all my incredible experiences on the Galapagos. Alas the plight of the poor man.
This is the best The poor man in Ecuador can hope for. Pretty Grim don’t you think?
