Some Beach, Somewhere

Ecuadorian radio blasting, our bus chugged out of Manta leaving the highway behind for a zig-zagging single-lane route along the coast. I had spent last night in the coastal city looking for a replacement phone that decided to work again after three days off. Urban beaches don't get me too excited so I was up early to leave, woken up by the sounds of the busy bus station 100 yards outside my hotel window.

As we pulled out of yet another indistinguishable, dusty beach town somewhere along the Ruta del Sol, I had a feeling the local drunk ambling down the aisle would choose to sit next to the only gringo on board despite the bus only being one quarter full. We shook hands at least 15 times over the next 10 minutes as I repeatedly told him "no hablo espanol." Finally, I put in my ear buds, which weren't connected to anything, opened the window as wide as it would get, and watched as we crossed from arid desert into coastal tropical dry forest, the drunk still rambling on about something.

All smiles after the drunk got off!

Not too much later we pulled into Puerto Lopez, where I'll be hanging out the next few days. It took about 20 minutes slow walk along the beach to get from one end of town to the other.

My hostel, Hostal Itapoa, from the road and pictured below, my private cabana, 20 feet from the sand!

And my beach view from where I'm writing this blog... Not bad for $18 a night with breakfast!

At the south end of town, there is a long pier in the naturally occurring bay that houses several hundred fishing boats.

Tomorrow, I plan on taking one to an island offshore for bird watching and snorkeling. Till then, I think I'll have another beer...