PUERTO LOPEZ

3/2/21

I’d been thinking of taking the bus north to Puerto Lopez for a few items I might need, and finally ran out of them.  Yep, my main need is a few cans of tuna.  It tastes so much better here.  I also needed some other quick food items and ended up getting some chips, fruit and nut type snacks, chocolate bars and coffee in bottles.  Necessities, don’t you think?  I also wanted to do a little exploring of the shore and to a lesser extent the town.  

I’m not sure what determines the cost of a bus ride.  From Ayampe to Montañita where I’ve gone several times and back, the cost is $1.50.  It is the same distance to Puerto Lopez and only costs .50 cents.  Go figure.  After disembarking from the bus I meandered my way to the beach where the expected fishermen were there with the catch of the previous night.  Also present were other vendors selling their wares.  

So I thought I’d weave in and out of the “market” and see what kind of fish were being sold.  The first thing I laid my eyes on was a huge fish.  The head and tail were missing, and it was gutted.  I could not tell what kind it was, but guessed it was probably a shark.  But there was no one to ask as everyone was haggling prices in Spanish and I did not feel I could interrupt.  

Said to be a Marlin

One young man was selling shrimp.  They were certainly huge.  I do not know if they were caught locally or brought in from some salt ponds elsewhere.   He also had some squid and wanted to know what the English name was, so I relayed that to him.  

I think these are Rock Fish

How about the size of those shrimp!

I think the big ones are dorado

After about 10 minutes in the market, I walked south on the beach to what looked like a jetty of some sort.  I’d seen this from a distance the last time here and wanted to explore it more for shorebirds and what not.  When I got there I realized it was an unfinished marina of sorts for putting boats into the water and taking them out.  

After that I headed back north.  When I was almost back to the market I saw a man dragging his boat up to the high water level.  He had two rollers which he was using.  He’d put them under his boat and pull it forward until the one in the rear needed to be placed up front, and after pulling it more the other one needed to be brought around back up to the front.  So I volunteered to be the roller transferer  back up to the front when it needed such, making it easier for him.  Turns out his name was Luis.  

Luis and Me

His boat looked like it needed some repairs, but I guess it served the purpose for what his needs were.  He told me that the large fish was a marlin and weighed 100 kilos, which is over 200 lbs.  Maybe that is why it was missing both head and tail.  In many places the harvest of bill fish is frowned upon, as they are needed to maintain  the sport fishing industry.  It was gone by my 2nd pass through.  

After passing through the market again I began the hike toward the north end of the beach.  It was low tide and the expanse was wide and the waves small.  A fishing town such as this attracts many pelicans and frigatebirds, and these were in abundance. I could see a large flock of both species about a mile ahead on the beach, so easily surmised there was a catch of some sort.  

One reason for wanting to be closer was to look over the frigatebirds for the rare Great Frigatebird, the immature of which is easy to tell from the myriads of Magnificent Frigates.  They have a large brown throat/chest area.  There were probably 100 pelicans and 150 frigates surrounding the boat and workers.  Turns out the catch was a great many small fish of a variety I did not know.  I should have asked.

The following pics are walking north to the boat/catch and all the pelicans and frigatebirds:

The workers in the boat would load up a bin full of these little fish, and other workers would carry them to a truck on the sand a good hundred yards from the water.  They’d have to hurry in carrying such because the frigates were dead set on eating the fish in the transfer.  Once the men started the jaunt to the truck, the birds were on them.   They were really not that great at picking fish out of the bin, maybe every other time were successful.  One smart frigate landed on the bin and began shoveling the fish in.  

If I can load a little video to this blog, you’d be able to see just how fearless the frigates are. (Turns out I cannot) They just zoom right in to grab a fish regardless.  As I ended up pretty close to the workers carrying the bins, the swirling mass of frigates zoomed so close to me.  They certainly did not have a fear of people when it came to free pickins from the tops of those bins.  Then it happened.  I’d more or less anticipated it.  A frigate’s wing slapped  me on the arm.  Many times they flew only inches from me.  Good thing they did not use their bill to impale people. 

I asked the young man on the truck if I could take a pic of the fish, to which he nodded yes.  So here is that pic.  You can also see a small ray of some sort.   Shortly thereafter a young man came by on a 3 wheeler of sorts and was selling some type of pop cycles, so for .50 I bought one.  It was pretty good.  He got stuck in the sand so they guy from the truck and I helped him out.  

Many small fish in the truck

Getting dive bombed by the frigates

Then it was time to run some errands.  Tis nice to have the google maps app so one can get his bearings.  And, even the supermarket was labeled so I could easily find it.  En route there I saw a shoe store of sorts, so asked them if they had any leather sandals.  A young lady went into the back of the store and came out with 2 examples of what they had.  As I liked one, but it was just a bit large, I asked her if she had a smaller size, to which she brought one out, so for $10.00 I have some new sandals, something I’ve been wanting since getting here.  

The next stop was the Pharmacia, where I bought some insect repellent, and asked the clerk if he had aloe vera for sunburn, so he showed me a bottle that included aloe vera in the ingredients, so I bought it.  I have some mild sunburn to my nose.  Next and last stop was the supermarket where I stocked up on the above mentioned necessities.   Then it was a walk to the south end of town to catch the bus.   As I was feeling the need of a little energy boost, I broke out one of the latte’s I bought.   As soon as I opened it, I could see the bus coming, so put the cap back on.  After getting on the bus and finding a seat, I waited til the attendant took my money and went back up front and then broke out the coffee again.  You are not really supposed to have food/drink on the bus, but I don’t think anyone really cares or enforces such.  

By the time I got back I was starting to sweat, so hopped in the shower, and then unpacked my days good.

I was thinking of including some pics of common sites around the town, but decided it was too depressing.  I was also toying with the idea of a separate narrative called something like, "The Real Ecuador."  I suspect it is rare to find a paved street off the main drag to most small towns, and the houses along such are not impressive. 

If you were to look at the various tourist web sites or books, this is not what you would see.  By my estimation, 90% of Ecuador looks trashy, and the same percentage goes for construction.  Houses really look rather ramshackle, slipshod and unkempt.  They have a law that if your house is not completed, you don’t have to pay taxes on the property yet.  So many leave vertical rebar sticking up out of the corners and walls, making it look rather unsightly.  

Yes, some areas do indeed look just fine. And these will be areas where enough taxes are collected so as to pay to have the area kept up and at least weekly trash removal.  But most municipalities simply cannot afford such.   So in some situations the locals have taken it upon themselves to do something about it.   I met a man one morning here in Ayampe  who had picked up a burlap bag full of plastic bottles.  I asked him if he was paid to do such, to which he said no.  If I had some cash I would have given him some, but usually don’t carry any unless I have immediate plans for such.  I told him he was doing a good thing.  Today I saw a guy doing the same thing in Puerto Lopez.  

So if per chance you come to Ecuador, be forewarned that you will see trash in many places.  That is just the way it is.  Often what happens is after a pile of plastic bottles and other trash gets big enough, some kind person pours gas thereon and puts a match to it. They did however just start a program similar to what is done in places in America where you up the price of bottled items with plans to return 5-10 cents per bottle when it is brought back, so it is thought this may help clean things up a bit.