Isla de la Plata
Some 37km out to sea from Puerto López, and reached using one of the tour companies there, Isla de la Plata is a small, scrubby island of just eight square kilometres, once the ceremonial centre of the Bahía culture (500 BC to 650 AD). Its name comes from the legend that the English explorer Sir Francis Drake buried a chestful of silver here in the sixteenth century – never discovered, of course. Today, the island’s fame derives more from its large population of marine birds, which are relatively fearless and allow close observation, attracting many visitors and giving it the sobriquet of “poor man’s Galápagos”. Yet this hackneyed phrase doesn’t do the island justice; it’s the only place in Ecuador – including the Galápagos – where blue-footed, red-footed and masked boobies are found together.
From the landing point in Bahía Drake, two circular footpaths lead around the island, each taking three to four hours to complete, including time spent watching the birds and listening to the tour guide’s commentary. The most numerous bird species on the island is the blue-footed booby, though you can also see frigatebirds, red-billed tropicbirds and waved albatrosses (breeding season April–Oct), as well as sea lions, which are colonizing the island in small numbers. Visits usually include some snorkelling, which provides a glimpse of a fabulous array of colourful fish. You might also spot dolphins and manta rays on the boat ride, as well as humpback whales (June–Sept).
Montañita
Just 4km north of Manglaralto, MONTAÑITA is like nowhere else on the southern coast. Crammed into the centre are straw-roofed, bamboo-walled hostales and pizzerias advertised by bright wooden signs, while tanned, chilled-out gringos lounge around in shorts and bikinis and surfers stride up the streets with boards under arm. There’s a certain 1960s, dope-fuelled atmosphere to Montañita that may not appeal to everybody, reaching a height during la temporada from January to April. Outside these months, visitors dwindle and the skies cloud over, but the hotels stay open all year catering to the steady stream of surfing addicts.
The town’s transformation from isolated fishing village to backpacker hangout has been brought about by some of the best surfing conditions in Ecuador; waves are strong, consistent and range from one to three metres in height, and there’s a long right break lying off the northern end of the beach by the rocky promontory of La Punta. The best waves coincide with the summer months (Jan–April), when the water temperature averages 22–25°C. Every February, surfing fever reaches a peak during the international surfing competition held here over Carnaval, which attracts contestants from as far away as the US and Australia.
Surfboards (tablas) can be rented for about $18 a day at a number of places in the centre, such as Tikilimbo and Balsa House. Montañita’s waves are best suited to experienced surfers, but beginners can get in on the action by taking one-to-one lessons with the Montañita Surf Club on the waterfont ($20 for a 2hr lesson; they also rent out boards and equipment).
Parque Nacional Machalilla
Parque Nacional Machalilla, mainland Ecuador’s only coastal national park, protects the country’s last major tract of tropical dry forest – now a mere one percent of its original size. The forest is notable for the remarkable contrast between the vegetation at sea level and that covering the hills rising to 800m above the coastline. The dry forest, panning in from the shore, comprises scorched-looking trees and shrubs adapted to scarce water supplies and saline soils, including many different cactuses, gnarled ceibas, barbasco trees and algarobbo (able to photosynthesize through its green bark). Also common are highly fragrant palo santo trees, whose bark is burned as incense in churches. A short hike east into the hills brings you into the wholly different landscape of coastal cloudforest, moistened by a rising sea mist that condenses as it hits the hills, where a dense covering of lush vegetation shelters ferns, heliconias, bromeliads, orchids and bamboos, as well as a great variety of animals and birds. The two different habitats can be observed on a ten-kilometre trail leading from the community of Agua Blanca, north of Puerto López, up to the San Sebastián cloudforest area. Agua Blanca sits near one of the most important archeological sites on the coast, the former settlement of Sangólome. Beyond this, the park takes in a number of pristine beaches, of which the most spectacular is Playa Los Frailes. Offshore areas include the tiny Isla Salango and the famous, bird-rich Isla de la Plata, the most popular destination in the park.
Pay your entrance fee at the park’s visitor centre in Puerto López at the brown-and-white thatched building opposite the market, on Eloy Alfaro (t05/2300170). The three types of tickets, all good for five days, allow access to the mainland ($12) or Isla de la Plata ($15), or provide entrance to both ($25). Arriving at the coastal sections of the park is easy on any of the buses running north along the coast road. Inland targets, such as the villages of Agua Blanca and Río Blanco, are not served by buses, but can be reached by camioneta ($5–6) from Puerto López, or on tours (around $35) offered by some of the town’s operators and hotels, including Naturis and Hostal Tuzco.
The weather is typically rainy, hot and sunny in summer (Jan–April), and dry, slightly cooler and overcast the rest of the year, with average year-round temperatures hovering around 23–25°C (73–77°F).
Playa Los Frailes
Some 10km north of Puerto López, a signed dirt track branches west from the coast road, just south of the run-down village of Machalilla, to Playa Los Frailes, one of the most beautiful beaches on the Ecuadorian coast, with dramatic cliffs and forested hills framing its virgin white sands. Despite its popularity, the beach still feels like a wild, unspoiled place, particularly if you arrive in the early morning, when you’re almost guaranteed to have it all to yourself. To get there, hop on any of the buses heading north from Puerto López and ask to be dropped at the turn-off to the beach, about fifteen minutes out of town. Just off the road at the national park kiosk, show your ticket or buy one if you haven’t already paid your entrance fee.
From here a footpath leads directly to Los Frailes in thirty minutes (the left fork), or you can follow a four kilometre circular trail (the right fork) via the tiny black-sand cove known as La Playita, followed by Playa La Tortuguita, where spiky rocks rise from the turquoise waters. From La Tortuguita continue on the main footpath to Los Frailes, or follow the fork leading through dry forest dotted with fragrant palo santo trees up to a wooden mirador (lookout) giving spectacular views of the coast. This longer approach, via La Playita, La Tortuguita and the mirador, is by far the more rewarding and takes several hours to complete. About 3km north of the turning for Los Frailes, you’ll see signs for the Sendero El Rocío, an enjoyable two-kilometre trail beginning in the cultivated land of traditional coastal subsistence farms; it leads up to a viewpoint and into dry palo santo forest, emerging at an attractive beach. Locals act as guides for visitors; ask at the farms around the trailhead.