2 Days in Puerto Lopez

Have you ever fallen in love with a place the moment you laid eyes on it? As our taxi driver headed down the road into Puerto Lopez, we knew this would be a special town to us. For a weekend, we traded the high rises surrounding Salinas beach for the lush national park surrounding Puerto Lopez.

Puerto Lopez is a charming little beach town on the coast of Ecuador that is surrounded by Machalilla National Park. What the town lacks in amenities it makes up for with natural beauty, tasty restaurants, and a charming malecon.

Getting to Puerto Lopez

Our adventure in Puerto Lopez started as soon as we left Montañita. Our intentions were to take a bus from Montañita to Puerto Lopez. However, due to another miscommunication, we ended up taking a taxi. It worked out well though. The ride was much faster in a taxi since the buses make a lot of stops. However, the bus would have cost a couple of dollars and the taxi was $25. Compared to the price of taking an hour-long taxi ride in the US, $25 is still a great price.

Money in Ecuador

Ecuador uses the US dollar as its official currency. This makes travel to Ecuador from the US a little bit easier. Although you use the same currency in Ecuador, you may run into a couple differences. Credit cards are not widely accepted. The major grocery stores and a few restaurants in large cities will accept them, but you should always carry some cash here.

For the most part, purchases in Ecuador require cold, hard cash. All bills are imported from the United States, but Ecuador does mint some of its own coins. If you get those coins as change, you will want to spend them before you leave Ecuador. Or keep a few as a souvenir! You do not need anything over a $20 bill. Most places will have a hard enough time breaking a $20 and will probably flat out refuse to accept anything larger.

Tattered and torn bills might be refused in Ecuador. You may be able to give ¾ of a bill to a cashier in the US, but that won’t fly here. So far we have only had one instance where our money was rejected and that was by our taxi driver from Montañita to Puerto Lopez. And you thought this was a totally unrelated tangent… Our $20 bill had a small tear at the top, and the driver refused to accept it. This wasn’t a big deal as I had another $20 to give him, but it is something to keep in mind while traveling here.

Where we Stayed

Our taxi dropped us off on a dirt road that appeared to be in the middle of town. It is safe to say we were both a little nervous as we walked the last bit to our Airbnb. All our fears subsided when we walked up to Casa de Fiona.

The house is charming and the garden so inviting, but the best part was being greeted by her friendly pups. We love dogs and are missing our two pups so much. Getting to spend a little time visiting with Fiona’s three dogs was a highlight of our visit. At the time of our stay, Fiona lived on the first floor of the house and rented out the two rooms on the second level.

Our room was fully equipped with everything we needed for a short term stay including a small kitchen and private entrance. We also had a balcony where we could sit, relax, and enjoy her stunning garden. My favorite part of our room was the way it was decorated. Fiona did an excellent job of incorporating traditional Ecuadorian style while keeping the space feeling bright and modern. Not only was our physical space wonderful, but Fiona was a fantastic host. We enjoyed chatting with her about her experiences in Ecuador and she was very helpful providing local recommendations. We can’t say enough positive things about staying here, and we would recommend Casa de Fiona to anyone who travels to Puerto Lopez.

Our Favorite Restaurants

The dinning scene on the Malecon is more than we could ask for in a town of 16,000 people. One thing we found particularly interesting is that many of the restaurants have their sticks and bricks location on one side of the road and a cabana on the beach on the other side. While dining in the restaurants, you will often see the wait staff running back and forth from the restaurant to the cabana.

Aloha

Aloha, not the name you would expect of a restaurant in Puerto Lopez, Ecuador. Along with the unexpected name came the incredible food and service we got here. We loved Aloha so much that we ate there 3 times during our weekend in Puerto Lopez. It goes to say we both highly recommend checking out Aloha if you find yourself in Puerto Lopez.

The first time we ate at Aloha was right after arriving in town. As soon as we were settled into our Airbnb we headed out to find Almuerzo. Because our plans were to go out for Almuerzo, I didn’t bring much cash with us. However, our host notified us that the place we were planning to eat had closed during the pandemic. We wandered around town until we ran into Aloha. We were greeted by the friendly staff and cozy, welcoming restaurant.

Jacob will tell you to this day that the grilled shrimp at Aloha is the best shrimp he has ever had in his life. Every dish at Aloha is cooked to order and made with such love and care. Everything we ate here was fantastic. I only wish I had brought more cash because I stressed out our entire meal that we wouldn’t have enough to pay the bill. Wouldn’t that be just our luck. That is not to say that Aloha is expensive, in fact it is incredibly reasonable. Jacob’s plate of shrimp with all the sides was only $8.00! One of our favorite things about the restaurant is that all tips go towards food and medical care for the street dogs. *swoon*

Sadhana

When we walked up to Sadhana for dinner they offered us a table inside or across the street on the beach. We hadn’t realized that you could be served a meal on the beach, so we were excited to try it out. We both ordered seafood dishes which we savored as we soaked in the sound of the waves and the laughter of the people on the beach.

It was at this moment the realization sunk in that we were in Ecuador living one of our dreams. I was overwhelmed with gratitude for this amazing opportunity we have been given. For those of you reading from different points in your life, I want to be very clear. We are fully aware of how incredible our lives are and the countless “once in a lifetime” experiences we get to live many times over.

However, I wanted to share this with you to point out that thankfulness is an active choice. It is not merely when life offers you amazing opportunity that gratitude suddenly fills you. Case in point – we were in Ecuador 2 weeks before I took that step back and became truly grateful for exactly where we were at that time. It is all too easy in life to have our thoughts constantly consumed with what we “should” be doing or what is coming up today, tomorrow, or next week.

My challenge for you and myself is to choose an attitude of thankfulness for exactly where we are now. I believe so deeply that gratitude births even more beauty and goodness. Believe me when I say, we have lived through our fair share of challenges when it feels hard to be grateful for anything. But I can write to you today that life gets better, even if it doesn’t make sense. That there is joy in the journey and one day you too might be crying in public overwhelmed by how wonderful things worked out.

Ancora

After a tiring first day of travel, settling into a new place, and lots of walking around town, we grabbed a spot at Ancora’s cabana. It was a perfect place to have a cold drink and watch the activities going on at the beach. My favorite part of these cabana’s is they have traditional tables and chairs if that is what you are looking for, but they also have hammocks. If you plan to hang out for a while it is a perfect spot to relax in the shade while also enjoying the beach. Best of both worlds you might say.

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Isla de la Plata

Isla de la Plata was the highlight of our trip to Puerto Lopez. The island is lovingly referred as the poor man’s Galapagos, and the trip there far exceeded our expectations. The day was so full of fun that it deserves its own post. Stay tuned for that blog post next!

You can’t do all the things…

Gosh there are so many wonderful things to do around Puerto Lopez. We have seriously considered going back at some point during our third month in Ecuador. We will just have to wait and see where that third month takes us. Just in case we don’t make it back during this trip, I wanted to highlight a few things that came very highly recommended to us. I love sharing our experiences and the things we do. However, just because we have been to an area once does not makes us an expert on it. In general, consult multiple sources when you are planning a trip. Try not to rely on only one person’s advice (particularly if that person has never lived in the area). What was the perfect experience for Jacob and I may not be interesting to you at all. Okay, I’m done. Here are the top 3 things we wish we had time for in Puerto Lopez.

1. Los Frailles is frequently touted as the most beautiful beach in Ecuador. The beach is meticulously maintained as it is part of the national park system. We were told by many people if there is one thing we should do in addition to Isla de la Plata, it is visit Los Frailles.
2. Agua Blanca is an ancestral community also located in Machalilla National Park. Here you can soak in the sulfur lagoon and learn about the history and culture of the town at the museum. Most people we spoke with recommend allowing a half day to explore Agua Blanca. I hope to experience this community in the future.
3. Scuba Diving – I had strongly considered getting my open water scuba certification before we left for Ecuador, but I ran out of time. When it sunk in that I wasn’t going to be able to accomplish this, I started researching places to get my certification in Ecuador. Without a doubt, Puerto Lopez is a top destination to get your PADI open water scuba diving certification. The cost of getting certified in Ecuador might be less than in the US depending on the area you live in. I love swimming and nature, so this is something I plan to do in the future. Jacob isn’t sold on doing this with me, but we will see when the time comes.

If you can’t tell we loved Puerto Lopez, I didn’t do a good job writing this post… All jokes aside, our hearts were so happy here. For me it was a perfect mix of small-town friendly locals, the beach, the forest, and so much more. I can’t recommend this place enough. Although you won’t be able to fly into this small coastal town, the public transportation in Ecuador is wonderful, and you will be able to reach it from any major airport without much trouble. Jacob and I can’t wait to return whether that is on this trip or some point in the future. We definitely plan to come back to Puerto Lopez.