Yay for Boobies (and whales, too!)
Gina. Bahia, Ecuador.
After our last trip to Puerto Lopez was such a disaster (see post), I had both high hopes and a little trepidation towards this second excursion. We were going back to Puerto Lopez expressly for the purpose of me going to Isla de la Plata and seeing the blue footed boobies. Steve was going to stay back at the hostel and relax for the day since he got very seasick the last time we were in the town (even after taking Dramamine).
Friday started out well, with the Planet Drummers staying in the apartment to do some paperwork (Clay) and clean and prepare the tree seeds we’d collected on Thursday’s hike (Steve, Jamie and me). We were having a short day since Thursday was so very long, and that was fine by me since it was going to be three buses and a total of five hours before getting to Puerto Lopez. We grabbed a yummy fish lunch and caught our first bus to Puerto Viejo which was the fanciest bus I’ve been on so far in Ecuador. They were even playing the new Die Hard movie which unfortunately was dubbed in Spanish, but I basically could figure out what was going on for the parts that I saw. Like most buses this one stopped a lot to let people on and off and the aisles were soon packed with Ecuadorians. I’m really surprised by how the girls dress here. They always look like they’re going out to the clubs with chubby bellies rolling over ridiculously tight pants and very low cut shirts that are too short and brightly colored, often with sequence. I wanted to buy some new shirts here as my two are getting a little worn and it would just be nice to have something new to wear, but I can not find just a normal shirt in this town. It’s amazing. This might just be the beach culture, but I guess we’ll see once we get to Quito and around. Another thing we’ve noticed in general about South America (which I can’t remember if I’ve mentioned before or not) is that people are generally overweight. Kids are generally pretty skinny until about sixteen or so, and then everything has big bellies. I guess it’s all the crappy food they eat. I’m always seeing kids and adults with ice cream, cookies, candy, or something deep fried.
After three buses and lots of napping on my part we arrived in Puerto Lopez which was chilly and raining a bit—a bad sign since I hadn’t brought a rain coat or any warm clothes. We checked into Hostel Maxima partly because Hostel Sol was all booked up (but Hostel Maxima was much nicer with a private bathroom in our room that wasn’t home to billions of mosquitoes like the shared, outdoor bathrooms at Hostel Sol). We’d stayed at Maxima the first night in Puerto Lopez on the previous trip but were kept up all morning by roosters so Steve had us move. This time we thankfully got a room away from the roosters, so it wasn’t so bad (we also kept the windows shut since it was cooler and we had a fan in the room). After checking in and throwing down our stuff we bee-lined to Machalilla Tours which we picked for the tour for the simple reason that they give a 10% discount to SAE members. All of the Isla de la Plata tours from Puerto Lopez are $40 plus the $15 park fee, so the discount made our decision a lot easier. It ended up being a good choice since they even had an English speaking woman (from Switzerland) working the office, so I could ask questions and get a good explanation of what to expect. All of the other tour agencies we’d talked to on the previous trip except for one didn’t speak English. I booked the tour for the next day and other than a minor hiccup when they couldn’t decide whether or not they actually gave a discount (they do) everything went smoothly. We had a yummy dinner of spaghetti—mine with shrimp and Steve’s with a mushroom sauce—and then turned in fairly early since we were both still a little tired from the hike the previous day and we were going to get up early for the trip.
Steve walked me to the tour place the next morning after making me scrambled eggs (he’s sweet). There were a bunch of people there, some speaking English, so I felt okay about going on my own since I’d hopefully have people to talk to. It turned out that the tour place couldn’t get an English translator for me, so the Swiss girl ended up coming along to be my personal translator (she ended up translating for two other people who didn’t speak Spanish, too). We walked down along the beach where I chatted with the Swiss girl (whose name I never learned) until she had to go over to find a boat. We all (there were fourteen of us) had to take off our shoes in order to prevent slipping on the boat and then we piled in, sitting along wooden benches running the length of both sides of the boat. The boat was good sized with a little roof on one end where up to six people could get on top of for better whale-watching visibility. The plan for the day was 1 ½ boat ride to the island where along the way we would look for whales. If we saw whales we’d hang out a bit and watch them and if not we’d continue onto the island and then try to find whales on the way back. When we got to the island we’d have to choose between two trails that went around different sides of the island. On one trail there was the possibility of seeing blue footed boobies, masked boobies, red footed boobies, sea lions and albatrosses. This trail was longer and up hills. The other trail was shorter and flatter but you’d basically only see frigate birds (which I’d gotten more than enough of on our trip through the mangroves). Both trails had fantastic views over the steep cliffs of the island and out to sea. Thankfully the group chose the longer, more interesting route since I’d have to stay with the group and my sole reason for coming out here was to see the boobies! But I’m getting a little ahead of myself. After the island we would eat lunch on the boat and go snorkeling around the island. Then back to Puerto Lopez by around five or so (another 1 ½ hours back).
I have to say that I wasn’t that excited about seeing the whales. Steve’s sad little whale watching trip the last time we were in town made me think that they weren’t that big of a deal (he basically saw a bit of their backs from very far away). But the whale watching turned out to be a big highlight of the day. Not only did we see whale backs pretty close up but one whale put on a real show for us. We all got excited with the first couple of little whale sightings. And then there was nothing for a while, and then, out of nowhere, this giant whale jumped straight out of the water, almost the entire length of his body, and then curved to the left and slammed back into the water sending out a huge burst of white water and waves. And then he did it again. And again. And again. Turning different ways, slapping his tail against the surface of the ocean. It was awesome in the absolute full meaning of the word. I was filled with awe. I don’t think I shut my mouth for ten minutes. It was just beautiful. I kept trying to take photos while still gawking and trying to shut my mouth and stay in my seat. After a few minutes I noticed that there were boats coming from all over. We were first on the scene and had the closest vantage point, but there were lines of boats behind us and on the other side of the whale.
After a while another whale showed up too and just swam along while our special whale jumped and showed off. I read somewhere that the males will often perform to attract the females. But I’m not sure if this is true or if they were just having some fun to break up their long swim. After all of the jumping our whale started doing log rolls in the water. We’d see first one giant fin sticking out and then a bit of back or tummy and then another giant fin, over and over and over like he was waving at us. It was such a happy sight. I giggled like a little kid. After a while the whale must have gotten tired because he just started swimming along, letting off a stream of water every now and then from his blow hole to breath. We were all glowing from the show and spent the rest of the trip to the island grinning and in a sort of stunned silence. We saw a few more whale backs as we sped along but nothing quite so fantastic.
When we got to the island I was really excited. So far the trip had exceeded my expectations with the whales, it was a beautiful day with clear skies and sun, and we were now on our way to see the boobies. I guess I should say something about my obsession with seeing the blue footed boobies. It’s simple really. They’re ridiculous. When I first read about them in the Ecuador travel book I’d never heard of them before. And the picture in the book was of this dopey looking bird with tiny little pupils, a pointy beak, and two obscenely blue feet walking along. The height of their ridiculousness is how they look when they walk. There are some great photos online where one blue foot is high in the air with the ‘toes’ pointing up and the bottom of the foot facing the camera so that the blueness is in its full glory. The booby’s body is leaning so far to the other side that he looks like he’s going to fall at any moment and its dopey little face looking like it doesn’t know what’s going on. They just make me laugh. And one of the best things about them is that they’re not afraid of people. They nest on islands around Ecuador (and maybe other places, I’m not sure) where they just hang out and you can walk right up to them. In general I really like birds and taking pictures of creatures in general. So this was a great opportunity to see a silly little bird and take some (hopefully) good close-up photos (which I’m also really fond of).
We started the hike and it was up steep, dusty stairs where we stopped along several look out points to rest and hear little talks from our guide about the flora, the history of the island, and the birds. We didn’t see any birds for quite a while, but when we did they were everywhere! My first booby sighting was a male walking along a little path in the tall grasses. I could barely see him, just his head and a flash of blue when he waddled along. Then there was nothing for a while and I started to think that maybe that was it. But then we walked up another little hill and there were about a dozen boobies hanging out in pairs and making their distinctive sound. The male boobies make a very distinct whistle that’s long and airy. The females honk. This only added to their ridiculousness with the silly waddle-y fall-catch walk with the flashy blue feet being emphasized with airy whistles and honking. They were really fun. I didn’t end up getting any photos of them walking, as the ones we saw were pretty set on being immobile, but they were cute and funny and worth the wait and even all the hype I’d given them.
After the blue footed boobies were a ton of masked boobies which were much prettier if less colorful. There were so many more of masked boobies. Hundreds of them. And most of the females were sitting on a little pile of eggs on the ground. Their ‘nests’ were nothing more than a small clearing surrounded by a circle of poo. It wasn’t almost like a decoration. Their poo is very white (apparently it looks silver in the moonlight, hence the name ‘Silver Island’) and it would be spread out in a sunburst pattern around the eggs. The females had made nests all along the trail, often right on the trail, so that we’d have to walk single-file around them as they looked at us accusingly. It was really startling how completely unafraid of us they were. Less afraid than pigeons or dogs and cats even. I was often almost on top of them and they didn’t seem to mind.
While hanging out with the masked booby colony we saw a few albatrosses flying around overhead. It was really beautiful—craggily cliffs into the ocean surrounded by pretty white birds nesting and giant albatrosses flying overhead. We even saw some whales out in the ocean swimming along.
The end of the hike was pretty easy and straightforward without much to see. I ended up talking to a couple of American girls who were both medical students in New York and were volunteering at a hospital in Quito. They were very nice but the conversation didn’t go much farther than what to do in Peru since they’d be there for a few weeks and how the whole traveling around the world thing worked. I like talking about the trip, so that wasn’t a big deal, it was just more business than pleasure I guess. But I also met a group of six Germans (3 guys and 3 girls) who were volunteering in Puerto Lopez with a school. They were really nice and spoke English very well and I spent most of the day chatting with them and having a good time. It was one of those rare times when you meet people and immediately hit it off without any awkwardness. They felt like friends right away.
Once we were back on the boat we had a lunch of fruit and tuna sandwiches (which tasted oddly like hotdogs… but were still good) and then did a bit of snorkeling. The snorkeling was fun but the water was a little rough and the fish were all down far and since I can’t sink, I couldn’t really hang out with them. But we did chum in some very pretty fish during lunch that I got pictures of from the boat. Our boat had a little emergency bathroom area where I got to dry off and change clothes. And then we started back to shore which was a crazy roller coaster ride. The ocean had gotten a little crazy while we were on the island and there were now some pretty giant waves which we were just flying through. I was sitting towards the front of the boat and when we’d hit a giant wave just right we’d go slapping back down into the ocean which was pretty hard on the bum. For the first half hour or so we were all having a good time squealing and laughing and putting our hands up like a roller coaster. But once we got far enough from the island it was less exciting and more just jolting and painful. But we did have some more whale sightings on the way back including a whale that had to be ten feet away from the back of the boat. It was literally like we had just passed the spot and then you saw this giant whale back and then the big tail. It was neat.
When we got back to shore we collected our shoes and said our goodbyes and I walked with the Germans back towards town. They had invited Steve and me out for dinner and then to some party in the next town over. I, of course, had to check with Steve first but I gave them my preliminary acceptance and went off to take a shower and tell Steve about my exciting day. When I got into the room Steve was hilariously standing in his shorts with a box of wine in one hand and a giant red mark on his nose. It turned out that Steve had had an adventurous day of his own, complete with drinking 1 ½ boxes of wine, diving into the ocean where it was a little too shallow (he didn’t want to go out too deep since he’d been drinking, which was smart) and landing face-first into the sand, eating a yummy lunch of ceviche, and dancing around the room in his underwear while his clothes (and some money that was in his pocket!) dried. All things considered we both ha a good day and we had fun relating our various adventures to each other and laughing.
We did end up meeting up with the Germans for dinner and then piling in the back of a truck and going to the party in the town over. The party was a bit of a bust so we hung out at one of their local friends’ bar and talked and laughed and I fell asleep in a really comfortable chair like the old lady that I am (they were all 21 and 22 and made fun of me for being old!). It was a lot of fun and they were all really nice and funny. One of the guys, Florian, invited us to come stay with him and his sister in Germany which we will most likely take him up on. It was a really fun trip and even made me like Puerto Lopez a little better. I even bought a little souvenir—a tagua nut carving of a masked booby. I’d been admiring tagua nuts for some time in Bahia but hadn’t really seen one I had to have. But they’re interesting because they’re a nut that starts out with a gooey center but then gets very hard so that it can be carved. It’s very white like ivory and is called ‘vegetable ivory.’ There are carved nuts all over with varying quality and prices. This one was only $2 and not that well made, but it’s more of a memento from my booby sightings than anything else.
Some photos (More photos on the smugmug page):
Tags: Boobies, Ecuador, Isla de la Plata, Machalilla Tours
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