January 11

Today’s breakfast was pancakes. Instead of syrup, there was honey and this sugar cane spread that was a creamy peanut butter consistency. Both tasted good, but neither was able to saturate the pancakes the way I like.

We took a bus into Puerto Lopez (the town 10 minutes down the road) to catch our boats out to the Isla de Plata. The fish market was winding down. The fisherman fish at night, and sell in the early morning. The birds swarm around to catch breakfast.


The fisherman throw all the fish into a box, and then a guy runs the box to the shore. While he’s running, birds are grabbing fish out of his box. I wonder why they don’t just put tops on the boxes.


There also happened to be a boat that was stuck on shore that the fisherman were trying to get back in the water. I told our tour guide we should help them (thinking that our guys were a lot bigger than their guys) so he called our group over. The guys kicked off their shoes and dropped their backpacks and went to help. It took several shoves and lifts to get the boat back out. Apparently the fisherman were yelling to other people around to help, “quick, before the gringos leave”. We’ve got several guys over 6 feet so they probably figured this was their best chance. They also promised our boys some fresh tuna tomorrow, but I don’t think we can bring that back on the plane.


We then boarded two boats to take us to the Isla de Plata. We had to walk through the water to get to the boat, and they put all our shoes in a bag. It was about a 45 minute boat ride (on our boat at least, it was faster than the other boat, so they took a little longer).










Nearing the island we saw some blue footed boobies on the rocky shoals.


There’s a building on the shore where we were dropped off, with hammocks and bathrooms (that flush by dumping a jug of water into them).

Isla de Plata (Silver Island). I think the guy said it had some to do with Francis Drake, but honestly, the island was actually sorta silver because the dead leaves and bushes and stuff (it’s their winter) turned grey instead of brown.


We had a quick snack and then headed out on our hike. We split in two groups and started uphill.


After 5 or 10 minutes we had two options of routes to take. One route is 3 hours, and mostly flat. The other is an hour and a half, and has a bit more uphill. I personally wanted the shorter route, but it was decided we would take the longer route, but people could turn around an hour in and not do the whole thing. Which would mean more time for snorkeling. With it being winter on the island (meaning hot weather, and mostly non-green vegetation), the hike honestly wasn’t that scenic. I mean, it was good for the hour we went, but wasn’t going to change in another two hours to really make it worth it to keep hiking. It was insanely hot, with only a few really nice breezes. The first group did go ahead and continue the hike, and apparently didn’t see much more than what we had already seen.




Blue footed boobies (and babies).


This one is guarding eggs. They usually lay two or three eggs. However, only of one of them typically lives.


What happens is they grow really fast, to the point of being bigger than their parents (mainly because they don’t know how to trim their feathers yet, so they look bigger). Well, the babies stay with the parents for 2 or 3 months, and the parents have to feed them. when all the birds are tiny, it’s easy to feed them. but when they’re the size of the adults, it’s hard to feed more than one sufficiently, so the strongest one survives.

Supposed baby. It’s not old enough to trim its feathers so it looks huge, and its parents still feed it.


This island is older than the Galapagos, so it’s believed that the birds migrated from here to the Galapagos. The reason the birds migrated to here from the mainland is probably because of predators. Not so much that predators eat the birds, but because these birds don’t make nests up in trees, they just leave their eggs on the ground. So horses and donkeys and goats and stuff would just step on them. The birds needed a fairly uninhabited place without big predators. They still have to deal with vultures though. And this island used to be private, so it has some animals introduced to it, like goats and cats and mice.









So after a bit of hiking my group headed back to where we’d come ashore, and we got back on the boat. We drove around to a little cove and put on goggles and snorkels.




We saw tiny fish, and slightly bigger fish, and a ray at the bottom, and someone saw a trumpet fish. It wasn’t the coolest snorkeling ever, but it was pretty fun. Being in the water was just nice after the hot hike. Our boat had two levels, and so I was jumping off the top. I’m not sure why I’m the only girl who’s into that. I love free fall. The other girls were mostly just laying out. Eventually the whole group was lounging on all the available surfaces.


Then we ate lunch (fresh fruit and sandwiches).


Keep in mind the other group is still hiking. After we finished lunch we had to go back and pick up a few people (the groups hadn’t been split exactly, so we actually needed to feed a few people with our food supply). They let us stay all layed out on the boat for our return to shore because they weren’t going as fast. It was rather fun sitting out in all our refreshed glory, as we pulled up to the other boat of people, that had been hiking for three hours.

Then we went back to the cove with them, so they could all snorkel.








And I continued to jump off the top of the boat.


Then it was time to start heading back to the mainland. On the way back to shore they put down some plastic to shield the inside of the boat from water. The plastic limited visibility, and kinda kept slapping me in the head from the wind. I think one of the crew members saw that I wasn’t too thrilled with my seat, so he motioned me to come sit in the open air area of the back of the boat. So then I just sat on the back and stared out at the open sea, or watched the boat’s wake fade into the waves. There’s a lot you can think about when you’re staring at an ocean. I entertained the idea of writing a book, but couldn’t decide what to write it on so that was quickly abandoned. I thought about how we used to ride on my granddad’s boat, out to Ship Island, and we’d sit on the front, straddling the metal railing. The water would tickle your feet, and it was superb placement for watching porpoises. I’d already asked to sit up front and straddle the railing on this boat, but was denied. I think sitting at the back was the next best thing.


Once we got back to port, we had some time to hang out in town. The guides kept talking about the great ceviche at the restaurants, so everyone wanted some of that. I ordered fried calamari which ended up being excellent. It wasn’t any of the little tentacles though, just the bigger loop pieces, kinda rolled up on themselves. And fries. The fries in Ecuador have been very good. They are clearly fresh cut potatoes, not frozen, and are light and crispy. I’ve ruined my dinner, but it was worth it.


Back at the hotel (can it really be called that) we got dry towels, and had them fix our hot water so we could shower before dinner. Dinner was cream of carrot soup (very yum) and fried shrimp for most people, but fried fish for me. It was really good, but unfortunately I’d already had that calamari an hour or so earlier, and eaten all of my soup, so I couldn’t finish my fish.


Dessert was ice cream, and I think I got passion fruit flavor. It was good, but strong.

We have to be up in time to leave for 5:15 to our two hour drive back to the Manta airport, to catch our flight back to Quito. So I’m crashing even earlier than usual.