Ecuador Adventures: Jan 6, 2007

We booked a diving (Dave)/snorkelling (Me) and hiking trip to Isla de la Plata, a nearby Island that is referred to as the “Poor Person’s Galapagos.” The name in English is Silver Island, which is based on the silver appearance of the white seabird guano that coats the rocks when the moon shines on it. We arrived at the dive shop at 9:00 am and were told that we would be delayed leaving by about 20 or 30 minutes. Dave and I wandered across the street to the beach to kill time while we waited. Dave took some great photos of the boats, birds, and other beach stuff.

Near the beach we met a very nice woman named Mary and her daughter (also named Mary), who talked to us about taking a trip to a different island with their family’s tour company. While we were talking, three incredibly cute little girls appeared (two of them were Mary’s daughters and one was her niece) and asked us if we would take their picture. Dave snapped a photo of them and showed it to them on the screen of his camera and they went wild with delight. They kept wanting more and more photos taken, and they were getting more and more excited with each photo Dave took – it was really funny. The smallest girl, who had calamine lotion all over her face because of mosquito bites, was especially cute. We chatted with them a bit until it was time to leave and promised to return to get information about their tours.

When we arrived at the island, Dave went for his dive with a guy from the dive shop while everyone else went to the island (we were all snorkelling). Our day started with a guided hike on the island. Because it was uncertain whether Dave was going to get to do the hike, I had to take the camera. Photography is not my strong suit, so I was a bit freaked out about having the responsibility of taking pictures, but I tried really hard and took some good ones. I was very proud of myself! Anyway, we hiked through a tropical dry forest (which looks just like a bunch
of dead trees and some cacti) for quite some time in the blazing hot midday sun. We were all sweating and panting like crazy and were wondering when we were going to see something interesting (or even attractive) when we came across our first pair of blue-footed boobies! The boobies were really tame and we could get quite close to them without them minding at all. All of a sudden, we were in booby territory – they were everywhere! They were almost always found in pairs in their own little guano-covered nest area on the ground, although it was not uncommon to see one parent (not necessarily the mother) alone with a baby or babies (or eggs). Apparently boobies have a new monogamous partner every year. We also learned that their feet are blue because of the type of food that they eat (not sure how exactly this works; our guide only spoke Spanish and I didn’t catch everything he said), and that the males can be distinguished from the females by the size of their pupils (I think the females have bigger pupils, but I might have that backwards). We also saw many frigate birds, a large black seabird with a hooked beak and a large wingspan.

After his dive, Dave caught up to us on our hike. His dive was great. It was just him and the guy from the dive shop, which was nice. He saw tons of eels (more than 10!), colourful banded sea snakes, coral, many different tropical fish, lots of different types of stingrays (one type that looked a lot like a shark), and many different types of beautiful and brightly coloured starfish. When he met up with us, Dave told me that he had given a lizard a golden shower on the path to meet us. He had stopped on the side of the path to pee, and the second the stream of pee hit the ground, a little lizard jumped directly into the stream. He put his face right into the stream, as though he had been just waiting for water for so long and now he was really enjoying this shower! Dave was obviously a bit freaked out and wasn’t sure what to do, so he moved his stream to a different spot. Sure enough, the lizard immediately ran back into the stream! So, apparently Dave began playing a little game of “chase the pee stream” with the poor lizard. It does rain on the island, but it hadn’t rained in awhile, so I guess the little guy must have been parched. I found this whole story quite hilarious!

Anyway, after the long hike, we got back on the boat, ate lunch, and then went snorkelling while Dave went for his second dive, which was also really good. The snorkelling wasn’t that great, but it was just nice to be in the water after the long, hot hike. After that, we headed back to Puerto Lopez, showered, and headed out for supper.

Dave really wanted to eat fish for supper, so we find a place with both fish and chicken on the menu. Unfortunately, they were out of chicken. I have always hated fish and any kind of seafood, so of course I wanted to leave. But, somehow, Dave convinced me to stay and order some fish. It’s true that I wish I liked fish (I know it’s good for you and it would certainly open up more menu options for me), but I just don’t. The day before, however, I had tasted some fish that Dave had for lunch and it was actually pretty good. So, I went for it. Unfortunately, the fish that we got was not the same as the fish that I had tried before. This one was slimier and slightly more fishy tasting, whereas the other fish I tried a bite of was more dry and meaty and not at all fishy tasting. Nonetheless, I decided to be brave. I squeezed the juice of two small limes on the fish, coated it in salt, and paired a small bite of fish with a large bite of something else on the plate (i.e., patacones, plantains that are mashed and then fried, a very common food here that I happen to love). I ate half of the fish this way! I was so proud of myself, and Dave was especially excited. After I had eaten the fish, Dave, who loves fish, confessed that he found that fish really awful – perhaps some of the worst fish he’s ever had – and said that if I can eat that fish, I can eat any fish! So there you have it! After 28 years without eating fish, progress has been made!

Frigate birds.

Us on the Poor Person's Galapagos.

Great shot of a frigate bird.

More boobies!

Baby booby. The parents cover them in guano to protect them.

Teenaged booby, still with some baby fuzz and without blue feet yet.

Parent with baby and egg.

Coast of Isla de la Plata.

Beach on Isla de la Plata.

This photo was taken from the boat. The guide threw in a few little pieces of bread and these fish swarmed to the surface. They loved the bread, although I'm sure it's terrible for them!