Day 11: Puerto Cayo To Puerto Lopez (23.9 Miles)

We wandered into town for breakfast and the only place we could find that promising was a joint that served nothing but encebollada.  This was the finest version of it we had the entire trip, and the proprietor's pride was evident as he pulled out a huge fish from the fridge to show us just how fresh his soup was.  And it was deliciously salty, tangy, dorado, yucca, fishy broth, onions, cilantro, smoky hot sauce, and fresh squeezed lime.  As we dug into our bowls of soup, a tiny puppy scampered around our feet.  As I played with the puppy, the proprietor's daughter (who was all of 3 years old) panicked because she thought I was going to steal her puppy.  She came up and grabbed the pupped by the neck and put him in a bit of a choke hold and she dragged him off glaring at me.

Why does the puppy not look half as amused as me?

While I was chasing the puppy around, Ed chatted up the beer truck guy and scored himself a free beer.  I still think my time was better spent.  By this time, it was already 10 am and as Ani recalls "hot as f*ck."  We worked our way up and down hills along the coast until the vista opened up into the most amazing view.  Ecuador being Ecuador, a family had a restaurant at the viewpoint where we enjoyed cold fresh coconut water in a pool of our own sweat.  Once we had finished the coconut water, the guy split open our coconuts for us so we could eat the meat.  I learned that there is a special tool just for scooping out coconut flesh.

Just some yucky views.

Shade and coconuts = happy Ani!

We continued down a dirt road to Playa Los Frailes, which had been recommended to me by a good friend.  Continuing our trend of waiting out the hottest part of the day relaxing, we set up a tent fly on the beach, swim, and otherwise just bum around until we felt like it would be cool enough to keep biking.

National park status means it's clean!

Paradise found.

As the tide started to rise, we moved our tent fly back, and then gave up and decided to head to Puerto Lopez.  After indulging in some ice cream at the souvenir stand, we headed out.  After a sweaty exposed ride back to the main road, we were treated to a gorgeous tree lined road with plenty of shade and no crazy climbs.  After the culture shock of rolling into our first real tourist town, we stopped at the first restaurant that seemed less touristy on the beachfront strip and crushed some shrimp in garlic sauce, shrimp in coconut sauce, and ceviche.  Oh, and an entire pitcher of watermelon juice.  Once we had our bellies fed, we ventured up and down the waterfront and found the Itapoa, a lovely hostel right off the main strip but away from the "party" side of the beach.

The picturesque front of the Itapoa.

We decided to walk out to the beach and have a few beers when all of a sudden, the entire town's electricity went out.  The guy who owned the little beer shack next to the hostel told us this was normal and that the power would be back on in 30 minutes.  So we just enjoyed the quiet of the ocean with our beers.  After a while, it started to rain and so made ourselves at home in the protected zonas de hamacas at the hostel and befriended one of the many wandering resident fur-beasts, Lucas, an adorable cat who loves plantain chips.  

A few tips for cycle tourists:

• If I could have timed it right, I would have loved to camp up at the viewpoint restaurant.  There appeared to be ample space for camping and the owner of the restaurant had an outhouse and seemed friendly enough that he might have given permission to camp there. 

• There is no camping on Playa Los Frailes, which appears to have set hours of operation and closes at 4 pm.  I have read reports that dry camping may be permitted at the entrance ranger station which is a ways from the beach.  Either way, stealth camping just outside Frailes wouldn't be too hard, just make sure to carry all your own water in.

• Itapoa has various types of accommodations, from dorm rooms with fans to air-conditioned private rooms.  If you get a private room, make sure to check out a few as some are nicer than others.  Warning: the resident cat Lucas will love you for life and follow you around everywhere if you feed him plantain chips.