The last adventure Eduardo set up for us was to visit the most beautiful beach in all of Ecuador. Los Frailes is only a short mototaxi ride away from Puerto Lopez and when we first got there we had the whole white sandy beach to ourselves!
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| Private beach...love it |
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| Liz surveying her kingdom |
It was a picturesque view with a long stretch of white beach, no people, and blue water for miles. We decided to hike up to the mirador (viewpoint) to get a better view of our surroundings and work up a sweat before jumping into the big waves.
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| View from the mirador |
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| A flock of pelicans! |
We also walked to the other side of a hill where there was a black sand beach with tons of little crabs running around and waves crashing up onto a rocky plateau. It was very beautiful, but not the best spot to swim, as we were warned by one of the park rangers.
It was so hot by the time we got back! We definitely sweat away all our sunscreen and deserved a dip in the ocean. There were more people set up on the beach now with umbrellas, so we walked a bit farther down to find our own stretch of sand. The park ranger had also warned us about the undertow at this beach, telling us not to go out too far. During our travels we have been warned various times about the undertow, never really knowing exactly what it means or how worried we should be. So again we were unsure what to expect, but bravely (and a little cautiously) ventured out into the waves anyway. This time the park ranger was right. The waves were very strong and got quite large. We all had a good time playing around in the surf, only getting severely tossed a few times, but being knocked off our feet repeatedly. While we could only handle so much sand forced in our suits, Luke fit right in with the Ecuadorian crowd...loving every minute and body-checking every wave he could find.
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| Need to beat the heat? |
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| Shadow at noon near the equator! |
Being close to the equator at midday with no shade, Kyra spent most of the rest of the time cooling off in the (shallow) water, while Luke and Liz took a walk along the beach (Luke hid under Liz's sarong the whole time). It would have been smart of us to rent an umbrella like the rest of the people on the beach, but we figured we only had a short time before the mototaxi would take us back to Puerto Lopez. Surprisingly, none of us had severe burns from the long day at the beach and Luke's fair Scandanavian skin was starting to take on some color.
It was so hot by the time we got back! We definitely sweat away all our sunscreen and deserved a dip in the ocean. There were more people set up on the beach now with umbrellas, so we walked a bit farther down to find our own stretch of sand. The park ranger had also warned us about the undertow at this beach, telling us not to go out too far. During our travels we have been warned various times about the undertow, never really knowing exactly what it means or how worried we should be. So again we were unsure what to expect, but bravely (and a little cautiously) ventured out into the waves anyway. This time the park ranger was right. The waves were very strong and got quite large. We all had a good time playing around in the surf, only getting severely tossed a few times, but being knocked off our feet repeatedly. While we could only handle so much sand forced in our suits, Luke fit right in with the Ecuadorian crowd...loving every minute and body-checking every wave he could find.
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