Isla de la Plata—waves, whales, boobies

We travelled back up the coast this weekend to take a boat ride to Isla de la Plata, an island near Puerto Lopez that is known for its variety of birds. I managed not to puke on the boat ride, so that was a win.

On the island, we went on an 8 kilometer hike with a guide who was knowledgeable about birds, but not very sympathetic to a 6 year old’s short legs. Talia made it most of the way, but Kyla wins the “most likely to schlep up a mountain carrying a backpack and a 6 year old” award. When I was pregnant, we made a deal that I’d carry Talia for the first 9 months and she’d do the schlepping thereafter—Kyla has stuck to the deal, that’s for sure.

We saw blue footed boobies galore and learned a ton of facts about them—for example, you can tell their sex by the color of their pupils and their age by the tone of the blue on their feet (notice the mismatched ages of the couples—the females with darker feet are all cougars coupled up with younger light footed males). Side note: Ecuadorian wildlife guides are, not surprisingly, very focused on Darwin, natural selection, and preservation of species via procreation—our IVF-science-made little family always throws their speeches a little off kilter.

After our island trek, we got back on the boat and some of our companions snorkeled despite the somewhat chilly (by my standards) weather. From the boat, we could see turtles, fish and some enormous manta rays, and the nut jobs who went in the water reported that the snorkeling was amazing—maybe we will go back when it’s warmer and when I restock Dramamine. Post-snorkeling, we chased whales around, which was all fun and games until the seasickness made me question all my life choices. It was cool to see whales up close, but I think I’ve had enough whale watching for a while.

Back on dry land, we met our first local friends, Carmen and and her partner, Sarah at a restaurant in Puerto Lopez. The restaurant owner’s 9 year old daughter, Thelma, hung out with us for the night and was a Rummikube master (shout out to Steph, Jenn, Ruby and Jonah for teaching us). Thelma had a cool treehouse/death-trap behind the restaurant, and between the opportunity to play with Thelma’s cats and the chance to swing from the (totally OSHA non-complaint) treehouse ropes, Talia was in heaven. Thelma didn’t speak any English, and it was great to see Talia switch to Spanish a bit (though she’s still shy about speaking).

Overall, Isla de la Plata was great! We loved the hiking, wildlife and views. Kyla and Talia will label the birds in the pics below and I will work on finding haircare products that keep the Jew ‘fro under control on boats.Read more