Nothing feels more vacation-y than someone else making me breakfast! And at the place we are staying in at Puerto Lopez, the breakfast is really good! Fresh juice (different flavor each day), hot chocolate, a bowl of fruit, scrambled eggs, fresh bread, and marmalade (different flavor each day). It’s been pretty great to go to the main building and eat a delicious breakfast. It’s so easy and awesome.

A trip to the Galapagos Islands is serious money for foreigners. It’s cheaper for locals, but too much money for us. One thing I’ve been looking forward to doing is going to Poor Man’s Galapagos which is Isla de la Plata. It’s a day trip from Puerto Lopez. It cost our family $130. ($35/adult and $30/child, Maeve was free). We left at 9:30am and arrived back at 4pm. The island is 42km from Puerto Lopez and it took about an hour to boat there. Upon arrival, we jumped off the boat, washed the sand off our feet in a shallow, long, narrow rectangular pool and put on our sandals and then we split into two groups and hiked around the island. We were in the Spanish-speaking group with a family from Switzerland. Before I came to Ecuador, I read a book called, “My Father’s Island.” It’s about the first families to live on Galapagos Island. I understand that book so much better now. The Island was hot and dry. The path we walked on was completely baked. But it was so incredibly beautiful! So many wild flowers and amazing views. We hiked for a long time, all the way to the top of the island. I’m so proud of Holly and Greta. They did great! We saw blue footed boobies and red necked regattas. We saw so many lizards. We learned about many different medicinal plants. The weather was so hot. 

After the hike, we got back on the boat to eat lunch. There were turtles swimming around our boat! They were so big and beautiful! Then we went snorkeling. I went with the group and Conor hung back with Holly and Greta. They swam in the water together and then the big girls had a great time hanging out on the bow of the boat. I really liked snorkeling. The water was fairly murky and therefore it was difficult to see much, but I did see stingrays, the coral reef and some interesting fish. I’ve added snorkeling in clear, tropical water to my bucket list. The water was pretty cold! Everyone warmed up on the boat for a bit before we headed back. 

It was a BIG day! At the end of it, I was feeling pretty great about our little family! We are in Ecuador with three little kids and we are doing it! Yay us!

Our first day in Puerto Lopez was hot! Before I knew much about Ecuador, I thought it would be all hot. But the majority of our time has been spent in the mountains at very high altitudes. In Cuenca, I wore shorts less than 5 times. It’s not cold in the mountains, it’s just right. Here along the coast, it is hot! And humid. Conor’s hair is so curly! The ocean feels so good. Our hotel (or hosteria?) has cabanas and hammocks for the guests to use. Our first day started out really hot, but then became perfect as soon as we got to the beach. We love being here. 

Sabbath day observance has become more and more important to me as I’ve gotten older. I’ve noticed that if I have a “hectic” Sunday, it changes the feel of the following week. I really like taking the time to slow down and go to church and worship. We’ve done a great job at maintaining our Sabbaths while in Ecuador, with the exception of the one weekend we were in Salinas with our friends. The most recent Sunday we spent in Salinas, Maeve got to take a solid afternoon nap (a rarity these days! Maeve is so patient with us!) and then we went to La Loberia and walked on the beach. Holly and Greta and Maeve all love the water and let me tell you, Maeve was angry that we were not taking her right in. While we enjoyed being at the beach, we left with a screaming mad and sandy baby! 

Our last couple of days in Salinas were great! They were Conor’s last work days too and we are all so happy to now have Conor on vacation time. Salinas has great beaches, in my opinion. We could’ve snacked there all day! The town itself is a real hodge podge. Some really nice buildings, some incredibly run down buildings. I think maybe I should’ve taken some photos of the town itself, but I think I’m just used to seeing the half built buildings now and I don’t think much of it. All that being said, we really enjoyed our time at the beach. Conor would take a long lunch and then work at night after we put the girls to bed and it actually worked really well. I’m proud of us for being flexible (even if I resist it like crazy!) and making the best of it. I can’t really complain because I am spending a chunk of time on the coastline of Ecuador. It’s pretty fantastic! One of our beach days, Holly and Greta made some friends and had the best time playing with them. It’s so cute to see the girls use their limited Spanish. 

April is kind of the end of the warm season here, so it feels as though Salinas and Puerto Lopez are a little sleepy. Salinas was definitely much busier when we were there in March. The water was cooler our last couple of days in Puerto Lopez too. I think this has been a great time to visit the coast. It’s not as hot (but still really hot!) and less busy. One thing about Salinas (and Puerto Lopez too), lots of restaurants are closed 2:30-6:30pm. It’s the coast life.