Early on our trip we've found a gem on the ocean, due to Kathleen's recommendation. If you've dreamed of warm tropic breezes, beautiful beaches, lush gardens, wonderful service and a comfortable bed, this is the place for you.

Although the Hawaiian beaches we know are gorgeous, this is easily as beautiful as any of them, minus the people and for a tenth the cost. Of course the one big drawback, or positive (depending on who's looking) is that there's no television. But there is reliable wifi and electricity and lots of hot water. And as a minor positive, the food is great. You go out your front door, cross a sandy track and you're on a spectacular palm studded beach where you can spend an afternoon in a hammock or a boogie board. 

And Puerto Lopez is a bit of a surprise as well. What in the past was a sleepy fishing village with a trashy beach, is awakening to tourism and what it takes to attract us.

The beach is clean. No trash. It's raked every night and the Malecon, the street that runs along the beach, is swept and raked as well. We'd read blogs about the trashy beaches here, but happily that's no longer the case. 

We've found $4 breakfasts big enough for the two of us, $2 lunches and 25 cent water. That's right--25 cents for a bottle of water. There are two of the finest Italian restaurants anywhere for $8-$12 a plate. If you love seafood you're going to be in heaven. Ceviche, corviche, corvina (sea bass), dorado, shrimp, squid, shark available every single day fresh caught that morning. In fact you can watch the boats bring it in and haul it immediately to the restaurants.

But life for the Ecuadorian is hard. The president has some projects going though that are bringing hope to the area: a system to deliver water directly to homes and a new dock for tourist boats should be completed next year. 

The lack of water is a very serious issue here, but before they can get a drop out of their faucets every pipe in the city has to be replaced. If you ran water through them now you'd have geysers sprouting up everywhere, there are so many breaks. The president, demonstrating political pluck, has refused to provide the money to local administrations to build the delivery system. His fear, of course, is that the money would disappear before the system was built, so he's providing military engineers who can do twice the work in half the time, Freddy tells us.

Progress is everywhere, but there are still so many people living below the poverty level--so many unemployed, uneducated people. So many enduring life with no hope of ever having anything better.

In trying to help poor farmers especially, gas is subsidized. Presently regular gas sells for about $1.35 a gallon and diesel is commensurate, which keeps the price of trucked goods down.