Two weeks in one place is a long time for us while on this trip, but a short time to spend in getting to know a city. Our time in Puerto Lopez was just enough to make us feel comfortable but yet not long enough to really integrate with the community. Thanks to our friend who we were visiting, Devin (Living Passionately Curious), we were able to spend some time helping out on projects and learning about the local customs and culture from a near-native. We rented a room at Clara Luna, which is a foundation that provides programs for kids and adults to read, learn, and have fun in a safe environment. While there, we participated in some of the activities and helped with a few projects.

Clara Luna, a 3-story building located on the main street in Puerto Lopez. The entire downstairs is used for classes and clubs, the middle floor contains a couple bedrooms, a kitchen, living room, and balcony, and the third floor (where we stayed) has two more bedrooms.

Two of the main activities that are offered at Clara Luna are language learning and a Club de Niños (Kid’s Club). English classes are offered at different levels throughout the week for anyone who wishes to learn or practice their language skills. On Tuesday and Thursday afternoons, the Butterflies group meets for an hour – a group of about 15 rambunctious kids ranging from age 6 to 10. Since the class was so large, I worked with their teacher to help the kids in pronunciation and in keeping their focus on their work. The kids were learning colors and animals, so it was fun to hear them practice saying “purple” (a tough one!), “octopus,” and “mouse.” In addition to English lessons, Clara Luna also offers private Spanish tutoring for those who want some focused time to spend on the language. I signed up for lessons with Maria for two hours each day for a total of six days during our stay. We spent about half of each lesson in conversation, discussing the food of Ecuador, industries in Puerto Lopez and Detroit, places to go and see around their region, and what activities we were doing at Clara Luna. The other half of each lesson was on grammar, particularly learning the past tense in Spanish. The lessons were a good investment since we are scheduled to spend about three months in South America in Spanish-speaking countries.

I loved helping the kids with their English lessons!

Club de Niños is an after-school group that meets two times per week for 90 minutes each time. Any child can join and the groups range from 20-40 kids each time. The club is a fun place where the kids can spend some time interacting, reading, crafting, and playing games. They all start off in the reading room, sitting on cushions on the floor and reading books out loud to themselves and each other. Then comes storytime, where one of the adult volunteers reads a book to the entire group. The kids are split into two or three groups after that, where they rotate between a craft (usually sometime associated with the book that was just read to them) and a game. The kids love going to Club de Niños and it quickly became one of my favorite activities as well.

This was one of the many crafts that we did with the kids at the Kid’s Club.

While I was busy with different language classes and the Club de Niños, Jon was hard at work in the backyard of Clara Luna. He spent two days cleaning the yard, clearing it of the dead leaves and branches, rotten fruit, trash, and other items strewn about. Once clean, his main project during our time was to work on the compost bin that someone had started a year or so ago. After trying to work with the existing bin, he quickly discovered that it was not assembled correctly nor did it contain sturdy materials. He decided to tear it out and build a new bin from scratch, using lumber found in a nearby abandoned lot as well as pallets stored in the garage. His hard work paid off with a sturdy, square compost bin complete with lid. Now the volunteers at Clara Luna will be able to throw their organic waste into the bin to create rich soil, which can be used in gardens in the future.

Jon’s new, sturdy compost bin, all ready to make some dirt!

Much of our time in Puerto Lopez was spent at Clara Luna working on the activities mentioned above. However, we did explore the city and surrounding area as well, finding some unique sites and attractions. As I already wrote about, we took a day tour to Isla de la Plata to see the blue-footed boobies, which was a fun break. Another morning, we went to a nearby town of Salango to tour their museum. While small, it housed some interesting artifacts found in the region of Ecuador from the indigenous who lived there hundreds of years ago. Another city located on the coast, a 45-minute drive south of Puerto Lopez, was Montañita. Popular for surfers, it was a fun place to spend an afternoon and evening one weekend. Bars lined the streets, giving it a slight spring-break vibe, but the variety of restaurants made up for it (we had sushi for dinner!!).

While we had a fun evening in Montanita, I’m happy we were staying in Puerto Lopez for our visit!

Puerto Lopez itself was also worth exploring, more to get to know the town than to see any specific sites. The beach is long, stretching the entire way between the mountains on either side. While helping with “turtle patrol” one morning (when a volunteer walks the length of the beach early in the morning to look for turtle tracks and nests made during the night), we visited the rehabilitation clinic for sea life. They have numerous pools inside, each with a turtle (or several turtles, depending on their size). These are animals that either need to be cleaned or have been injured and need to heal. There were huge turtles weighing over 100 pounds as well as tiny baby turtles no bigger than my hand. The clinic also housed three blue-footed boobies with broken wings who had free range inside of the clinic.

This is one of the turtles that was in the rehab center.

The main industry of Puerto Lopez is fishing and this is evidenced no matter where you go in the city. The fish market is bustling throughout the day, fishing boats populate the waters near the pier, and there is even a mural of fishing inside the church. Fresh fish is available at nearly every restaurant and artisans make their living making jewelry and crafts from the fish skin and shells discarded on the beach.

The fish market in Puerto Lopez is busy in the mornings!

Our time in Puerto Lopez allowed us to get to know and feel like part of a community again, albeit briefly. It was a welcome break in our trip, not only spending time with a friend but also having a home base, a routine, and developing our “usual” places where we would eat and spend our time. It was like having a home away from home, at least for the two weeks we were there. It is the type of place where we could easily imagine ourselves spending months, working with the kids and relaxing by the beach. Thank you to Paola and everyone at Clara Luna for making us feel at home, and especially to Devin for inviting us to be a part of her life for the time while we were in Puerto Lopez. We loved our visit and the time we got to spend together!

Looking down one of the bridges to the beach on the left and city to the right.