Discovering Ecuador hidden treasures

I was traveling along the beautiful Ecuadorian coast and I wanted to stop by Puerto Lopez because it's one of the best places to see whales.

We did a whale watching tour that I really recommend when you're traveling during the good season (June to September). The sea was a bit agitated (2 hours in a boat can be long) but we managed to see whales, dolphins, and we even scuba-dived on the Island Isla de la Plata. A walk on the island was also included, and we saw some endemic birds in the road. 

From Puerto Lopez, you can also go to the Frailes Beach, one of the best in Ecuador, where you swim along with pelicans. If you like to party, you're one hour driving from Montanita which has one of the best clubs in the world (Lonely Beach) and apart from that is very famous for its hippie vibe.

We went to Otavalo for three days to enjoy the great hikes you can do all around. There's also a very famous market on the "Plaza de Los Ponchos" where you can buy typical andine jackets.

The first day we headed directly to Mojanda Lake after an hour of driving on the mountain. The hike wasn't so difficult but we had very bad weather which made it difficult to go down the mountain. The view was great though, while we were descending the clouds took off leaving us a beautiful lake whose water looked like emeralds, surrounded by mountains.

On the next day, we went to Cuicocha's lake a see another joy of Ecuadorian landscapes. The mix of colors with the blue of the water and the green islands looked like a magical place.  

The purpose of this visit was to discover the Amazon forest. 

We did a lot of things during the 3 days, discovering the reserve by boat and walking. By doing so we enjoyed the very diversified fauna: birds (parrots, ibis, "stinky turkey") monkeys, anacondas, and eventually dolphins. We  also saw some spiders, ants, and insects of all kinds.

We had the opportunity to swim in a big lake and saw the beautiful sunset on it. When  it was dark we came back with the boat and were able to see the Caimans.