Ecuador Continued(Macas, Montanita, Puerto Lopez, Isla Plata & Canoa)

We ended up spending a total of 2 months in Ecuador and  it was a hard country to leave. The last few weeks we were mainly at the beach but we also spent a few days in the jungle region where we visited an animal refuge in Macas. Most of our pics are from the refuge and the "poor mans Galapagos"(Isla Plata). We were having so much fun at the beach we forgot to to take pictures, but managed to snap a few. :)

The refuge was located outside of Macas and was a small property dedicated to rescuing wild animals that were taken in as pets and others that the authorities seized from the black market. We were the only ones at the refuge that day and got a private tour with the owner. There were lots of monkeys and they were all very friendly.

The monkeys were typically in pairs in separate cages and the refuge owners would alternate which ones got to run free for a few hours each day. This guy (Marco) was extremely friendly and liked holding Patrick's hand.

This is Marco's girlfriend Margarita. She was very jealous and would get upset if I (Colleen) tried to interact with Marco. The owner said she only gets jealous of females.

They also had 2 beautiful Ocelots. These 2 cats were rescued from people who stole them as cubs and tried to domesticate them. As we found out, when one of the cats chased the owners dog out of his territory, they are not domesticated at all. 

As usual Patrick was the animal whisperer and all the animals wanted to interact with him. Here the Ocelot is petting Patrick's foot through the fence.

I don't know what this monkey is called but he was very interesting and engaged in what we were doing.

This guy really took to Patrick. When I walked over he was reaching through the fence grooming Patrick´s hair. The owner said this is a sign of affection. My theory is Patrick is sheltering bugs in his hair and beard.

AHHHHH

Bow chicka wow wow. These tortoises were getting it on!
They live until they are over 90 years old and get much bigger than this!

A picture of the pond at the refuge. It was a very beautiful property.



BEACH TIME!!!!

A beautiful sunset from Canoa, the beach where we spent Christmas.

Our friend Sharah and me going for a sunset walk on the beach.

Our friend Adam walking down the beach in Montañita. The party beach where we went to a lame full moon party, but we still had a blast!

GIANT GRASSHOPPER!!! 

From Puerto Lopez we took a day trip to Isla Plata "the poor man's Galapagos". This island is a national park and home to thousands of the infamous Blue Footed Boobies!

The males have turquoise feet and females have blue feet. The male is on the left and the female on the right.

There were babies everywhere! The birds like to nest on the trails so every few minutes there were Blue Footed Boobies chicks. These ones just hatched from their eggs!

After our island tour we got to go snorkeling with these tropical fish! We also saw giant sea turtles from the boat! It was a great pretend Galapagos trip.

Cute sand crab on the beach.

At the airport leaving Ecuador for Paraguay! It was weird not taking buses and walking over the border like we normally do.