-
Visitor Center, Machalilla National Park, Puerto Lopez, Ecuador #AtoZChallenge
Machalilla National Park surrounds Puerto Lopez, Ecuador. Two monkey species and more than 270 bird species, including the endangered Waved Albatross live in the park. Whales mate and birth just off the coast and turtles hatch on the beaches. If you like active outdoor vacations, this is the place for you! Activities in Machalilla National Park Hike, bike and horseback ride Dry forests – from sea level to midway up the hills, the dry desert-like flora is brown for about half the year, waiting for water Cloud forests – always green hills where monkeys, orchids and a wide variety of birds live Hike beaches – Playa Los Frailes is often referred…
-
Agua Blanca – Living History
Ecotourism: Tourism directed toward exotic, often threatened, natural environments, especially to support conservation efforts and observe wildlife. — Oxford Living Dictionaries Agua Blanca Community Agua Blanca is a friendly historic community five minutes northeast of Puerto Lopez. Some residents are direct descendants of the Manteño civilization, who lived here between 800 and 1532 A.D. Community members keep their history alive with their lifestyle. They enjoy sharing their history with the public via tourism and a full time archaeology project in which anyone can participate. I wrote about my digging day here. The small community has several hundred residents and several thousand goats. The goats wander around everywhere except crop fields,…
-
Digging up Manteño history #AtoZChallenge
An archaeology dig guaranteeing every participant would find something from the Manteño civilization? When I saw the offer by Archaeology Vacations, I could not pass up a chance to dig up history. I became an archaeologist for a day! You can be an archaeologist for a day Canadian Luke Dalla Bona is leading an archaeological dig in the indigenous community of Agua Blanca. He lives in the community, 10 minutes north of Puerto Lopez. He is training the next generation of archaeologists right in their own backyard. Before Luke joined them, the community identified some areas where ancient structures once stood. They built a roof over one of the homes…
