Hosteria Itapoa — Hotel in Parroquia Puerto López

We stayed here fir two nights for a few reasons. We wanted to go to Isla de la Plata (awesome, especially the snorkeling) and we had heard that Puerto Lopez is quieter and more charming than montanita. Quieter yes, though the first night we stayed was the fisherman's festival and there was music playing lot enough to wake the dead until 3 am. More charming hardly. Puerto Lopez was by far the dingiest place I've been, certainly in Ecuador and possibly anywhere (Mexico, Zimbabwe, the Philippines, Costa Rica, Louisiana, Eastern Europe before the fall if the ussr, Egypt, turkey). The hostel is relatively will maintained, the breakfast is adequate, though you may need a few cups of the coffee. There is no security. The lock on our room was easier to open with a knife than with the provided key. The front desk is never staffed so people can easily walk in off the street and enter your room. The hostel warms you not to leave valuables in your room. We didn't, though we did leave an old computer that we used to watch movies. It was taken and someone rifled through our things. We were warned, so I don't blame the hostel, but I really have never seen such lax security.

There is a vegan dinner offered at the little restaurant at the hostel. It was delicious and filling if a little odd (beets and falafel). My kids ate it so that was great. The owner of the hostel didn't seem to know much about whether the woman who runs the restaurant would be there at any given time (we were there in a Sunday and she wasn't sure if the restaurant was open). As with all of the restaurants in Puerto Lopez there was limited availability of the food (she had four veggie burgers so the next three people who came in had to split two). I believe everything was made from scratch because it took an hour or so to be served though we were the only people in the restaurant.

Lastly, this is not a commentary on the hostel but on Puerto Lopez. There were no customers for any of the restaurants or tiki bars gathered in the beach. This led the proprietors to be very aggressive. Twice we entered a place and were told they had something (coffee, ice cream) only to have the owner rush to the store to buy it. This felt like a bait and switch.

We are now in montanita. It is indeed louder and fill of tourists, but the streets aren't full of garbage and we can walk down the street without being constantly asked to come into a restaurant that doesn't have what they...

Call me a romantic, but I love that the owner Maria visited Ecuador on a trip and basically never left. She bought this piece of property and began to build what would soon become her livelihood. It has been a couple of decades. What she has retained is her Brazilian warmth. She is a genuine person who welcomes strangers from all parts of the world.||As soon as you enter the gates, you enter another world unlike anything else in Lopez.||Anything is suddenly possible. You can relax your body and mind between adventures or if you are open to making new friends, the opportunities are limitless.||The breakfast hut overlooks the ocean directly across the walkway. It is within walking distance of everything you can wish to do while on your stay. ||If you are lucky enough to strike up a friendship with Maria, she’ll share all the spots locals love.||Is it luxurious? No, but the location adds to your experience in ways the big hotels could never...

I stayed for 3 nights, and I can tell this is a place with the perfect description of cost-effective and equivalent quality. The pictures doesn't do justice to how comfortable, nature-inspiring, calmer the space is. I stayed with a friend in 1 cabaña, we had two beds and big bathroom. We had warm water and running water all the time, and clean towels. The location is perfect if you want to avoid noise and listen to the ocean waves. You have to walk only 3 minutes and you get to a variety of restaurants and bars. A plus for this hostel is that they include breakfast which was consistent and good enough for the price, it saved me money during my vacations. I would definitely recommend this to anyone, specially if you want to feel close to nature, the spaces are decorated with natural trees and flowers, I even sawe hummingbirds...