Pacoche Lodge & Reserve — Restaurant in San Lorenzo

Pacoche Lodge and reserve is a gem just a short taxi ride from the port in Manta that offers a range of activities from an excellent meal, birdwatching from their deck or on an easily traveled trail. Port taxi drivers know the lodge and easily provide transportation to the lodge and wait for you to walk the trails and enjoy a meal before returning.||The tropical forest setting of Pacoche Lodge is quite different from the landscape around Manta. Don’t be deterred by the sparse vegetation near Manta, a tropical forest is a short ride up the mountain.||The two trails are well maintained. The shorter loop can be completed in 20 to 30 minutes and longer loop in 45 minutes to 1 hour, or you can combine portions of both trails for a longer outing. All trails are well maintained and not difficult to walk.||In addition to multiple opportunities for enjoying wildlife, the staff obliging. We arrived without meal reservation and were provided a creative menu with superior service including accommodating a food allergy. ||Time slipped quickly as we spent 5 hours walking the two loop trails and enjoying lunch. You could easily spend additional time on a day trip as you watch the monkeys perform or listen to the bamboo talk...

We arranged and requested to visit the reserve on September 1st, after I spoke to Adolfo on the phone the night before who recommend it to arrive at 10:30am. We arrived there and there is no English speaking person to guide us, we specifically want it to see monkeys but apparently the monkeys are around either early morning or late afternoon, we are wondering why did we asked to arrive at 10:30!!! The place is not safe at all to walk, lots of water and muddy trails, it has lack of safety barrier. After walking for about 15 minutes, We asked the guide to cancel the reminder of the trail, but he insisted to continue claiming WE ARE ALMOST THERE, 3 of us keep falling until my wife fell and hurt her ankle. It is unsafe trail for this time of the year, and they supposed to advise us.

Never again to this...

Unlike much of Ecuador, you won’t be kept up all night with people screaming and booming speakers. You will wake up to the sounds of birds and nearby monkeys of three species (that I saw). ||The staff makes all the difference. Johnny and his wife Fabiola are excellent hosts! They are both incredibly congenial and accommodating! Fabiola is an excellent cook too! ||The only problem that I had here was the internet. It is only available in the dining room and even there is much slower than others in the area. This could easily and cheaply be fixed by installing a few cheap Wi-Fi extenders (buy from Amazon and mule them in. Don't by the junk they sell in Ecuador). I travel with a high powered Wi-Fi antenna and it still wasn't sufficient to get a signal...