Puerto López is located on the Pacific Coast of Ecuador about 1.5 hours south of Manta or 3 hours north of Guayaquil.
Puerto López has a population of approximately 15,000 people and the major industries are fishing and tourism. It takes 30 minutes to walk from one end of town to the other. There is only one stop-light in town.
Puerto López has all the businesses you’ll need: grocery stores, pharmacies, hardware and building supplies etc. There is a large municipal market that sells fruits and vegetables and there are local fruit/vegetable vendors in almost every neighborhood. If you need big city shopping experiences, Manta and Portoviejo are only 90 minutes away and have all the malls, big box stores, traffic and noise that you’ll need.
A fresh fish market near the pier enables you to buy fish right from the fishermen – and they’ll clean and fillet it for you too!
There is a year-round population of about 150 English-speaking residents in Puerto López and another 100 that spend part of the year here. You’ll quickly become part of a community of like-minded folks – after all, they decided to make Puerto López home too!
You don’t need to speak Spanish to live in Puerto López but let’s be honest, you’ll enjoy life in town a lot more if you can at least communicate in Spanish. Most locals don’t speak English but they love to chat. So a little Spanish-language skills will help you buy tomatoes at the corner fruit stand and become friends with the vendor – likely your neighbor.
Life is pretty relaxed here. There’s a nice variety of restaurants to enjoy if you don’t feel like cooking: from ones where the locals eat, to the ones where the tourists eat. Naturally, seafood is a popular dish but you can get everything else: from gnocchi; to pizza & burgers; to authentic Mexican food.
Access to health care is important.
Ecuador has a two-tier health system. The doctors and nurses have all received excellent training (many in the United States). The public health care system is called IESS and monthly fees start at $70. The private system provides service equivalent to (or better than) what’s available in the United States – at a fraction of the cost. Puerto López has a 24 hour health clinic, lots of doctors and specialists, dentists, labs and related medical service providers. If you need specialized medical care, Manta and Portoviejo are only 90 minutes away.
Safety & Security
Ecuador has unfortunately been in the news lately regarding drug cartels, gang violence and a overall ‘unsafe’ situation in the country. Without sugar-coating it: Yes, the government is currently engaged in a campaign to rid the country of drug cartels and all the unpleasant side-effects that are associated with them. There has been considerable success and the government’s ‘no negotiation/no compromise’ approach is being widely praised by the international community as well as the Ecuadorian public. Those kinds of activities have (for the most part) been concentrated in the big cities like Quito and Guayaquil and involve people who move in that world. If you’re not a member of a drug cartel, there’s a pretty good chance that nobody from that world is going to be interested in you.
If you ask any resident of Puerto López, they will tell you that they feel safe walking through town, sitting in their home or being out with their friends.No one is immune to crime. Your cell phone will most likely be gone if you leave it unattended at the beach. Your pocket might be picked if you leave your wallet hanging out the back of your jeans. But that could happen where you live now. So, here in Puerto López, we are always careful what we do and conscious of our surroundings. But no one is afraid to walk the streets, sit on the front porch, or live their daily life.
FAQs
What else can I do?
Puerto López is located in the heart of the Machalilla National Park (Parque Nacional Machalilla). We are surrounded on all sides by natural wilderness where you can take advantage of:
- Isla de la Plata (the mini-Galapagos islands) located 90 minutes offshore
- Agua Blanca – 15 minutes north with incredible archaeological ruins and museum, and a spiritual lagoon with healing massages to help realign your chakra
- Río Blanco – 15 minutes inland where you can see howler monkeys while riding horseback along the trails
- Bird watching: there are more than 250 different species alone registered within 15 minutes of Puerto López
- great surfing in Ayampe and Las Tunas (15 minutes south)
