Playa Los Frailes is a beautiful beach in Southwest Ecuador. Half moon shaped it has cliffs at each end and fine white sand. And if you stand still you’ll also have bright orange crabs scuttling about.
Getting to the Machalillia Natural Park Entrance
From Puerto Lopez I walked to the bus terminal along the beach and up through a community of houses, it took me about 30 minutes. But don’t worry, you can also get a tuk tuk from the center of town to the terminal.
Cost
For about $1 you can obtain the freedom from walking.
Spotting a guy in uniform I asked (badly) which bus I needed to take me to Los Frailes. He pointed me in the right direction. Not an arduous task when there’s only two buses parked up.
Helpful Locals
I sat in the front seats next to a friendly local who made me realise I was saying Los Frailes all wrong. The English translation is The Friars and that’s basically how you should pronounce it. Not like a plural ‘frail’ but rather ‘friars’, like the monks.
Cost
The bus attendant came around and took my 50 cents, the fare for the 10-15 minute ride to Los Frailes.
They stopped on the main road and indicated I needed to cross it to get to the entrance to Machalillia Natural Park. This is where you’ll see a life sized cardboard replica of a policeman.
To Enter the Park
- entrance is free
- they need to register that you’ve entered the park into their computer
- you’ll need to provide a copy or photo of your passport
- the hours are 8 am until 4 pm
Getting to the beach of Los Frailes
When I arrived at the Machalillia Natural Park’s entrance at 8.30 am there were no tuk tuk’s or taxi’s waiting to drive to the beach but there were plenty when I returned at around 11-11.30 am.
It’s an uneven dirt road but not a hard walk and only took me about 20 minutes in flip flops to get back to the entrance from the beach.
The Multi Beach 2 hour walk
Instead of going directly to Los Frailes I wanted to get some exercise and chose to do the 2 hour walk which finishes there.
As a heads up, the walk only took me about 1.5 hours and that involved a fair amount of photo-stops and stopping at each mirador (lookout) for 5 or so minutes along the way.
Footwear requirements
Also, I did it in trekking shoes but the path is such that you could easily do it in sandals or even flip flops if you’re used to walking in them for periods of time.
Five hundred meters after the entrance to the park you’ll find this sign to the right of the road. Take the path it sits on.
After a walk that involves a little bit of up hill you’ll come to the first viewpoint.
From here you’ll have a nice view of the small island, Sucre and potentially fishing boats passing between you and the island.
Mosquitoes
There are some pretty serious mosquitoes in this area. Even though I’d prepared myself with repellent these guys were determined. Either they ignored the repellent or found a minuscule piece of skin without any on it. And the bites kicked off immediately with an intense itch that I had to force myself not to scratch.
Not long after you leave the first look out you’ll come to the first and smallest of the beaches. It has black sand, few foot prints and lots of crabs.
This is the sign for the second beach you’ll come across. Bigger than the previous, this beach is quite rocky at the waters edge. There’s a sign advising you not to swim and warning of the strong and potentially deadly currents.
You’ll have to walk along this beach to the get back onto the path that will take you to the next lookout. The mirador looks very high up on the edge of a cliff but it’s a gentle ascent up a path that in parts has wooden steps built in.
From this lookout you’ll see your destination, Los Frailes spanning out to your left for its almost 2 km width. You’ll also see frigate birds seeming to play on the air currents above you.
Back down to the main path from the, Mirador Los Fragatas (the frigate birds lookout) it’s a 5 minute walk onto Playa Los Frailes.
It was overcast the morning I did this walk but after sitting on the beach for an hour the clouds had been chased away. Leaving the sun to bath this lovely beach in another type of glory.
The 2 hour walk in reverse
It’s worth noting you can do this walk in reverse.
Walk from the entrance of the park to the Los Frailes beach, then head towards the lookout on the cliff to the right. You’ll see the wooden sign showing the route placed at the start of the trail. From there it’ll be 1.5 – 2 hours back to the entrance of the park.
Aiding Nature
It’s very evident that the people behind this nature park are doing what they can to keep it from being altered and in worst case, destroyed by its visitors.
Read The Signs
There are signs like those below. Along with a list of things you are not allowed to do or leave in the park at the entrance. Hopefully these will have an affect on making people do the right thing.
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Nature needs our respect.
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