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I was just there last week. It is a popular tourist town.  I only saw a few surf shops and no waves.  Maybe surfing picks up at other times of year.  I did see a few dive shops and dive tour agencies.   I saw a lot of tourists, Ecuadorian and foreign.   There's many restaurants and hotels.  It's a good place to just sit on the beach and do nothing, or there are many companies that offer tours of Isla de la Plata and whale watching/bird watching tours.

Hey, thanks for the info.  It's really appreciated.
KZ

Hey there, we are from Seattle WA.  We have visited Puerto Lopez several times.  It is a nice sleepy little town where we stop for dinner along the beachfront.  Several small restaurants and hotels there.  Some along the Beach area and some along the main highway.  No grocery store of any size.  Yes gas station and yes bank there Bank of Pinchicha.  Lots of fishing, and beach activities.  It is in a bay so pretty calm waters there.  We live north in Bahia about 5 hours or so, through Manta. You'll love the quiet calm little town.  Lots of great views along the Coast both ways from there.  The Ocean is beautiful all along the Ocean Front areas. Salinas is South and Manta is North.  Enjoy Ecuador, and your adventure of discovery!
Living It an Loving It in Bahia de Caraquez, Ecuador.
Charlie

Charlie thanks so much for the additional information.  My firm hope is to travel all along the Ecuadorian coast visiting the towns.  Bahia looks like a great place and quite built up with all the services you could want.  I hope to visit there too.  Our trip will an exploratory one with our main focus on the Pacific Coast.  Thanks again.
KZ

There's a small grocery store on the main highway, Ave. Machalilla, between Alejo Lascano and González Suárez called Tia Express.  It's a smaller version of the Tia grocery stores found throughout Ecuador.

Thanks JM!

Let me know if you need other info. on the Coast.  We searched the entire Coast from Salinas to Rio Verde, north of Esmereldas over the last 2 years looking at properties.  We decided on Bahia and now 20 minutes north of here in Canoa on some Oceanfront property.   We wanted a warm climate and good soil, and trees along with warm Ocean Beach.  Also we wanted a smaller town and yet close to the services we need.   That's why we picked here in Bahia.   There is a lot to see and many fun things to do along the Coast.  We loved all of it.  Quite different areas and many differences in climates and the variety of foods etc. It was a real blast.  We traveled with our then 9 year old now 10.  I lived in Seattle for 59 years!
Living It and Loving It in Bahia, Ecuador
Charlie

Thanks again Charlie.  I'm going on 44 years in Seattle.  2 years (I hope) from retirement.  We hope to be in Ecuador for our first exploratory trip soon and will be on a similar expedition as you undertook.  Can you list the smaller coastal towns you enjoyed the most?  KZ

Wow that's quite a tall order! We love the whole Coast it's all different and each area has things we like !!!
So Rio Verde in the north for its magnificent beaches.  Absolutely beautiful beaches and sunsets.
Atacames for its fun swinging beach front with music, foods, hotels and a special little internet cafe downtown with the best juices, and desserts anywhere right next to the park.  Also has a fun beach for kids, great food downtown for so little $. 
Sua for its great little seafood restaurant with the best rivershrimp anywhere.
Same (pronounced sammy) for the great beach and seafood restaurants.  A really fun little laid back place.
Tonchigue,  for its wonderful shrimp omelettes on the beach for breakfast, for $3.00! delicious and so relaxing there.
Pedernales for a lot of little fun shops, great chicken dinner meals, fun beachfront, and a lively friendly bunch of people living there. North of town Coco Solo a rustic, beachfront hostel bed and breakfast kind of away from it all very basic with fun meals and a cool staff and awesome beach to comb!
Jama a little town with great breakfast in town,  beaches are great with very quiet laid back areas all around on the beaches.  Will be a growth area down the road.
Canoa A great little surfers town with a fun beach restaurants, lots of backpackers here.  Close to Bahia and San Vicente with all services needed nice little places to eat.
Of Course Bahia!!!  A Town that is absolutely Magical and is so laid back and so many shops, restaurants, beaches are fun and great to swim , walk , enjoy a sunset or two.  Many services, banks, government offices, appliance stores, furniture stores, clothing shops, car repairs, tires, nice central market with all fresh fish and seafoods, fruits, vegetables, large grocery store (Tia)+ several smaller grocery stores, many little restaurants and several larger ones,  hardware stores, tennis club, Yacht club, Museum,  etc. etc. etc. What can I say I live here !
Monti Christi has great hand made outdoor furniture hand woven(Wicker style) made of paper, or straw or Plastics. 
Portoviejo, lots of shopping and government offices.  Major Shopping like furniture or bigger items .
Manta lots of government offices ,tons of restaurants, car dealers, car rentals, fun beachfront with several restaurants and
many stores and places to shop.  Very large central market areas with much to choose from. Major Hotels,  Passeo Mall, Too much to list.
I'll list areas south of Manta tomorrow.  Til then enjoy your adventure!!
Living It and Loving It here in Bahia,
Charlie

Man, Charlie, thanks so much.  Now I have a lot of research to do on those towns.  I appreciate you taking the time to lay the foundation for me.  Thanks again.
KZ

I have a different take on Puerto Lopez. It was one of my least favorite towns on the coast. It's dirty, full of stray dogs, the water is not clean, and there's no surf. It does have a lot of tourists and a few good restaurants. In my opinion, the isle de plata tours are awesome, so it's worth going for a day, but I wouldn't stay longer. I rode a bicycle up the coast from Playas to Canoa. My favorite place was Cadeate (not sure if I spelled that right) which is a 15 minute bus ride south of Montanita. I also liked, Bahia, Conoa and Puerto Engabow (though my stuff got stolen in this little surf village). I haven't yet made it to the north coast.

I have been in Puerto Lopez for about 30 days this year in our 3 trips and have just bought a couple of lots of land over looking the town. There is a bigger grocery store than Tia is is just
South from the bus stop on the east side of the street. I do not surf but have walked the beaches and if you travel just south of Puerto Lopez you will come to a couple of smaller towns of Tunas and Ayampe the waves are bigger as they are not not in the bay like Puerto Lopez.   Cano was a town that also had  bigger and better waves for surfing.  I would suggest that you check out these two small towns for surfing. Plenty of places to stay and I have had better luck with the Hostals rather than midpriced hotels.  Have fun.

jessekimmerling:  did you stay in Puerto Lopez for any length of time or just move on through.  I take it that the amount of tourists in Puerto Lopez is because it is the departure point for the Isla de Plata tours? Or does there seem to be some other reason the tourists are there?  also, what draws you to Cadeate?  I'm interested in the much smaller towns but I gotta have a café and restaurant or two.

Columbian:  thanks for the info on the grocery stores.  Does Puerto Lopez seem to be on the verge of development?

Kzeringer, I was in Puerto Lopez for about 2 weeks. I was looking at real estate in the area. The prices are dirt cheap, so I really tried to like the place, but it's just too nasty for my taste. Cadeate is small, quiet, cheap, has a few cheap restaurants, but nothing targeted towards tourists.  The beach is great, though, like Montanita, the currents can be dangerous. I like its proximity to Montanita. It's far enough to be quiet and peaceful, but close enough that you can go party and surf whenever you want to.

Thanks for the insight jesse.  I'll look into Cadeate.  sounds like a sweet spot.  I'm looking for the peace and quiet and if the beach is good than it's worth taking a look at.  Thanks again.
KZ