The beach's No-Tell Motel

The 7 hour bus ride (there are no air routes) from the top of the world to the Western edge of Latin America is best made with eyes closed and a vomit bag nearby. All local drivers are taught from an early age to save their passing of other vehicles for blind corners and 2000' cliff edges.

Night was approaching as we finally arrived at our vacation destination, Puerto Lopez, a working fishing village on the Pacific Ocean about 10 degrees south of the equator. Nobody we asked was sure where the Mandala, our reserved accomodation, was or, even, what is was and their hmmms were beginning to sound more and more like ohhmmms in a creepy and mystical way. The last bit of advice had been a finger pointing north out of town along the beach and, so, we continued 'schlepping' (someone check the Yiddish spelling please, as this is one of Joella's favorite new words) our far-too-heavy backbacks off into the darkening night.

When, gradually, we came upon this entrance motif of three psychedelic whale tails diving back into a flower-power garden. Right then, we knew after all these working class-hero, conservative decades we were back home in the early 1970's. Spreading out before us and welcoming us into its arms was the extravagant, $40 @ night Mandala of Peace, Love and Happiness.

Before you is the footpath to our bung-a-low situated in the middle of a Garden of Eden. Like all the Mandala's other loving abodes, our's had a name which was Flying Fish as you might be able to tell from the leaping carvings all around the crab shell doorknob. For a fuller appreciation of this place's 'cuteness' you may want to zoom in on the next picture at this point.







The builder/owner walked around in a T-shirt that simply said, "Everyone Loves the Swiss", which he was, and the 'Love' part pretty much explains where he had been coming from for the past twenty years of construction. His artistic touches were everywhere from the restaurant's menu covers to the hotel provided, hammock-ready beach cabanas. He had several dogs, which Jo loved, and the food was the best in town. Of course; we, unfortunately, couldn't be sure of its dining excellence until after we had tried and been disappointed several times at other less inviting venues.

Exotic flowers were festooned everywhere you looked and we had no idea what many of them were. I insisted Jo take pictures of some of the Mandala's flora in the hope one of you might be able to identify of them and she did this even though it is not her want. They do, however, paint a more accurate picture for you, dear reader, of our motel's colorful ambiance than my words ever could.

This little (fine, Swiss construction) roadside marker outside the motel tells how far away every major city in the world is from the Mandala. Jo has asked me to point out that it is just a coincidence
she is always wearing a sleeveless blue shirt and that she does in fact have others.

There are no extra points for knowing the name of this 'bird-like' flower, as even I do.

In July the great Gray whales (from the Southern Ocean of Antarctica, not the Arctic Ocean)
come to the waters near here to calve. A few years back, one of them beached itself and died at a neighboring fishing village and was going to cause a number of health problems. So, our Nature-loving Swiss proprietor enlisted government permission and corporate help to remove it, bone it and preserve it. Here it now sits in front of the motel surrounded with informational, factoid, reader boards on Whale trivia, as a free "Save-The-Whale" open air museum for public beach combers.

The strange beauty of many of these flowers speak for themselves.

And, as a matter of fact, so does the whale.

Nuff said!

I believe Jonah could easily have been swallowed by a whale; but, I'm sure it wouldn't have, despite what the "Old Testament" might say, because all God's creatures know humans leave a bad taste in your mouth and, anyway, an hour later they're still hungry.

Chowder...

T & J