Agua Blanca is a community-run Manteño archaeological site inside Machalilla National Park, east of Puerto López. The visit usually includes a small museum, a guided walk through dry forest and ancient settlement remains, and time at a sulphur lagoon where visitors can swim and cover themselves in mineral mud.
What makes it worth the detour is the mix of archaeology and living community management. Agua Blanca is not a fenced ruin with a ticket booth; it is a village using tourism to protect its land, history, and a quiet valley that still feels far from the beach road.