GUAYAQUIL
Together with Ted and Paula we took a nightbus from Mancora (Peru) to Guayaquil (Ecuador). This included two boarder crossings. The boarders in South America are sometimes a few kms apart as it was in this case. Luckily our bus waited for us at both boarder crossings, what saved us carrying around our 45 or so kilos and looking for another bus to take us further. Not a great activity around midnight! This time the agency, who we bought the bus tickets from, actually told us the truth.....
After arriving in Ecuador we all had to leave the bus for a police check at 2am. For us there were no problems. Anita and Martin, the couple we were with on the Salar tour in Bolivia, emailed us later that they had been robbed by a POLICE AGENT at this particular check point....
The trip went so fluently that we arrived more than 1 hour ahead of schedule (4.30 AM) in Guayaquil. This meant we got well early at our hostel. The French owner could only offer us sofas to sleep on (to be shared with her Bulldog!), since our room was still occupied. It stayed like that
until 2PM......Not exactly what you are hoping for after spending the night in a bus with several stopovers....
Anyway, the hostel was very nice and had a fully equiped kitchen. We actually used it to keep our cost down. This was the first time in a couple of months we made our own food!
Ted and I made full use of the table tennis table, to regain some fitness.
We also enjoyed great seafood at the boulevard of Guayaquil, we watched films and that was basically it for 2 1/2 days. No excursions and trips for a change, just hanging out, eating healthily and having a few bevvies. We enjoyed it!
QUITO
Travelling by bus during the day, always seems to take ages. Also this time. 10 hours in a very hot bus without aircon. But it saves us so much money. In general internal flights are quite expensive, since there are no budget airlines like Rayanair or Easyjet. So we take the "pain" and spend our money on other things. We have got time on our side around here anyway.
Our hostel was in the "New City" in Quito. A very comfortable area with loads of
bars and restaurants. A lot of police too. Although they tend to disappear when they are most needed: at night. Because of this we were advised by a very genuine restaurant owner to take a taxi for a 400 meters ride to our hostel. The local ASBO's come out in groups at night to rob the gringo's.
Ted, Paula and ourselves were so looking forward to some healthy sushi. So we visited the local Japanese restaurant. It was fantastic and the caiperinhas were on special offer: 1 USD each!! You can imagine we had a very good night!
The next day we checked out the Casino in Quito. Blackjack was the name of the game. Ted and I got into it and in true Vegas style- we lost track of time (the free rum and cokes helped with that...). Yvonne joined us in the beginning but quit after a very "helpful" american lady kept giving her tips.... (I had images of the American woman flying across the room!). The fact that non-players (Yvonne & Paula) were not served free drinks did not add to the situation so, they merrily entertained themselves at the bar with red wine and the
house band.
We did't make any money, but we had a great time. Part of the entertainment was a local "Luck-Girl" who befriended a winning Aussie next to us. Surprisingly he ended up with nothing and his new mate stealing his last 25 USD chip....
Next destination was for the girls: Otavalo, the biggest artesian market of South America. This could only mean two things: 1. More weight to carry around and 2. More available time for me and Ted to watch some football on tv!
OTAVALO
We spend 3 nights in this lovely little village. Paula and Yvonne spend most of the time jewellery-hunting! Thank god Ted and Paula suggested to take "our" purchases with them, to send it home Quito!! Yvonne had the biggest smile ever for the whole three days. Even torrential rain didn't stop her from shopping. The ladies encouraged each other with texts like: "you can't go wrong for this price" and "they are presents". Friends and family back home, don't get your hopes up, you won't see any of these earrings or necklaces ending up in your hands!
After Otavalo Ted and Paula went off to the Galapagos islands, via Quito and
we headed for Colombia, our last South American country!
Ecuador's Flag
Map of Ecuador