Banos to Cuenca

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Day 13: Banos to Cuenca 3:

We decided to take the 8:45 bus to Riobamba with a connection there to Cuenca, so we were up fairly early, ate breakfast, and headed to the bus terminal. I'd forgotten and Manoli didn't realize that the trip to Cuenca was so long... about 8 hours! The trip started sort of the way it ended... delays and bad luck. First of all, the bus left over half an hour late. We arrived in Riobamba, and instead of the "terminal" that the lady in Banos had told us we'd be arriving at, we were dropped off on the side of the road, in front of a little office. Our next bus direct to Cuenca was supposed to arrive at 11am, about 15 minutes after we were dropped off. This bus arrived over half an hour late, and wasn't a Sangay bus but a Santa bus. Luckily the guy in the office told us that was our bus. Not long into the trip, we discovered the bathroom was locked and they couldn't find the key. Fortunately, for us, neither of us had had much to drink that mornng, so we made it to the first real stop for lunch without needing the bathroom. At some point, I have no idea of the name of the town or restaurant, the bus stopped for everyone to eat lunch at a buffet type place. The food wasn't that bad or expensive, and we did have enough time to eat and use the restroom.

We arrived in Cuence, at a very nice terminal I might add, and went looking for the $2 taxi to our hostal, Posada del Rio. It turned out to be three dollars, but he found the place with no trouble. Unfortunately for us, our troubles weren't over yet. When we talked to the hostal receptionist, she was surprised to see us. She was under the impression that either we weren't coming until the first of August (our last night here) or that we hadn't booked the only ensuite double room they have. After showing her both the original reservation and the her later confirmation of a double ensuite for the nights of July 30th, July 31st, and August 1st, she apologized and said the private bath room wasn't available tonight, but she'd put us in a room with two twins for tonight, on the house. Tomorrow night, supposedly, we'll have the right room, but somebody had apparently booked that room for 20 nights, starting August 1st, so she wasn't sure what she'd do with us the third night!

The hostal was not at all what I'd expected, a nice, old, private two-story home converted to a hostal with a 2nd floor terrace. Instead, its a not so nice, but old, three-story home with a 3rd floor uncovered patio. The floorboards almost everywhere creak, we can easily hear any time someone else uses the bathroom next to us, and the WiFi isn't very good. Oh well, they can't all be good. After leaving our stuff and getting the keys to our room and the front door (yeah!), we decided to go look for a place to eat dinner, since lunch was light and hurried. We had almost come to the decision that the people of Cuenca don't eat out at all, since we'd only found bars in about 12 blocks of searching. On one side of a nice plaza, we finally found Raymipampa. It looked nice, and had a number of folks eating there. Always a good sign. It was a very decent looking place, with a good variety of food, and the prices weren't cheap or extravagant. I ordered the breaded beef filet plate and a capuccino (I also asked for a Coke afterwards that never arrived), and Manoli had a bowl of soup. Everything was very tasty, but apparently our troubles weren't over. I gave the waiter a $20 dollar bill and a nickel for the $12.05 bill. When he returned my change, it was only seven dollars instead of eight. Since the waiter had already left before I counted it, I wasn't comfortable with telling him I got the wrong change, nor was I comfortable with leaving him a two dollar tip like I'd intended. I ended up leaving a one dollar tip. By this time it was after 8pm, so we returned to the hostal to watch a movie on NetFlix. Again, as has seemed our fate, the WiFi wasn't capable of providing continuous playback, and disconnected a couple of times, so we again gave up.

Tomorrow we plan on seeing the main sights, and maybe taking the city tour bus for five bucks. Sorry for the minimal photos, but we really didn't see or do much today but travel. I think I've discovered a new travelling malady. Instead of jet lag, its bus lag, when you travel for 8 hours on a not-so-comfortable bus, up and down winding, bumpy roads. We hope to book a nicer direct bus back to Quito when we leave.

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Comments

[mikec]

Locked Toilet on the bus?
I have read on another blog that if the bathroom is not working/locked, they hand you a bag in case you have to go. Did this happen to ya'll? Glad you made it back to Quito. I will be flying into Guayaquil and then Banos, Cuenca and Salinas: so a lot of bus riding.

[Zpet]

Bus Trip and Bags
Mike, no they didn't give us bags and I've not heard anything before about that. They usually stop somewhere along the way for that and to stretch your legs. I'd recommend not drinking much before the trip.