Blogs from West, Ecuador, South America - page 63

Now I´m NOT saying that I was hurt or anything in my crazy title. Just wanted you all to know how extremley worn out I am! These past few days have been pretty calm, though you´ll see why I feel like passing out right now... TUESDAY (7-11) Well what do ya know? Seven eleven...what I weighed when I was born. You can already tell this day is going to be speical. Only I wish that was the case. Though it´s been a month since I haven´t seen my family. And in one more month I will. At the same time I can´t wait to see everyone of you back home, I wish instead you all were coming here instead. I know I have to face reality sometime soon, but for now I´m gonna keep on livin´ ... read more

Manta, Ecuador We took a 9 hr $6 coach journey out of Quito to a place called Manta on the recomendation of a barman..Karl by the way was supposed to be hiking round Ecuador for 6 weeks but we convinced him that was a rubbish holiday and convinced him to come drinking with us instead so along he came. The coac hjourney wasn´t too bad at all really, full of locals going on their holiday´s. Driving through the mountains on terrible roads was an experince but just added to the adventure..Stopped off at a localvillage for lunch (grilled banana and fish of course, strange but not bad) and got approached by all the kids probably wondering what planet these really white,hairy men were from... Arrived in Manta and immediately none of us liked it, not sure ... read more

Yes, that´s right, not two days later, but three. Sorry to disappoint you all, but not so much has been "going down" lately. Let me just tell you about it. TUESDAY (7-4) The days are just flying by here. A week feels like a day, which is no wonder I´m so tired all the time. Luckily today was a relaxing day. I drank my juice and went to school in the morning and taught my classes of 1st and 7th graders. The seventh grade class whezeled their way out of taking their exam today and postponing it to Thursday, when the only other English classes are two third grade classes. So Thursday it is... After school and after a great lunch, thanks to Señora Maria, I had a nice little nap and chilled out for at ... read more

One of my objectives in heading to Ecuador was to find a relatively cheap package to the Galapagos Islands. However, finding a package, within the price range I wanted, and within the time frame I wanted to be there, was next to impossible. You can simply fly to the Galapagos for about $350 roundtrip but you risk either not finding a package within your budget or you end up having to wait several days before being able to explore the islands. It is virtually impossible to tour the Galapagos without being on a guided tour (usually by a small boat with cabins and all meals included) and I wasn’t willing to sit in some town on the islands with all the wildlife so close, yet so far! So, I sat in my hotel room in Guayaquil, ... read more

We got to Guayaquil in the hopes of getting a bus to Tumbes in Peru pretty soon after. After a little bit of wandering about and investigation we foudn the office of a bus company called Grupo Ormena who we were told were very good for transportation across the border into Peru (we´d heard it wasn´t a very easy crossing). When we went in we were basically sent away with a Spanish flea in our ear but couldn´t work out why the guy wouldn´t let us buy a ticket or tell us when we could catch the bus. Eventually after a bit of persistence with this guy (Mike said some incredibly derogatory things about him which I´ve been sworn never to repeat) we worked out the border was closed. We had the name of 2 hostels, ... read more