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From Peru we pushed on north into Ecuador and got off yet another long bus ride in Guayaquil. This was the biggest bus station we had seen yet, people and buses absolutely everywhere. It was warm and humid but not as hot as we imagined being close to the equator. We had a short stop here then towards the coast to Montanita, a place that some other travelers that we met said was a nice little town.. A man on a bike asked us if we wanted to stay at the hostel which he worked at, so we had a look. It was a cool place with an inviting outside bar, so we got a room straight away.
We hit the town that night along main dirt road which had some nice bars and food shops. It was thriving with people drinking in the bars overlooking the road, music blaring and some street entertainers wandering up and down the strip. There was people on unicycles, people going mad with fire sticks and juggling knives. These guys were really good, as this was their jobs. We got talking to a friendly unicycle rider and he told us how they travel around
and do their shows passing the hat for some cash. Then quick as a flash he runs up the road and unicycles around as his mates started a new show up in front of another bar.
Hanging in town the next night we bumped into some people from home and hung out exchanging stories of our travels. It turns out that the had done a similar trip to ours, and we had been in many of the same places just a few weeks apart. They were coming to the end of their trip though and had about a week until they headed back home.
The owner of the hostel was a guy from argentina, the same age as us so we got along really well. He took us all to a beach up the coast hitching in thee back of some guys ute. We walked to the end of the beach, passing a big turtle stranded on the beach. It was a bit sick so we tried to get it back in the water, as people from around here take the keep the turtle shells. The hills by the ocean were really green, as it was the perfect
climate for vegetation. It was like being in a greenhouse, as there was a bit of rain but still it was hot. There was a pile of old whale bones on the beach and not much else. After a surf and trying to catch some fish, we headed back. The turtle didnt make it. Back at the hostel, the owner had run some restaurants so was a good chef and teamed up with some italian girls and us so there was delicious dinners. We spent the twilight drinking cocktails and eating like kings.
We really noticed that the fruit from around here was awsome. Big, juicy, sweet and cheap.
After Montanita we made plans to get up to Tena a small village with whitewater rafting and other adventure stuff to do. We went back to Guayaquil and were leaving the bus station when i realized someone had stolen my day bag within the 3 or so minutes before we departed. That was a big blow because i had a bunch of things in it but most importantly my passport. We had to skip Tena and go straight to Quito to try to organise a new passport. It was
a bit a bugger because the only way to get a new passport was to fly back down to Peru, as there is no consulate or embassy in Ecuador. That threw a spanner in the works as we had a flight in a few days up to costa rica which couldnt be changed. The only option was to send Ems up there alone as I waited for the new passport to arrive.
Over the weekend before I had to backtrack to Peru, we squeezed in some time to see the Equator. There is a bit of a mixup at the equator, as the spanish worked out where it was decades ago and built a big monument there. Since then technology has proven this to be in the wrong place, with the use of GPS. Now they believe the equator is 40m off the money. We did some tests that they say proved that this was the proper line. They had a sink on legs and drained it on each side of the line to see which way the water flowed. It did go different ways only a metre each side of the line. Another was balancing an egg on
a nail head, they say that the gravitational forces meet directly on the line so balance is easier to achieve.
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