Guayaquil, Ecuador and the Crazy Crossing into Peru

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Monday 21st Nov - Friday 25th Nov

After a simple flight out of the Galápagos, we landed back on mainland Ecuador, but this time in the city of Guayaquil. We had read up on the place and heard it had some pretty dodgey areas and that recently there had been a burst of activity from drug gangs targeting police here, but it made more sense then returning to Quito seeing as the plan is to travel down into Peru. However, Graciela had also just told us that morning, as we left the safe and beautiful Galápagos, that she had spoken to another couple who had come from Guayaquil who had said they had to ditch their coffees and run one afternoon as a couple of cars suddenly whizzed passed shooting up into the air. Hmmmmm! So with high alert mode most definitely on and boosted, we were grateful to find our pre-arranged taxi man waiting at the airport to take us straight to our hotel. Few. Take a breath.

With two nights here, one full day, we knew we couldn’t just sit in the hotel all the time (well, Paul said we couldn’t), and we are glad we didn’t. We, in the safe hours of daylight and only along the main tourist strip, did venture out and were pleasantly surprised. Lively and bustling indeed, it was pretty full on and definitely had some rougher side streets and areas, but they have obviously spent some money on trying to make the river front a cool place to be. The Malecon, a long, recently well developed river front full of cafes, restaurants, parks and toilets, is where we walked along most of the time; being gated all the way along and with a high security presence, we think it’s where most tourists, western or not, spend most of their time.

Near the bottom end of the Melacon, was a cool public park full of iguanas which were fun to watch. And at the top end of the Melacon, we found the cable car, the Aeroviva, which was definitely a highlight of Guayaquil. Built and used by locals to reach different parts of the city, it also means tourists can go on for fun, and, doing a ‘complete circuit’, meant we could see and explore more of the city, rougher parts included, and over the river, from the safety of above; getting off and straight back on at each station, as advised by someone we met from here.

Guayaquil, a scary place indeed, but also, at least during daylight hours, a living breathing place that is trying to be better (looking out the window at night and it is a ghost town, probably due to the current government curfew in place, with just a few fast cars ignoring red lights). Still we survived our two nights, and, leaving our hotel early, we were ready to get to the bus terminal for our ‘Cruz del Sur’ bus to cross the border into Peru!

What do you mean there is no bus running today? We have a ticket?! With our Spanish still very limited, we were left stood, not knowing what was going on. Thankfully, at that moment, we noticed two more western looking people speaking amazing Spanish, and even more thankfully, they noticed us and were happy to help! Strikes in Peru, meant no buses were crossing the border today (or yesterday when they first tried!). Ahhh this is not what we want or need!

Not really wanting to stay in Guayaquil longer, we instantly considered flying, but with no cheap or direct flights, we quickly resigned to the idea of sitting at a cafe and finding accommodation here again. However, when we realised Giorgio and Marisa (the helpful Italian, life long travelling, super friendly couple) were working out another way to still cross into Peru today, and were also wanting to reach Mancora like us, we asked if we could stick with them; and we really did stick to them.

With their experience in South America and fluent Spanish, we followed their lead, and ended up on a ‘CIFA’ bus headed to Huaquillas; the last Ecuadorean town just before the border. Here, they found us a taxi to take us to the border crossing, where after a little queue, we got stamped out of Ecuador and then stamped into Peru. Having read horror stories about trying to use taxis / walking this border, we were pleasantly surprised at the apparent ease of this process, super grateful to having the Italians with us and relieved we’d made it into Peru! We then agreed the 60USD cost of a direct taxi to Mancora (still 2.5 hrs away) split between 4 of us was pretty reasonable and, before we knew it, we were arriving in Mancora.

Known as a surfers party area, this small town instantly felt quite loud and a little run down. One long and dusty Main Street, with all the cafes and bars along it, was surprisingly full of Moto taxis (like Tuktuks) beeping away and big open trucks transporting goods and, very frequently, people; refugees likely from Venezuela. There was then a few side streets running up to the beach, a massively long sandy stretch of coastline, which was constantly being swept by big crashing waves; you can see why it’s known for surging! Then, much further down, are more side streets, all sandy and dusty with the odd small shop, leading into the housing mazes of the locals. Of course, our place was nearer this end, but once in, was a beautiful tranquil space, perfect for relaxing.

Which is what we did, as well as walking along the beach, eating at the cafes (many veggie options!), watching the football and of course bumping into our Italian friends. The other key thing we did, was to check ahead and ensure our next booked bus was going to be running. Having already booked, we were meant to be using Cruz del sur bus again, this time overnight, to Lima. And thankfully, the young staff member at this office was much more helpful and, with the strike in Peru now finished, assured us their buses were back on.

So, 5pm on Friday, and the moment of truth arrived…the bus…was there! Clean and comfy, leg room, usb charging point, mini tv with subtitles and with a snack bag given, we were happy and were soon on our way to Lima. Just 20hours to go!

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