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Published: June 11th 2014
Bus truck Zumba
Credits to www.jacarandajourney.comOnce again, my journey across the border was a real adventure ! It started well from the coffee plantation, I quickly got a ride after walking downhill 20 minutes, then at the crossroads where I had been dropped off, I got a ride with a very nice farmer on his motorbike. It was my first time hitchhiking on a motorbike! Well, I didn’t even ask for it, he offered to give me a ride for some kms up to his house along the road. We had a nice chat together: he was interested in other cultures and loved meeting foreigners. Then, from close to his house, I got another ride at the back of a pick-up with some guys, who were going to a soccer game to support their local team. I arrived around 2pm in San Ignacio, which was less than 100kms from the border. It was thus a good sign that I could probably cross the border before the night. Well, this was without knowing that there were some roads, which were totally closed to vehicles over kms and that I would thus have to walk at least 2 hours under the sun and uphill with my luggage… In
San Ignacio, it was quite hard to hitchhike, so I took the ride with a shared taxi. By the way, how many people can get inside a shared taxi do you think? In Peru, 9 people can –the driver + 2 on the front seat, then 4 on the back seat, then 2 in the luggage storage 😉!!The guy advised me about the closed road but he told me at that time, that I would have to walk 10 minutes before finding a car on the other side of the road near a bridge. So, when we arrived at the place, where vehicles could go on as some trees and rocks were on the road, I started to walk thinking that it would be a short walk. The problem was that the road was even difficult to cross walking… I walked with my sports shoes inside the muddy soil: right foot lost, then left foot, then right foot again. Ok, I understood that my shoes and feet wouldn’t stay clean today 😉 After walking 10 minutes, I couldn’t see a bridge and the only vehicles waiting there were moto-taxi and I can tell you that they would use the bad
situation to charge us very high prices… I thus continued walking. Then ,when I finally saw a bridge, I was happy because I was getting very tired. My walking wouldn’t however stop there… After crossing the bridge, I asked to the people there, where was the car to go to the border and they told me further up –well, at first, they didn’t even bother to reply as I was a foreigner, but they did when I insisted-. I thus walked further up. There, I saw some young people and I asked them, where the vehicle was they told that it was where I was before!! I got annoyed and started to walk back, when I came across other people from my shared taxi, who told me that it wasn’t there and we just had to continue. Ok, let’s continue then, we don’t have another choice anyway… Walking by the young guys again, they offered to give me a ride for the nice amount of $20, whereas it costs only 20 Soles (=$7), I said that I wasn’t a stupid tourist and went away. Then, a mototaxi offered to take 3 people for 20 Soles, which I would have accepted
as I was very exhausted but the local people said that it was too expensive and I couldn’t say in front of them, that it wasn’t expensive for me… So, we continued walking –I am indeed at that time walking with a Peruvian woman and her 7-year old daughter-. Then, we finally arrived at the next village, where a shared taxi stopped to take me –and only me…- but I said that I was with those 2 people and we thus all got a ride to 3kms from the border. That time, I was sitting with the little girl in the luggage storage, but anyway it was much better than walking! Arriving there, I took a mototaxi to the border. And at least, for once, the border checkpoints from both countries were close to each other: I only had to cross a small bridge to enter Ecuador. I was happy as I got there around 5pm, so it was before dark! After getting my exit and entrance stamp in my passport, I took a bus, which was in fact an old truck, whose storage place had been transformed with benches. Being inside, I was feeling like being in one of
Nice place to relax
My host Theron's house in Vilcabamba those tourist minivan used for safaris with very large windows to take pictures. The only difference is that there wasn’t any windows at all in my vehicle 😉
MY first impression of Ecuador was very good: I loved the wild forest that we crossed, the small villages, where we drove through with their beautiful white churches and their main square were the football field was and where I could see how smiling and friendly were those Ecuadorians 😉 Afterwards, I took a bus to Vilcabamba and arrived there at the middle of the night. I had someone to host me there from Couchsurfing, but it was too late to call him, so I slept at the bus station for some hours before the sunrise. Yes, you read well, I slept with my tent in the deserted bus station 😉 It’s better to sleep in such a place to not sleep at all and I honestly don’t care, if the soil is hard, at least I was under a roof when it rained all night!
In the morning, I went to my host, who is living in a very nice house with terrace and garden. He is from Noth
America and is retiring in South America. It was very nice to spend a couple of days with him, to get the point of view of a foreigner living in Ecuador. At his place, I also met his help, she was so nice! She advised me about a place to go to walk in the afternoon. For the first time, I tasted fresh papaya! So good 😊 I love the tropical fresh fruits that I can get everywhere in South America 😉 In Vilcabamba, I went for a walk in the surroundings. I really love this place with the mountains around. I went to a natural spring with high Magnesium and Iron content, which is enabling people from Vilcabamba to live longer, according to what is said here. But well, I can tell you that looking at the water coming out of the tap – almost dark brown, because of the heavy rain in the last days-, I didn’t want to try it, I prefer not living longer than living longer lying in bed for the rest of my days 😉 Another amazing moment in this town was to see the sunset. I hadn’t seen such a beautiful sky since
my journey 3 years ago in Bohol Island, Philippines. It was even more perfect that I could enjoy it in the hammock there 😊
After this refreshing time, I went hitchhiking to Cuenca. I met very nice people during this journey. I firstly met a Costa-Rican family with their 2 young children travelling all around South American with their old minivan. The woman was photographer, so she was showing how photography is working to children in each places they are going to. I loved their life philosophy. I then met a truck driver, with whom I talked about everything –even about the difference between South American and European guys in relationship!!-. He was 27 years old and already had 3 daughters –the oldest was 10!-. That’s the big difference with Europe. Here, it’s normal to get the first child that early! A guy in Peru even asked me how we were “protecting” ourselves not to get pregnant in Europe, as he couldn’t understand how I could be 26 and still have no kid… Well, I think we all know about condoms and pills, don’t we?!
In Cuenca, I was hosted by Juan and I met as well his
friend Liz, living in the same building. We went to have dinner together, when I arrived and we shared a really nice time together that evening. We planned to meet the next day early morning to go to a Laguna nearby for a hike. I was feeling very lucky, I had met them. Unfortunately, I had a bad night and was feeling very weak in the morning –probably the drink I had the night before was made with not potable tap water-. I thus didn’t go to the laguna and spent almost the whole day in bed. I just went to see Liz for a tea in the afternoon and even that was very difficult for me… But she was nice enough to even go out in the evening to buy me some things to eat to get more energy. The next morning, as I was feeling a bit better, I went for a walk in the historical center of the city. I loved the colonial buildings there, the churches and the flower market. After this walk, I met Liz at her flat and she went with me to the bus station for me to get a bus to Quito. I still wasn’t feeling that well, but I could travel by bus to Quito. I was planning to go to camp near volcano Chimborazo or near Quilotoa Laguna, but because of this illness, I decided that it was better to stay in one place.
The journey to Quito was very nice. I definitely love how Ecuador is green with mountains, valleys and volcanoes. I could even see the volcano Chimborazo, one the way just for sunset! It was such a nice view!
In Quito, I was feeling better so I could walk around the city center. I really liked the historical center with the colonial buildings, churches and the main square with local people playing music. On the other hand, the New Quito is just a joke: there are KFC, Mc Donalds and fancy restaurants everywhere there. It’s only for the new rich of Ecuador and the foreigners, but it definitely don’t represent the country.
From Quito, I went to Lago Agrio in the North of Ecuador, where I volunteered for a week. I will talk about my amazing time there in another post.
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FABRE Claude
non-member comment
Compte rendu toujours très intéressant à lire