March 7. 8:26 pm. Guayaquil.
Nothing too much today. We left Cuenca on the Express bus to Guayaquil late this morning. It was indeed express until the back tire blew out. It sounded like an explosion but the bus stayed stable so I'm sure we weren't in any danger, although the smell of burning rubber and the accompanying smoke billowing out the back may have indicated otherwise. We coasted down the mountain for a bit until we came upon a pile of dead tires on the side of the highway. I guess this is a common occurrence for this stretch of road. We pulled over and changed the tire. As we learned from our Boler experience, all it takes is a squeezy plastic pop bottle full of water to put out any vehicle fires. Water squirted, tire changed and we proceeded to Guayaquil without further incident.
Guayaquil is a very big city, it challenges Quito as the more populated in Ecuador, but lacks Quito's mountainside, colonial charm. But Guayaquil does have one major advantage: ONE bus station. It is as big as an airport but at least we know where we are supposed to be to leave.
Once we had our room, we just wandered around a bit. There is a lovely Malacon (water front walkway) here. We had an expensive dinner (prawns in garlic sauce). We figured we blew our budget on the hotel (Hotel Versailles) why not go all out with dinner too. We sat by an artificial pond with ducks (domestic so ignored) when a lovely little Striated Heron stopped by to be identified.
As we were walking back, Val's calf decided to punish her for yesterday's hike. So she went back to the room and I ventured out alone to find water. We are about three blocks from American land. KFC, Pizza Hut, electronic stores, etc. Not very exciting but a zillion people. I eventually found some water in a grocery store. Everywhere else in Ecuador, there are a million corner stores selling water. But not on Avenida 9 Octobre. Too important for lowly water. I had to carry 6 litres 12 blocks back to the hotel, it would have been less but I got a bit lost - remember, Val is the usual navigator.
Tomorrow we find Puerto Lopez. Tonight we continue the decadence by watching bad American sitcoms.
March 8. 8:57 pm. Puerto Lopez.
Another uneventful day. We caught a late bus (9:40 am) to Puerto Lopez. This definitely was NOT an express bus. Again we had a procession of vendors and a constant turnover of passengers. Within minutes of leaving an alarm started. We stopped the bus and they put some water into the radiator. Then, about half way, we had to stop at a corner store and buy coolant. I didn't have a lot of hope for that bus to make the entire 4 hour trip but it did. We arrived at Puerto Lopez around 2:30.
Val found us a hostel called Sol Inn. We knew what we were getting into because hanging below the sign with the hostel name is another sign "Rolling papers sold here" Yup, a courtyard full of stoned hippies. But it is a cool place. Bamboo bungalows with hammocks on the porches. I can just imagine the vermin and insects waiting to emerge as soon as the lights go out. There is a one inch space between the walls and the floor. I am coated in DEET an d we have a mosquito coil lit. Either the malaria will get me or the chemicals will. Our beds even have mosquito nets but I still don't have faith.
I should mention the great tourist divide in Ecuador. There is a continuum of tourist types here. At one end are the full-on hippies. Dread locks, sandals, lots of cotton and hemp clothes. They keep to themselves pretty much. Tend to be in their 30s, often have kids with them. Next is the tourist hippies, same as above but younger, only here for a bit and no kids attached. The other end is the yuppies. MEC pants, matching jackets, tilley hats, sturdy hiking boots. 40s to retired age. We fall near the middle, although tending to the yuppie side. I know this because the yuppies approach and talk to us, but the hippies do not. Up north, it was yuppie territory with a scattering of hippies. But here on the coast, hippie heaven. I haven't seen one pair of quick dry khaki pants since we arrived. This hostel is tourist hippie mecca. We have found a middle ground hostel right around the corner for tomorrow. Less bamboo walls, more stucco. Same price, same beds, same wifi. But the courtyard has hammocks and no (or at least less) hippies. We have nothing against the hippies, they don't bother us and we don't bother them, but they fill the courtyard here. We can barely handle the beer, we don't need to add second hand pot smoke.
Anyway, Puerto Lopez is a sleepy little fishing village with a lot of hostels. Not too much to do here but drink on the beach. So that is what we have done so far. Even the shopping is dismal, although we did see a market that we will visit at some point. Speaking of shopping, remember when I bought a bag at Alausi and Lea shook her head in a loving but exasperated way. Well, today my pen burst in my old purse and got all over everything. But, hooray!. I just pulled out my new purse and switched over. See Lea, one needs some extra bags in case of emergencies. Now, if I only had an extra pair of jeans. The ink did quite a number on mine. They are drying on the porch after a vigorous scrub down. Not that I will be wearing jeans too often in this heat, but at the moment the alternate is my mud caked, flop sweat drenched capris. I am not a very pretty picture.
Time to pull down my mosquito net and see if I am eaten alive while I sleep. If you don't hear from me, the critters have won.
PS. Gingypuss's radiation therapy was yesterday and the vet reports all is well so far.
March 9. 8:17. Puerto Lopez.
We moved this morning to Hostel Machalilla, which is basically right across the street from Sol Inn. I was eaten alive last night at Sol Inn. This is the second time I have been a mosquito buffet since we arrived in Ecuador. Val hasn`t gotten a bite yet. The mosquitoes love me. I can only put so much DEET on. We will see if this new room is any safer.
The heat is making us so lazy. Today, we did nothing but drink beer, sit on the beach and shop a bit. We each bought a cotton dress to put over our bathing suits. Our white legs are cruel punishment for any beach passers-by. As Val says, our legs are less fantastic and more phantasmic (ghostly for those without a thesaurus handy). Amazingly, despite our pasty legs` introduction to the sun today, we only burned our arms.
We stopped into a tourist place to see about a jungle tour but the guy said we would have to wear rubber boots up to our knees (provided) because of the mud, we declined. I now hate mud more than I like birds. I did see one new dove on the beach. That will have to do.
This time I will apologize for the short post. If things stay this boring, I may not post again until after we get to the Galapagos on March 13. But I am trying to post some pictures. The Wi-Fi is very slow though so it may take some time. Check previous posts over the next few days.
March 10. 8:41 pm. Guayaquil
Well, we just aren't beach bunnies I guess, we are back in Guayaquil. Our second hotel room in Puerto Lopez was unbelievably hot. The mosquito nets were so tight that no air moved, it was like being under a plastic tarp in the heat. I was so sweaty by midnight, I had to take the net off the bed just to breath. But, of course, the mosquitoes attacked. Not as bad as the previous night but that might be because I reapplied the DEET twice in the night. Ok, forget foot fungus medicine, I will be needing chemo.
When we woke up this morning, it was pouring rain. As I have already mentioned, our two option for activities in Puerto Lopez are the beach and the jungle. Neither sounded like fun in the rain. So we decided to come back to Guayaquil for some working Wi-Fi (my grand plan to post pictures was a total bust, I couldn't even post this), air conditioning and restaurants with actual roofs.
Our bus ride was so long and uncomfortable and I was so grubby that I started to understand the hippies a bit better. My hair was completed matted on one side from the unclosable window. I was still wearing my disgusting capris (although most of the mud had fallen off, but no relief from the sweat), I smelled like sour milk. And I am just sticky. The human skin can only absorb so much cream (bug repellent, sun screen, moisturizer) before it just says NO. So, a layer of sand and road dirt stuck to the unabsorbed cream on my greasy face. I would have paid for dreads and loose cotton pants at that point.
We went to the hostel that we had planned to move to when we returned but they didn't have a room for us so we are back to our decadent Versailles Hotel where I immediately took a shower and washed my capris. Now, Val is watching a movie about alien invasion, I am using Wi-Fi and not being bitten by mosquitoes - heaven. We had take out sandwiches for dinner. I was totally craving Mexican style tortas (sandwiches) in Puerto Lopez but Ecuadorians don't seem to have the same love of the sandwich that Mexicans do. But we found a suitable alternative - with mystery meat which may have been pork based (?). YUUUUMMMM.
Ok, I am going to post this before something goes awry. Hopefully pictures in the next few days. Wait until Monday, you don't want to waste unpaid time on this blog.
Nothing too much today. We left Cuenca on the Express bus to Guayaquil late this morning. It was indeed express until the back tire blew out. It sounded like an explosion but the bus stayed stable so I'm sure we weren't in any danger, although the smell of burning rubber and the accompanying smoke billowing out the back may have indicated otherwise. We coasted down the mountain for a bit until we came upon a pile of dead tires on the side of the highway. I guess this is a common occurrence for this stretch of road. We pulled over and changed the tire. As we learned from our Boler experience, all it takes is a squeezy plastic pop bottle full of water to put out any vehicle fires. Water squirted, tire changed and we proceeded to Guayaquil without further incident.
 |
| The menfolk fix the tire. |
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| While other menfolk watch |
We went from 3500 meters to 9 meters in 4 hours. It is hot and humid here. HOT - when we arrived it was 36 degrees. We shed our coats and then our long sleeve shirts and then proceeded to sweat in our tank tops.
Guayaquil is a very big city, it challenges Quito as the more populated in Ecuador, but lacks Quito's mountainside, colonial charm. But Guayaquil does have one major advantage: ONE bus station. It is as big as an airport but at least we know where we are supposed to be to leave.
Guayaquil:
 |
| The not very awesome view from our awesome room |
We really splurged on a room here. $40 night! But it has air conditioning and American TV on a flat screen and an elevator and a hair dryer. A HAIR DRYER!! This is big time. No worries, Book of Doom watchers, we have already found a cheaper place for our night here before we fly out to Galapagos on the 12th.
Once we had our room, we just wandered around a bit. There is a lovely Malacon (water front walkway) here. We had an expensive dinner (prawns in garlic sauce). We figured we blew our budget on the hotel (Hotel Versailles) why not go all out with dinner too. We sat by an artificial pond with ducks (domestic so ignored) when a lovely little Striated Heron stopped by to be identified.
 |
| Mr. Striated Heron, Mucho Gusto. |
As we were walking back, Val's calf decided to punish her for yesterday's hike. So she went back to the room and I ventured out alone to find water. We are about three blocks from American land. KFC, Pizza Hut, electronic stores, etc. Not very exciting but a zillion people. I eventually found some water in a grocery store. Everywhere else in Ecuador, there are a million corner stores selling water. But not on Avenida 9 Octobre. Too important for lowly water. I had to carry 6 litres 12 blocks back to the hotel, it would have been less but I got a bit lost - remember, Val is the usual navigator.
Tomorrow we find Puerto Lopez. Tonight we continue the decadence by watching bad American sitcoms.
March 8. 8:57 pm. Puerto Lopez.
Another uneventful day. We caught a late bus (9:40 am) to Puerto Lopez. This definitely was NOT an express bus. Again we had a procession of vendors and a constant turnover of passengers. Within minutes of leaving an alarm started. We stopped the bus and they put some water into the radiator. Then, about half way, we had to stop at a corner store and buy coolant. I didn't have a lot of hope for that bus to make the entire 4 hour trip but it did. We arrived at Puerto Lopez around 2:30.
Val found us a hostel called Sol Inn. We knew what we were getting into because hanging below the sign with the hostel name is another sign "Rolling papers sold here" Yup, a courtyard full of stoned hippies. But it is a cool place. Bamboo bungalows with hammocks on the porches. I can just imagine the vermin and insects waiting to emerge as soon as the lights go out. There is a one inch space between the walls and the floor. I am coated in DEET an d we have a mosquito coil lit. Either the malaria will get me or the chemicals will. Our beds even have mosquito nets but I still don't have faith.
I should mention the great tourist divide in Ecuador. There is a continuum of tourist types here. At one end are the full-on hippies. Dread locks, sandals, lots of cotton and hemp clothes. They keep to themselves pretty much. Tend to be in their 30s, often have kids with them. Next is the tourist hippies, same as above but younger, only here for a bit and no kids attached. The other end is the yuppies. MEC pants, matching jackets, tilley hats, sturdy hiking boots. 40s to retired age. We fall near the middle, although tending to the yuppie side. I know this because the yuppies approach and talk to us, but the hippies do not. Up north, it was yuppie territory with a scattering of hippies. But here on the coast, hippie heaven. I haven't seen one pair of quick dry khaki pants since we arrived. This hostel is tourist hippie mecca. We have found a middle ground hostel right around the corner for tomorrow. Less bamboo walls, more stucco. Same price, same beds, same wifi. But the courtyard has hammocks and no (or at least less) hippies. We have nothing against the hippies, they don't bother us and we don't bother them, but they fill the courtyard here. We can barely handle the beer, we don't need to add second hand pot smoke.
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| Sol Inn from our next hostel's roof. |
 |
| Courtyard of Hostel Machalilla |
Puerto Lopez:
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| Don't let this picture fool you, this is the ONLY paved part of town (one corner). |
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| Sunset at Puerto Lopez (can't go to the beach without some sunset shots). |
Time to pull down my mosquito net and see if I am eaten alive while I sleep. If you don't hear from me, the critters have won.
PS. Gingypuss's radiation therapy was yesterday and the vet reports all is well so far.
March 9. 8:17. Puerto Lopez.
We moved this morning to Hostel Machalilla, which is basically right across the street from Sol Inn. I was eaten alive last night at Sol Inn. This is the second time I have been a mosquito buffet since we arrived in Ecuador. Val hasn`t gotten a bite yet. The mosquitoes love me. I can only put so much DEET on. We will see if this new room is any safer.
The heat is making us so lazy. Today, we did nothing but drink beer, sit on the beach and shop a bit. We each bought a cotton dress to put over our bathing suits. Our white legs are cruel punishment for any beach passers-by. As Val says, our legs are less fantastic and more phantasmic (ghostly for those without a thesaurus handy). Amazingly, despite our pasty legs` introduction to the sun today, we only burned our arms.
We stopped into a tourist place to see about a jungle tour but the guy said we would have to wear rubber boots up to our knees (provided) because of the mud, we declined. I now hate mud more than I like birds. I did see one new dove on the beach. That will have to do.
This time I will apologize for the short post. If things stay this boring, I may not post again until after we get to the Galapagos on March 13. But I am trying to post some pictures. The Wi-Fi is very slow though so it may take some time. Check previous posts over the next few days.
March 10. 8:41 pm. Guayaquil
Well, we just aren't beach bunnies I guess, we are back in Guayaquil. Our second hotel room in Puerto Lopez was unbelievably hot. The mosquito nets were so tight that no air moved, it was like being under a plastic tarp in the heat. I was so sweaty by midnight, I had to take the net off the bed just to breath. But, of course, the mosquitoes attacked. Not as bad as the previous night but that might be because I reapplied the DEET twice in the night. Ok, forget foot fungus medicine, I will be needing chemo.
When we woke up this morning, it was pouring rain. As I have already mentioned, our two option for activities in Puerto Lopez are the beach and the jungle. Neither sounded like fun in the rain. So we decided to come back to Guayaquil for some working Wi-Fi (my grand plan to post pictures was a total bust, I couldn't even post this), air conditioning and restaurants with actual roofs.
Our bus ride was so long and uncomfortable and I was so grubby that I started to understand the hippies a bit better. My hair was completed matted on one side from the unclosable window. I was still wearing my disgusting capris (although most of the mud had fallen off, but no relief from the sweat), I smelled like sour milk. And I am just sticky. The human skin can only absorb so much cream (bug repellent, sun screen, moisturizer) before it just says NO. So, a layer of sand and road dirt stuck to the unabsorbed cream on my greasy face. I would have paid for dreads and loose cotton pants at that point.
We went to the hostel that we had planned to move to when we returned but they didn't have a room for us so we are back to our decadent Versailles Hotel where I immediately took a shower and washed my capris. Now, Val is watching a movie about alien invasion, I am using Wi-Fi and not being bitten by mosquitoes - heaven. We had take out sandwiches for dinner. I was totally craving Mexican style tortas (sandwiches) in Puerto Lopez but Ecuadorians don't seem to have the same love of the sandwich that Mexicans do. But we found a suitable alternative - with mystery meat which may have been pork based (?). YUUUUMMMM.
Ok, I am going to post this before something goes awry. Hopefully pictures in the next few days. Wait until Monday, you don't want to waste unpaid time on this blog.
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