Today we take breakfast at the hotel, because we want to leave early and have no time to go to the place around the corner (not that most of us have been there before). Afterwards, we grab our bags and take a bus to the terminal. The bus that takes us to Guayaquil leaves in 40 minutes, so we have some time to wait. This time we pay the real price: $6,-. The bus is not very comfortable again, however and it has a toilet that is dirty with see-through windows. I think about the Costa as like India, but without the good things from India: the houses are poor, the streets are dirty and it is really hot; but there are no trains and no Hindu culture. Yes, the trains I miss the most while traveling in this country. That would have made life so much easier around here, to just take a night train to somewhere. Then I might have been able to visit Mariela for weekends in Quito.
When we get to the terminal of Guayaquil, we immediately get pushed to take the immediate bus to Pto. Lopez, but I insist that we eat something first. So we take a bus via Jipyjapa (hippyhappa) half hour later. The places to eat at the terminal however include places such as McDonalds, giving me not much of a choice, so I head to a smaller place to get some empanadas and humitas, while the rest orders their burgers. With the food only just finished, we have to run again to get to the bus. A crappy bus without a toilet takes us to Jipyjapa and I don’t get a chance to go in Guayaquil. One can imagine that the ride seems to take ages. Especially with the bus stopping everywhere to pick up more people. In the end I’m sitting across a woman breast feeding her baby and I’m reminded again of how natural this is. I wonder why this doesn’t happen at all in Europe.
Finally in shithole Jipyjapa, I go to the toilet and we take another bus that takes us to the place of destination. The tv inside is showing us Jeepers Creepers2 in Spanish, but it’s turned off just before the ending. It’s already dark when we arrive, but a nice lady walks us to the hostel, which was recommended by the owners of our previous hotel in Cuenca. It’s a nice family run hostel, with private bathroom (that doesn’t work very well) and mosquito nets. I hang mine anyway, just to kill the insects that are already in the bed.
We put our stuff on our beds and head into town to get some food. We find a nice place that serves me a big plate with spaghetti and veggies and a plate of patacones. Though just a bit more expensive than most of the places we’ve visited. Afterwards, we take a small walk on the beach and head back to the hostel, where we sit by a fire for a while before going to bed. Traveling is quite a tiring experience.
Talking about India: Pto. Lopez has ‘Tricicleras’, or things that look like family of the auto-rickshaw. We didn’t ride any, but it was nice to see.
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