The ride to Cuenca

02 54.060 S, 079 00.260 W, Hostal La Cigale, Cuenca, Ecuador

This morning we walked to an ATM, then stopped for a coffee and a pastry before taking a taxi to Operazuaytur, to get a ride in a van to Cuenca. As soon as we got out of the taxi, several fellows descended on us offering rides to Cuenca. Even though the office for Operazuaytur was right there, they tried to direct us to their car, to their 'office' down the street but we got through the gauntlet and checked in. The cost for each of us was $12 in a nice air conditioned van that had room for 7 passengers and it was full. Most of the passengers slept and there was no conversation, not that we would be able to understand event there was.

The van left promptly at 10 am and after we left the city we passed fields of sugar cane or rice, interspersed with orchards which looked like avocados trees. By 11 am we were gaining altitude. We passed through a cloud layers with almost white out conditions. At least there are guard rails, unlike Mexico. We passed through El Cajas National Park. According to Wikipedia, The name "Cajas" is derived from the Quichua word "cassa" meaning "gateway to the snowy mountains. The road to Cuenca crosses the continental divide at the pass "Tres Cruces" (4,167 m). We could see several lakes from the road which attract sport fisherman. The rivers on western side of the continental divide empty into the Pacific Ocean. The ones on the eastern side of the divide in the park empty into the Amazon. We saw our first llamas by the side of the road, eating grass, un-phased by the traffic. Our driver was good but there were a few times when we saw cars passing and near accidents but everyone survived. 

We arrived at Cuenca at 1 pm and a $2 taxi ride dropped us off at Hostal La Cigale in the older section of town. You can see a picture of Rich in front of the hostel below. We are on the upper floor in a room overlooking the courtyard restaurant. It may be a little noisy tonight but tomorrow we are to move to a room in the back which should be more quiet. 

Cuenca is a town of about 330,000. Early inhabitants of the area have been traced back to 8000 BC. The Canari settled the area in 500 AD but were supplanted by the Incas which were fabled to have built a city on top of the Canari structures said to rival the magnificence of Cuzco. The Spanish formed the settlement of Cuenca on the site in 1557, building the Old Cathedral which we walked by today. 

We look forward to learning Spanish and learning more about Cuenca. So far we seem to be adjusting to the 8400 ft altitude. 

Adios.

Rich in front of Hostal La Cigale

Sent from SV Windarra iPad

Guayaquil Airport

02 10.005 S, 79 53.778 W, Guayaquil, Ecuador

This morning Debbie of SV Serenity gave us ride from the boat to shore. Debbie and Victor just returned to their boat after a trip to Peru and they gave us some wonderful tips. Now we are off on our own adventure.

We got a taxi to the Terminal Terrestre or bus station in Bahia de Caraquez and caught the Coactur bus to Guayaquil. The tickets were only $12 for the two of us and it was a bit more of a 'chicken bus'. There was only one major stop in between but we did pick up and drop off folks at many stops in between. The stop at Portoviejo was interesting. The vendors come through the bus and the selection included baked goods, fruits, toothbrushes, comic books, ear buds, lottery tickets, water, coconut water and more. After this stop, they played the movie, "Ghost Rider", with Nicholas Gage and Sam Elliott, in Spanish of course. It was a Chinese pirated DVD as a Chinese screen came up just after the credits. The ride was about 5 1/2 hours.

From the bus station in Guayaquil we ride a taxi to our hotel, a posh Courtyard Marriott. We are on the 15th floor and have a great view of the airport as you may see below. Tomorrow we travel to Cuenca.

Back in Ecuador

Hola,

We are back in Ecuador.

At the airport in Guayaquil, they have the red light/ green light system similar to Mexico. Unfortunately we got the red light this time. While the fine print (4 pt font) on the back of the customs form they hand you on the airplane does not say anything explicitly about household items and the amount that will be charged, we were told we had to pay fees on some of our boat parts. The woman inspecting our luggage seemed very excited about some of the parts, like the cartridges for the watermaker, the engine water pump and starter motor. The parts of interest were separated and we were told to go to the customs office. We explained that we would only go if our parts went with us and that we would not let them out of our sight. This meant waiting until the last flight into Guayaquil had gone through customs.  Duty was charge based on some mysterious calculation based on weight and original cost. All totaled it was $200 USD which we paid at a bank conveniently located at the airport for just this service. One Ecuadorian woman was trying to go through with a crankshaft for a car. From the speed and volume of the Spanish between her and the customs agent, we assumed the conversation was heated. She smiled at us as we departed. Misery loves company.

We finally made it to Bahia de Caraquez and Windarra. It was a bit of a saga. We decided to hire someone to drive us instead of trying to negotiate dragging our luggage and trying to get a bus. It sounded like a good plan. The driver picked us up at 10:00 am. We stuffed the suitcases in and off we went. First stop was a gas station to fill the tank. The gas costs $1.48 a gallon! Did I mention that gas is heavily subsidized here in Ecuador? Soon we were on the road. Cristobal, our driver, is fluent in Spanish and we are not, so not much in the way of conversation which was okay until we started getting lost. We turned right and from Google Maps, this did not look like the right way to go. Cristobal was driving through this small town weaving through traffic of small motorized 3 wheeled jitneys. We passed a 30 foot tall statue of a parrot covered in mosaic tiles standing in the middle of the town square, very colorful.  Soon the road becomes narrower and then unpaved. Cristobal starts talking rapidly on his cell phone. Is he asking for directions? Suddenly it is time for a u-turn, and we retrace our path and we pass the parrot again. Okay except it is a 'una via', a one way street and we are going the wrong way! A quick right turn remedies that problem but the street is torn up at the end of the block and we can't get through. Another u turn, we pass the parrot again and a few more blocks and we make it back out of town and to the first wrong right turn. Sigh, okay we are back on the main road headed to Bahia de Caraquez. Cristobal has more conversation on his cell phone. We stop for a banos break. The car has a loud siren that goes off when Rich opens the door to get back inside. No one seems phased and Cristobal calmly turns off the alarm. We head back on the road again and then another turn off the main road. Soon we are heading south instead of north. Rich shows Google Maps to Cristobal. We can see the ocean and it is on our right side instead of our left side. Now there is more conversation on the cell phone. Cristobal stops asking other motorists, "Is this the way to Bahia?" We make two more u-turns and Cristobal has questioned 5 motorists but now we are finally heading north. The battery on my phone was quickly draining. There was one more critical turn on the highway to go to Bahia de Caraquez or to head to Quito, the capital of Ecuador, high in the Andes. As luck would have it we made the correct turn this time and headed into Bahia, past the bus station, the bridge across the river and finally to Puerto Amistad.

I am not sure who were more relieved, Cristobal, or us. The trip was a lot longer than the 5 hours we had expected but we did arrive. We hope that Cristobal returned safely as he does not share some of the sense of direction as his famous namesake.

Carlos and Luis greeted us and helped us ferry the suitcases back to Windarra. It had been a long day but we were back at the boat with its slightly musty smell. Rich checked the systems; I started cleaning off the mildew from the boat being closed up. We had a simple dinner of spaghetti and watched some episodes of Homeland.

I just wanted to let you know that we arrived safely even if it was a bit circuitous. The boat looks good but there is still plenty of pelican poop on the foredeck. I might need a chisel and a gas mask.