From the Galapagos we flew to Guayaquil and from there we grabbed a bus heading west towards the coast. Our plan was to spend one night at Banos de San Vicente, a small inland village with some hot springs. The bus dropped us on the highway, 8km from the village. We started walking, thinking it would only be minutes before a car would come by and we could flag it down for a ride. Twenty-five minutes later and with the sun dropping fast towards nightfall, finally a car appeared and gave us a lift.

The lack of traffic on this small country road was a sign of how small Banos de San Vicente is but we did not get the full effect until we arrived. Abandoned buildings, including houses were everywhere. There were only a few people to be seen. One of them, an unusually small man, led us to the only hotel in town. Hotel Florida is an institutional looking building that has seen better, cleaner days but when it’s the only place in town, what can you do. But things started to seem very strange when, after our long, hot journey, we asked for a cold beer and were informed by the hotelier that he does not serve been as it is bad for you but that he makes some very nice juices. The next thing we noticed was that there was a small chapel in the yard of the hotel that went by the name ¨Church of Nations¨. Then we had a look around us and noticed that the average age of the five or six other guests was in the mid 90´s. There was even a wheelchair and a walker in the lobby for complimentary guest use. Needless to say, we had the second floor to ourselves. We did not even get a key to our room… who could make it up the stairs to get into our room? To top it all off, large disgusting beetles began to fall from the sky, a sure sign of the impending apocalypse.

First thing the next morning we were at the hot springs, a huge sprawling concrete complex that, like our hotel, has seen better days. Of all the numerous pools mentioned in our guidebook, only one was open. It was deep, over our heads, and had bubbles coming up from the rocks below. Other than one older woman who kept spitting over the side, we had the place to ourselves. After a short time there we decided to check out the only other operational attraction at the complex: the lava ash mud pool. This reminded us of a hippo pool, having recently seen one on safari in Africa. It was a big pit in the ground with a bit of water on top and the mud below. It felt like sitting in a big vat of chocolate pudding, although it didn’t smell as good. After getting completely covered in mud, we showered off and then went back to the hot tub for another soak. By this time some other people had arrived so we sat in the pot of old people stew for a few minutes before deciding it was time to move on to another town. Packs in tow, we started off back down the road but this time it didn’t take too long to get a ride in a beauty 1972 Nova 4-door with flames painted on the sides.

Back at the highway we flagged down a bus headed to the seaside village of Manglaralto. Our plan was to spend a couple of nights there and then a couple of nights a few kilometres up the beach in Montanita, known for its surfing. Manglaralto is small and quiet with only a couple of hotels, tiny shops and one restaurant open for dinner. We walked to Montanita one day for some supplies and to rent a surfboard. It is a dirty, smelly town, busy with lots of dirty, smelly travellers so we decided to stay in Manglaralto. The peace and quiet there held true until Saturday night when a large tent-like structure began to take shape in the street one block from our hotel. Wedding decorations soon followed along with speakers the size of a mid-sized car. At 9pm the music began, along with voice over by an especially annoying DJ, and did not stop until 7am the next morning. I don’t know what kind of wedding reception would go on like that but I don’t ever want to be invited to one.

The surf at Monglaralto looked okay at first. There were a few locals out there every day so we gave it a try. The board rental guy told us the waves at Manglaralto are ¨strong¨ but we didn’t fully appreciate what this meant until we were in them. They were shore breaks that closed out all at once: the type of wave that tumbles you ass over tea kettle, leaves you not knowing which was is up, and takes off most of your laundry in the meantime. After two days of battling it out we moved down the beach closer to Montanita to a spot with better waves but where we still had the beach to ourselves. That afternoon as we were returning our board, we spotted Dave and Katie, the Americans from our Galapagos trip. They had just arrived and we made plans to meet them in our town for dinner later on. It´s always a nice surprise to run into people you know while travelling, especially when travelling this long and after we had spent eight days together on the New Flamingo, they felt like long-lost friends. We had some laughs over dinner and then a game of cards back on the patio of our hotel.

At about 11:30 Dave and Katie decided it was time to start making their way back to Montanita. Not a car had passed along our road the entire night so they planned to walk up to the highway to flag down a ride. Just as they stood to go, a small car shaped and painted like a giant colourful ladybug pulled up in front. It was the engine of a train-like ride that pulls kids around town. They hopped in for a ride home like it was the most normal thing in the world and off they went.

The next day we headed to Montanita in the morning and spent the day with Dave and Katie in the busier but better waves at the beach there. At night we went out on the town where you could buy freshly blended cocktails from a cart in the street and we drank pina coladas in glasses made from pineapples. Sometime after midnight we said so long to Dave and Katie. The ladybug wasn’t available that night so our ride home on the back of a motorcycle was somewhat less glamorous.

The following morning we flagged down a north bound bus up the coast to Canoa. We had expected this journey to take only a few hours but maps can be deceiving and it took us all day. The drive was nice though: the coastline is beautiful, one big long deserted golden sand beach lined with lush vegetation. We cut inland for a while, travelling through green forests and fields and past an area that had clearly suffered greatly from some very recent flooding. We arrived in the small village after dark and took a room for the night at a hotel recommended in our guidebook. It had a very nice restaurant on the beach where we ran into Rene, Eva, Judith and Nicole, the Austrians from the New Flamingo.

The next couple of days were for relaxing… the last beach days of this trip. We moved to a beautiful room with a view of the ocean and a deck with a hammock and just hung out meeting with the Austrians for the occassional meal and drink.

The bus ride back to Quito was supposed to take only eight hours but the skies had opened up again and we had to make many stops while landslides were cleared from the road. We arrived in Quito late that night but the next morning we were reunited with our friend Paola, whom we met while on the Tioman Islands in Malaysia. She lives in Quito and picked us up from our hotel and we headed to the country to attend a horse show at which her father had several horses in competition. Paola had explained it to us as a "horse beauty pagent" and the horses were beautiful. They were purebred Spanish horses and the gorgeous ranch and stables where the show was held was also in the Spanish style. This is definitely how the other half of Ecuador lives and we had a great day watching the competitions and meeting Paola´s family including her parents, Magoly and Francisco, who were gracious hosts. Unfortunately a bull fight that was scheduled for the afternoon was cancelled due to a downpour but we stayed into the evening to see an amazing flamenco band and dancers.

We had planned to spend one night at Paola´s family´s ranch north of Quito. We also wanted to spend a couple of days in Otavalo, a small Andean town which is famous for its market. However our plans were cancelled due to ongoing strikes and roadblocks by the indigenous people in protest of an impending free trade agreement with the US. These roadblocks have virtually shut down much of Ecuador so we became prisoners of Quito with four full days to go. We took a short bus ride to La Mitad del Mundo where it is possible to straddle the equator and stand in both hemispheres at the same time. We saw a couple of movies, walked around the beautiful old colonial district of Quito, shopped, went to museums and an amphibian zoo, and just tried to mentally prepare for the end of our trip. Today is our last day. Tomorrow morning we will catch a bittersweet flight back to Vancouver: the last leg of this journey but the beginning of a whole new adventure.

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Check back in a week or so for our last entry - a wrap-up and the answers to the most frequently asked questions.

B.

Photos:
Banos de San Vicente Ghost Town
After Lava Ash Mud Bath
Our Ride
Kevin and His Surfing Buddy
Brandy at Beach in Manglaralto
Dave and Katie in the Ladybug
Montanita with Dave and Katie
Beach at Canoa
Horse Show
Paola with her Mom and Dad
Us at the Equator