Christian May 4th, 2008
It was a long trip to get to Canoa to say the least. We had to leave our hostel at 5:30 to catch the 5:40 bus to Quito. The bus took four hours, when we got to Quito we had to find the office for Reina del Camino to buy our tickets to Bahia de Caraquez. Luckily there was a bus at 10:30 leaving, so we got our tickets and hopped on the very shady bus. The ride was only supposed to take 8 hours but ended up taking 9 and a half. If ever taking the bus to Bahia from Quito, pay the extra 1.50 for the executive service (we didn’t and regretted it the whole way). Once we finally got to Bahia we had to walk about a half mile to the docks where we could catch a ride on a boat across the bay to San Vincente. It wasn’t a bad deal at .70. Finally we were getting close…. since it was so late the regular bus service from San Vincente to Canoa had stopped, so we shared a cab with 2 Canadian girls for $4. Luckily, they were staying at the same place we had wanted to stay at. The only room that they had was a private Bungalow with a shared bathroom for $16.70 a night. Tired, exhausted, and ready for bed we took it. Continue Reading »
Christian May 3rd, 2008
We wanted to get to Banos early enough to find a place to stay and get to walk the city a bit, so we woke up at 6am to catch the 5 hour bus ride to Banos from Tena. We were excited for Banos, since we had heard nothing but nice things about the town. We were not disappointed. We arrived around noon. You could tell it was a town based in tourism right from the start. As soon as we were off the bus we were offered tours. We bypassed the touts and checked in at our hostel which was very nice. At $13 a night, we felt like we struck a deal. It had free internet and a great rooftop terrace. The weather was sunny and we promptly headed out to explore the city and the local market. Continue Reading »
Christian April 27th, 2008
The bus ride from Quito to Tena was five and a half hours long. The closer we got to the jungle, the better the scenery was. It was great to look out the bus window and look over the rainforest from the dirt mountain roads. We arrived in Tena around 4:30 or so in the afternoon. We hired a taxi for a $1 to take us and our bags up the hill to our hostel. We were pleasantly surprised by the place (Limonchoca). For $10 a night we got a great view, cable TV, a kitchen, and complmentary hammocks to use on the balcony. It was a steal. The first night we talked to the owner about scheduling a white water rafting trip. Continue Reading »
Christian April 20th, 2008
Our time in the Galapagos was amazing. We spent 8 days on a 75 foot yacht exploring the islands. We had close encounters with all kinds of wildlife, and saw some of the most beautiful beaches. This is a longer post, but is filled with our adventures in the Galapagos. There will be three sets of Galapagos photos in our photo section, as well as hopefully a video at some point. Enjoy! Continue Reading »
Christian April 19th, 2008
Before our journey to the Galapagos, we thought we would do a touristy thing or two in Quito. One of the mini trips we did was to the Mitad del Mundo or “Middle of the World”. We got made our way to the blue line bus that would take us to a mini bus station an hour away or so. The bus was jammed with people, with more people getting on at each stop. We got off at the wrong stop to switch buses (thanks Lonely Planet). If you are using public transportation to get to the Mitad del Mundo, take the bus all the way to the end. We caught the next bus to the correct stop where we switched buses. At one point this kid jumped on the bus and started giving a comedy routine for money. After almost 1.5 hours in jammed standing room only buses the driver let us know we were at the mitad del mundo. We got off the bus on the side of the street and walked in.
The place was creepy. Continue Reading »
