Travel Tales of 2

We arrived in Guayaquill at the weekend so things were fairly quiet but had a walk around all the same. We didn´t stray too far from the center except to walk along the riverfront boardwalk. We did get to see election voting - couldn´t figure out the voting system though seemed pretty random to us - a street was blooked off and there were loads of tables with numbers written on paper taped to the wall behind….We wanted to go on a trip to the Galapagos islands (seemingly a must see place although a tad more expensive than anything we´ve done to date) so decided to try and get it out of the way and book something. After checking out a couple of travel agencies (there weren´t that many in town that dealt with the galapagos) we realised we had a limited selection and decided to try our luck in Quito. Probably didn´t give the place much time but the most notable experience was we met two Johova Witnesses who were there working on behalf of their church (really nice people but definately were not expecting to be run into them). After an uneventful bus trip (which was a nice change) we arrived in Quito in the early morning so headed straight to a hostel were we slept for a few hours before heading out to sort out our Galapagos trip. After some research we realised our only real option was a boat named the Marek, for an 8day trip, leaving in five days time. It took us two days in all to get all sorted for the Galapagos - after having to wait and sort out flight tickets, but as we were flying out of Quito we had plenty of time to check out some of the sights before leaving. We went for a walk around the old town - which had some really nice colonial buildings surrounding a huge square and some small streets you could wander around. Had to drag Garrett for a coffee in one of the little coffee shops (hey it was raining and i mean it was a downpour - arrived everyday at 3o´clock almost like clockwork). Went to the irish bar just around the corner from the hostel were Garrett got to buy a 3litre glass of beer - it was huge and yes he was in his element. The following day we decided to try out the towns bus system, actually managed not to get lost, and travel to the center of the world - the equator. Had great fun me in the northern hemisphere with Garrett in the south!! We had a beer just to say we had a beer on the equator. After a few pics and a wander around it was back on the bus (tried to time it so we would reach the hostel before the rain came) of course this time got slightly lost but found our way eventually. On our last day in Quito, before flying to the Galapagos, we visited the Basilica which is a massive cathedral in the old district. It was fairly big but what was really brilliant was you could walk to the top of the steeple, which we did but as it started to thunder and lightening appeared we didn´t stay too long - we headed up the clock tower instead (well it was higher up). The church had been destroyed by an earthquake and fire but was rebuilt by the locals some of the pictures of the reconstruction were amazing (very few safety laws here). Well thats it for now - its off to the Galapagos (seemingly the no.1 holiday destination although we are visiting in the off season) S&G

 okay so after a day recuperating - where i never left our hotel room cause i looked like a swollen tomato… we decided to head on to Ecuador. Rather than backtrack to Lima we took a bus to Trujillo. We arrived there the following day fairly rested, well our sleep was interrupted once or twice!!! First we had to change buses (second one definitely wasn´t as nice plus it was colder) and only an hour or so after changing buses we had a tyre blow out - smoke everywhere etc etc - beginning to become a bit of regular thing when we travel by bus!!!! Anyways arrived a little late to Turjillo which wasn´t exactly a bad thing as the only connecting bus to Thumbes (on the border between Peru and Ecuador) was at nine that night. As we had a day to kill we did a tour - there are loads of ruins around Trujillo from pre-inca times.So we visited Chan Chan, which is the largest mud city in the world and as the the area has a relatively dry climate being on the coast and all a lot of the ruins have survived. It was a really interesting tour and a good way to pass some hours. After a very healthy fried chicken and chips dinner we headed to the bus terminal where we had our finger prints taken along with a video of all the faces of the people on the bus - i unsuccessfully tried to hide due to my still red face…We guessed it was due to our traveling to a border town although while traveling through all Peru a record of our passport numbers has always been taken!! It was a fairly uneventful trip, no tyre blow outs (I know surprise surprise but the rest of the day was eventful enough…), to Thumbes a border town between Peru and Ecuador, which is notoriously known as the worst border crossing in ALL of south America (we off course had done no research and didn´t realise that so if anyone is reading this and traveling in south America avoid this border crossing by all means possible!!) Here´s what happened; First off we were met at the bus station by a taxi driver who offered us a connection to the border and having done a bit of traveling we asked how much it would cost (we didn´t have much money on us 20dollars in all so pretty money conscious) to which he replied connection (Repeated this three times same answer). I believed him - Garrett as ever was more sceptical, but didn´t mind if he decided to charge us something at the end so off we went the four of us (he brought a friend - protection he said). We traveled 24kms to the border so realised at this stage (too late) the taxi man would definitely be expecting money still figured we´d have enough to cover it!! Got stamped out of Peru no problems and got back in the taxi - between the Peru border and the Ecuadorian border there is a no mans land in which exists a pretty dodgy town so we were advised to take our taxi to the Ecuadorian border. So off we drove navigating narrow streets and markets - this is were the “protection friend” came in handy directing the car through narrow streets and removing obstacles, until we pulled into a parking area surrounded by galvanised walls and the river. It was here everything turned sour - a security guard arrived demanding 40dollars each per person to leave the taxi in the parking lot???? At this stage the taxi man told us (with a huge smile - he was being so helpful in his mind protecting us from the riff raff in town!!!!!) that all he wanted was 130dollars (thats each) but this included everything - our bus to Guayaquil, the security guard, the taxi fare and for our security (the taxi man and his friend!!!). Needless to say our 20dollars felt small but we were furious and demanded to be returned to Thumbes. Everyone got a little nervous then, the security guard brought his price down to 20dollars each and the taxi man said okay 80dollars each. Needless to say we were still furious especially as we had specifically asked how much the taxi would cost before getting in!!! A fantastic argument ensued helped along by our perfect Spanish of course but i think our faces said everything. Firstly we informed them we only had 20dollars - easily overcome they offered to accompany us to the bank mmmm. Anyway to cut the story short we gave up trying to get back to Thumbes - we had been naive didn´t research the border crossing and so had landed ourselves in the situation. So we cut our losses and paid 40dollars each (a far cry off 130 but still 40dollars to cross a border even Cambodia wasn´t this bad). Of course our haggling had meant we got the cheapest bus possible so we were left at the bus (have to admit got no trouble although once or twice had people come up when they didn´t see our “bodyguards”). We got on our bus hoped off at the border to get our passports stamped then proceeded to a check point were we all got off the bus and had our identification and bus thoroughly checked (they even checked the toilets) we passed through several checkpoints identification and bus checked at all. Eventually after about two hours we passed our final checkpoint. We stopped at almost every town and intersection to pick up more passengers. Five hours in (we were meant to be at our destination at this stage and were pretty hungry as hadn´t eaten all day) the bus is packed to the hilt I mean it you couldn´t have squeezed an orange in and our luck kicked in yep another tyre blow out. It took them over an hour to change the tyre, well the jack didn´t lift the bus high enough!! stones came in handy though!!!, so didn´t get to our destination till 4 (we left Thumbes at . So needless to say once we got into town found a bank and somewhere to eat and sleep and then we just crashed out. So in Ecuador now and first impressions - the border incident, have a lot to make up for. S&G