Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
I don't know why we torture ourselves with visits to the big cities. Last week we hopped on a bus from Montañita to Guayaquil, Ecuador's largest city, in the hopes of visiting the mangroves there. We arrived at the Guayaquil bus terminal, which is so large it feels like an airport, in the early afternoon and after a 30 minute taxi ride checked into Dream Kapture hostel in the north part of the city. It was $12/night for a dorm room with a pretty good breakfast included. The ride from Montañita was only 3 hours so we still had a bit of time and energy left in our day to try and sort out a visit to the mangroves for the following day. Lauren contacted a couple agencies and received a response from 1, who said that a day trip to the mangroves was $85. Yikes, way out of our price range. I was willing to pay about half of that considering it was only for one day. After speaking with the guy at the front desk, we found out that $85 was actually a cheap option and some places charge up to $130 per person. I would've really liked to see the trees and exotic birds but not for that much money; $85 could be almost 3 days of living down here so I consider that a small fortune at this point. We scratched the mangrove idea in Guayaquil and decided to try seeing them in Tumbes, Perú.
Since we already had the hostel booked for 2 nights, we spent the following day visiting the Malecón (waterfront walk) and Parque Iguana downtown. Just navigating the bus system was an adventure in itself, as it usually is, but we made it after a 45 minute ride. The iguana park was pretty cool, there were mini dinosaurs everywhere. We took some photos and headed towards the water. The Malecón is a really nice area, the best part of the city from what I saw. The weather in Guayaquil is very hot and humid so we only walked around for an hour or 2 before we started melting. We caught the bus back to the hostel and 'swam' for a bit in the hot tub-sized pool. Out of all the cities we visited in 4 and 1/2 months, I think Guayaquil was my least favorite. It was huge and crowded and ugly, there were big malls everywhere, and the weather was so physically draining that I could hardly be bothered to go look for food, of which there was none around. I couldn't wait to get out of the city.
The next morning we caught a 10am bus over the border to Tumbes with CIFA International bus company. The bus wasn't horrible but it wasn't too nice either. Sometimes the buses are really cramped and everyone insists on putting their seat back, so I really struggle with the leg room. The ride cost $10 and was about 6 hours or so. We arrived to Tumbes around 4 in the afternoon and upon arrival at the CIFA station we were immediately greeted by a guy offering us a tour to the mangroves. He first helped us find a hospedaje to stay at, which proved to be slightly difficult because the first couple tried to significantly overcharge us. A hospedaje is a hostel that is usually dirtier and doesn't have a kitchen to use or wi-fi. The first place wanted 40 soles per person (about $14) which is insane because we pay $10 on average for far better places.
We finally found one willing to let us pay 20 soles each (about $7). I wouldn't realize it until bedtime but our room overlooked the street, which was incredibly noisy at all hours of the night with honking cars, loud music, and people yelling all manner of things at each other. Needless to say we didn't sleep well that night, if really at all. After we checked into our crappy room, we respectfully excused our self-appointed guide who wanted to charge us 80 soles for a mangrove tour lasting only a couple hours ($27). While this was a far better price than we were offered in Guayaquil, it wasn't exactly clear to us what the tour included. That night we tried shopping around a bit more but the other companies seemed to charge the same price and were equally vague as to what we would receive on the tour. We finally decided to give up on the mangroves altogether because we were unsure as to what kind of a tour we would be getting. Unfortunately we had already paid for our hostel or we would've taken a bus to Máncora that night, as Tumbes was just as distasteful a city as Guayaquil. In my humble opinion there is no reason to visit either city, except perhaps to catch a plane to the Galápagos Islands from Guayaquil.
The next morning we were up early and ate a quick breakfast of fruit and Ritz crackers with peanut butter. We really wanted to get the heck out of Tumbes. Erik and Aleah were in Máncora and we were looking forward to meeting up with them because we didn't think we'd get the chance to see them again. After getting all packed up we tried going to the bus stations near the hostel to try and find a bus to Máncora that morning, but somehow none of them seemed to be going there. A guy came over and told us that CIFA, the same bus company we crossed the border with, would take us there and since the station was a few blocks away he offered us a ride. When we got there the woman at the front desk told us their buses don't go to Máncora at all, even though there were signs everywhere saying they did. Not sure if she just didn't want to help us or what but she lied to our faces. Luckily there was a nice tuk tuk driver nearby who was able to take us to a company that left for Máncora fairly frequently. He gave us a ride back the way we came and we pulled into a driveway literally directly across from our hostel. It's moments like these where you really just have to laugh instead of get frustrated, which is easy to do. We squeezed into one of the collectivos (always fun for a tall person) and for 12 soles ($4) we had a relatively quick and easy 2 hour ride to Máncora. I'm so grateful to be out of the big cities and back to a more manageable relaxed beach town. Now that we're here I am ready for some more lazy beach time, one can never have too much of that!
- comments