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A leisurely morning of napping and breakfast only to inquire about buying my bus ticket to find out he was full of s*** and there is no bus. I swore a few times and left to the bus stop to re-plan. The weather in Baños was perfect and if I hadn't booked accommodation in Montañita then I would have likely stayed. I found a way to do it but it will take all day and I would have to rush back to the hostel to pack.
I made the 10am direct bus to Guayaquil by minutes, a little out of breath but there. I started talking to two gringos, a couple(?) of English girls/ladies.
It was the usual bus trip, picking up everyone as we headed to Ambato and as I expected (but the agent lied as usual) we had to get three more tickets and change bus. This bus filled up very quickly and the seat next to me was filled by a 25-30 yr old man who works in his family run shoe producing business. It was a great chance to practice my Spanish. After we swapped formalities he taught me about all the plants in the fields and what food to eat. He travels Ecuador all the time and gave some good tips for food, restaurants and locations.
The road constantly had an amazing view as we dropped from over 3300m to sea level. The only parts I didn't like where the three near misses, nothing major, just head on collisions. One close call must have been abnormally close as half the bus sighed and crossed themselves!!
One interesting part of the information i got from my amigo was about these 4L color bottles of liquid in the stalls at the side of the road in the farming area. It turns out its a local moonshine most with no flavor but the more expensive colored ones are fruit flavored. He explained its harsher than tequila and when he tried it he passed out very quickly!!
I arrived at Guayaquil for the start of the next adventure, can I make a bus heading to Montañita?
I found the counters only to find out the final direct bus was at 4:30 and it was 5:30. I decide to add a bus to it all and head to Santa Elana where there would be a costal bust to Montañita. It will be after 8pm when I am to arrive at Santa Elena and there is a chance there won't be a bus there to Montañita. I'm sure Santa Elana is a nice place too. At least it has been a nice view on the journey.
We pulled out half full and i thought it could be a nice time to relax. However during the start of the journey the bus filled up to the brim with workers from under a bridge. as i headed away in a bus full of locals and as night started to fall I began doubting my decisions to get me to this point. This was when a man spotted the gringo and came to sit next to him (half the bus had just gotten off, including snoring beauty next to me). He was a government worker but he use to study tourism and wanted to practice his English. He assured me there would be a bus and it won't be hard to get there tonight. He left not long later but it was a nice chat. By the time we pulled in it was after 8:30.
I got off on a street corner which was the bus station and tried to think. It's so much harder to think while people hound you, offering me $20 taxi ride to Montañita in unmarked cars. Obviously they wouldn't help with the next bus I wanted, so when I spotted some police I asked them.... Shiiit, it's the one about to pull away from the next street. I ran and stopped it, slung the bag underneath and jumped on for bus number 5! This is by far the most local bus I've been on for a while and it filled up and up and up. For a South American bus it was missing some animals on board but I think they were sleeping, haha. In between the heads in the aisle and the other people generally everywhere, the most violent movie I have ever seen was on. It was in Spanish but there were very few words, and all but three cast member were murdered and all those deaths were bloody and messy.
I asked a few locals for my street and hostel location and got help. I got my own bus stop!! i had the directions to walk up the dirt road, it's on the right. Naturally I asked a few other people on the way to see if they give me the same directions and then..... Andrew got to his hostel in Montañita!
I love South American busses and adventures.
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