i got on a plane in cuzco yesterday morning and flew to lima. got on another plane and flew to tumbes - a town right by the peruvian-ecuadorian border. THE smallest airport i have EVER been at. seriously, it was just one building. we got off the plane onto the tarmac and the airport was maybe the size of a few school portables put together. they didn´t even have an information desk - which threw a wrench in my plans.
so my plan? i didn´t really have one. all i knew was that i didn´t want to bus 38 hours to montanita in ecuador so i splurged and bought flights to tumbes and decided to bus across the border and up to montanita. i figured once i got to tumbes, i´ll be able to figure out how to cross the border legitimately and then just get a bus to montanita. worse case scenario, i ask people at the info desk. so a lack of an info desk posed a bit of a problem. a taxi driver asked me if i needed a taxi. i told him i was going to montanita. did he speak english? no. and my spanish? no. so i THINK he told me that he would take me to the immigration office to get stamped out of peru. so i hopped in the cab with him. hoping for the best. he takes me to the immigration office, i get stamped out. i ask him to take me to the bus terminal. he shakes his head and starts making hand motions and rambling in spanish. i have NO IDEA what he´s trying to say. all i know is that he tells me to get into the cab and i do. i´m usually more skeptical than this but he seemed like a very nice guy. he drives me...somewhere. pulls of to the side of a street in the middle of a VERY busy marketplace. turns around and points at himself and me and says something about accompanying me. i´m just very confused and i´m sure i looked confused. he says something else and i pick out the words ¨ecuador immigration,¨ ¨bus station.¨ ¨guayaquil,¨ and ¨i and you.¨ i think he´s saying that he´ll cross the border with me to get me to the ecuadorian immigration office and then get me to the bus station? i think. so i go with that thought.
so he takes my big pack and i take my day pack and i follow him through this market until we get to a bridge with a sign saying something along the lines of ¨thank you for visiting peru¨ on one end and another sign saying something along the lines of ¨welcome to ecuador¨ on the other end. i SWEAR i´m the only tourist around. i´m a little concerned. so i stay close to my cab driver - who though i´ve only known for about twenty minutes i would probably trust him with my life at that time. we wait for a cab on a corner where it seems like EVERYONE is staring at us (me because i´m obviously not from around there and him because why is a peruvian cab driver in ecuador carrying my backpack?). i ask him what his name is. his name is michael. i thank him because i felt that he was probably doing more than he usually does for people he drives around. a couple of people that he knows walk by and they chat for a bit - likely asking who i was and what he was doing as there were many looks my way with hand gestures at my backpack. they introduce themselves to me and tell me that michael´s a good guy. i believe them. anyways, a cab comes and we hop into an ecuadorian cab (he wasn´t allowed to bring his peruvian cab over) and we go to the immigration office, get me stamped into the country, and then we hop into another cab, get out at what i would assume was a bus station, and next thing i know, he´s asking for a ticket to get me to guayaquil. he hands me the ticket, sets my bag down on the couch in the bus station, and says, ¨finito,¨ points at himself and then points out the door. this is the end. this is as far as he goes with me. i look at my watch. michael just spent TWO HOURS with me making sure that i got across the border ok and was on my way to the next stop. i was chatting with a guy from the states on the plane ride to tumbes earlier that day and he was asking what it was like as a girl traveling alone in peru with no spanish speaking ability. it made me think about the last five weeks and how unbelievably BLESSED i have been with the people i have met and the amount of help that i have been given. i have been fortunate that all the strangers that i have met and followed and even hopped into cars to places that i didn´t know have been good, solid people who just wanted to help. i have not been able to properly converse with anyone in spanish and yet i have stayed in hostels where the owners speak nothing but spanish and have been given directions and advice by locals and travelers who speak little to no english. my five weeks in peru were amazing. and as i crossed the border into ecuador, michael´s kindness reminded me that even though i have no idea what i´m doing down here in ecuador, i´ll be ok. so i gave micheal a hug, tipped him well (he almost wouldn´t take the tip) and said thank you and good bye. i had a couple of hours to kill at the bus station so i just sat there and started reading up on ecuador and guayaquil in the lonely planet.
so this bus to guayaquil was really just a minivan - like a proper north american minivan. and i got a bucket seat in the middle. probably one of the comfier rides i´ve had since being in south america. i slept most of the ride. arrived in guayaquil a little after midnight. got me a cab, headed to a hotel, checked in and slept. i spent this morning wandering around guyaquil a bit. big city. it´s alright. not a huge fan. and really, i just want to get to a beach. so packed my stuff up, checked out, hopped in a cab where the cab driver tried to tell me about the HUGE waves in monatanita and that i needed to surf, got off at the bus terminal and was greeted by this guy who got me my bus ticked to montanita within five minutes of me getting out of the cab. at first i thought he worked for the bus terminal and was thinking, ¨this is a great service for tourists!¨ but after he showed me where to board the bus, he was obviously waiting for payment. oh well. not everyone´s a michael. =)
and i know that this isn´t really a fair, proper comparison but i´m going to put it out there anyways. so i named my car back home michael - that´s a story in and of itself so i´m not going to go into it here. anyways, the joke back home is that michael is super reliable. he takes me places, on time, reliable, and there was only one time he wasn´t where i left him but he ended up coming back anyways. i find it kind of fitting that the cab driver´s name was michael. he got me from point a to b, reliable and was always outside both immigration offices waiting for me with my backpack. i know, i know. i just compared a man to my car. but i think of both with the same amount of fondness - and yes, i am SUPER fond of my car.
so my bus leaves in about a half hour or so and I´LL BE ON A BEACH!!!!! QUITE excited to be lying in a hammock with a book. QUITE excited to try surfing. QUITE excited for HOT weather. QUITE excited for even more ceviche. QUITE excited about just sitting and doing nothing for a few days. i´m just EXCITED!!!!!
bought me a new camera a couple days ago in cusco so i´ll be taking pics again!!! got the exact same model that i lost. was super tempted to stay in cusco until saturday night so that i could go check out the black market for stolen electronics and maybe get my camera back but cusco was not doing my health any favours with all the late nights. and i was getting bored in cusco. i did most of the touristy things and was just randomly wandering by the last day.
my first day in a new country reminded me a lot of my first day in lima. super weary. super cautious. definitely thinking everyone wanted to rob me. and guayaquil isn´t swarming with tourists. the last two cities i was in - cuzco and arequipa - were DEFINITELY tourist cities and i looked more local than tourist, or at least i could possibly pass as a local and not everyone assumed i was a tourist. but not so much in guayaquil. and fewer people speak english here. so i was feeling a little less confident. but i think i´m ok now. the beach will be good. oh, and something else about peru and ecuador that i with i could bring back to canada with me - men walking by will just tell you you´re beautiful and then walk away. no ulterior motives or intentions or anything of the sort. now, not ALL the men are like that but it was interesting to have someone just tell me they think i´m beautiful and not want anything else. call me a girl, but that always makes my day! =)
anyways, i´m off to catch my bus to montanita!!!!
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