Off to the coast

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  Manta, Ecuador
Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Having returned from the Jungle to Quito in one piece we then spent a couple of days there doing washing, visiting the Old Town one last time and saying goodbye to friends. Our final evening in Quito was an evening of celebration, for many reasons. Firstly we had to stay awake to catch our 10.30pm bus to the coast, this was going to be difficult since we have normally been asleep by 9.30pm (sad, I know!) Secondly we had to say goodbye to Quito, and have a few beers to make us sleepy for the bus journey (which proved to be successful!). Thirdly we had to toast (my brother) Adamīs success on getting a First in music from Oxford University...wow! 

At 10.15 we arrived at the bus station having walked through El Mariscal without getting robbed ( something the Lonely Planet seems to think is impossible, it really isnīt that bad!) We got onto a LOVELY bus, definitely the best so far and began our journey to the coast. This journey was much much better, the Panamerica Bus Company is a joy, no crazy speeds, avoidance of all pot holes and generally a good ride. I even managed to get a fair bit of sleep on this one. The journey was further improved when we discovered that there is an actual road when you get near to the coast. It was heaven! A round of applause for President Correasīs road building plans please!

We arrived in Manta at about 9.30am having driven through a beautiful cloud forest and then emerged to blue sky and the sea! We jumped into a taxi and headed for our hostel. Our hearts sank as we realised we were moving away from the nice part of town and into the slightly dodgy part of town. the hostel itself was ok, what you would expect for 3.50pounds each a night. There was an interesting plumbing system that meant you couldnīt use the shower, sink or loo within 5minutes of each other! This caused Dom no end of frustration and confusion after a night on the bus! We did have a sea view but it had clouded over by the time we got to the hotel and the grey looked set to stay. It was pretty hot though so we set out to find a bank on to find we didnīt understand of word of the locals when we asked for directions. Their accents are completely different on the coast. Having eventually found some money we ventured to the beach to find some lunch. The book had recommended any of the cheap restaurants by the sea. We found a cluster of 12 places serving cerviche but were surprised to see that two of them were packed but the rest were completely empty. We couldnīt get a place at the first one so dived into the second one. It was was only when I was say with my menu that I looked around and realised that, apart from the waitresses, I was the only girl in the restaurant and definitely the only blonde. I have never been so stared at in my whole life! It was full of all the fisherman from the area, boy do they like a drink with their lunch!

We scuttled back to our hotel for a siesta and afterwards realised that we didnīt like Manta much and we would move on to Puerto Lopez the next day. The rest of the day we spent reading and lounging about and watching TV. We read that there were a really nice restaurant just down the road from us so went there for dinner only to discover that it is only open for lunch, damn the inaccurate Lonely Planet! So we went to the restaurant, actually that should be shack, across the road from us. There was no one there and the waiter had to go and get his mum to come and do the cooking!

So we had an early night then got up early the next day to head for Puerto Lopez.

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