Panama Hat, Bus Blows Up, Purple People Eater Gone
Trip Start
Sep 29, 2007
1
123
221
Trip End
Ongoing
Cuenca,
Ecuador
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
The bus that we flagged down after leaving Alausi was completely full but the driver pulled a groin muscle to get our packs in under the bus and gave us the co-pilotīs chair and a little bench to sit on in the driverīs cabin. Rock star seating. Cool. Then ten minutes drive up the Panamericana highway the bus comes to a halt during an uphill climb on a dark hill. We heard the words ĻBombaĻwhich we translated as the motor has blown up and the bus was left in complete darkness while speeding trucks and other cars rounded the corner in front of us and dodged us from behind as we sat in the middle of the road. Passengers were dangerously wandering all over the road. The driver, co-pilot and conductor had no torch so we gave them our headtorch and they pulled the cabin apart whilst fumes and smoke filled the area all around the bus. No good, someone forgot to put oil in the motor. It was toast. Mobile phone calls were made and then the conductor and co-pilot took off sprinting down the hill into the darkness.
My Panama hat- classic style
Where were they going in the middle of nowhere in the southern highlands of Ecuador? There is not much out there. Meanwhile passengers and the driver started to rip apart all the vegetation along the highway and used it to make a barrier around the bus and then started waving their tree branches like the crazy people they are to try to flag down passing cars. people started hitching in all directions. After an hour it became clear to us that there was no replacement bus coming. All the Cuenca buses that were passing us were filled to the brim and we didnīt fancy standing up for a four hour journey. The driverīs wouldnīt let us in the doors anyway. So, eventually the driver got us on a bus and we looked like crazy gringos getting on this bus in the middle of the night, in the middle of nowhere emerging from the pitch black darkness to get on this bus. A comfortable sleep was had by us and we finally reached Cuenca in the early hours of the morning, got stung by a ridiculous taxi fare and ended up at a good hostel called El Cafecito. After really enjoying it at first, we are now completely over the cumbia music that is played loudly on all the Ecuador buses. This style has the rhythm of a galloping three legged horse. We have enjoyed the traditional Andean music though which has a distinctive, haunting sound. Itīs otherworldly quality results from the use of a pentatonic five note scale and the use of pre-Colombian wind and percussion instrumnets that conjure the windswept quality of highland life.Next morning we awoke to a full blown makeup and hair studio happening in the hostel
Made In Ecuador
. There was a television crew filming a Latin American soapie and the acting was bad. Also this morning i had two breakfasts and then noticed that somebody had made off with my favourite travel towel, the over-sized chamois style purple one. I am still mourning the loss of the purple people eater. Everything we own has a name and human qualities. For example my Sea to Summit travel pillow is named Slippery Sam because he is made from a material that makes him slide off the glass bus windows when you lean on him making it impossible to keep your head up. That is the friendly fact for today and all our lives are better for it. We were keen to go straight to the Peruvian border after a quick look around Cuenca but first, i had to buy my Panama Hat that i had been after for the whole trip in South America. I had bought one previously but soon found out it was a fake. We went to some dulce shops and looked around the central plaza then took in the fragrances found at the flower market before going to the Panama Hat Museum run by the Paredes Roldan Family who have been making the genuine hate for sixty years. The hats are so good because they are light in colour, have a good sized brim, have been worn by Miss Universe contestants for years, are lightweight and comfortable, classy and best of all, you can roll them up and stash them away then get them back out and they should still have their shape. There is a long process in making them and this was demonstrated to us at the museum by a sales guy
making an Ecuadorian soapie
. The hats are made from a kind of palm leaf that is stripped into strands, indigenous people buy bundles of the strands then weave them into the hats, a process that can take up to three months for one hat depending on the quality of the hat. The hat is then shaped and bleached using natural vocanic powder. I bought an averaged priced one because they had no better quality ones in stock and we didnīt have time for a custom one to be made for me.Next, the mission to reach Cusco began and i have no idea how much travel time was involved. We caught a taxi from Cuenca to a terminal then a bus to the town of Machala, five hours away and it was well into the night by then meaning we would be doing a nightime border cross from Ecuador into Peru. We had heard the border here could be dodgy brothers so we did the right thing and caught a bus from the only company that is supposed to do the international crossing meaning we would not have to get off the bus and our documentation would be taken care of on board the bus. So we get on a CIFA bus after being told by three seperate sources that we were indeed on the correct bus only to find out that the bus we were on was the wrong one and it was only going to the Ecuadorian border town of Huayquillas. Bastards, why do they answer us when they donīt really know? This meant we would have to cross alone and put ourselves in danger late at night. The bus driver tells us he will drop us at the Ecuadorian immigration border post so we can get our stamps out
Cuenca steeples
. He throws our packs out the door and we trundle into the office to be met by unfriendly guards. We do the business then catch a taxi to the international bridge to cross into Tumbes. Some police tell us to ask a driver to take us to the Peruvian border post a couple of kilometres away. Tumbes has a very dodgy street filled with skanky dogs and sketchy men who drive the personal cars and tuk tuks to the border post and then on to the bus terminals at Tumbes. We chose our driver and also got a sly nod from the police to let us know the guy was legit. But were they? Anyway, the guy was okay and waited while we got tourist card visas and stamps into Peru then took us to the terminal, he also filled us in on the bus situation. Turns out that there were no buses leaving to Lima that late and that we must try to get a bus from Tumbes to Chiclayo then onto Lima. A street guy out of his brain on cocaine followed us around to the bus terminals trying to help us in the hope that he would get some money. All the last buses for the night were full except for one option. There was one seat left on the double level cheap bus company bus, the very last bus for the night. Not wanting to stay the night in hell we asked if we could perhaps buy the one seat and then pay full price for one of us to stand in the aisle thinking we would lay down there once the bus rolled because Chiclayo was nine hours away. The guy agreed and wrote us the ticket. We paid 25soles each which is cheap for the journey but more than the locals paid
pigeons on building main square
. We paid the anxious coke guy with small change to put our bags on the bus. The guy didnīt shut up for half an hour and in our tired state we were more than ready to whack him in the head. The locals on the bus were a crazy bunch and we chatted with them until the bus moved. They all thought we were crazy buying the stand up ticket. One extra friendly Peruvian guy had a large criminal duffel bag of fake black and white Adidas football boots that he was attempting to smuggle over the border and a ticket written for the seat number next to mine. The guy offered up his seat to Nadine and then got everybody around us to exchange their own shoes for the pirate ones in his criminal bag thus evading the police inspection and getting the shoes into Peru where he stood to make a good profit on them. Great idea, it worked and everyone got their own shoes back. Classic. We slept on and off until Chiclayo then were happy to find that a gourmet Cruz Del Sur bus was leaving at 8:30 in the morning to Lima, only half an hour wait for us. The bus has reclining seats, catering, air and hostesses dressed like flight attendants. The bus company takes itself very seriously and a ticket costs three times as much as the other companies. Well worth the expense though. The luggage is ticketed and checked in by conductors and you wait in a line at a boarding gate which is really just a door out into the bus parking bay area. Then a VIP rope is moved so you can cross the line and have your carry on luggage searched for weapons
flower market
. Next a well groomed, immaculate hostess escorts you to your seat and a guy films you on a video camera for extra security. A coffee and lunch is served and you play a bit of Bingo. This is the first company in a long time to show DVDs that they will play using the English sub-titles. We watched Cars the movie and US Marshalls. The friendly hostess looked identical to Jennifer Lopez, we couldnīt believe it. The bad news....I have been sick for all of Ecuador from street food most likely and stomach problems on a bus journey is not all that fun.Once we arrived in Lima we found that the buses to Cusco were fully booked for two days and taking into account my illness we decided to try and get a cheap flight. Star Peru had flights leaving in the morning but when we booked the flights we found out that the computer had us on a 5:00am flight. We checked into Hotel Espana which is a big old mansion with chandeliers, busts, paintings, large rooms and a person who would do us a wake up knock on the door. We organised a good taxi for the morning to take us to the airport 40minutes away. Only one leg left and we are back in our spiritual home, Cusco.
