The real Ecuador
Trip Start
Jul 15, 2006
1
3
11
Trip End
Jul 31, 2006
Machala,
Ecuador
Sunday, July 16, 2006
We were travelling in a pick up truck and a passenger car. Edwins uncle was a little worried about the checkpoints as the pick up bed was full of luggage, but a few dollars exchanging hands sped up the process of getting through.
Soon the scenery started changing. The road quality deteriorated and we were now surrounded by fields of bananas and plantains. I also started seeing a lot of the poverty that engulfs a good part of Ecuader. Small shacks could be seen close to the road, some the size of tool sheds you see in people's backyards at home. The few villages we passed through were in a similar shape. I don't believe most of them had running water or electricity. Some homes were missing whole walls.
Eventually we got to Machala. This place is located right in the heart of the banana fields. It doesn't seem to make it on most peoples itineraries as it doesn't have much to offer to a traveller. We spent a few days in the city, living with Edwins family. My days here were spent lazing around, running a few errands and on a few outings in the evenings.
Machala itself is a working class town. The roads are in disarray, full of potholes and many intersections that lack proper traffic signage. The roads are not named and require a good knowledge of the landmarks. If you are going to take a cab anywhere, you need to describe where you are going based on the surroundings and not an address.
Some of the errands I came along on took me through government offices full of long line ups and requiring large amounts of paperwork to get even the most basic of tasks taken care of. Most of these offices were hot and without any sort of ventilation. The staff working there was mostly rude and threatening, sort of like the old DMV power trip skits you see on TV.
We did some research on Galapagos as well. We were not sure whether to book an organized tour or try to wing it, in the end we ended up booking our flights through the Ecuadiorian airline, Tame, and deciding to play the local stuff by ear. The flights were set up to fly out of Guyaquil and come back to Quito.
There really is no night life in town. Most of the people go out to the waterfront in the evenings. There you can find a couple of cafes, and people walking around or hanging out by the cars. There are also street vendors making and selling food. I wasn't brave enough to try any of that as most of the cooking conditions did not seem very hygienic.
The waterfront district is surrounded by a shipping port, hence it's name "La Porta". Huge tanker ships can be seen in all directions. The water itself is disgusting. Garbage covers the water extending for hundreds of meters from the shoreline. When the tide goes out, the ground is littered full of crap. This was definately very unfortunate as if it wasn't for that this would be a very nice area.
One day we took a day trip to a local beach called Jambeli. The beach was on an island and to get there we had to spend about an hour on a boat. Unlike Machala, this area was very clean and the beach itself was really nice. There were a good number of small hotels on the beach and we met a bunch of South American travellers. It was the winter season though, so the area was deserted for the most part. I think it would probably be much different in the summer.
On our last night we went out to a cafe located on the waterfront with Edwins cousin and a few of his friends. That night we ended up at a house party, which was the highlight of the Machala night life.
Having a few days before our Galapagos trip, we decided to get out of Machala and head for the coast. After looking at a few different ways of travelling, we decided to hop on a van to Guayaquil. These vans are pretty inexpensive and leave for Guyaquil quite frequently. The van companies are mostly found by the bus station near the port..
Sites you don't see on the highways back home
