On January 8th, 2019, our friends Tom and Pia picked us up at home. They were on their way to deliver Pia’s sister to the Ottawa airport so were kind enough to let us hop in the car. After a pleasant ride and dinner in Ottawa with them, we got to bed early at the Days Inn in preparation for an early morning and long day of travel.
We took the 4 am shuttle from the hotel to the airport and checked in with no problems. Our first flight left at 7 am for Logan Airport in Boston. Since we had flown on Aeroplan points, we didn’t have much choice in how to get to our ultimate destination of Guayaquil, Ecuador or how long it would take. There’s really not much advantage in flying to Boston from Ottawa when you want to go to Ecuador.
We had a 6 hour layover in Boston and had to change terminals, which meant leaving the secured area and having to go back in again in another terminal. Unfortunately, we couldn’t check in for our next flight right away and had to spend a couple of hours sitting at the check-in area. However, we’re used to these small inconveniences. After we got to the waiting area by our gate, we sat and watched the rain. One of the baggage wagons on the runway took a corner too sharply and half the bags spilled out onto the pavement. Luckily no suitcases broke open. None of the baggage handlers seemed to find this unusual. They just gradually picked it all up.
After 2 pm, our next flight left for Panama City where we arrived in the evening. The airport there always seems very busy but we had no problems finding our gate and waiting for our final flight to Guayaquil. We arrived in Guayaquil about 11:30 pm and passed through customs. Unlike last year, both of our packs arrived on the luggage carousel.
In Guayaquil, it is always wise, especially after dark, to arrange for a taxi at the booth inside the airport. It is not wise to hail a cab out on the street. For $5 we got a taxi to our little hotel, the DC Suites, about 5 minutes away.
After about 5 hours sleep, we had our pre-arranged breakfast in the lobby and got a ride from the hotel owner to the big bus station adjacent to the airport. We had bought tickets ($8 each US) to Bahia de Caracquez online from the Reina del Camino bus company. We took the printout to their office in the station just to make sure it was valid. It was and we just had to pay the 25 cents each to go through the exit turnstile to the platform on the upper level of the station.
Our bus left on time, more or less, at 9:40. Reina del Camino has reasonable buses with AC. All long distance buses in Ecuador have a screen on the wall behind the driver where they show violent movies, usually at full volume. We have learned to tune them out as much as possible. After 6 hours, with one bathroom break in Portoviejo, we were in Bahia.
For $2 we got a taxi to El Paseo shopping centre where we picked up groceries. While we were there, just by chance we ran into our friends Kevin and Pat from the Ottawa area, whom we had met here last winter. We made plans for dinner the next night.We had quite a load with our groceries and packs. A taxi to our rented condo in the Playa Azul complex between the little village of Briceno and the village of Canoa usually costs $8 or less. The driver saw all our stuff and wanted $10 and we were too tired to argue. In 20 minutes we were at our condo.
The property manager, Samia, let us in and we settled into our winter residence. Playa Azul is a gated complex with a total of 15 condos spread out over 3 buildings. It’s almost identical to Playa del Sol, a couple of kilometres further south along the beach, where we stayed last winter. It was time to settle in and enjoy happy hour on the balcony.
The next night we went to one of our favourite bar/restaurants, the Bambu, on the Malecon in Canoa with our old friends.
Unfortunately, the day after that, my scratchy throat turned into a really bad cold. I hardly got out of bed for the next 4 days and didn’t really feel well for the next 2 weeks. However, I recovered in time for the annual Beach Bash school fundraiser, where Kevin and I won the unfortunately named Cornhole (bean bag toss) Tournament.
We were picking up where we left off last year. Life is good.
We took the 4 am shuttle from the hotel to the airport and checked in with no problems. Our first flight left at 7 am for Logan Airport in Boston. Since we had flown on Aeroplan points, we didn’t have much choice in how to get to our ultimate destination of Guayaquil, Ecuador or how long it would take. There’s really not much advantage in flying to Boston from Ottawa when you want to go to Ecuador.
We had a 6 hour layover in Boston and had to change terminals, which meant leaving the secured area and having to go back in again in another terminal. Unfortunately, we couldn’t check in for our next flight right away and had to spend a couple of hours sitting at the check-in area. However, we’re used to these small inconveniences. After we got to the waiting area by our gate, we sat and watched the rain. One of the baggage wagons on the runway took a corner too sharply and half the bags spilled out onto the pavement. Luckily no suitcases broke open. None of the baggage handlers seemed to find this unusual. They just gradually picked it all up.
After 2 pm, our next flight left for Panama City where we arrived in the evening. The airport there always seems very busy but we had no problems finding our gate and waiting for our final flight to Guayaquil. We arrived in Guayaquil about 11:30 pm and passed through customs. Unlike last year, both of our packs arrived on the luggage carousel.
In Guayaquil, it is always wise, especially after dark, to arrange for a taxi at the booth inside the airport. It is not wise to hail a cab out on the street. For $5 we got a taxi to our little hotel, the DC Suites, about 5 minutes away.
After about 5 hours sleep, we had our pre-arranged breakfast in the lobby and got a ride from the hotel owner to the big bus station adjacent to the airport. We had bought tickets ($8 each US) to Bahia de Caracquez online from the Reina del Camino bus company. We took the printout to their office in the station just to make sure it was valid. It was and we just had to pay the 25 cents each to go through the exit turnstile to the platform on the upper level of the station.
Our bus left on time, more or less, at 9:40. Reina del Camino has reasonable buses with AC. All long distance buses in Ecuador have a screen on the wall behind the driver where they show violent movies, usually at full volume. We have learned to tune them out as much as possible. After 6 hours, with one bathroom break in Portoviejo, we were in Bahia.
For $2 we got a taxi to El Paseo shopping centre where we picked up groceries. While we were there, just by chance we ran into our friends Kevin and Pat from the Ottawa area, whom we had met here last winter. We made plans for dinner the next night.We had quite a load with our groceries and packs. A taxi to our rented condo in the Playa Azul complex between the little village of Briceno and the village of Canoa usually costs $8 or less. The driver saw all our stuff and wanted $10 and we were too tired to argue. In 20 minutes we were at our condo.
The property manager, Samia, let us in and we settled into our winter residence. Playa Azul is a gated complex with a total of 15 condos spread out over 3 buildings. It’s almost identical to Playa del Sol, a couple of kilometres further south along the beach, where we stayed last winter. It was time to settle in and enjoy happy hour on the balcony.
The next night we went to one of our favourite bar/restaurants, the Bambu, on the Malecon in Canoa with our old friends.
Unfortunately, the day after that, my scratchy throat turned into a really bad cold. I hardly got out of bed for the next 4 days and didn’t really feel well for the next 2 weeks. However, I recovered in time for the annual Beach Bash school fundraiser, where Kevin and I won the unfortunately named Cornhole (bean bag toss) Tournament.
We were picking up where we left off last year. Life is good.
No comments:
Post a Comment