Riding the City Bus

In Cuenca, the king of the road is the city bus.  Motorists give way to any bus, while pedestrians scurry when a bus approaches since busses seem to slow down for no one.  I can believe the rumors I’ve heard that a couple of people have been killed by busses in the last few months.

These mammoths of the roadways spew disgusting black exhaust as they roar down the city streets.  I try not to breathe as they pass by.  There are plans to replace them with energy efficient vehicles, but I doubt I’ll see this happen in my remaining months here.

Narrow downtown streets weren't designed for these monsters

Despite its drawbacks, bus transportation is cheap and reliable.  Most days I take advantage of the 25-cent fare that will get me downtown in 10 minutes.   And busses are plentiful--I rarely wait more than 5 minutes for my bus, except after 8 p.m.

My local bus stop

The city bus provides a great opportunity for people watching, both inside the bus and out.  I’m a bit shy about taking photos of people on the street, but I find that it’s easy to inconspicuously snap photos of people waiting at a bus stop from the bus window.

View from the bus window

An additional benefit to city bus travel—at times a couple of musicians will board the bus and serenade the passengers with a song or two before they pass the hat.  I always contribute, in honor of musicians world wide (including my son!)

Great Andean music!

At the major intersections in town, we’re often treated to a street performance by jugglers or baton twirlers.  They have to work fast; after a minute of performing, they run up and down the line of stationary cars, collecting contributions.  I always wonder how much money they make in a day’s work.

A street performer doing her act -- quick before the light changes!

The times I spring for the $2.00 cab fare, I realize how much faster a taxi can get me places and I wonder why I take the trouble of riding the bus in order to save $1.75.  But I do feel that my daily rides give me a view into city life I would never see from the comfort of a taxi.

Puerto Lopez Vacation

Last week I spent a few days on the Ecuadorian coast with two fellow English teachers, Barbara and Reena.   Although I had spent 5 weeks on the coast in February and March during my English teacher’s training course (CELTA), I was happy to go back and experience it in a different season. 

Our destination was Puerto Lopez, a fishing village about an hour’s drive north of Montañita where my course had taken place.  We stayed in the nicest hotel in town—Hostelería Mandala.   It was a complete pleasure to fall asleep to the sound of the surf and to awaken to bird song (and no car alarms, barking dogs, beeping cars or blaring school loudspeaker!)

View from our patio

The coastal weather I had experienced in February and March had been incredibly hot and rainy.  Some locals call it “summer” because of the heat.  Others call it “winter” because of all the rain.  Don’t ask me what season it is now, but it is much cooler and usually overcast.  It is also the beginning of whale season, when the humpbacks return to Ecuadorian waters from farther south.  We got to see several on our day trip to Isla de la Plata.

Our traveling companions

Isla de la Plata (Silver Island) supposedly got its name from the hoards of silver that Sir Francis Drake buried there, although another explanation is that the guano-covered cliff glisten like silver in the sunshine.  It is nicknamed “Poor Man’s Galapagos” since you can see many of the same birds that are on the Galapagos—e.g. blue footed boobies, frigate birds, albatross and pelicans—for a fraction of the cost.  Since I had experienced an 8-day tour of the Galapagos last December, it felt a bit like déjà vu.

Elvis might have been singing about these shoes...

Another day we visited the inland community of Agua Blanca where we enjoyed a dip in a sulfur hot springs—and gave ourselves a mud bath.

Natural beauty treatment

Refreshing in a sulfur-smelling way

Later, we went to Los Frailes Beach.   This was the beach that Peg, David and I went to each weekend during the CELTA course.  Unfortunately, we discovered that just as it is whale season, it also seems to be jellyfish season.  Reena and I were in the water no more than 10 minutes before a jellyfish attacked her.  Within a couple of minutes, a German girl down the beach also got stung.

Poor Reena!  She  had gotten hurt earlier when her hammock broke and dumped her on the patio floor.  And we all survived a small earthquake one morning.  It was nothing more than a mild shaking, but it added a bit of excitement for a few moments.

Once again, I was reminded of what cultural, linguistic, climatic and geographic diversity there is in this small country.   I also realized that, although I managed fine traveling alone last fall, it is much more fun to have traveling companions!

En route to Isla de la Plata