ON THE ROAD to Banos.....

Bobby and I left Montanita in the wee hours of a Saturday morning after a late night of celebrations and goodbyes. We had an hour and a half drive to Liberdad where we needed to catch a 9 hour bus to Banos. When we arrived in Liberdad, we found the schedule changed and the bus no longer left at 8am but at 2pm instead. After some scrambling around and a quick look at the adorable port town that happened to be having a parade, we re-routed to Guayaquil via a 3 hour bus ride. In Guayaquil, the bus station was large and confusing. At first it seemed that we had again been ill advised. Discouraged but determined, we went ahead and bought a ticket to Banos though it didn’t leave until 4pm. Shortly thereafter, we did, indeed, find a bus that left immediately and got into Banos at a reasonable hour. And though we weren’t able to get a refund, we took our losses and purchased a second set of tickets. FINALLY, we were on our way to Banos! Rough morning that it was, the 7 hour bus ride was beautiful. Slowly the coast disappeared in the background and gave way to gentle hills and then huge mountains and volcanos. The view was spectacular. I’m proud to say I only had to use the bathroom once and the bus was already pulled over to get gas. They were almost on the road when Bobby stopped them to wait on me. It was a close call. But I’m glad I took the opportunity because we didn’t stop again for six hours! I strategically took only small sips of water when parched. And we horded our snacks, nibbling only when our stomachs were audibly growling. All we’d had to eat all day was a banana, a bag of chips and a snack pack of crackers and we were starving when we finally got to Banos. In our initial planning, we had time for breakfast and lunch. But all the re-routing left us running for last minute buses and on empty stomaches. So I’m not ashamed to say that DINNER was our first order of business when we finally got into town at about 8:30pm. After which, we collapsed. Calling ahead probably would have been a good idea. Check.

-------------- K