Arrival in
Ecuador October 10th 2013.
After a long painfree trip we are now back in Ecuador. We
stayed a night at Hotel Continental right across from the beautiful Cathedral
in Guayaquil.
In the square in
front, the dragons/ iguanas and pigeons had their abode, and the iguanas were
sitting in a tree and pooing down on the path below. Surprise, surprise, we are
in Ecuador!! Slowly but surely we are getting in the right gear and used to
local costumes!
The bus-terminal in Guayaquil was chaotic. Everybody seemed
to travel on this Friday afternoon. Mind you, it was Thanksgiving! David was
queuing for 1 ½ hours for tickets, then a porter took us to the platform a
level above groundfloor. He managed to move the masses of people to get us
through. We waited…………………. and someone told us that we were at the wrong place.
Frustration! David went for another porter, busses came and went and suddenly
someone pointed to a newly arrived bus. That was our bus! What a goat-market!
Six hours later and we were in Bahia Caraques and got a taxi
to Puerto Armistad Yacht club. After a lovely evening meal of mahi –mahi fish (dorado), we got out to our dear boat,
Aros Mear. EVERYTHING WAS INTACT. Our greatest nightmares were just bad dreams.
Quickly we managed to get to bed and we had a really good night’s sleep. Next morning, Saturday, we woke up to the
reality that the boat was covered in fine black dust! A volcano near Quito had
erupted sometime while we were away and the dust had settled here. Well, it’s
only dust and nothing water can’t remove.
It’s nice to be back on the boat. The temperature is
pleasant, around 23-25 degrees C, and it is cloudy. It is easy to do the chores
and tidy up the boat, go to the market etc. without dripping with perspiration.
The boat is now our home for the next
5-6 months.
