Almost the bus ride from hell, but it did end up taking the predicted 5.5 hours, but the bus went about 20 mph for the first two hours and stopped a lot. At that point, we still were not to the Quito Airport, which should be about 1.25 hrs. Finally it got moving. First the dry side window shots:
Now over and down through the clouds and into the heat and humidity. The streams were hard to get pics of, but had some serious whitewater. A number of waterfalls, landslides and evidence of frequent road washouts. I think the problem was that I bought a ticket on the Coopertive Bus, and it stops for everyone that wants a lift down the road. The bus gets full, then empties, then fills again. Vendors hop on to sell their goods (empanadas, apples, breads, dulces, fruit cups, sliced watermelon a all drenched in a healthy dose of roadside deisel soot) and get off down the road. All the while you have to hold on to your shit.
And finally a little after 5pm we pull into the Tena bus terminal. I had read that the Hostal Limon Cocha is just up the hill from the bus terminal, so I look at the obvious hill and there it is, BUT it is hot and humid and my bag is heavy enough to put me into a full sweat within the three or four blocks of seedy neighborhood. Lot of action here on a Friday evening... A veritable street party that this pic does not show well. There was a beach volleyball gig going on under this huge pavillion roof and street food vendors everywhere. However, I was on a mission to safely run the gauntlet (a dog fight along the way), drop off my stuff and find my jungle guide before dark to solidify the action plan for tomorrow.
Posted with Blogsy
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