Buses

Friends:
We love the buses in Ecuador. They are colorful, comfortable and in good condition. Seats are roomy with lots of leg room. Seats recline way back if you want to snooze but the scenery is too good to miss. Windows open. There are TVs on the buses and usually a movie will be played. Buses leave on time, and frequently. If you miss one, chances are the next one will leave in 15 minutes. The bus terminal in Quito looks like a major North American airport. It is enormous, with shops and food courts, the works. Buses are cheap to ride. It seems to be about a dollar an hour. A 10 hour ride from Otavalo to Guayaquil will cost $10. The short ride from Otavalo to Cotacachi will cost 25 cents.

Every here and there buses stop and pick up vendors that will ride to the next town trying to sell all sorts of food items. They get off at the next town and catch another bus the other way. Buses are the way to see Ecuador. If you want an exotic, interesting and low cost vacation, get to Ecuador, and get a bus.

For a small country it has all kinds of variety. It has beautiful ocean beaches, including Galopagos, (which is not at all cheap), the high sierra and jungle. It has the largest variety of birds of any country in the world, (over 1,500 varieties)

Food is cheap. I had lunch yesterday at a restaurant on the street for $1.50 That included rice, vegetables, a piece of beef, bowl of soup and glass of juice. Excellent food. If you go where the Ecuadorians go, you can live cheap. If you go where the gringos go, figure on quadrupling the cost.

Hotels are also very inexpensive. In most towns a respectable hotel can be had for $6 per person per night. For that price the room will be small, have cable and may or may not have a bathroom in the room. For 20 -30 dollars you can get very nice accomodations

Speaking of getting ripped off, do you think you pay a lot for a cell phone? In Ecuador everybody has one. A basic cell phone costs $30 and a service with unlimimited calls in Ecuador costs three dollars a month.

When you go through customs, be sure to mention my name to the customs agent so I will get my kickback from the Department of Tourism.

Thanks, Pedro