Cuenca & Puerto Lopez

Up early for a six hour bus ride to Cuenca. The coach driver is a complete maniac going around twisty windy mountain hugging dirt tracks at about 70mph. We are the only gringos on the bus but even the locals are nervous, at one point the whole bus was screaming "slower, slower!!" but the driver just ignored us all and carried on at breakneck speed;one woman gave him a right ear-full, told him to pull over and got off the bus in the middle of nowhere. He didn't care.

We stop off at restaurant/petrol station for a comfort break and I go to relieve my desperately over filled bladder. On my way out of the restaurant there is an enormous black bird in the doorway...it's a vulture!!!!! They are one hell of an ugly mother of a bird and look and walk just like those vultures from the Jungle Book Disney film. Despite their perceived reputation, our bird - we called him Boris - is really quite friendly and not frightened at all (maybe he can see a potential meal in us both!!).

Cuenca is lovely. After the hustle and bustle, grime and dirt of Quito, the simplicity of Baños and the down right ugliness of Riobamba, Cuenca is a little haven of colonial architecture, cobbled streets and surprisingly fashionable shops. We like it straight away. We spend the next couple of days wandering the streets, eating well and having a few sweet sherrys. We also find our cheapest lunch to date $1.25 for 2 courses, and it was delicious. The cafe is situated within a small complex that is run by and for women. There are posters regarding domestic violence and empowering images. Surprisingly it's a man that serves us - who is really sweet and sits down to chat about the work they do for single mothers and women pregnant out of wedlock. Ecuador is a macho Latin American country and I'm sure that women have a long way to go to achieve equal status, so its really good to see such a worthwhile project doing what it can. Viva las mujeres!!

There has been another delay with the replacement cameras. It could be another week. This is shit!! Oh well never mind. We decide to go to the coast for a few days.

To get to the coast we have to get a bus to Guayaquil and then change to go onto Puerta Lopez. The first leg takes about 5 hours and we think that the second part should be about 1 1/2 hours: unfortunately we read the book wrong and it eventually takes another 4 hours. We're sitting right at the front of the bus and it's stopping whenever someone hails it down. The bus is chockerbloc and I spend half the journey with a standing woman's breasts squidging into my head and the other half with man's crotch resting on my shoulder. Oh well, you have to take your pleasure where you can I suppose.

We arrive in Puerta Lopez at night. It's warm!!! Yipeee!

In the morning we wake up to the full glory of Puerta Lopez. The town is a bit of a dump and whilst the beach is probably about 2km long and the sea has the potential of being a gorgeous turquoise, if the sun was out, unfortunately the sand is disfigured by loads of discarded rubbish, plastic bottles and other shit that people have left behind. Over the next 3 days we relax on the beach, go swimming, take walks in the nearby national park, eat, drink and try not to feel that we are just wasting time waiting for the package to be delivered. Overall PL is a good relaxing time, the weather is good - we both get sun burnt even though the sun was hidden behind thick cloud - we have some really good sea food, the people are really friendly and despite the town looking like a building site, it was just what we needed.

We hear that the package is now in Guayaquil and waiting to clear customs. Off to Guayaquil!!!!!!!