Farewell Ecuador: Sept. 22-25, 2011

I thought descending from the Andes back to the coast would be the same as the last ascent and descent. I was wrong. After a brief belt of green the bus plunged into a lunar landscape of bone dry gullies and chasms of flash flood eroded sandstone. Many hairpin turns later we entered banana land. I had thought what I saw outside of Guayaquil was extensive banana land, but my destination of the day was Machala, banana capital of the world.

Once in Machala, my first impression was of chaos. All I knew of where I was going involved four street names and the name of a hostel. Only problem was... there were no street signs in the area the bus dropped me off at. After 15 mintunes of wandering and a brief conversation with a policeman, I found the place, having walked by it twice already. A quick change of clothes, a tourist map from the hostel, and some hunger helped tame the chaos I had initially felt upon arrival. Once fed, I returned to the hostel and met a Russian and a Spaniard (Alex and Rate - pronounced Raa-te) who were driving around the continent of South America. We hung out and wandered around the city during the night... aside from the travel anecdotes, not a very interesting night.

I chose Machala as a stop over before crossing the border into Peru because the border town of Huaquillas had a bad reputation. The only thing I initially found of interest around Machala was the Puyango Petrified Forest. So I hopped a three hour bus to the village. After more stunning Ecuadorian landscapes, the bus dropped me off at a crossroads next to a military checkpoint. A little bad Spanish and pantomime later an old local was driving me the five or so kilometres to the ecological reserve.

 

Puyango is a small village community learning how to develop the eco tourism market their petrified forest has brought to them. Puyango has one of the largest collections of petrified wood in the world. All the result of a complex of climatic and geological phenomena converging in one place. One of the climatic features I got a good dose of was the heat. The forest was close to 40 degress celcius, but what it had to share was amazing.

On the bus journey back I consulted my newly acquired guide book and discovered that just outside of Machala was the fishing town of Puerto Bolivar. From the port one could hop on a boat and cross over to the Jambeli archipelago which boasted beautiful beaches and magnificent Mangrove forests. I had always wanted to see Mangroves up close, so I decided to extend my stay in Ecuador by one more day. Jambeli existed as nothing more than a family or two of natives until fishermen from Isla Puma off of Guayaquil discovered the archipelago. Once established in industry it wasn´t long before wealthy families from Machala and Cuenca built their vacation homes there and began transforming it into a beach hotspot for many of the people in Machala. Now, erosion is slowly washing away many of the structures which is being remedied with sandbags. Although, some locals believe that recycled tires would be a more effective prophylactic to the effects of the ocean.

I checked out of the hostel early the monrning after Puyango and after one city bus and a boat I found myself in the small community of Jambeli. I arrived early so I explored the whole area inquiring about cheap lodgings until I found a funky little place run by a Dutch expatriot, Phillipa, who spoke English... yes!! I asked her about Mangrove tours and she told me to wait for high tide, so I went to explore the long and vast expanses of beach the islet had to offer. In my explorations I came across four giant sea turtles in various stages of decomposition. I later learned that their deaths are in large part due to the fishing practices of the area.

Phillipa introduced me to a Jambeli local named Rafael who turned out to be an awesome Mangrove guide. We set out in a canoe at high tide and meandered through mazes of Mangroves populated by Iguanas, crabs, and too many species of birds to recall. The hour I paid for went by far too fast for the tranquillity offered by the environs, but there was more beach to be enjoyed. What began as a random adventure turned into an extremely relaxing day away from the chaos of cities and tourism... a great recharge before my border crossing into Peru.

The next morning I awoke at day break to the songs and serenades of many exotic birds. I had paid for my stay the night before so I packed my stuff and headed down the beach to catch the 7:30 am boat back to Puerto Bolivar. A brief city bus and a breakfast later I ended up at a bus station waiting my first bus wait in Ecuador. Instead of catching the bus to Huaquillas, which ran every 20 mintunes, and walking over the border, I booked a non-stop to Piura. Thank goodness for that! Turns out the Ecuadorian border crossing and the Peruvian border crossing were several kilometres apart due to a history of land contestation. Fortunately the bus I chose waited at each crossing for passengers to go through customs before slowly honking its way through massive crowds of people transacting business of all sorts in no-man's land. Goodbye Ecuador!

Then it was smooth sailing non-stop to Mancora through the rolling landscapes of North Peruvian deserts, dry forests, and azure blue coastlines. As I got off of the bus, the heat greated me and I couldn't help but smile... a new place to explore!