The bus to Machala in Ecuador was supposed to pick me up at 1.30pm. It arrived at 4.10pm. Apparantly it had broken down twice and had gotten a blow out on its 24 hour journey before meeting me. The bus was mainly full of Ecuadorian shoolboys who were really giddy and smelly. It was supposed to be a four hour journey but border crossing took much longer than expected and we kept stopping for what appeared like no reason (maybe the engine was cooling). I hadn´t eaten before the bus so I was starving when I fianlly arrived at 11pm.
There was a small dispute over the price of my ticket. The lady in agency had told me 50soles and thats all I had left of Peruvian currency but the driver wanted me to pay 68soles which I didn´t have. He relented but in the end but got his own back by not droppng me in the town centre. I was the only person getting off there. Instead he dropped me in the suburbs which saved him some time. I hadn´t a clue and only realised when it was too late.
My taxi to the centre was a complete nightmare. After loading my bags the driver motioned for me to sit in the front and absentmindedly I did. Mancora is roasting, so I was travelling in a short denim skirt and flops thinking Id be arriving in Machala at about 5.30pm. The taxi driver turned on the inside car lights and proceeded to stare at my bare legs instead of the road. I turned it off but by this stage I had realised through conversation that he was a little weird. He persisted on practising his English with me even though my Spanish was clearly ten times better. I think he learnt his phrases from pop songs cause nothing he said quite made sense. We got to the town centre and he didn´t seem to know where he was going. We finally got on the right street but I couldn´t find the hostel and he kept wanting to turn off the road and ´go around the block´. I was really scared at this stage. He hit the central locking button and I freaked so he opened it again. I opened my car door and he pulled over. He let me get my bags and then I paid him. He completely ripped me off by charging me 10dollars but at this stage I just wanted away from him so I didn´t bother arguing. I found the hostel I wanted to stay in but it was closed and there was no bell. The area was well dodge. Scared out of my shite, I found another hotel. It cost 38dollars a night which was crazy money so despite being scared I decided Id walk the 4 blocks to another hostel. My bags weighed a ton and my ankle killed. The area was really run down and there was some dodgy characters around. I wondered if I had been stupid not paying the extra money to be safe and then I saw a sign for another hostel. Thank god. I went upstairs to reception relieved until I was taken to my room. It was disgusting. Really reminded me of the place Leo stays in, in the movie ´the beach´. There were two beds with only stained bottom sheets. Thank god I had a sleeping bag with me. It had a really creepy, dingy feel to it. The bathroom was also filthy with no running water in the toilets and the smell of urine was wafting into the room. There was a huge 5ft by 5ft window in the room but one of the two panes of glass was missing. Thats right-missing! and below was the tin roof of a shelter, that I thought someone could climb on and get in. But at least there was a lock on the back of the bedroom door. I was completely freaked at this stage but couldn´t face going back out onto the dodgy street. I calmed myself and went to bed. I found a sleeping tablet that someone had given me for a long bus journey that thankfully I hadn´t taken. I took that and fell asleep. When I got up this morning at 9am, everything was fine. The street was busy and things didn´t seem as bad but Id no interest in sticking around that filthy, dirty, scary city so got the first bus out of there to Cuenca today.
There was a small dispute over the price of my ticket. The lady in agency had told me 50soles and thats all I had left of Peruvian currency but the driver wanted me to pay 68soles which I didn´t have. He relented but in the end but got his own back by not droppng me in the town centre. I was the only person getting off there. Instead he dropped me in the suburbs which saved him some time. I hadn´t a clue and only realised when it was too late.
My taxi to the centre was a complete nightmare. After loading my bags the driver motioned for me to sit in the front and absentmindedly I did. Mancora is roasting, so I was travelling in a short denim skirt and flops thinking Id be arriving in Machala at about 5.30pm. The taxi driver turned on the inside car lights and proceeded to stare at my bare legs instead of the road. I turned it off but by this stage I had realised through conversation that he was a little weird. He persisted on practising his English with me even though my Spanish was clearly ten times better. I think he learnt his phrases from pop songs cause nothing he said quite made sense. We got to the town centre and he didn´t seem to know where he was going. We finally got on the right street but I couldn´t find the hostel and he kept wanting to turn off the road and ´go around the block´. I was really scared at this stage. He hit the central locking button and I freaked so he opened it again. I opened my car door and he pulled over. He let me get my bags and then I paid him. He completely ripped me off by charging me 10dollars but at this stage I just wanted away from him so I didn´t bother arguing. I found the hostel I wanted to stay in but it was closed and there was no bell. The area was well dodge. Scared out of my shite, I found another hotel. It cost 38dollars a night which was crazy money so despite being scared I decided Id walk the 4 blocks to another hostel. My bags weighed a ton and my ankle killed. The area was really run down and there was some dodgy characters around. I wondered if I had been stupid not paying the extra money to be safe and then I saw a sign for another hostel. Thank god. I went upstairs to reception relieved until I was taken to my room. It was disgusting. Really reminded me of the place Leo stays in, in the movie ´the beach´. There were two beds with only stained bottom sheets. Thank god I had a sleeping bag with me. It had a really creepy, dingy feel to it. The bathroom was also filthy with no running water in the toilets and the smell of urine was wafting into the room. There was a huge 5ft by 5ft window in the room but one of the two panes of glass was missing. Thats right-missing! and below was the tin roof of a shelter, that I thought someone could climb on and get in. But at least there was a lock on the back of the bedroom door. I was completely freaked at this stage but couldn´t face going back out onto the dodgy street. I calmed myself and went to bed. I found a sleeping tablet that someone had given me for a long bus journey that thankfully I hadn´t taken. I took that and fell asleep. When I got up this morning at 9am, everything was fine. The street was busy and things didn´t seem as bad but Id no interest in sticking around that filthy, dirty, scary city so got the first bus out of there to Cuenca today.
1 comment:
looks like you made the right decision to leave! Sounds like a nightmare there... Hope Cuenca is better!
Post a Comment