Today we are heading for the beach. Cuenca is about 2,500 meters, so still fairly high elevation. By tonight we will be at sea level. That should make hiking up stairs quite a bit easier, at least for me (and maybe Leslie).

We will be catching the bus to Guayaquil and then another bus to Salinas. We arrive at the bus terminal in Cuenca, buy our tickets and head out to the platforms to find our bus. Next thing we know our new little friend Alexander is there with his mom and grandmother. He seems a bit shy but does say hello. I have my Geocache stuff with me so I dig through my bag and pull out a Canadian flag key chain and give it to him.

It is time for our bus and it turns out that he is going to Guayquil as well. We find a couple of seats right behind him.

He practices English and tries to teach us Spanish words for things that we are passing. Bananas, mango, chicken (which he then makes the universal sign for Yum), horse, corn.

This is our bus. Most of the photos are a bit jiggly as they are from my phone on a very bouncy bus. This bus has a large and a smaller tv screen that they show a couple of action movies along the way. No dialogue really required for a Jason Statham movie. This is Alexander. He tells me that his full name is “Christopher Alexander”. After he has run out of things along the side of the road to teach us we start discussing movies. He has a Spiderman hat, so we start there, then move to Cars with Lightning McQueen and Doc Hudson. He says Stu is Doc Hudson. Hahaha.

The route we are travelling goes through the western edge of the Andes. It is ever changing. We have some incredibly beautiful vistas and at times really wish we were driving ourselves so that we could stop and take some really great shots. As it is we only have some shots from my phone and a just a few that Stu was able to take. The bus is constantly bumping and swerving as the landscape keeps peekabooing.

I was able to grab this amazing photo with my cell phone. The Andes, a valley and a waterfall in the middle.

The sky became very dark and the rain came pounding down for a time. We went past a few areas that had recent landslides. Huge boulders at the side of the road. We eventually left the mountains behind. Reaching the lowlands with miles of banana plantations, mango trees and corn along the highway. We reached Guayaquil and our new little buddie wanted a selfie, so we obliged with a couple. 😉

Another 2 hours and we arrive in Santa Elena where we catch a cab driven by who we think looks like a 14 year old. Loud music thumping from the speakers. We can’t even talk or hear each other. He gets lost, needs to ask directions from a guy on the street. Shortly after that we reach our hotel. Hotel Palmira Inn. It seems we have left the cool temperatures behind. It is very warm here. Off for a little explore.

Crazy busy beach. Feels like Mexico at Easter.

Yeah for the warm weather!!