Mistakenly in Quito, too early ...

We took the overnight bus from Trujillo to Piura of Peru. At 6:30 in the morning we were in Piura. With tired bodies out of overnight bus (though we could still sleep in the comfortable Cama bus, six hour was too short) to Loja, we dragged along the street to another bus company to catch a bus crossing the Peru-Ecuador border. In the three hours of hanging-out we had our breakfast in the bus station, cleaning ourselves up briefly. Maria had a good time shopping for food and fruit in the nearby market for our coming daytime bus journey. We later went to the same market to pay a shoe-maker for repairing my nearly-falling-apart hiking shoes.

9:30 we were on the bus crossing the border to Ecuador. When we arrived Loja in the early evening and we were greeted by a rainbow. What a good welcoming from a country less known to us. Loja was a small nice town with a European feel. Before the bus in the direction of Quito (but we supposed to take off in Riobamba and then Bano for the hotspring and the Volcano there) starting at 10pm, we had some time for dinner. Here like Ecuador and Peru, most restaurants served fried chicken or salty steak (asado as they said) and it was getting too boring for us. As we were a bit hungry and we just went to one family restaurant for a chicken menu (costing USD 2, here in Ecuador people spend US dollar, which was a problem fror us due to the high rate). The soup and the chicken rice were less salty as expected and tasted soothing.


We walked a little of the downtown at night. There was a European city gate which was also a gallery and restaurant. Then we went to the bus station for the bus.


Too bad, when we woke up, we were in Quito. The bus ticket that we paid (USD 13) actually was enough for Quito and we would be losing the value if we took off at middle. However, we missed the mountain and volcano; and went into a big city that we always want to avoid.

Too early in Quito, also too early in the morning. We took some time to find a less-expensive hostel. The first one was USD25 for two of us with private toilet, it was a little expensive and the next one we found was USD20 for two of us with shared toilet, wifi and shared kitchen. Then we started finding a couchsurfing host, or else we shall leave next morning due to the high cost of living.

Afterward we went to the downtown for some museum and church visits. At first we went to the central food market, where we bought shrimps and vegetables for our dinner, then for lunch we had roasted pork and juice. We also bought some cookies in a nearby bakery; they were so crispy. We kept eating by trying a maze cake with coffee. Then we went to the center of culture where there was some contemporary art exhibition and photo exhibition about events happened in Colombia. That took us a whole afternoon.


Before dark we went back to our hostel, where we made fried eggs with shrimp and zucchini with chocolate mousse for dessert. That ended a comfortable day in Quito

Buses in Bolivia

Not the first time, that it happened in Osorno and Santa Cruz. We bought a bus ticket one day ahead, told to arrive half an hour before and got our names marked on the seating plan, but turned out the bus was gone and we are allocated to another bus or brought to another bus company for another bus some half or one hour later. Our names are still on the list and it was not our handwriting, but it's still the same seat, luckily. The ride from Santa Cruz to Trinidad, we got 'upgraded' to cama of another company without paying the difference. (B$80 vs B$120)

Buses are always not on time, it's either leaving early or way late.

All bus terminal need to pay tax or a fee of B$2-5, when you take a long distance bus. There are usually gate with security guard and you can't get away by sneaking in.

Even if you paid the terminal fee, toilets in the terminal still charge B$1-2 each person.

We paid B$150 for a 12 hours bus ride from Trinidad to Rurrenabaque, the 'bus' delayed for 2 hours and we ended up taken to back of a truck, sitting among the cargo and stuck in the the middle of nowhere waiting for a ferry to cross the river.

Buses in town are much more convenience. They are called micros, usually some recycled Japanese vans or some very old small bus. Costing around B1.3-2, not a lot of space for huge backpack but clearly indicate destinations in front and can be stopped anywhere.

Stuck in Sapecho

After the 2 days jungle tour, we got our bus tickets to La Paz for the festival on 2 June.


It was an all day parade to celebrate Señor Jesús del Gran Poder, supposingly in honor of 'lord the great power', but turned out to be showing off how rich you are with the fancy costumes and getting drunk all day long.
 
One hour delay, we finally see our bus in the Rurrenabaque bus terminal. It was already 10pm. Good to see that it's really a bus not a cargo van nor truck, but a real tour bus, so we would be able to lie down on our own seat.


The seat, however, was not that comfortable, I was able to lie down in some 120 degree but there was no place to stretch my legs. Under the seat in front was blocked and there was also a panel on the side, so I was unable to stretch my legs on the aisle neither.


The road was quite bumpy, we were throwing up and down, right and left all night long. I felt more like a roller coaster than a bus and was holding Adley's hand tight, with the thought of a YouTube death bus ride that our Chilean friend once mentioned. A bus driver somewhere in Bolivia was driving on a narrow mountain road, and ask the passengers all went down, knowing the risk. But then he ended up falling into the valley.



It was dawn and we arrived in a small village, Sapecho. The bus stopped. We thought it was a toilet break, but we found there was a chain barricading the road, with a sign saying, 'Atencion: Corte de Ruta 0600-1600 Lunes a Sabado', 'Corte' means cut or disengagement...which is bad. Are they really closing the road for a whole day!? We just arrived at 6:30am and if only the bus had not delayed, we might catch their curfew. We now need to wait 10 hours doing nothing.

We saw some passengers and driver surrounding the road workers, discussing and then a lady exclaimed that 'i have a job!' but seems nothing could be done, we have to wait! Everyone then scattered in the small village, when some shops was opening, people bought some mandarin, toothbrush, toothpaste and had breakfast. The workers who took care of the chain, only let cars into the town but not out.


We had some breakfast and tried to watch a movie on the computer, but suddenly music on the bus was turned on...it was only 8:40am, more hours to go. And the music stopped again. And on. We kept watching a magician version of Romeo and Juliet, 'The Illusionist' with our headset.


Then, we decided to take a walk to town and around. We checked with the driver, who confirmed we could only move at 4pm, so we start walking.


We found a phone to call our CS host in La Paz about the delay, then found a pharmacy and got some mosquito repellent (the bites from the jungle and these few days are so itchy and its now swollen), then a store for juice and settle down writing our blog. This gonna be a quiet and relaxing afternoon. We was 15 minutes walk away from the bus, hope it won't suddenly leave us.


We returned at around 1:15pm and other passengers said we could have left at 12:30pm but was waiting for us. We rush to the bus and everyone said 'Vamos! Vamos!' (Let's go!) only to find that there are a few more passengers yet unreturned.


We strolled to a nearby store to have a quick fried chicken rice with banana and potato. (B$11). We were chatting with a Japanese from Brazil who could only speak Spanish and Portuguese. He was interested in Chinese eating frog and snake. Then a family of 3 returned finally and we rushed back to the bus.


We left at 2:30pm eventually, but only after 7 minutes, we are stuck on a bridge again. A stone was blocking the road and the workers have to move it away when we could move on.


Just another 1km, the bus stopped again, the construction was blocking the road, it was eventually at 4pm that they clear the block and let us go again. (AT: even the truck before us could pass the previous gate at 11:30am but it still had to wait here till 4pm, I would rather wait in the town with food and juice instead of at the middle of nowhere).


At 6pm, we arrived a town named Caranavi and was told we could have dinner until 8:30pm! It's a small town, with all the eatery or street food located near the bus station, apart from a few pharmacy and telephone cente, there was nothing much to see. We strolled around and went to two different restaurants to have beef soup and barbaque sausage rice and enjoyed using their toilet. (public toilet always cost B$1 or more). Then we strolled around again and ended up drinking coconut juice at a street stroll of the plaza. Finally, we went back to the bus to start off again.


It waited so long in order to get more passengers in Caranavi and they did got a few more.


Eventually we arrived La Paz at 3am, which took us 30 hours to get there!


We got on a taxi, woke our host Daltry at 4am to let us in his house, that's very nice of him for not minding that and was always friendly and helpful, with the help of the porter calling his mobile for us. We finally got a nice hot shower and a warm shelter and slept just an hour before dawn.

Going toward the desert, from La Serina to Antofagasta and beyond

The bus to Antofagasta was comfortable. We saw how the terrain changed to desert. Knowing the touristy San Pedro de Acatama we would like to pass it and expected direct bus from Antofagasta into Bolivia. Originally we thought about Calama, but Diego in Santiago had some reservation about the place because it was just a town of rough miners. At noon the bus went from the desert down to the coast. There were beaches along the way and there were crowds of spectators watching what we later found out a surf-boarding competition. We thought about going there later but turned out going for more interesting place - the fish market.

The visit came from the surprise and disappointment that there was no direct bus from Antofagasta to Bolivia and people in bus terminal did not mention other way to go to Bolivia, or any bus from Calama onward.Therefore we decided to take the touristy way: the route by 4x4 from San Pedro de Acatama to Bolivia.

We bought the ticket to San Pedro de Acatama and the bus started at seven pm, so that we could have three hours in Antofagasta. We did not have the surfboard competition in mind, instead it was the fish market.It was visited by both locals and tourists. A bowl of urchin only cost 4000 peso (about HKD55). We also ate fish soup and crab meat empanada. It was a pity that we were running out of cash and could not eat more. Later we got cash from the ATM at the middle of the walk from the fish market back to the bus station, but we did not bother to walk back to take more seafood. On the way we firstly saw the Pacific Ocean in our South America trip,it was very rough. There were poor people building rusty huts with wooden board and zinc plate on the coast bank and taking the risk of being washed away by huge waves and tsunami.

Back to the bus station, we realize that there were ATM machines and we should have taken cash earlier. Anyway, we caught the bus to San Pedro de Acatama. It was 11pm of Saturday (yes it was party night) when we got there. On the quiet streets of the small dessert town we walked around to find hostel. Luckily we met the boss of a hostel who was about to go out for party and we paid only 5000 peso per person for a dominatory bunk bed (Hostel Jerere).

There we started our desert journey to Bolivia

Foz de Iguazu, starting the Brazilian side

After visiting the Iguazu, we went back to Puerto Iguazu, got on the bus and went to Foz de Iguazu, the Brazilian town near Iguazu Fall. We took off 3 blocks ahead and had to walk 6 blocks to the youth hostel. To Maria, it was really tough, finally we got the HI hostel. It was Maria's first time in a youth hostel, for shared kitchen and bathroom. (M: I had been in summer camps staying in dorm or minzuku in Japan with private room and shared bathroom, no kitchen, but camping in youth hostel, with locker is my first!) The grassland was good for camping. There was also wifi. The cost was not cheap though. For camping, it cost R$17 per person (1R$=HK$4.6). There was also a small swimming pool. The staff were friendly and could speak English well. It was a perfect place.


When we settled down it was 7:30pm already. Glad that we have self-made pizza to heat up for dinner. We rushed to the nearby supermarket, which closed at 8pm, to buy beer. We should have brought the empty bottles in the hostel so we needn't pay extra R$2 for 1L beer bottle! We had a good dinner, good shower, good sleep in tent. Thanks to God that there was no rain.


The next day, we were supposed to wake up and go to the Brazilian side of Iguazu Fall, but we did not realize that it was 11am already when we went out (we should turn the clock one hour faster). Seems a waste for the expensive entrance fee if we go to the national park for the waterfall and rush to our host family afterwards, so in the afternoon, we did window shopping in the street of Av Brazil, where Maria bought a locally made sport bra (R$26, while imported one could cost R$120).

We went back to the hostel, go online, packed and missed the swimming pool, then walked to the bus stop to Rodovianria (bus terminal) for the bus to Medianeira, where our first CS host Juracy was). So "lucky" that the bus stop nearby was blocked because of road maintenance and we did not know where the next bus stop was. We had to walk 3 blocks to find one, another torture to Maria with her heavy backpack.


Finally we were in the bus terminal, getting the ticket and hopping onto the comfortable bus, then started our new episode staying with a local family in the coming four days.

阿根廷長途巴士之旅 - Iguazu中篇

中途又再次停車休息，瞇眼看了一下，繼續找周公子去。


一覺醒來已是早上六點，司機開了燈，說了幾句，所有人拿行李下車。有個洋妞（後來知道原來來自英國）看了一下與同伴說：passport check, will be staying here for an hour! (心想：咁快到？）


又有隣座好心媽媽見我倆仲頭鱷鱷，便說：Vamos....Otro....（其他聽唔明）再看看環境，原來要轉車及轉司機。下車看一下，行李已由四個大隻司機搬好，所有人上了車，即走。


好奇怪，巴士駛到對面馬路，司機才好像忽然記起似的，走出來點人數。大暴龍乘機問佢可否在 Puerto Iguazu（阿根廷那邊下車，他說可以。


往後幾小時，邊打瞌睡，邊欣賞小鎭、森林、牧場、馬場的寧靜。忽然，車上一陣騷動，車尾的乘客走向司機室說：... Por favor...司機出來走到車尾的廁所...原來有個男人在廁所偷偷吸煙，被教訓了幾句，又回復空調聲和有電視沒開機的平靜。


香港的朋友坐飛機到Puerto Iguazu來回只須Ar$1500,還早機去（早上7點幾）晩機返（黃昏6點幾），為看一下一生必到的瀑布，也是值得。


但我們有的是時間，而行程尚要繼續，不回Buenos Aires了，還是坐巴士比較適合。


又是下車午飯、上廁所的時候，仲有幾遠呀？

阿根廷長途巴士之旅 - Iguazu上篇

雖聞說omnibus 網頁全英文之餘，車票價格與Retiro omnibus站一樣，我身邊的格價專家絶不會放過任何慳得就慳的可能性，終於，我們去了四次Retiro omnibus站...


第一次，到了巴士售票樓層，發現那𥚃大到有點似迷宮。定眼再看，原來櫃位各區以東西南北來劃分。從Retiro為起點，有各式各樣的巴士公司前往阿根廷，甚至南美的各個地區、城市，應有盡有。


我們在直接前往巴西Rio de Janeiro、或是先到Iguazu瀑布，還是難以取捨，便先問價錢。一般單程前往阿根廷那邊的Puerto Iguazu是Ar$450-550;而單程前往Rio則是Ar$600-825。


以有限西語，續間訪尋之下，終於找到一家巴西公司Pluma價格最低，到Rio只是Ar$580，而巴西那邊的Foz de Iguazu才Ar$350！我們決定回去再surf下有冇再平啲！


上網睇完一餐，發覺佢已係最平，又怱發奇想，那巴士會停Foz 再去Rio，不知可否買Rio車飛，在Iguazu溜幾天？笫二天又再去踫運氣。


一筆大交易，拿著信用咭和護照出發去。


我們比手劃腳，解釋了我們的企圖，售票小姐居然說沒問題，並只須Ar$550！但他們只收現金！問好週日的辦公時間後，（他們週日竟辦公！）只有明天請早。


第三天，車票終於到手！我們更巡視了一篇在哪裡照行李和登車。


同時，我們一直在嘗試couch surfing,寄了request給幾乎所有的iguazu區及Rio的CS會員。在99%的被拒，終於得到了一個住在距離Foz de Iguazu一小時車程的家庭收留；在Rio亦有一位女生讓我們借宿幾天（感恩！）又那女生之前會離家，比我們計劃的遅了一天，只好將離開Foz de Iguazu的時間退一天，那玩盡阿根廷及巴西兩邊瀑布公園之餘，又可了解一下本地人的生活。


又回到巴士售站，還在擔心往Rio的巴士只是一、三、五，只推遅一天成嗎？或許，由巴西Iguazu往Rio的班次比較頻密，不用加錢 ，順利完成！


終於，到了離開Buenos Aires 的日子，我背著肯定有30kg的backpack再在前面加了個小背囊，行3個block去坐巴士，呼吸開始有點困難；大暴龍則氣定神閒跟在我後面，不久便超越了。


巴士6：30pm開出，車票上建議5pm到達。我們5：30pm才到，過X-ray，再到巴士公司櫃檯check-in也算順利。只到登車樓層再過X-ray 入閳，等15分鐘前上車。


我們的巴士票比較cheap，坐椅並非flat bed，但尚算闊落，cushion厚厚的，又可伸腳，18小時，尚可接受。


司機有兩個，會輪更駕駛，開車時司機艙更會關上門。


開車前，機長走在路口打了個招呼，宣佈最重要的事項：厠所在車尾但不能開大！（心想，開出又可以點呢？幸好，這𥚃不是大陸，這邊的人雖會亂拋垃圾，但對讓座、上廁所、放飛劍等尚有一定程度的公德心。）


車子準時開出，往公路進發。八點，天色漸暗，開飯！

沒有太大的期望，便𣎴感失望。由司機派飯盒，有半份芝士三明治、半份加了火腿（大暴龍全份只有芝士）、一個肉肶，一塊甜到喊嘅Dulce de Leche餅（送mate fit哂）、仲有一塊有一點果占在中央好甜好奶味嘅餅,同冇得俾你㨂嘅冰凍可樂一罐 - 當然可揀唔飲。（隔咗幾粒鐘又開始肚餓，想起先前餐餐fiesta, 仲好想食lomo同bife de chorizo...)


食完冇人會收tray,只有一位似乎係熱心巿民嘅，用番派tray嘅膠袋收自己屋企人d嘢，再好心收多幾行！


車行至11點多，到了一家有嘢賣、有嘢食、有厠所去，但除了一家油站，眼見之處四野無人嘅地方，停了半小時。


又肚餓，食碗燒鵝瀨都唔錯。發下夢先...

阿根廷長途巴士之旅 - Iguazu下篇

終於、終於看到一片寫著Puerto Iguazu 的草地，再轉多幾個彎，車還未停定，所有人已拿著護照站起來。下午3時許，我們已不經不覺到達阿根廷邊境。


但我們先前已拜託司機要在Puerto Iguazu下車，這裡可以離開嗎？還是他其實不明白我們在說啥？我倆憨居居的拿了手提行李下車，跑上前向司機查詢。原來巴士要根據乘客名單過境，所以我們要先跟大隊過完關才可以拿行李走。


之後半個鐘又出境、又入境，才上了回Puerto Iguazu鎭的巴士。大熱天時（超過37度）背著牛龜咁大件行李（我覺得件行李重過我！），行咗幾個block，已得番半條人命。最後，我們決定一個坐下看行李，另一個出去找。行哂成個鎮，續家續戶問價，終於找到價錢可以接受，又有房的客棧。到個男人返來，話出發，行咗五條街先發現行錯路，我行到喊，只覺好倦、好辛苦，結果又要通通放下行李重新找...


天都黑齊，個男人租到房，走回來，終於決定打的到住處。那裡有廚房、有冷氣，可住一家7口，房價Ar$300兩晩，算不錯。之後，出去吃了一餐Ar$50位任食parillya豪一豪佢，狂叫lomo, bife de chorizo, ribs...開心番哂！