La Camioneta

The picture above was taken on my tour of the Sacred Valley near Cusco last Thursday. I left my friends in Peru, Nacho and Icia, for Ecuador on Friday. The night before we took advantage of the free drink tickets they are always passing out in the plaza. There is a better picture of us but I thought the look on Nacho´s face in this one was kinda funny.

I don´t know if I mentioned how cold it was in Cusco. It was absolutely freezing and everyone wore hats like these that they sold for cheap to keep warm. So that explains the fashion.

I flew to Quito, Ecuador Friday and was greeted by a friend of my friend Mike Krilich´s named Lee. They were roommates in college at U of W and Mike had told me that he lived in Quito. He was nice enough to find me a hostel and come get me from the airport. Later on a few of us went for drinks but I headed home early (around 1) as I had planned to get up in the morning for Banos. Saturday morning I learned that the volcano in Banos was erupting and the road was closed so I went with plan B which was to fly to Guaquill(only $50)and take a bus to Monanita. Monanita is a surf village described as bohemian with a good party vibe so I figured I would fit right in.


It turned out the bus station was on the north end of the terminal and was directed to this random bus off the highway that would take me there. I found my stop, got my ticket to Santa Elena where I would change buses to Monanita. The bus was pulling away as I got on and the only gringo sat in the back of the bus with her big ass backpack. About two hours later we were in Santa Elena and by now it was about 9pm. When I got off I asked the driver when the next bus to Monanita would be and he said soon. The bus left and I heard someone call Monanita, and I said ¨si¨ and was directed to what was called a camioneta. Ok picture a pickup truck with a camper shell and in the truck bed is a bench that lines three sides, with wood on the tail and the roof. I had no choice but to pay the $2 for the camioneta ride because as it turned out, there were no more buses to Monanita that evening. About six of us climbed in the back, the guy wanted my big ass backpack to go on the roof but I refused, wanting it in plain sight. Ok I figured, I can deal with this for the next hour and a half. The driver, about a 20 year old kid, and his buddy sat up front. The buddy yelled while the driver kept honking the horn. For a while I couldn´t figure out wby because we seemed full to me. Then I realized my version of a full camioneta and their version of a full camioneta were two different things. We made several stops along the way with people getting off and on. At one point I counted sixteen people inside the camioneta, five people standing on the tail and three people on the roof. I shit you not. I just hoped and prayed we would get to Monanita safely, thinking all of the limo rides I have taken for bachelorette parties and cherishing them immensly.

Finally we got to Monanita about two and a half hours later and what had been described a surf party vibe was a complete blowout. Apparantly I had walked into a full moon party. The main drag was completely crowded and I had to ease past a firethrower with my big ass backpack on my journey for a decent accomdation. Soon the description decent was thrown out and I was just looking for anything as everything was sold out. Finally an hour later I found a $5 room whose prospective inhabitants had never showed. (By the way when I say $5 I mean $5 as the U.S. dollar has been the currency of Ecuador for the last six or seven years now. But things obviously are much more cheaper here than in the U.S.)

I grabbed a beer and a hamburger out on the street and hung out with this 20 year old Scottish girl who had seen the look of distress on my face and helped me find a place to call home. I slept past the partying that went on until about 6am, exhausted from my journey. But right now I am thrilled to have left the freezing cold whether where I was wearing a thermal under flannel pajamas, to the humid ocean weather- even if it is overcast.