Day 59-60: The long and winding road to Quito, and then to Galapagos

October 11 – 13, 2015

This leg of our trip was highly anticipated because it involved 2 must-go before you die destinations: Machu Picchu and Galapagos Islands. Both trips that also had to be booked way in advance, which resulted in a rather tight schedule considering we only had 4 days of buffer between Machu Picchu and Galapagos, and well.. we need some time to explore Cusco too! The situation was exacerbated by the fact that Leann fell ill after our heavy Cuy (Guinea Pig) dinner. After a full day in bed and a controlled diet with some medication, she managed to get back about 70% of her energy to embark on the most regrettable decision Vik made on this journey so far.

For the benefit of those who do not know, South America is HUGE. And although majority of the countries here speak Spanish, none of them are friends, as with most neighbouring countries across the world. So after scouring the internet for flights, we realised that international flights, no matter how short the distance, can cost a bomb. The cheapest way would obviously be long distance buses, but we really needed to cover a huge distance in a short time, and time wasn’t on our side. Hence, the best way to achieve cost effectiveness would be to take a domestic flight to the border, get across the border on land and then fly again, which was what we did. And cost effective it was; saving $100USD per person in fact; but we lost an entire day as we needed an overnight bus to cross the border.

So with the savings, why was it a regrettable decision?

Here’s why.

11-Oct-2016

1240 hrs. We got onto a cab which took us only 30 mins to get to the airport. It took Vik another 30 mins looking for change cause the bloody stupid taxi driver didn’t have change (50 sol for a 15 sol ride) and didn’t offer to go look for change, forcing Vik to leave his sick wife waiting by the luggage near the taxi.

1540 hrs. Supposed flight time to Lima.

1615 hrs. Actual flight time. We started worrying as we initially had a 70 mins buffer (30 mins if we factor in boarding/transit time), and it was now shortened to almost nothing. We highlighted to the inflight crew, who assured us that they would help us get on our connecting flight. We were actually less worried about us, and more worried about whether our luggage would be transferred in time.

1740 hrs. Landed at Lima. Air stewardess chaperones us to the front of the disembarking queue. She then mentions a crucial point that takes us by surprise: There was no transit lounge. We had to exit with everyone else and then check in via the domestic departure lounge, which meant that we had to freaking run one big bloody round, go through the security checks again (glad it wasn’t an international flight that required immigration checks), and then run to our departure gate. The rush of adrenaline seemed to have kicked in for Leann who was able to catch up with Vik throughout the run across the huge airport (it may be a domestic terminal but it’s still the airport of the capital of Peru after all).

1805 hrs. We boarded, and Vik nervously looked out of the window to ensure that our bags were getting transferred over. 10mins later, Vik saw them get loaded. They really did wait. Relief. Vik thought, “ok, safe so far, glad we didn’t thankful we still have some buffer time before the bus that brings us across the border to Ecuador”

1945 hrs. Flight number 2 landed at the miniscule airport of Piura. Exiting was easy and under 15 minutes. We collected a map, checked with the tourist helpdesk, and ensured the location of the bus terminal that would bring us across the border to Loja. We hopped onto a cab and directed the driver to get us there.

2020 hrs. We arrive at the bus station, and some broken Spanish later, found ourselves in another predicament: the one and only bus across the border to the location we wanted to head to was full. Despite pleading for them to fix us up in the aisle of the bus and telling them that we needed to be in Loja for a flight, the driver was unwilling to budge. If we took the morning bus the following day at (0800), there was almost no way we could be at the Loja airport before 1600. We were well and truly trapped now.

2115 hrs. We almost exhausted all options when they finally told us that there was another bus that went to far flung Cuenca via a coastal detour. Without mobile data to guide us, we could only depend on our broken Spanish plus the maps that they had at the counters to find out how far Cuenca was from Loja. As Peruvians, they were also unsure about the timings of the buses that plied between both Ecuadorian cities, but Vik figured that there should be a couple of intercity buses each day, as long as we could get to Cuenca by the next morning. It was a risk, but we at least we were sure that we were in Ecuador by the following day, where we could then have more options if getting to Loja was not feasible.

2200 hrs. We boarded the 10hr bus ride, thinking that it would head to the checkpoint just 50 mins away, but soon came to realise that there was another checkpoint 4 hrs away! There goes our sleep.

12-Oct-2016

0200 hrs. We arrived at the border. 2 full hours just queueing up at the extremely inefficient border.

0830 hrs. We finally arrive at Cuenca bus station. We find out that numerous bus companies have buses that head there every hour, so we just find an affordable one that left one hour later.

1115 hrs. The bus gets stopped by the military. Everyone gets checked. Whole process takes 20 mins. It’s like Murphy follows us across the border and refuses to let us sleep properly.

The thorough check for god knows what. The military uniforms resembled my old ones and they carried m16 rifles.

1330 hrs. We were relieved to finally arrive in Loja. And start asking around for the airport location. AND THEN WE FIND OUT THAT BLOODY LOJA AIRPORT IS NOT IN LOJA CITY!?!? By this time we were already dead tired from asking questions. Lucky for us the airport was based in a town called Catamayo an hour away by bus. We got onto a bus full of noisy teenage schoolkids, but at least relieved that we still had some buffer time.

1500 hrs. We finally arrive in Catamayo, and headed out to look for some food before getting to the airport.

A very happy Vik (and Leann of course!) with a passable meal of Asian food

1545 hrs. After satisfying ourselves with some comfort Asian food, we took a short cab ride and finally reached a rather empty “LOJA” airport.

1645 hrs. 30 mins after check in, Leann gets called to open our luggage for them to check (We didn’t really understand the need to, but we were way too tired to argue)

1720 hrs. Flight FINALLY takes off. (embed video)

What a long and ardous route to finally get on this plane! We survived!

1830 hrs. We arrive to meet a very drowsy Emilio (who just underwent a small operation) and girlfriend Samia, who drives us two smelly dirty and rather beat up backpackers back to their awesome home.

2000 hrs. We meet the awesome Jimenez family, who fed us dinner and home made ice cream!

Loving the vibes in the Jimenez household!

2230 hrs. We arrive at our hostel as arranged by Emilio and Samia, and knocked out early so as to wake up early for our early morning flight to Galapagos!

Recommendations/Tips:

Just one: Don’t do what we did. 3 flights, 3 buses, and 3 cabs to reach our destination is no joke. Don’t scrimp, and just pay for a cross border flight if time is not on your side.