Puerto López

The journey across the border was a bit bumpy, as it seems that the Peruvian border control computer system was also busy celebrating "Día de Perú" and unfortunately was not functioning. So we couldn't officially leave Peru and therefore couldn't legally enter Ecuador either. All the buses waited for ages, until there was almost a small revolt of the travelers from Ecuador and Peru, which we watched eagerly from the outside. Then finally came the information about the problem and that it couldn't be solved until the morning. So we went back to our bus to sleep at 5 a.m. after 3 hours of waiting. Around 7 a.m. there was movement again and there was an alternative solution to get an exit stamp, which unfortunately also didn't go smoothly. Before there was really a rebellion, fortunately the computer started working again around 8 a.m. - after 6 hours of waiting - and we were able to get the exit stamp from Peru and immediately after that the entry stamp for Ecuador. Hallelujah! The rest of the journey to Guayaquil was very relaxed. When we arrived at the big bus station, we treated ourselves to delicious empanadas and then bought a ticket to Puerto López, because that was our actual first destination in Ecuador. The bus company was called Jippijappa and it looked exactly the same in terms of color, the interior decoration consisted of many neon yellow smileys and a large picture of Jesus, and loud Latin music was playing on the radio. Ecuador greeted us in a very South American way. 😄 After leaving the admittedly pretty dirty part of Guayaquil, we drove through a lot of green nature and even saw several rice fields - in addition to the warm temperatures, we felt reminded of Indonesia. After another 4 hours, we finally arrived in the seaside town of Puerto López and thus completed our 6000 km-long bus journey from Santiago de Chile through all of Peru to Ecuador! We instantly liked the place very much, loud Latin American music was playing everywhere, it was pleasantly warm, and the beach looked beautiful. Our hostel room was like a treehouse this time, unfortunately with quite a few gaps in the wood and leaks in the windows, so it was very soundproof, but we had our own little terrace. After a delicious pizza, we went to bed completely exhausted.

For the next day, we had booked a diving trip to Isla de la Plata. We took a boat about 1.5 hours out to sea, where the uninhabited island is located in the nature reserve. We really wanted to dive here, as it is a great place to see giant manta rays, which we have been searching for in vain for a long time. But unfortunately, we were not lucky this time either, as the weather phenomenon "El Niño" spoiled our plans. We hadn't noticed anything about this weather phenomenon on land so far, but the marine creatures were definitely affected. This weather phenomenon occurs every few years and reverses the ocean currents, resulting in more nutrient-poor warm water, which the manta rays do not like. Therefore, there were currently only a few and unfortunately we didn't see any. Instead, whale sharks have been frequently seen in recent weeks, and some members of our diving group were able to spot one briefly - unfortunately, we were diving deeper in search of mantas and missed it. Nevertheless, the underwater world was beautiful, there were countless fish, several octopuses, moray eels, and two turtles - the highlight was that we both got to hear the humpback whales singing! They were already seen frequently during the outbound journey and later at our anchorage, they even came very close to the boat at one point! On the boat, we got to know a group from Switzerland - the Swiss seem to be everywhere! - who were currently on a round trip through Ecuador and Cuba. Back at the port, Philip finally got to enjoy his beloved fresh coconut to drink after a long time.

The next day, we started with a relaxed barefoot jog on the beach and a delicious breakfast. At noon, we took a motor taxi - that's what the equivalents to Thai tuk-tuks are called here - to the bus station and from there, we took our trusted Jippijappa bus back to Guayaquil.

There, we're actually only staying overnight, because first, it's supposed to be a quite dangerous city, and second - and this is much more important - we're flying to the Galapagos Islands tomorrow!