How to Enjoy a State of Emergency

Nickie and I enjoy travelling and have explored quite a few spots over the last 2 years.  Before that, travel was primarily theoretical, through the lense of Covid 19.

Once in a while (okay, perhaps almost every trip) trouble comes looking for me.  And trust me, it is never my fault!  Just don't ask Nickie if my actions sometime contribute to the problem.  It's hazy, but I believe her recollection is skewed.

I'm hoping these are phone lines...

I have travelled to Ecuador before and was excited to share the experience with Nickie.  Ecuador is a mixture of old world (Spanish), rural charm and a more peaceful pace of life.  Except for the Ecuadorians drivers.  F1 drivers would be nervous venturing onto their big city streets.

To break the tension, I should mention that nothing terrible happened to us in Ecuador, on the first day.  We had barely landed in Guayaquil (pronounced similar to Guacamole) when Ecuador declared a state of emergency. I am 72% certain it was not related to our arrival.  The next paragraph will prove how safety conscious I truly am.

Part of our schedule was to spend a few days sightseeing in Guayaquil, just before flying back to Canada.  Since some of the trouble was in Guayaquil, we decided to stay there for only the night before our flight home.

Directly after landing in Guayaquil, we took a bus to Santa Elena, then a taxi to Salinas.  Public transportation in Ecuador is ridiculously cheap.  A three hour bus ride costs about $5 and cab fare ranges from $2 (short trip) to $6.  Salinas is a beach town with a plethora of restaurants and hotels.  The beaches are great and the Pacific ocean waves are manageable.  I'm not overly keen on beach towns.  I can endure up to 4 hours on a beach, but then I start to vibrate.  The humming annoys those nearby, so we usually have to move far far away.

One of Salinas' beaches

Near Salinas is a cool ocean phenomena known locally as Chocolatera.  This is where strong ocean currents smash against the shore, whipping the water into a chocolate froth.  Or so I've read.  We never did get to see Chocolatera, since you must cross a military base.  Recall that Ecuador was in a state of emergency.  Had we taken a taxi, all would have been well, as presumably, the driver would have told us the route to Chocolatera was closed.  But Nickie and I like to hike!  The normal route was closed, but I happened to find a way into the military base through a door in the back yard of a hospital.  Soon we were hiking along streets with many military buildings scattered about.  As we walked by a group of soldiers holding machine guns, one asked us what we were doing there.  My Spanish is not the greatest, even after a few years of Duolingo, so my question about how to get to Chocolatera might have been misunderstood.  We were promptly asked to leave.  There are a few situations where even I decide it is better to obey than to argue.  One is when talking to angry young soldiers toting machine guns.  I recommend you consider this a good rule to follow!

The next day we again tried to find our way to Chocolatera.  Since our efforts while walking appeared to be futile, we hopped into a taxi and when he was turned back at the gate, we began to realize that Chocolatera was barred due to the state of emergency.  If you are ever in Ecuador, I recommend seeing this wonderful site.  But not during a state of emergency...

2nd largest Nativity scene ever!

Most days we swam in the ocean and ate some wonderful seafood, but not at the same time.  Which gave me an idea!  We could try swimming around the military base.  Now there's a plan!  Unfortunately, Nickie talked me out of this idea, citing rough seas, sharks and snipers as potential deterrents.

After a week in Salinas, we took a bus to Cuenca.  To be exact, we took a taxi from Salinas to Santa Elenas, then a bus to Guayaquil, then a bus to Cuenca.  The bus to Guayaquil was boring, as the terrain is flat.  Not so with the bus from Guayaquil to Cuenca!  It passes through the Caja National park.  At one point, the road is at almost 4,000 meters above sea level.  Spectacular scenery and the bus driver was able to show off his F1 driving prowess.  There is no better feeling than drifting a coach bus around mountain hairpins!

Caja National Park
The highway is where the bus driver honed his F1 skills

I've been to Cuenca before and had forgotten how noisy, busy and smelly it is.  Cars, trucks and buses race around for most of the day and well into the evening.  Since there are only 400,000 people living in Cuenca, I think the same cars, trucks and buses most follow a route, over and over again.  If they were all simply going to their destination, there should be no traffic after 9 AM and only a little between 5 and 6 PM.  I'm not sure how they do it.

There was more police and army about, due to the state of emergency.  However only in the busier parts of town, such as the town square, known as El Parque Calderon.  It is an impressive display of old Spanish architecture and includes the obligatory huge churches.  It was quite busy and likely is so most of the time.  There was a traffic jam on the 4 roads surrounding the square.  I am 92.5% certain the traffic simply kept going around in circles.  Maybe the drivers are paid to make Cuenca look busy?

Nickie near our hotel in Cuenca

After a wonderful supper in the square, we walked back to our hotel, situated in the southwest section of town, near one of Cuenca's rivers.  Outside the hotel were 2 armed police officers, 2 more in the lobby and a couple standing outside one of the first floor rooms.  I was going to yell "You found the drug lord!", but decided they might not understand my sense of humour.  We went to our room on the second floor, not really knowing what was going on.  We made plans to roll off the bed, clutching the mattress, when they started firing their rifles.

The next morning, there were still 6 officers at the hotel, so we decided it was a great opportunity to get the hell out of Dodge (actually Cuenca) and hike in the Caja National park.  The hike was wonderful!  Well, as wonderful as hiking can be at 4,000 meters.  I saw a lot of stars that I am quite certain no one else could see.

Caja National Park at 4,000 meters

On our return, there were no longer any police surrounding the hotel.  So we asked the clerk what had happened.  He explained that the police were there to protect the President of Olympia.  I might have misunderstood the clerk, but the fellow being guarded was carrying a sceptre.  We felt a bit of relief, now that we weren't sharing a hotel with a prime target for any local drug lords.

The next day we walked to the south side of Cuenca, which has 3,387,412 steps (I counted them) up the side of a hill.  Although the climb is onerous, there is a great view of Cuenca at the top.  Almost worth the cardiac arrest.

Cuenca!

We decided to take a trip to Ecuador's largest Inca ruins in Ingapirca.  I normally over-analyse prospective trips, but somehow failed to notice that the site is closed on Monday and Tuesday!  Fortunately, much of the site is visible from the road, so we saved the $1 entry fee!

Ingapirca

Finally it was time to head back to Ontario.  I enjoy travelling, but also look forward to getting home after some time abroad.  The trip from Cuenca to Guayaquil was a surprise, as the bus driver was quite competent, only squealing the tires on 4 or 5 occasions.  We had changed our accommodations in Guayaquil, due to the state of emergency and instead of staying in a rather nice hotel, we stayed in the Airport Hotel of Guayaquil.  It was cheap, in all senses of the word.  Our room was slightly smaller than a broom closet (the first time I was jealous of Harry Potters' bedroom) but compensated by having no windows.

The flight back was uneventful, just the way I like them.  It seemed a bit strange when we landed in Bogota and felt much safer!

To sum up, here are some tips on vacationing in a country that is under a state of emergency:

• Keep low at all times.
• Don't argue with soldiers holding automatic weapons.
• Obey the curfew.  In fact, enjoy the curfew, as it means even party towns are quiet after 11 PM.
• Avoid spending considerable time in towns where people are being shot.

There are also some benefits of vacationing in countries in a state of emergency:

• Unless there is gunfire, you should get a good night's sleep.
• Restaurants are not as busy
• Hotels should be a bit cheaper
• Airport lines are much reduced

In case you think that chaos follows me wherever I travel, don't go to Scotland in April.

Cheers!