We do research a bit before travelling overland, especially when we have to do long distances or when crossing borders. Today it was a border crossing and prior to buying bus tickets the other day we had Google'd the trip from Mancora to Cuenca in Ecuador. Turns out that there are limited options for bus tickets and that the Ecuadorian company CIFA who runs the only direct service has a shady reputation. There are at least tons of stories about people who have experienced being mugged or robbed in the buses.
So the other day we decided for a day bus and according to the ticket agents there were tons of options. Turns out - there wasn't. We were at our agent at 9:30 AM and then we waited for about an hour. Still nothing. A nice lady came by and said "25 minutes". We waited for another half hour and then we got put on a collectivo that started to go up and down the main street of Mancora looking for more passengers - which there of course weren't. After spending 20 minutes doing that our driver decided to head for Tumbes and we were on the way only slowing down or stopping occasionally to pick up more passengers or to get gas from a local kiosk.
When we got to Tumbes the other passengers got off and our driver told us to stay on. Then he headed 500 metres down the road and asked for 10 Soles - his service fee to take us to the CIFA ticket office. Still not having a proper bus ticket we handed the ticket agent receipt to the lady at the desk and waited a while for her to issue a CIFA bus ticket that clearly said "connexion". We tried to ask where the connection was and were told "on the other side of the border" which could mean anywhere until Cuenca.
Then we waited for a while, the bus driver getting dressed - in the bus, before we were allowed to board. There were around 10 of us when we left Tumbes at 1:30 PM not having done many kilometres that morning. It was a short drive to the border, an uncomplicated border crossing with entry and exit desk in the same room (more countries could learn from that) and when everybody had the paperwork done the bus left for the border town Huaquillas. There we stopped at the bus station and the bus filled up with passengers. No word about our connection except - stay on the bus. We drove for about one more hour and suddenly the bus attendant told us to get off.
We unloaded our stuff in a roundabout near the town of Machala. And a young guy with a walkie talkie took us straight through three lanes of traffic to the other side where his combined fruit stall and ticket office issued us a new piece of paper. This time a ticket to Cuenca. Then we waited for about half an hour and suddenly a bus appeared - and we were told to get on. This bus headed for Cuenca, filled up with passengers in the nearby town and sped off into the mountains stopping to let people on and off along the road. We made it to the outskirts of Cuenca around 8:30 PM and got of the bus when it seemed to be close to our hostel. From the plaza where it stopped we took a taxi 5 minutes and were at the hostel just before 9 PM - having made the bus ride in a little less than 12 hours. Not impressive. Maybe we've gotten too used to good buses in Peru.
The hostel was nice, we had food at the lounge area at the hostel including Swiss Rösti pancake. We felt a bit tired and sometimes non-local food is just a nice break from South American chicken and rice.
So the other day we decided for a day bus and according to the ticket agents there were tons of options. Turns out - there wasn't. We were at our agent at 9:30 AM and then we waited for about an hour. Still nothing. A nice lady came by and said "25 minutes". We waited for another half hour and then we got put on a collectivo that started to go up and down the main street of Mancora looking for more passengers - which there of course weren't. After spending 20 minutes doing that our driver decided to head for Tumbes and we were on the way only slowing down or stopping occasionally to pick up more passengers or to get gas from a local kiosk.
When we got to Tumbes the other passengers got off and our driver told us to stay on. Then he headed 500 metres down the road and asked for 10 Soles - his service fee to take us to the CIFA ticket office. Still not having a proper bus ticket we handed the ticket agent receipt to the lady at the desk and waited a while for her to issue a CIFA bus ticket that clearly said "connexion". We tried to ask where the connection was and were told "on the other side of the border" which could mean anywhere until Cuenca.
Then we waited for a while, the bus driver getting dressed - in the bus, before we were allowed to board. There were around 10 of us when we left Tumbes at 1:30 PM not having done many kilometres that morning. It was a short drive to the border, an uncomplicated border crossing with entry and exit desk in the same room (more countries could learn from that) and when everybody had the paperwork done the bus left for the border town Huaquillas. There we stopped at the bus station and the bus filled up with passengers. No word about our connection except - stay on the bus. We drove for about one more hour and suddenly the bus attendant told us to get off.
We unloaded our stuff in a roundabout near the town of Machala. And a young guy with a walkie talkie took us straight through three lanes of traffic to the other side where his combined fruit stall and ticket office issued us a new piece of paper. This time a ticket to Cuenca. Then we waited for about half an hour and suddenly a bus appeared - and we were told to get on. This bus headed for Cuenca, filled up with passengers in the nearby town and sped off into the mountains stopping to let people on and off along the road. We made it to the outskirts of Cuenca around 8:30 PM and got of the bus when it seemed to be close to our hostel. From the plaza where it stopped we took a taxi 5 minutes and were at the hostel just before 9 PM - having made the bus ride in a little less than 12 hours. Not impressive. Maybe we've gotten too used to good buses in Peru.
The hostel was nice, we had food at the lounge area at the hostel including Swiss Rösti pancake. We felt a bit tired and sometimes non-local food is just a nice break from South American chicken and rice.
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| Last morning on the beach for this time |
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| See you later buddy |
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| Ready for 20 minutes of tuk-tuk |
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| Some kind of procession - nice entertainment |
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| Going up an down the main street with the collectivo |
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| Fueling the collectivo - seems legit |
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| At the CIFA bus station |
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| Not too busy this afternoon |
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| Technically in Ecuador - at the border at last |
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| Dropped off in some roundabout |
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| Bus office and melon salesman sharing office |
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| At the hostel in Cuenca - finally |
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