All day bus from Bagan to Inle Lake - Nyaungshwe Township

There are a lot of options when going from Bagan to Inle Lake ranging from private cars to local buses. We chose the middle "option" - a shared mini bus with the added luxury of being picked up at the hotel in the morning.

The bus was there at 8 AM, we got the past two seats and didn't have much space sharing the bus with some 12 other tourists and locals. We just had to go around town for the usual 20 minutes or so before heading out of town.

The roads in Myanmar are narrow and poorly maintained but with little traffic it didn't really matter and we made it through the country side only stopping a couple of times in small towns getting the attention of the usual crowd of women wanting to sell us drinks, food and fresh food. We had lunch in a small village once we got to the mountains just before Inle Lake and the town of Nyaungshwe where we had booked a room at Album Motel.

Making it over the narrow and twisted mountain road didn't take as long as feared but it was afternoon once we got to the entrance of town - and the usual office for tourist tax, this time only 12.500 Kyat per person.  We were dropped off in front of our lovely motel, had our room a shower and realised that this place was perfect for us. Fairly new, big room, a nice place run big a family and very quiet.

We walked up the road and found the Green Chilli restaurant and had really good food and a couple of drinks to celebrate that we made it here. Let's see what we are up for tomorrow. Maybe just relaxing. Definitely no temples.

Early morning in Bagan

Minibus is ready for us

Morning stop in a small town

Horse carriage - also a preferred means of transport in Myanmar

We made it to Album Motel

Banana palm tree outside our front door

Hazy sunset 

Dinner?

Aha - it is Motel Album

Santa Catalina to Bocas del Toro in one day by bus - may the bus Gods be with you.

We left early this morning. The first bus leaving Santa Catalina was scheduled for 6 AM but it doesn't leave until 6:20 or 6:30. So while we waited the bakery across the street opened up and we had freshly baked croissant and whole grain bread sitting there outside the hostel watching as daylight slowly came.

Then the bus came and we spent the next 1½ hours to Sona, From there we knew we had to get the but to Santiago and then a bus to David and then the bus to Almirante and then the boat to Bocas town and then a water taxi to our hostel. Impossible to do in one day it seemed but we were determined to give it a try.

The "collectivo-style" buses to Santiago leave outside the bus station so while we ran around asking for them we missed a couple of them, once we got on one it was the usual hassle of getting all our stuff on the roof, including the other passengers stuff, like surf boards and other bulky items.

We arrived in Santiago at 9:30 and our bus driver took all of us back packers to the David bus. The usual unloading/loading hazzle, us getting the two last seats in the bus being a bit pushy but on the other hand not wanting to stand up for the next three hours.

The bus for David left at 10 AM and going on the highway we hoped to be in David around 1 PM - but the bus driver had other plans going so slowly that after a while even the local passengers started to shout at him to go faster. To make matters worse most of the highway to David was a construction site so we zig-zagged between lanes, had to stop and wait for oncoming traffic numerous times before finally being in David at 2 PM. And then waiting for our stuff to be unloaded from the roof of the bus. We headed to the big bus terminal across the road, found the bus to Almirante and cheered a  bit when it left at 2:30 PM. Maybe we could still make it to Almirante before 6 PM when the regular boat service to Bocas Town stops for the night. We crossed our fingers and soon realised that making it there for 6 PM wasn't going to happen. The road was quickly going to narrow and twisted going over some impressive hills and the bus therefore going slow.

We made it to Almirante just when the last daylight was fading and knew that 6:20 PM was not good. At taxi driver picked us up and took us to the docks where the last of the ferry boats had left - but another guy was there with his boat - the last boat of the day. Instead for the standard USD 6 fee he wanted USD 15 per person and we had to wait for more passengers - 5 more at least. So we sat there, fingers crossed not wanting to stay in Almirante for the night, being this close to the goal and being more or less ready to pay whatever it would cost.

Just before 7 PM our boat guy told us he still needed more passengers and just as he said "guys, we need 5 more persons...." a minivan arrived and offloaded 5 tourist also heading for Bocas town. Hallelujah!!! We left the docks and spent the next 25 minutes going across the pitch black sea, getting wet from the rain showers straying us straight in the face but who cared? We were on the boat and just one small boat ride from our hostel, some extremely needed dinner having survived on peanuts and crackers most of the day.

In Bocas town we got a taxi boat that took us to Bubba's House - our hostel for tonight. We stepped off the boat, straight into the bar, got our room and ordered food a much deserved beer instantly. And then we of course bumped into Jen who had to hear about our trip since she tried to pull the same off just a day before us but failed because she spent too much time running around the bus station in Santiago looking for the non-existing direct connection to Bocas.

Beer, food, tired but happy we hung out a bit and then went to bed. Tomorrow is going to be very relaxed. Maybe we are not going to do anything at all. Most likely.

6 AM looking for the bus

Freshly baked bread. Yummy

Pimp my bus

First bus change

Another crowded local bus

All year Christmas bus

Dark night on stormy seas - in a small boat but we made it!

The direct bus to Baños (Cuenca - Banos)

A nice taxi driver took us to the bus station at 8 and we found our bus and some breakfast to bring for the drive to Banos. Not the worlds longest trip but narrow mountain roads and we should not be there until the afternoon. A nice girl on the bus told us to sit in the left side in order to get the best view of the mountains and valleys so we skipped our assigned seats and sat in the other side. Not a problem since there was only 8 of us on the bus in total. Including the two girls we met on the trip from Mancora to Cuenca the other day. Its a small back-packing world.

The drive to Banos was really impressive passing through one green valley after the other, some sections of the road going up the mountain until we passed the clouds and then down the other side. On the map it looked like we didn't move at all. Occasionally we'd pick up a passenger or two but the bus never really got full. At 2 PM the driver and his assistant stopped for lunch and while we sat there in the bus waiting for them to finish their soups the rain started. And then the windows got kind of dirty - like grey-brownish dust covering them. A bit confused by what was happened the only explanation appeared quickly - erupting volcano somewhere close. Or maybe far away. The fine ash can be carried by the wind for many kilometres so it could potentially be from Cotopaxi who is some distance from Banos.

We arrived in Banos in the afternoon only to realise that there was a very nice active volcano in the back yard of town - Tungurahua. Today it was sending the most impressive puffs of smoke and ash high up in the sky so that explained perfectly why it was raining ash a bit from town. Interesting.

At our hostel they calmed us down - the volcano was erupting but had been active for many years now and there was no danger in town. We were a bit sceptic though. We headed for the roof top terrace at our hostel and had a pretty good view of the volcano - still smoking a lot :-)

And the rest of the evening was dedicated to walking a bit around town. We had the $4 chicken/rice/potato-meal as a late lunch/early dinner at the market and then relaxed in the evening. Planning for a bike trip tomorrow.

Four Wunderbaums in the trunk of our taxi - no questions asked

Stocking up food for the bus trip

Impressive landscape

Dirty bus

Tungurahua letting off some steam

Venezuela-Ecuador football match

Good food at the market

The not-so-direct bus to Cuenca (Mancora-Cuenca)

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.

Last morning on the beach for this time

See you later buddy

Ready for 20 minutes of tuk-tuk

Some kind of procession - nice entertainment

Going up an down the main street with the collectivo

Fueling the collectivo - seems legit

At the CIFA bus station

Not too busy this afternoon

Technically in Ecuador - at the border at last

Dropped off in some roundabout

Bus office and melon salesman sharing office

At the hostel in Cuenca - finally