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Our plan was to drive north west from Mindo to Esmeraldas on the northern end of the Ecuadorian coast and spend 3 weeks exploring most of the coastline from north to south. However, what we didn't know was that we would be in for a few surprises! The first surprise was that we didn't make it as far as Esmeraldas for the first night and ended up staying at a petrol station in Viche for the night, 50km south east of the coast. It wasn't a surprise that we didn't make our planned stop for the night - that happens quite often, or that my insect bites were getting itchier - that happens quite often too!!
The surprise came at 11-15 pm. We were getting ready for bed and I was just closing our skylight when I got violently shaken. I stumbled and almost fell over!! Earthquake!! It measured 6 on the Richter scale and was really hefty. The epicentre was just off the coast where we had been heading for that night!! At the 24 hour petrol station, everyone was standing well away from the pumps and a woman came running out in red pyjamas!! 30 minutes later there was an aftershock that measured 5.2 on the scale!
There wasn't any damage where we were but several buildings in Esmeraldas were damaged and there were conflicting reports regarding injuries or deaths. Earthquakes are not uncommon here and we've experienced several on our world travels but this one nearly threw me off my feet which has never happened before!
The next surprise was the coastline itself. We drove along the Esmeraldas bypass to the coast but drove through ugly towns. Not what we had expected! We drove off the main road into Sua, one of the many coastal towns, to take a closer look. The unpaved roads were muddy and there was only a short promenade where no parking was allowed. We drove back out again!
We drove through two other towns that I'd marked down as places to see (from our very old 2007 Lonely Planet!) but it wasn't worth stopping there either. We carried on to the turn off for a campground we'd planned on staying at for 4 nights or so. The road to it was mud/gravel, not tarmac and it was 10km to the campground on the beach. We decided not to drive along the unpaved road because we didn't know what the conditions were further along it and any rain might make it impassable. Plus the charges for the campground were $14 per night three years ago. It might be more now. We also knew there would be a lot of mosquitoes.
We ended up just driving south, sweltering in the 34°C heat. Part of the coastal route was blocked so it meant quite a long diversion inland and we stayed at petrol stations for the nights. The heat was really getting to us and our GPS was also having problems - it took us on the wrong road so we had to stop and ask a moped rider. The church we wanted to see - Santa Rosa in San Vincente - was closed and run down and the town was absolutely packed. We arrived at 16-30 and left at 16-40. We drove over a bridge on stilts across the bay to Bahia de Caraquez.
The town was destroyed by an earthquake in 1998 and rebuilt into an "Eco city." Maybe it was nice in 2007, the year of our Lonely Planet, but we thought it was ugly. We drove around the peninsula to see the lighthouse - a teeny thing in the sand!! Then we stopped at a bakery where Kirsten jumped out to buy some yukky cheese bread. She ended up getting two massive loaves because she didn't realise how big they were!! Oh well, crackers again tonight! It's just too hot to cook and there aren't any supermarkets.
On the way out of town we passed a large swamp area of the bay and then had to go through a flood on the main road - extremely deep water!! There'd been a huge storm earlier which had missed us but we'd seen it from across the other side of the bay. Several roads were flooded. We drove slowly along the middle part of the road but it was still at least 20cm deep!
Further south, we ended up parking at a hotel behind a gas station for the night with mosquitoes. It was still 31.4°C at 11pm. The next day we drove inland along a bad road to Montecristi - the original town where all the wrongly named Panama hats come from. The roads are extremely steep but we managed to find a less leany parking spot so Kirsten could jump out and take photos. Then we drove back out to the coast, past several unfinished road overpasses, along with lots of bad drivers!!!
We managed to find a nice parking spot for coffees right next to the sea. There was no beach, just huge rocks to prevent erosion but it was quieter than on the main road. Later, we hit our exhaust on a large speed bump just before a police checkpoint. They just wanted to check our papers but we checked our exhaust and one of the rubber rings that hold it in place had come unhinged. It was still hanging so Kirsten took it off so we wouldn't lose it. (We re-attached it later that evening once the exhaust had cooled down.) After another really bad stretch of road we finally got to Puerto Lopez - the only place worth seeing along the coast!! We drove along the busy malecon/ promenade and Kirsten went out on foot to check out some places we'd seen on iOverlander where we might be able to camp. Unfortunately they were either too expensive or not accessible for us.
The malecon is a one way street so we drove back to the main road to get back to the malecon further north and found a parking lot next to the Victor Hugo Hotel where we could park for the night. We really enjoyed the fish and chips Ecuadorian style at their restaurant and saw a nice sunset. The TV was showing the World Cup qualifying match - Ecuador vs Argentina - very important for everyone here!! We enjoyed our 1.5 hour walk along the promenade with everyone watching the second half at various restaurants. We kept an eye on the score. The loud celebrations sounded like they had won. They drew 1-1 but it meant Ecuador had qualified!! It will only be their fourth appearance at the World Cup so no wonder they were shouting so loudly!
We found out that here were no whale watching and snorkelling boat trips because they don't start until the end of May/June. We were there too early. So we only stayed one night but it was another horribly hot night with mosquitoes and our sleep was interrupted by having to keep putting the fan on. We'd already decided to head to Cuenca and spend our time there. It meant we would have only one more hot night to get there - yippee!
In the morning Kirsten went back to the smelly fish market where all the fish are filleted. We'd passed it last night (quickly, whilst holding our noses!) but she wanted to see if any boats had come in. She was lucky and managed to video one boat unloading a massive catch that was being bombarded by hundreds of hungry frigate birds. In the meantime, I cleaned up and got us ready to drive but when she didn't return I drove along the malecon to pick her up so she didn't have a long, hot and sunny walk back.
Then we drove along the rest of the coast, decided to miss out the Salinas peninsula and cut the corner to get to Guayaquil. The last part was nice driving on good roads but we hit a lot of traffic going into the huge city. The only thing we wanted to see was the renovated malecon so we pushed our way through to get to it. We were really disappointed because it was fenced off and we couldn't see anything. We certainly weren't going to try and find a parking space to take a closer look so we just carried on in heavy traffic, over several bridges, heading east.
We drove past El Triunfo heading inland towards Cuenca and stopped at a truck stop in Cochancay for the night. We bought a pizza which wasn't the best so I gave the rest to the security guard and fetched us some ice creams. It was still 32° at 10pm. God, just as hot as the coast but it would be our last night in the heat. Tomorrow we'll get up into the mountains to Cuenca where it is a lot cooler.
We'd driven 301km in 6.5 hours today and done the whole coast, 970km, in 4 days!! That was the biggest surprise because it had definitely not been our plan!
