Five buses and almost 20 hours to get to my New Year's destination: I left Vilcabamba at 8:45pm to get back to Loja for the midnite express bus to Guayaquil at 10:45pm. I arrived in Guayaquila at around 7am and was only able to get a bus to Manta with a 7:30 departure. I arrived there a little before 1pm and quickly transfered onto another bus that told me would be going directly to Bahìa immediately. It did leave immediately, but stopped at Puerto Viejo at 2:30. This definitely was going direct to Bahìa and in 15 minutes we started moving. By 4:00, I arrived in the bus terminal at Bahìa and it was another 5 kilometers of biking to get to my hostel in the town.
Bahìa is a beach town that has suffered through many natural disasters during 1998- El Niño rains triggered landslides, then seven months later an earthquake brought down 200 buildings. The city was able to rebuild and new money brought in high rise buildings along a new landfilled coastline.
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| sunset obscured by clouds |
late night eats serving a punishing burger that best goes down after a few brews. The alcohol helps kill anything hiding in the mystery meat.
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| fish at the market |
In Ecuador, people burn effigies of the ending year as a way of getting rid of bad luck. These things are made of paper mache and sold on the streets for $4 a head to more than $20 for the giant guys. After purchasing the character, people put it on their vehicle and parade it around town. At midnight, they torch the guys. For those who keep it real, fireworks are stuffed inside, like a piñata. I wanted to buy Chuckie, but it was out of my price range. The guy I got apparently is recognized by little children. I thought he was just an office jockey.
I strapped my "viejo" on my bike and biked around Bahìa, much to the delight of everyone. But I did not stop at the city limits. I was told that it was possible to bike on the beach to get to the next town in the south -
San Clemente. It is a solid 25 kilometers beside the water and it was fun! The tides pack the sand enough so that riding a bike was not difficult, but not too moist that water sprayed out. I was warned to be mindful of when high tide was approaching. When it does, the beach disappears and there is the possibility of either getting trapped on a beach or else getting swallowed by the ocean.
I was in no danger of getting high tide on my way to San Clemente, but it was a concern on my way back. After a lunch of fried fish and a piña colada (my first one ever), I jumped on my bike and headed north on the beach. It only took me less than an hour and a half to get to Clemente, so it could be possible to beat the high tide. But maybe not. After leaving Clemente's beach there was a small bottleneck that I noticed was starting to disappear under the tide. The rest of the beachcoast would probably still be safe for me for it was mostly 50 yards deep an hour ago, but I did remember one or two choke points that might be like this spot. I turned back towards Clemente and took the long road back to Bahìa.
At midnight, the city glows in flames with everyone burning their "viejo". I was at a concert next to the beach and within a minute of 12:00, a bonfire had already started with a pile of viejos. I said a farewell to 2012 and chucked my little guy into the fire.
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| firecrackers exploding |
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| there were fires going at almost every other block. In this photo, there are four fires visible down this street |
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| sometimes, the viejo doesn´t completely burn |
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| it is difficult to start one of these fires, so people just place their viejo atop other fires. |
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