On the bus

After two days, it was time to say goodbye to my family at the finca, and start my journey into the jungle. From Santo Domingo I took the bus to Ambato, where I met the dad of the family I was going to stay with in Baños. Together we continued on another bus to Baños, from where I took the bus to Tena, a small town at the beginning of the jungle, the next day.

The bus rides were generally similar to my first one to Santo Domingo, however with more stops on the way, and much more people travelling. Therefore I could nicely observe, how the bus system worked here in Ecuador.

Generally, buses seem to connect most towns on a quite regular basis, and are a well used transportation system, as many people don't have a car. There are many different bus operators available, trying to get people to use their company. Therefore at every bus terminal, but also at the important stops on the street, the conductors are shouting out their destination loudly.

When buying my ticket at the station, I was assigned a certain seat on the bus (which, depending on the operator, was also checked). However, all the people getting on the bus at all the intermediate stops just took any available seat or, if the bus was already full), stood in the aisle or entrance area (sometimes also including lots of bags).

The busses do have some fixed stops (sometimes they also call out the name of the town, but not always), but will also stop (or at least drive slow) wherever somebody wants to get on or off.

Again it was common, that at every possibility, people came in, trying to sell stuff. Apart from the typical things (drinks, snacks, sunglasses, watches, ...) I also got to listen to the dangers of skin cancer (of course you could buy the appropriate cream to prevent it), listen to loud music for a while (of course you could buy a copy of the CD), and was told in which hotel I should come and stay (of course the woman next to me on the bus ran this hotel). And as additional entertainment (if the scenery and the people on the bus weren't enough), usually a movie was shown.

Then, after more than 8 hours on busses within two days, I had finally reached Tena, for my jungle experience.