The time on the beach was great, but we decided we needed a break from the intense heat. It was time to get to Quito. We were already this far north so we decided to go by the coastal route rather that head back to Guayaquil again.

We took a local bus north. It said Portoviejo on the front, which according to its size on the map seemed to be a good point from which to head east up the mountains to Quito. We found, after a long hot journey on a bus full of cockroaches and the new Rocky movie that was on – but nothing was going to keep us in that hell-hole to wait for the night bus. We took the first local bus back to the coast, to Manta, to wait for the bus from Portoviejo or to find a bus from Manta to Quito. Luckily a return to Portoviejo was avoided and we found a direct bus. We left for Quito at 10pm and arrived at 7:30am. We didn´t sleep very well.

Tags: ecuador