To get back down to our favourite paradise (Mancora, Peru), we had to take a bus down to Guayaquil in Ecuador before transferring over the boarder back into Peru. Seeing as we were making the journey, I hit the guide books again and found that Ecuador's last "dry forest" was reasonably close and seemed popular, so after surviving the crazy bus station - where two lost tourists were not appreciated on what seemed like the busiest day in Ecuador (Election Day!), we found a local bus to take us to Bosque Cerro Blanco. It did not look promising when we were dropped on the side of a main road next to a tall, white wall decorated with barbed wire but the lovely guard let us in and stored our bags for us whilst warning about the mosquitos. The haunting laugh of the guard when we informed him we had no repellent is still clear in my mind. We essentially offered ourselves up to be eaten alive by the most extreme "mozzies" I have ever seen or heard of. The bites were excessively painful and the bugs were on steroids I swear! We were slapping ourselves and each other; much to the amusement of the other tourists, who took pity on us and gave us some repellent and laughed as we poured it all over ourselves.
Tip: Mosquitoes are attracted to black clothing - something I did not know!
Our guide also found our clumsy footsteps and teenage laughter somewhat aggravating! We unfortunately did not see any howler monkeys as we did not have enough time to climb to the top of the mountain... thank goodness! But we did see lots of bug and lizards haha.
We also attempted to visit the mangrove swamps, but could not go out onto the water as the tide had risen - you can only go at 4am in the morning. So we hitched a lift back to Guayaquil station and proceeded to buy most of the trainers and running gear in the sports outlet!
All in all a hilarious and exhausting day - perfect before an 18 hour overnight bus journey. Here are some photos of the whole "experience."
Lots of Love,
Clementine x
Casual Chicken Nugget Brekkie
Preparing for the oncoming Mozzies
Potential animals we could have seen - I really wanted to see a sloth!
I did see a furry caterpillar...
And a lizard
etc.
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