You would think that after 2 weeks of Spanish school and already having spent more then a month in Spanish speaking South America, we would have been able to understand basic things like how much a room was !
But when we went to Guaranda, straight after finishing our classes, we enquired about a double room in a hostel recommended by LP. What the guy said to us just didn't sound like Spanish to us at all!
I heard him say "Diez" in a way that sounded like they had rooms but it was in a dorm of 10 beds! Gwen and I consulted each trying to understand what he was saying!
But because of our confusion and us telling each other "diez" with furrowed brows, he then said more to us.
We enquired again if the room was a double because we still weren't sure and he said Si and let us look in the room.
When we went to pay, the cost turned out to be $16 per night. We later figured out he was saying it costs $10 per person and then reduced it for us to $8 per person!
Win for our bargaining skills!!
Friday, 8 July 2016
Wednesday, 6 July 2016
Fresh air taxi
After our "escapade" with the law, we were left at a bus stop waiting to get to Salinas.
We caught the first form of "public" transport that would take us there which was a collectivo (pretty much a shared taxi but a in this case a shared ute).
There was a school girl waiting for the truck as well. When it arrived, the people sitting in the front made some room for Gwen as they saw she had the baby.
I went around the back with the school girl to climb onto the back. It covered so I only realised how full it was once I saw inside. There were 4 men already inside as well as a schoolboy. Also there were 2 crates of what looked like tofu but I presume was a cheese.
The girl climbed inside and sat on the rear edge of the trailer. I couldn't do the same as there was someone in the way. I assumed they might make some room for me but the truck started to roll off.
So I did what I could only do. Hop onto the bumper and hang on for the ride!
Luckily I didn't have to stay in that spot for the entire ride. Just for 15 minutes and then I was able to half sit inside and eventually get all the way in once the men got out - some old farmers that were playing a drinking game while they waited to get home!
We caught the first form of "public" transport that would take us there which was a collectivo (pretty much a shared taxi but a in this case a shared ute).
There was a school girl waiting for the truck as well. When it arrived, the people sitting in the front made some room for Gwen as they saw she had the baby.
I went around the back with the school girl to climb onto the back. It covered so I only realised how full it was once I saw inside. There were 4 men already inside as well as a schoolboy. Also there were 2 crates of what looked like tofu but I presume was a cheese.
The girl climbed inside and sat on the rear edge of the trailer. I couldn't do the same as there was someone in the way. I assumed they might make some room for me but the truck started to roll off.
So I did what I could only do. Hop onto the bumper and hang on for the ride!
Luckily I didn't have to stay in that spot for the entire ride. Just for 15 minutes and then I was able to half sit inside and eventually get all the way in once the men got out - some old farmers that were playing a drinking game while they waited to get home!
Saturday, 2 July 2016
A brief encounter with the law
We've spent the last few days in Guaranda - a small town located in the highlands.
It's not really a touristy town but we had to come here to visit the village of Salinas, further up the mountain!
Salinas is a village located high up in the mountains at an elevation of 3500 metres. Our plan was to catch the bus up there but we didn't know the exact location to catch the bus in Guaranda. We started looking for it in the main square but a local women there suggested to go to the main bus station as catching it in the square would be too complicated for us.
On our way there, some police officers stopped us and requested to see our passports. We were both cautious about this but figured it was OK as there were two of them in uniforms, one was a woman, and they had gotten out of a police truck.
So we showed them our passports. They enquired as to where we were going, informed us that the bus leaves from the square only. But requested us to get in their truck as they wanted to take some photos first (we didn't quite understand what they wanted to take a picture of). They told us they would get us to the bus afterwards and reassured it was all ok.
We hesitantly got into the truck and they drove to the police station. The woman officer jumped out with our passports, ran in and then returned to the truck quickly. She had grabbed her phone and used that as we drove onwards to take pictures of our passports.
Rather then taking us back into town, they drove us down the road towards Salinas hoping they'd overtake the necessary bus so we could get on board. It was actually quite pleasant in the end.
After it was clear they weren't going to find a bus on the drive, they dropped us off at the split in the road where one path is the road to Salinas and told us we can hail the bus.
The thing that topped the whole experience off is once we got out, the woman officer asked if she could have a photo with us!! I think we were the only tourists she had ever seen!!
It's not really a touristy town but we had to come here to visit the village of Salinas, further up the mountain!
Salinas is a village located high up in the mountains at an elevation of 3500 metres. Our plan was to catch the bus up there but we didn't know the exact location to catch the bus in Guaranda. We started looking for it in the main square but a local women there suggested to go to the main bus station as catching it in the square would be too complicated for us.
On our way there, some police officers stopped us and requested to see our passports. We were both cautious about this but figured it was OK as there were two of them in uniforms, one was a woman, and they had gotten out of a police truck.
So we showed them our passports. They enquired as to where we were going, informed us that the bus leaves from the square only. But requested us to get in their truck as they wanted to take some photos first (we didn't quite understand what they wanted to take a picture of). They told us they would get us to the bus afterwards and reassured it was all ok.
We hesitantly got into the truck and they drove to the police station. The woman officer jumped out with our passports, ran in and then returned to the truck quickly. She had grabbed her phone and used that as we drove onwards to take pictures of our passports.
Rather then taking us back into town, they drove us down the road towards Salinas hoping they'd overtake the necessary bus so we could get on board. It was actually quite pleasant in the end.
After it was clear they weren't going to find a bus on the drive, they dropped us off at the split in the road where one path is the road to Salinas and told us we can hail the bus.
The thing that topped the whole experience off is once we got out, the woman officer asked if she could have a photo with us!! I think we were the only tourists she had ever seen!!
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