Souvenir Photo Studio, by Al Bourassa: Monday May 30, 2016 Jungle Boogie 1

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Monday May 30, 2016

Well the day has finally arrived for the long-anticipated voyage to Sucua, dubbed the "Jungle Boogie" by our fearless leader, singer Brian Gary and his sidekick Jimmy. After 2 pretty sleepless nights we were up at 4:30am to finish preparations to leave at 7am.

30+ persons met near the Stadium to board the bus and off we went. If we had known that the bus was going to drive within 50 ft of our house, we could have stayed in bed another 2 hours!

The initial drive through the Andes going through Paute and beyond was just spectacular, making me think that I want to do this on the scooter. The landscape photo ops would be just incredible.

Someone must have told the vultures, Andean condors?, that there was a bus full of old people on the road. It sure seemed like they were following us hungrily....

Sliding down after 5 hours to an altitude of 1,300 feet things get considerably warmer, and the vegetation definitely more tropical. I am thankful that we are doing this trip in "winter" so the temperature is liveable, not oppressive.

We headed straight to an arranged place for lunch where apparently Brian and Jimmy had been promised food service within 15 minutes. I'm sorry, but when 40-odd persons descend on a restaurant with a small grill and one waiter and only 2 cooks, that just is not realistic. This has happened on many tours where these poorly chosen places really put a damper on the day. Unfortunately this was the worst ever. We sat there for 2 bloody hours before getting our food, and we were among the first half! The food was only passable, not very warm, and defintely not worth the wait. Cristina and I went downtown and took a few photos, picked up some water, and returned while the last folks were just getting served. Nobody was very happy being served lunch in the mid-afternoon....

Then we went to the lovely Hostal Luzcelinda where we are staying and quickly changed into swimming gear. Cristina was quite happy to show off her new bikini, but of course without getting her hair wet... I had a fun time in the pool but have re-injured my right shoulder with all my foolishness. I don't regret it. The pool is the place to be in this heat.

At 6:30 we jumped back on the bus to go for the Welcome meal which we thought would be in Sucua. Wrong! We drove for at least 20 minutes and then turned off on an unlit road through groves of sugar cane. It was almost like we were being set up for a hijacking. But, they knew where they were going (Jimmy is from this area) and we, all of a sudden, pull up into this huge farmyard with a monster unfinished quonset that is set up as a huge event place. The chef had a big kitchen at his disposal and he had a few servers so this meal was a huge improvement. The majority of folks had pre-ordered a chicken meal and they were served first. We had ordered beef and were served as the first people were finishing their chicken. John had ordered a spagghetti meal and it was served very late. Ecuadorians just don't seem to grasp customer service at all and don't realize that we want to be served at the same time, pay our cheques rapidly and be on our way...

However the meal was very good so we must give them a lot of credit.

Everyone was dozing on the bus ride back and we all headed for our beds upon arrival at the hotel. Looking forward to our trip to the jungle and waterfalls tomorrow.

I hope you enjoy the photos. I am doing this on the laptop of course, so I apologize for the loss of quality. That was the day's excitement, Cheers, Al

NOTE that you may click on any photo for an ENLARGED VIEW.