We were told was Cuenca was one of the most beautiful cities a fellow traveler had seen. It was beautiful indeed, with interesting mixes of architectural styles, but we were ripped off from the moment we pursued Cuenca.
Our bus tickets said $16 on the bill, but the seller said $16.50 and we paid $16.50. Without much negotiation power, we paid $3 for a cab at 11:30pm when we knew it should have been $2. After our third hostel attempt (walking around in the middle of the night), we found one. Luckily they were very kind and didn’t charge us for two nights when we decided not to stay the following night. When we took a cab back to the bus terminal, he said $2.50 (again, should be $2, but at least it wasn’t $3), and when we got to the bus terminal and gave him $3 requesting change, he said he didn’t have change. A cab driver without change?! But there’s not much we could have done.
Then the final straw of being nickel and dimed… We were a little early for our bus so we waited inside and looked into Columbia, a destination we are really looking forward to, and lost track of time. While we still had five minutes, we were supposed to be outside 10 minutes prior. We grabbed our stuff and headed outside, but there was a gate with no passage to our bus. We rushed back inside and down the bus station to another exit and we approach a “torno,” those one-way gates with a bunch of vertical rotating metal arms that you exit through when you leave a theme park. Turns out it costs .$10 per person to get to your bus. We still didn’t have change for a dollar, and the torno didn’t provide change! So we quickly proceeded further down to look for a different exit but it turns out the only way to get out is by paying $.10 (which, for us not having change, would be breaking our $20 from the ATM). So then we ask where we can get change, and they point to a machine that only excepts dollar bills (we didn’t want to put in a $20 for fear we’d receive a bag of coins that would only be useful if we intended to play slot machines). We ask a couple vendors, and of course they “didn’t” have change. Three leisurely security guards were useless. By some miracle, one of the guys associated with the bus found us and paid for us to get through, rushing us to get to the bus.
Once on the bus, and happy to be advancing out of Cuenca, we discovered we weren’t quite free of the wheeling and dealing yet. While we waited to leave, a man got on the bus saying he needed money to see his family tonight and that he misses them very much (what I gather from my Spanish comprehension skills). He tells his story, which seems extremely practiced, and then, looking bleakly out the static bus window, waited solemnly for someone to give him money. Half the people on the bus give him money. Up next for our onboard entertainment is a fast-speaking man who has a bag of something that he is aggressively handing out to every passenger. We knew well enough not to even consider it, even though it looked like chocolate. After canvassing the length of the bus, most taking the goods, he comes back to front, his pitch still in an aggressively rapid mode of which I’m understanding very little, except hearing “three dollars.” He proceeds to go through the bus again to collect money. Finally, we depart on pre-bus ride entertainment must end.
We seem to be the only tourists on this overnight bus to Quito and there is a vocal young child and someone listening to music on a speaker. I haven’t been to Kansas, but by all means, I am certainly not in Kansas anymore!
During our day in Cuenca, we luckily had a nice time, seeing some beautiful buildings, their charming main square and enjoying some local treats that were too irresistible to pass up!
After that adventure, we are ready for the natural beauty and ambiance that is promised by the “cloud forest” of Mindo!
