Roving the Americas: July 15 - Huaquillas to Santo Domingo

After driving the Andes across Peru, we had decided to skip the Ande route that would have taken us through Cuenca, Ecuador. We choose the much flatter but also a bit boring valley route (E25). We had heard from several people that Cuenca is/was a must see due to it's old buildings and historical significance. I guess even driving we can't see / do it all.

We departed Huaquillas and headed north on the E25 through small towns and banana plantations....Ecuador is the self proclaimed capital of bananas, and all we can say is we saw lots of bananas in trees, bananas in trucks, bananas on the side of the road and even mushed bananas in the back seat of the truck. You can eat bananas every which way in Ecuador...but the fried bananas chips are the best!

It was close to lunch time and the kids were up to their "I'm hungry...what's for lunch?" routine. They also didn't like our "chicken and rice" answer.... and so the griping would start....we decided to stop and find a restaurant but that turned into a mild fiasco because we became "lost" in a small town... we ended finding the main route, back tracked to the grocery store and picking up some ham/cheese/lettuce and tortilla wraps.... and the griping started up again... Subway this, McDonalds that... why this, why what....fun times.

We came across a few military check points but they didn't seem to care about us and kept waving us through, which was always appreciated. Thus far the military in Ecuador has been the most intimidating looking bunch of well dressed, well armed individuals.

We bypassed Santo Domingo and decided to just wing it in terms of accommodations or just stay in the truck. The kids have been on us to sleep in the truck but hotels/ hostels have been really inexpensive and the access to a bathroom is kinda important. We also "need" time away from the truck....We came across this great country club type of hotel at the foot of the Andes about 15 km outside of Santo Domingo. They had a great pool with water slide, hot tub and a great family room....ie: beds for everyone! The kids made good use of the pool for couple solid hours while mom and dad relaxed with some cold drinks... even the light rain didn't dampen the mood.