Reluctantly, it is time to leave the warm and beautiful beaches of San Clemente. We have two choice for travelling on to Quito/Otavalo: bus or airplane. The bus takes about ten hours to Quito and costs $10 per person. The airplane takes about 30 minutes and costs $50 per person. We opted for the airplane but, of course it wasn't so simple. The nearest airport to San Clemente is almost an hour away in Manta. We have no car so we must take a taxi. So we pile into a beat up taxi and ride at breakneck speeds on the hot day over sometimes bumpy, potholed roads, passing slower trucks and buses in the middle "no-man's-land" part of the road. Basically, most roads here are two lanes but if opposing vehicles both drive close to their respective edges, a third middle lane is sort of created. It's common here but unnerving to our United States' habits of painted lane markings and drivers actually adhering to them. Driving seems to be a sport here and is best left to locals and taxi drivers.
Manta Airport does not have fancy jet bridges. You board the old-fashioned way by walking across the tarmac and up the stairs on your own power.
They do use a unique approach in advertising on the seat backs though.
A short 30 minutes later we are about to land in Quito for the two hour drive to Otovalo - our final destination of the trip. One of the best $100 I ever spent.
What does Buggatti sell to the Ecuadorians? Motorcycles?
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