I traveled on a bus from Quito, Ecuador around Cotopaxi - to Lataconga: on 4th of April, 2015. I and a hostel friend from historical center in Quito took a cab to Quitomba bus terminal in southern Quito. The cost was $7. There is an option to take a trolleybus to Quitomba bus terminal but they are sometimes overcrowded in the center (plus, not all of the trolleybuses go to the Quitomba bus terminal), so we opted for a taxi. After about 45 minute ride, we got off in front of a modern bus terminal. The ticket booths are well organized by destinations. Once we got our tickets, we headed down through the checkpoint to the secured area of bus terminal where only passengers with purchased tickes could enter. We stored our big luggage in the bus'es lower storage. Once on the bus, a young man checked our tickets and showed us our seats. He asked us to store our small backpacks in the overhead space, assured that it is safe and made some comment about food and garbage (pointing to the plastic bags by the seats) which I did not understand completely. There were various distractions during the ride such as woman selling and presenting healing benefits of chia seeds or various salesmen selling "papas" or "frutas." There were also several people standing in isle of the bus. In the middle of the road, when Cotopaxi peak took our attention, my friend noticed that someone tried to open his backpack. He took it down and searched if everything was fine. Nothing was missing. Then I checked my bag, and although the bag seemed untouched, my photo camera, cables and various chargers were stolen. By the time I noticed it, the thief was gone. And who was it? The guy who pretended at the beginning to be the bus employee (who checked our tickets). As I learnt along the way, the thefts are very common in Ecuador, unfortunately. So no matter what circumstance, do not let your bag to be anywhere else than in your lap. Numerous of tourists I have met got robbed in Quito and Guayaquil. The smaller cities and towns are safe in Ecuador. In the same time, am not trying to be bitter at Ecuadorians. About 15 millions of them did not steal anything from me...
Bellow is only an illustration photo of one of the buses in Ecuador (the theft did not occur on this bus)
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AuthorI like to travel by bus and would like to share my experience from airport transfers to long distance bus travels as well as practical information from inspiring destinations. If you would like to support this page, you can do so through paypal. Thank you. Archives
June 2017
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