Bus Terminal

Guayaquil- City of 3 million- Carnival holiday where nearly 1/2 the city is traveling for the 5 vacation days- Bus Terminal- The most affordable means of travel for locals- No A/C or air- thousands of people pressed against each other- Hot and sweaty- people holding on to each others shoulders and waists so nobody can cut in- Fewer bus seats available than people in line- Parents holding small children to keep them from getting trampled- 3 hours in line- women breast feeding- 1 gal resting her head on my arm- Crowds of people yelling and pushing when people would cut in line- Security officers pushing their way through to remove "the cutter" before the altercation became physical- Family's sending their kids to the front of the line in hopes security wouldn't be so forceful with them (this tactic did not work)- 80% of the people were respectng the system and looking out for each other- At one point I slightly stepped to the side of the line to block a would be "cutter" and security wanted to send me to the back of the line- My fellow line mates all argued on my behalf  and the security guard let me keep my place- Once the tickets were for sale, any inch of space we had was taken as everyone pressed toward the window- Everyone yelling, waving $ in their fists- My good Ecuadorian friend Christian, which I was very lucky to have with me during this experience, made it to the counter first- He was yelling back at me for money- After giving him a $20, he yelled back, "More money!"- I frantically emptied my pockets into his hand- He later told me we needed exact change- After lots of pushing, shoving, sweating and yelling, we had 4 tickets and were headed to Puerto Lopez- more importantly, we had seats- The isle was packed with people standing, kids sleeping on the floor and puppy's roaming for the  4 hr bus ride- No bathroom stops- As eventful as this experience was, the return trip would trump this bus ride in excitement- Multiple people were sold the same seat- People yelling and pushing for our seats- Danielle and Brandon were forced to jump out the bus window (See Living the Good Life for details)- Tosha, 5 months pregnant, pushing her way down the isle and out the front- Once again, too many people all trying to leave at the same time with too few of busses- People riding on the roof of the bus- Busses far beyond compacity were racing each other up a 2 lane road with on coming traffic- Trucks so full of people they were riding on the bumper- Multiple cars and busses stranded on the side of the road with engine troubles or blown out tires- Safe arrival in Guayaquil 5 hours later.