Monkeys on the Road: One family's vanlife adventure south in search of a simpler life by Mary Hollendoner

Author:Mary Hollendoner [Hollendoner, Mary]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sawmill Mountain Publishing
Published: 2021-11-28T07:00:00+00:00

Dirt road detour through the wax palm trees in central Colombia

ECUADOR

We drove 3,160 miles over 5.5 months in Ecuador.

December, 2018 to May, 2019 (including 3 weeks on Galapagos islands).

25

Amazing Ecuador

From snow-capped volcanoes to the Amazon rainforest to surf beach towns – Ecuador has it all. We initially debate whether to drive down the western coast (beaches), or through the center (volcanoes), or hug the eastern side (Amazon jungle), but we ultimately decide we’re ready for a change from Central American beaches and jungle. So, we drive down the center of the country, criss-crossing the Ecuadorian Andes, past dozens of volcanoes, the tallest of which reaches over 20,000 feet. We are loving being back in the mountains.

But first, we have to deal with some van and human health logistics.

John installs the replacement switch that we brought back from the US, and we buy a pair of new lead batteries to finally put our battery troubles behind us. Unfortunately, we couldn’t bring new lithium batteries with us – for some reason the airlines don’t let you fly with a potentially exploding box – but the lead batteries work out just fine.

On a trip of this length, you have to deal with healthcare at some point. I was tempted to put off non-essential things like a mammogram until after the trip, but then I heard from a friend about her stage four breast cancer diagnosis. So I spend a morning googling “mammogram Ecuador” and making tricky phone calls in Spanish to hospital receptionists, then John drives me to the clinic. I’m taken in immediately to the big machine for the scans, and then directly to the doctor’s office where she talks me through the images that are already pulled up on her screen. She then does an ultrasound to get better pictures, which she says is standard here, and gives me print-outs of all the results to take with me. Finally I return to the front desk where I pay... wait for it... $75.

Ironic timing because the next day we get a $220 bill from the pediatrician in California from when Lilly had her ear infection there. We’d spent five minutes with her and no tests were administered. That $220 did not even include the cost of the antibiotics. The US health system is really not an option without insurance.

Then finally we’re back on the road, heading south. Driving is so relaxing compared to our experiences in Colombia. The roads are in great condition, with signs and on-ramps, and there aren’t “mosquitoes” (motorcycles) swarming all around us constantly – it’s all so orderly! Also, the currency is USD, and the emergency number is 911 – little things that make traveling here feel slightly easier.

Our first stop for gas leaves us somewhat confused. Our 25-gallon tank was almost empty and yet the man is asking us for only $17. Something must be lost in translation. But no, we realize that diesel here costs less than $1 per gallon! We later discover that it’s heavily

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.