Jambelí

Jambelí is a beach on a series of islands of the same name about a four-hour bus ride away from Cuenca.We packed on to a bus at 5:00 a.m. The bus headed southwest out of Cuenca through a beautiful canyon and through some dairy country. About 45 minutes after leaving we crossed the continental divide and there is a beautiful view of the city of Girón nestled on the western slope of the Andes. Girón is where we went and hiked to see some spectacular waterfalls (see our first post).



Shortly after passing through Girón the scenery changed from green semitropical growth to dryer and dryer vegetation until we were surrounded by the dry rock and sand of the Jabone Desert which can be seen across the Jabone River as it passes through a narrow boulder strewn canyon.



Before long we were again surrounded by tropical growth of banana trees and jungle vines. We then traveled across the hot, costal plains where we saw banana and cocao plantations. Alongside the road we saw people tending their cocao beans that they have spread along the road to dry in the sun. After passing through, Machala, one of Ecudaor´s larger coastal towns, we arrived in Puerto Bolívar

Puerto Bolívar is a rather rough port city filled with banana warehouses surrounding a port filled with boats being loaded with bananas to be shipped throughout the world. More bananas pass through this port than any other port in the world so it´s likely each of you, at some time or another, has had a banana that has passed through this port.

From, Puerto Boívar, we chartered a small boat with a small slow outboard motor to take us across Puerto Bolívar to a series of low-lying islands. We went through a small channel between two islands with mangrove swamps (as seen below) on either side. We then arrived at Jambelí Beach.


Random billboard...
We were told to no expect Waikiki beach with high-rise beach-front resorts.

Imagine instead a poor, native fishing village that has expanded to include a few run-down restaurants and a dozen collections of shacks called hotels. Below you can see Ishmael and Sammy, the Rosero´s children.

We, as a group, rented a room at the nicest hotel in town so we´d have a place to change into and out of our bathing suits and have a place to leave our thing. It rents for $10 day and makes Motel 6 look like the Hilton Hotel.



Don’t we didn't let the lack of fancy surroundings spoil our time. The sun was warm, it was high tide so there wasn't really too much sand to enjoy, and the water was a perfect temperature for a swim.