Episode Three of Five: returning to land and more adventures

Following up from the second episode of our Galapagos ill-fated venture, we move on, back to the mainland of South America:

Being the Spanish-speaking member of our group, I was in communicado with the officials.  We learned a large schooner would come soon from Posorja, a fishing village, to fetch the women and children first.

If then no other vessel was available to help rescue us, the schooner would return for the men.

 Our rescue schooner looked very much like this one

The schooner, with terracotta-coloured sails, appeared to everyone’s relief. All the women, children and the chickens were boarded and set off.

Many hours later, the men were also picked up and transported to Posorja.  There we found all the women and children huddled on the floor of a large fishing warehouse. But not for long, the local people just disappeared, and we men in turn sat down on the floor.

Posorja, Ecuador

All the luggage was forwarded to the Humboldt Hotel. Now we needed to get our group back to Guayaquil.  However, it was a Sunday afternoon.

Our expectations shattered

Using my best Spanish, I managed to get a big truck which was used to transport fish. We negotiated a price with the driver and told it was about a 4-5 hour drive to Guyaquil. I sat in the front, and everyone else got into the back of the half-open truck.

By now it was getting dark, there were no lights, and the rain began.  After an hour the truck came to a halt in the middle of nowhere, pitch black around us.  I asked the driver, “Que pasa?”

“I’ll take a look”, he replied, getting out of the vehicle, lifting the hood and appearing to study the engine.

We looked at the dashboard which showed an Empty fuel tank! Now what?  No gasoline, in the middle of nowhere.

Episode Four - coming up next.