General Info

[Regulr Travlr]

FYI - Copa is a Continental affiliate. I have flown them US to Panama as well as Panama to Colombia and Costa Rica. Basically the same service level as Continental. Actually a little bit better on the Latin American legs. Mostly 737's. They have always ran on time on my trips.

[Tuna Man]

I am going to Quito in a few days. I bought my tickets through Expedia on COPA. It is a Panamanian airline, but I have never been on one of their flights before, so right now I can't say if they are good or not.

I fly out of JFK and connect in Panama City. The layover is only 2 hours, so it should not be too bad. Total price was $470 including tax.

If you keep checking all the different ticket brokers, you can find deals.

On my first trip to Costa Rica I went on AA and vowed to never use them again. The connection in Miami is a horrible pain in the ass. All the rest of the times I went to CR I Flew on Taca and had very good service.

[Artisttyp]

Thank you to those who answered my question.

I have 28,000 miles with AA so that works great. My biggest complaint with AA is that the seats dont go back far enough and when I went to buenos aires last spring I vowed I would never do long flights with AA anymore.
The flight attendants on AA are miserable as well.

Everytime I travel through latin america by bus I have been pleased with the service. There seems to be some unwritten law that you get treated a certain way. I dont feel the same appreciation traveling with american companies. I'd like to try other avenues.

[Jaimito Cartero]

Has anyone flown Lan airlines to ecuador? I've never really flown too many foreign carriers but due to shabby service and shabby airplanes on the american side I'd like to try something else.

I've flown LAN to Peru before, and service was fine. You can credit to American Airlines, in addition to LAN's own program.

[Lorenzo]

Has anyone flown Lan airlines to ecuador? I've never really flown too many foreign carriers but due to shabby service and shabby airplanes on the american side I'd like to try something else.

I recently flew LAN all over South America over a 60 day period on a OneWorld Airpass. I was quite impressed with their excellent service. The most impressive thing was their punctuality. Every flight departed and arrived on time. Moreover, they aren't miserly about food the way US airlines are; if it's meal time, you'll get a hot meal. Food was average for airline food. Economy class seats were reasonably comfortable, with adequate legroom. No excessive waiting for checked luggage. It seems to be a popular airline; nearly every flight was full. I gained mileage with my AAdvantage card. They posted all the mileage promptly, and I had no problems in this area.

I didn't fly LAN to Ecuador, but I did fly them from Quito to Lima. I didn't take any intercontinental flights, only within SA. My longest flight was 6-1/2 hours from Santiago-Caracas, which is as long as an intercontinental flight. Service was still very good. On the intra-South America flights most of the flight attendants don't speak English, although announcements are in Spanish and English. This may be different on intercontinental routes.

Lorenzo

[Artisttyp]

Has anyone flown Lan airlines to ecuador? I've never really flown too many foreign carriers but due to shabby service and shabby airplanes on the american side I'd like to try something else.

I would be going coach from new york jfk to guayaquil (one hour layover) then on to quito.
I notice they have a jfk to quito through Lima,Peru . Do you have to get off the plane? Thanks

[Big John 1]

Hi guys,last week took a bus to a place called San Antonio,it is between Octavalo and Ibarra.When I disebarrked saw three female barbers advertised haircuts for 80 cents!!I watched awhile,chose the oldest and seeming the best barber.It turned out Silvia is 36.She was an outgoing morena type,and i have had much worse cuts for eight bucks!I gave her two bucks which she appreciated.The shop was closing,so I asked her to dinner,she said she needed to get her three sons,ages 12,4,and two,i said okay it was like a family dinner,the whole meal cost less than ten bucks for us all.She told me of her life,many weeks she earns 40 bucks.No beauty queen,a bit gorda,but a warm,caring woman.I had another hotel in Octavalo but got a oom for $3.50 to take Silvia for breakfast,she left her kids with a friend,without her kids very friendly.I asked her to come to my other hotel in Octavalo since she lived in a very small town,naturally worried about talk.She said she would meet me there,but only if we took separate buses and would arrange for kids.She showed up,albeit two hours late.She was a little nervous,so i suggested going for drinks,four cuba libres later we were both very ready.There was much talk in the room,a 62 year Gringo,a 36 year old ecuadorian in the same place.Not the greatest sex,not many differeent postions,but lots of affection.She did not want a condom and in fact pulled it off in the middle of things,nice big jugs,but nicer the feeling.We both went about the same time,watched TV a couple hours,then a repeat,in fact two repeats.Silvia asked for nothing,i gave her cab,not bus fare to her puebla as it was now dark,we both held,i gave her fifty bucks for groceries as a gift at the end.She does not want me in her town,I understand.Today got a nice email from Silvia.This was very good.Big John 1

See guys,it can be done,for me a nice change from mongering.

[Big John 1]

Hi guys,last week took a bus to a place called San Antonio,it is between Octavalo and Ibarra.When I disebarrked saw three female barbers advertised haircuts for 80 cents!!I watched awhile,chose the oldest and seeming the best barber.It turned out Silvia is 36.She was an outgoing morena type,and i have had much worse cuts for eight bucks!I gave her two bucks which she appreciated.The shop was closing,so I asked her to dinner,she said she needed to get her three sons,ages 12,4,and two,i said okay it was like a family dinner,the whole meal cost less than ten bucks for us all.She told me of her life,many weeks she earns 40 bucks.No beauty queen,a bit gorda,but a warm,caring woman.I had another hotel in Octavalo but got a oom for $3.50 to take Silvia for breakfast,she left her kids with a friend,without her kids very friendly.I asked her to come to my other hotel in Octavalo since she lived in a very small town,naturally worried about talk.She said she would meet me there,but only if we took separate buses and would arrange for kids.She showed up,albeit two hours late.She was a little nervous,so i suggested going for drinks,four cuba libres later we were both very ready.There was much talk in the room,a 62 year Gringo,a 36 year old ecuadorian in the same place.Not the greatest sex,not many differeent postions,but lots of affection.She did not want a condom and in fact pulled it off in the middle of things,nice big jugs,but nicer the feeling.We both went about the same time,watched TV a couple hours,then a repeat,in fact two repeats.Silvia asked for nothing,i gave her cab,not bus fare to her puebla as it was now dark,we both held,i gave her fifty bucks for groceries as a gift at the end.She does not want me in her town,I understand.Today got a nice email from Silvia.This was very good.Big John 1

[Samu Ray]

I had to go to Peru-Ecuador border to re-new my visa, this was few days back. I had read about a *****house near the border so I decided to visit
the place. It is a ten minutes walk from the Ecuadorian immigration office.
There is a dirt road that branches out of the main highway, walk few yards
on this dirt road,turn left you will see one house on the left and three houses on the right, make another left, short one, you will get to see a huge building with a big door, inside there are many tables to watch the girls while you have a beer. I counted 28 girls working, this was at about noon. I did not see anyone I would have liked to screw, I left. $1 beer, $ 10 for screwing!

On the Peruvian side prices are cheap, on the Ecuadorian side everything is in $$$.

The other houses had rooms inside but were empty!

[Big John 1]

[QUOTE=Doombringer321]You are quite right Ezinho investing in Ecudor is a waste of time, as far as the Sucre is concerned before the dollar you could buy a lobster dinner for 5000 sucres the equivalent of 0.25 cents try finding a lobster dinner now at that price, most people at the time who where middle class could afford a maid now most maids won't even talk to you unless you offer them 200$ a month so now it's getting like america where only the very wealthy bother getting maids at all.
As for your friends being uncomfortable they may be communist sympathizers but consider this the international exchange rate for the sucre at the time the government changed the currency was 15000:1, then the disgraced president who ruled at the time who is now BTW a professor in Harvard buisness faculty in the US, declared a banking holliday people couldn't withdraw their funds for a whole month add to that when the holliday was lifted 30 days latter people were forced to withdraw their funds at the rate of 25000:1 so right of the bat they lost about 40% of their capital, but the disaster doesn't end there get this, the government imposed a cap on the amount of money that you could withdraw in cash so people that had large amounts of money or savings were given government bonds in dollars, now unlike the US where most people can freely exchange a government bond for the quantity that is worth, here most people are distrustfull of the system so the people that wanted to change say a 1000$ dollar bond had to deal with a market that would only pay about half of what it was worth so on top of the fact that they lost their fortune on the exchange what was left had to be halfed by the sell of the bonds so the middle calss pretty much went to the shithole.

The few people that had any funds left did what was not contemplated before in this country MASS IMMIGRATION in a whole year over 3 million people left the country, it would have been nice if all the people that left were the illetarate and uneducated ignorant retards that seem to abound in this country, but what left was the cream of the crop doctors, lawyers, bankers, engineers, college professors, teachers, small buisness owners, midddle buisness owners, all the highly talented and educated people without which a country couldn't function and still be called a developing country. I personally didn't witness this event since I was at the time serving the US military but had enought grim accounts of the economic situation to kind of understand what this country went through, 6 yrs. latter the country is just now beginning the slow recovering process but it may take a whole decade more to get to where this country started economically before 2000 when the dollar became the official currency, so understandibly no one specially the average joe on the street is particularly thrilled with the dollar or the memories of the economic situation that developed when it changed in 2000.

As for mongering it seems to me that you go to the real "low class" borthels in the red light district that provide service by industrial standards in that respect it hasn't changed much but what has increased in price since the dollar came in has been the middle level hoes the strip club girls and escorts services the are now charging 40-80 an hour that is way to much to pay I have gotten FS in the streets of Miami for $60 and it ain't like this country has stunners like the do in other SA countries and their conservative society and repressed sexual culture reflects in the performance of their providers half of the P4P women that I have screwed in this country 60% won't do oral much less BBBJ, CIMTC, only about 10% will do anal, about 30% don't feel comftarble with DATY and after a nut most (90%) would like for you to leave while this is true of all working girls in other countries I have found that here working girls are more restrictive and less creative in their performance and not as good as Colombians, Ticas or Cubanas much less Brazilian and Argentinas.

BTW before the dollar you could get FS for as little as 4$, fine hoes in strip clubs for $15 and true gems for about 40-60$, about the only good thing in this country is that I'm making $$$$ otherwise I would kiss it goodbye and leave however I do miss my trips to Cuba, Brazil and certainly Colombia I hope that my commitments will slow down enough for me to leave the country around June so that I can have a sexual adventure in anyone of the aftermentioned countries.

Like everywhere,of course Educador was once cheaper. But right now in Old Town, Quito, Hotel $6 nightly, good full meals one dollar each local places, cheap fruit, cheap beer cheap women, I average $15-$20 daily for EVERTHING, way cheaper than most places for sure!

Big John 1

[R Brandon]

Tunaman,

I was asking the same questions and found out a few things. There are three ways more or less of doing bus travel within ecuador.

1. bus company transporte "panamericana" with an office near the mariscal(Tel 2551839/avenida cristobal colon & reina victoria) will take you to the major cities in ecuador.

2. Transporte ecuador- (JL Mera N21-44 cerca jorge washington) Same kind of service as panamericana but I think PA is better known..I might be wrong. They all say first class service etc. To me only mexico really had first class service. I've done the bus thing in peru and it was whatever so you get what you get.

3. There is a major bus station in quito near the old city called terminal terreste (????) I might be wrong with the name . Ive been to many latin countries so it's all a blur. Those buses leave every day to many places in ecuador. Set yourself up in quito and try to arrange a locker or something so you can leave some things and come back for them in a few days. You would be surprised what is within 3/4 hours from quito..Alot

Always go to a bookstore and check out the guide books they will point you in the right direction .

I hope to be in quito fairly soon myself.

* By the way bus travel is not safe in ecuador but I've heard it's cheap.

Excellent information on bus travel in Equador by the way. I hope to make it there next year somtime before summer in the US.rbc100

[Artisttyp]

Tunaman,

I was asking the same questions and found out a few things. There are three ways more or less of doing bus travel within ecuador.

1. bus company transporte "panamericana" with an office near the mariscal(Tel 2551839/avenida cristobal colon & reina victoria) will take you to the major cities in ecuador.

2. Transporte ecuador- (JL Mera N21-44 cerca jorge washington) Same kind of service as panamericana but I think PA is better known..I might be wrong. They all say first class service etc. To me only mexico really had first class service. I've done the bus thing in peru and it was whatever so you get what you get.

3. There is a major bus station in quito near the old city called terminal terreste (????) I might be wrong with the name . Ive been to many latin countries so it's all a blur. Those buses leave every day to many places in ecuador. Set yourself up in quito and try to arrange a locker or something so you can leave some things and come back for them in a few days. You would be surprised what is within 3/4 hours from quito..Alot

Always go to a bookstore and check out the guide books they will point you in the right direction .

I hope to be in quito fairly soon myself.

* By the way bus travel is not safe in ecuador but I've heard it's cheap.

[Big John 1]

Well, I have my ticket to go to Ecuador on Oct 17 and will be staying at Hotel Othello in New Town.

Along with a lot of mongering, I would like to do some traveling within the country. I know Peru has VIP or luxury buses that go all over the country and would like a heads up on the similar scene in Ecuador.

Has anyone used one of these buses? The price seems cheap (about $1.00/hour) but maybe a little too cheap. I just don't want to have to share my seat with a goat in a 1966 school bus.

Any information will be appreciated.

Hey buddy, Been here a few days on some two three hour buses, yes, about one dollar per hour, some equal Greyhound, some better, some a little worse,yes,there are chickenbuses, but to very small places you probly will not see.

Big John 1

[Yujin]

Riding a bus in Ecuador is an adventure. When I was in Cuenca, I met a New Yorker who traveled by bus from Quito to Cuenca. When he fell asleep on the bus, somone went through his carry on luggage that he had stowed in the overhead rack and took this digital camera. He didn't know it was missing until he reached his hotel room. He also had his iPod stolen while he was sleeping on the bus. When he woke up, his headphone was still in his ears, but his iPod was gone.

I did, however, find traveling by bus in Ecuador much safer and more comfortable than in Peru.

[Tuna Man]

Well, I have my ticket to go to Ecuador on Oct 17 and will be staying at Hotel Othello in New Town.

Along with a lot of mongering, I would like to do some traveling within the country. I know Peru has VIP or luxury buses that go all over the country and would like a heads up on the similar scene in Ecuador.

Has anyone used one of these buses? The price seems cheap (about $1.00/hour) but maybe a little too cheap. I just don't want to have to share my seat with a goat in a 1966 school bus.

Any information will be appreciated.