Rapid Roy

There were a couple of ways to get from Mindo to Canoa - our next destination on the Pacific coast - one involved 4 local buses and an 11 hour journey, while the second was a 2 hour bus ride back to Quito and a 6 hour executive coach ride. We decided on the private driver route which cost a little more but only took four hours.
Our driver - Angel - showed up as promised in a car that had seen more than a few kilometres and loaded the bags and got on the road. After about 20 minutes he explained that he needed to stop to pick up his 'espousa' who was going to help with the driving on the return journey. We were joined by Consuela who chatted non-stop to Angel for the rest of the journey - no chance that he would fall asleep at the wheel!
While always careful about his overtaking manouevres, he drove considerably faster than I would have tried but delivered us safely to our destination in Canoa exactly on schedule - after one comfort break in the house of a lady who had a roadside stall somewhere along the way.
Through out journey I could hear the words of Jim Croce echoing in my ear - although Linda suggested that she was thinking that our good friend Noel would fit in well on the roads here - if he ever thinks about changing careers.