Western Slopes to the Pacific Coast - Adventure Guide to Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands - page 253

Getting Here &
Getting Around
TAME offers daily flights between Quito and Esmeraldas
(except on Sundays). Their office in Esmeraldas is on
Bolívar, just off the central plaza, 6-712-663.

By road, the two main routes to Esmeraldas are:

The Puerto-Quito Highway, north of Quito and passing
through the Mitad del Mundo monument;

The highway to Santo Domingo de los Colorados, which
turns west off the Pan-American Highway south of
Quito near the town of Alóag.
These two roads join northwest of Santo Domingo de los Colorados
and continue to Esmeraldas. Frequent buses to and from Quito's bus
terminal take less than six hours. The bus trip between Esmeraldas
and Guayaquil takes eight hours.

Visitor Information
Esmeraldas is the major city along the north coast and
offers modern necessities such as mail service, commu-
nications, banking, and medical facilities. There are
also a few outfitters who can provide guiding services
into the surrounding region. Most tours and travel ser-
vices, however, are based in Quito. Often, a tour will begin in Quito or
youwill fly into Esmeraldas, meet with your prearranged transporta-
tion, and head off to a particular destination.

Modern services in Esmeraldas are all centrally located between Sa-
linas and Rocafuerte (running east-west) and Bolívar and Olmeda
(north-south), including the half-dozen or so bus stations . There are
a couple of banks on Bolívar, including Filanbanco, between
Piedrahita and Cañizares, and Banco Central, between Juan
Montalvo and Rocafuerte though rates and services are better in
Quito. Post and communications offices are in the same building
at the corner of JuanMontalvo andMalecónMaldonado. The tourist
office is onBolívar andMejía,

6-714-528. The TAMEairline office

is at Bolívar and 9 de Octubre, 6-726-863. The hospital is on Av.

Libertad heading north toward the Las Palmas suburb.

In San Lorenzo , near the Colombian border, the Ministerio del
Ambiente , on the main plaza, has useful information for visiting lo-