On the bus, we drive out of Guayaquil and through the countryside, making our way to Ambato, from where we will continue on to Baños. It's a very local bus, but for such a cheap one ($7 for 6 hours) it's not bad - quite comfortable in fact. The bus drives through the pretty, rolling hills with farms and local housing. Then the temperature drops as we start to enter the cloud forest and can no longer see much out the windows. 

At the lunch stop we eat a delicious local soup with rice for $1.50 and chat with Eduardo*, a lovely guy we met on the bus who is a diver in the Ecuadorean navy and is currently on his way home to to Ambato to visit his parents for a few days. 

Back on the bus, from the seat in front of me, a dark little Ecuadorean girl with Down syndrome pops her head up at me, smiling sweetly with her big lips and squinty eyes, so radiantly happy, but also, I suppose, amazed by our pale skin and light-coloured eyes. She pops up regularly throughout the journey, equally as delighted to look at us each time. This all happens while I am reading a book about racial discrimination in Mississippi in the 60s, and it makes me think how lucky we are, to be able to be the only people on a bus who have different coloured skin, hair and eyes, and to not be discriminated against. And this is certainly not the first time having such lovely attention, in Latin America, and in Asian countries too. 

It seems like the girl can't really talk, as she only makes a few murmuring noises every now and then, but her mother tells us her name is Eva*, and she's 12 years old (though she looks a lot younger). She is so sweet and innocent.

As the bus journey continues, we buy some big bags of strawberries and grapes. The bags cost only $1 each and must have about 20 delicious strawberries and almost as many juicy, red, seedless grapes. We share them with Eduardo as well as with Eva, who makes thank-you noises at us and has an excited look on her face with each little piece of fruit we give her. Sometimes she waves at us, pouts at us and poses, and often she brushes her curly hair off her face with her hands, or with her brush that she holds the whole journey, or sometimes she dances along to the music on the bus.

Then behind me I feel something, and I see a tiny hand poking through the gap in the bus seats. The tiny hand belongs to another little girl with pigtails who is sitting behind me, also eager for our attention. We offer her some strawberries and grapes as well.

Eva also pokes her hand through the gap in the seats in front of us, and she shakes our hands with a very strong grip. She loves holding our hands, shaking them, or stroking them. Sometimes she looks into the distance while she's holding one of our hands, with an adorable look on her face of pure content and love. I wonder if that look is because she perhaps not used to receiving much attention from strangers (let alone gringos), but then I think how could everyone not love her when she's so gorgeous - full of life and love. It reminds me how much more special personality is than what someone looks like or whether they can talk. 

After 6 hours on the bus we eventually get rushed off it in the middle of a highway, which we need to cross to change for the bus to Baños. As we get off, we say ciao and wave goodbye to Eduardo and Eva; and as we stand on the road, the bus drives off with Eva smiling radiantly and waving back at us until she can't see us anymore. 

(*Names changed for privacy)

Read more about why I love Ecuador so much.