Cuenca Ecuador to Lima Peru, June 2008

On our last leg of our trip to Lima, we picked up another "direct bus" to make our way to the Ecuador/Peru border crossing. Little did we know what was in store for us! This little herd of goats was right outside the bus terminal, in the middle of town.

As the taxi drivers wait for a fare, they move their taxis forward in line...manually.

While not flattering outfits for women who are a little plump, the clothing certainly makes for attractive photos.

Some shoeshine boys, breaking for a game of marbles. Must be difficult to play on the brick surface!

Yet another unlucky pig at one of the roadside feed stations along our route. The bus would stop long enough for people to get a bite.

Tricyclos everywhere.
At this point, I will explain what happened as we approached, and crossed the border between Ecuador and Peru. As background, we could have taken an overnight bus, out of Guayaquil, that would have crossed the border and delivered us safely to Lima Peru. However we, unfortunately, were not in Guayaquil but in Cuenca. I was in favour of returning to Guayaquil, but Ralph said..."How bad can it be?" We were to find out!! The bus from Cuenca was to deliver us to the border, where we were to go through immigration and cross the border independently. Then we were to pick up a taxi or bus, on the other side, to take us to Tumbes Peru. From there, we could catch the bus, coming from Guayaquil, and take the rest of the overnight trip into Lima. Sounded good...but NO!!! Long story longer, the bus from Cuenca dropped us at immigration, as planned. Although this appeared more like a hot dog stand in the desert, all went well here. That was the end of the fun, as we know it. From there, we took an Ecuadorian taxi to the border. However, the taxi doesnt' take you to any "real" border, but drops you in the centre of a VERY BUSY market. We weren't travelling light, and had 2 backpacks, a large wheeled duffel, a guitar, and computer. Talk about obvious!! As we unloaded all our crap, 2 Peruvian "taxi" drivers began to/continued to badger us. They followed us, harrassed us, badgered us all the way to their "taxi" (and I use this term very loosely), all the while flashing their "official" taxi ID. Now, they can probably fabricate a passport in 15 minutes, in this country! How much faith do I have that these are REAL taxi ID's? However, they gave up trying to convince me, but they finally won Ralph over! I was thinking NO NO NO, and trying to dissuade Ralph, but he was sure this was OK, and typical, so we loaded our stuff into this broken down white car (no taxi emblem anywhere) and got in. Both "taxi" drivers got in...Oh, oh!!?? I felt scared enough with one driver, but two?? Then, as we drove off, I notice we didn't have any door handles, hence no way to get out! Talk about terrified!!! Long story, longer, they did take us to the Peruvian immigration, where Ralph did the check-in and I determined we weren't going to go any farther with this taxi. We unloaded and found another cab, so nothing happened. However, knowing of 2 cruisers who have been drugged and robbed, and reading later about this being the worst, most disorganized and crime-filled border crossing in all of South America, I feel that we were just damn lucky!! Who knows what might have happened if we continued?

So, after a brief stop in Tumbes, to pick up our bus, off we went. We found the first of Peru gloomy and brown.

Miles of sand and rock, all brown, with brown houses and roads! Very depressing!

This was lunch! When you're hungry, you eat! Some kind of meat?? in the shape of cut up weiners.

The next morning, and about 5 hours outside of Lima, our bus packed it in. What a God-forsaken countryside! It is like the moon. Three hours later, we were shuttled into another bus to continue our journey.

Lots of litter aside the road. The steward, on the bus, collected all the garbage that we had after the meals. Unfortunately, at the next stop, he just threw it outside along the highway.

We saw many, many of these long sheds. We think they are raising turkeys or chickens here.

This was the road ahead.

Lots of lovely beach, but the surrounding land is very unattractive.