Today was just another of those amazing days when you do
a trip like this where you haven’t got a clue what to expect, what you have
read about it turns out to just not be what you find, and you keep getting
surprises all day – I think one of the most common and frequent things we say
is “I don’t know quite what I expected from such and such a place (or thing or
country), but it wasn’t anything like it actually is !”.
We woke up in our little hotel 3 kms from the Peruvian
border, found that if you waited long enough the water really did come out of
the shower hot, and then had a delightful little breakfast (included in the $15
pp hotel fee) of fresh juice, coffee, cheese (local) toasted sandwich, and then
a little bowl of scrambled egg. We left
the hotel very content with its service – It really was a great little hotel in
the middle of a little country town – Most unexpected while we had been driving
round in ever decreasing circles looking for it last night ! We left town by driving through the middle
including the main square and the church – Quite a nice little town.
Off down the road towards the border, we decided to top
off the fuel tanks with $1 a gallon ($0.30 per litre) fuel while we could, even
though we had only gone 100 kms since we had last filled up. As we drove into the petrol station there was
a policeman there who seemed keen to stop us getting fuel – Was this another
situation where the Ecuadorians don’t like foreigners filling up on their
subsidised fuel and then running over a nearby border ? Would we be arrested for filling up when we
were already swimming in 180 litres of nice cheap fuel in the car ? Not at all – The policeman just wanted to
know whether we needed petrol or diesel so he could direct us to the correct
pump, and then asked which side our tank was on so we went to the correct side
of the pump !! I never did work out why
it took a policeman to do this, but, hey, this is South America !! When the petrol attendant wished us a “Buen
viaje” or good journey as he shook my hand as we left, and meant it, it
typified the whole South America thing – People are just so polite.
With a whole $3.50 worth of extra fuel in our tanks, we
set off to the border – And promptly drove straight through the first
(unmarked) post, only to be waved back as we had to exit Ecuador (passport
wise) before entering Peru. Once we had
backed up through all the cones, nearly knocking down half of them, we went in,
filled out the required customs forms, after which they duly stamped our
passports, I told them how much we had enjoyed their country (it is superb),
and off we went across the bridge to Peru.
Once more flagged down, we were told to park our car and which shed to
go to (just a bunch of huts). We duly
did this, filled out more forms, and got our passports stamped into Peru. In the next hut the policeman went through
all our papers then asked for our local Insurance, which we hadn’t yet
purchased, so he directed us back 100 yards and pointed at a hut on a small
hill. Off we went, and had to climb up
some steep metal stairs (almost a ladder) to a restaurant. All closed up. Not looking too promising, I
thought. “Excuse me” I called out “can we get SOAT
insurance here ?”. “Round the back” the
man replied in Spanish, and Janet and I proceeded to go round the back of this
hut on a twisty and narrow mud path between pretty dilapidated old mud brick
buildings so that we really wondered how this could possibly be an insurance office. But when we had eventually got to the back,
and past the two dogs that greeted us by barking non stop, there were two men
in an office. “SOAT ?” I asked tentatively
? “Next door” came the reply in Spanish,
and when we went next door we found ourselves in the back of the same
restaurant that we had started off at !!
The restaurant owner greeted us (again) and sat behind a little desk
that obviously was his “insurance office”, and proceeded to inspect my passport
and registration papers, ask a few clarification questions, and then hand-write
out an insurance form, and charge us $8 for one month’s 3rd Party
coverage. Interestingly my Toyota
Landcruiser is classed as a “Jeep” in Peru under “Type of Vehicle” !! I handed him a $10 bill, but he only had one
dollar change, so rather than go wandering around looking for change, we told
him the $1 was a propina (tip) and that he should have a cerveza on us tonight
– He thought this was wonderful and we left him with many handshakes and smiles
and “mucho gustos”, and headed back to our policeman.
Once back there, it was really just an hour of waiting
around while he filled out all the required forms on the computer so he could
give us the permit to import the car to Peru.
We filled the time by watching people crossing the border – One car backfired SO loudly it
sounded just like a gun shot and had all the police getting ready to return
fire – And then laughing their heads off when they realised a beaten up old
pick up truck was the culprit ! Then
there was the lady chatting to the cops under the tent checking cars, with a
big turkey in her arms – More of which later.
Eventually got the piece of paper allowing me to import
the car, did our “Muchas gracias” dance to all and sundry, and left, stopping
at the tent to make sure we really could go.
While there, we asked about the turkey which was now lying (legs
trussed) under a policeman’s chair, while the lady and original owner had
disappeared. On asking, we found out
that the policeman had bought the turkey off the lady for $20, and reckoned he
had got a bargain. I promptly offered
him $25, and they all thought this was hilarious, and resulted in another few
minutes of people saying things in Spanish and English that opposing parties
couldn’t understand, but nevertheless caused everyone to double up laughing at
what was obviously a huge gringo joke – Imagine us going off in our car (with
the steering wheel on the wrong side ha ha ha), with a live turkey in the back
ha ha ha. I think we are going to like
Peru !! Totally zero charge to enter Peru,
beating even the $1.50 photocopying charge we had paid entering Ecuador ! Or maybe we are just getting better at this
? To be honest, I think by now the cops
and customs etc know we have now already done this so many times that we know
all their tricks so they don’t try them on us anymore ? And maybe it is more likely that I will be
made to eat those words at the next border crossing ??
So off we went – We just can’t believe we are actually
driving down the road in Peru in our car !
We say this in each country was we enter it, but the further we get, the
more we mean it !! VERY deserty and dry
here in N Peru, as it was yesterday in S Ecuador, but more so. And LOTS of rubbish by the roadside, whereas
Ecuador, while not spotless, seems to have their problem more under
control. On through the bustling little
town of Tambogrande, we got some local currency sols from a bank in the bigger
city of Piura, where the traffic was CRAZY.
Lots of tuk tuks and local buses have absolutely NO rules at all – Turn
left from the right lane, turn right from the left lane, do a U turn where it
says no U turn, and ignore all stop or give way signs and just push your way
in. Hmm – OK. It took me about 5 minutes, but soon we were
turning left from the right lane (yes, we really did !) with the best of them
!! Troopie is just big enough and has
enough bars around her to make people think twice about pushing me around. Anyway, it was a relief to get out of Piura
and head down the road across the desert.
Initially there were a lot of waterways / canals carrying a LOT of water
– They have a major irrigation programme going here, and there was rice and
lots of mangoes growing beside the road.
Gradually the land got more and more desert-like, ending up in sand
dunes and zero trees. But the roads were
good and also straight, which after the twisty mountain roads of the past few
weeks was not only refreshing, but enabled us to suddenly make very good time.
This is the land of tuk tuks, and as we have journeyed
south, their design changes from country to country, and even from city to
city. In N Peru they were the “stretched” design as we had seen in parts of
Ecuador, but instead of the extra seats, they have a luggage tray on the back
where the passengers can put their sacks of stuff from the markets. And while you keep seeing them tipped over,
it is not from accidents, but rather because it is easier to tip them over to
wash the wheels than it is to bend down to wash them on the ground !! We then got out into the real Deserto de
Sechura, as it is named, and it is weird.
The houses have rough wooden fences around them like corrals, and the
houses themselves seem to be mostly made of reeds or long grasses, sometimes
covered in a mud daub to seal them. Lots
of goats and donkeys beside the roads, and obviously a very poor area, it looks
very “African” as we head into the sandy desert, and is nothing like we
expected to see in Peru !! We stopped
for lunch on a road side space (nice to find these here for the first time for
several weeks of “no where to stop” roads !) and put the awning up not only to
shield us from the sun, but also to dry it out after our wet stop 2 nights ago
in the Podocarpus NP. Then it was off
across the increasing dunes and often treeless stretches of desert as we headed
south towards Chiclayo. We had details
of a little lodge just north of Chiclayo
in a place called Lambayeque where camping might be possible, so we put the
coordinates into the Garmin and followed the directions down the road. Now remember that at the best of times on our
journey the Garmin has not exactly been reliable – It tends to get lost at
crucial moments and dump you in dead end roads or in quarries !! And in Ecuador it had never even found itself
– There are no maps from any supplier available for Ecuador for some reason –
So it was with some misgivings that when it told us to turn off the main road
down a little dirt side road between buildings, we did so. And it then got worse – telling us to go
straight when there was a T junction ahead, and pointing at a green place when
all we could see was buildings and narrow lanes – There were a lot of comments
like “this can’t be right” and “we really ought to turn round and get out of
here” and “this doesn’t look too safe down here to me” being thrown around
when, suddenly, straight ahead of us, was the Mamita Helmita Eco-Hostel we were
looking for ! We were stunned. I will take photos on our way out tomorrow,
because we were too worried to take them as we came in. Anyway, drove in the gates, and an elderly
gentleman came out, and when we asked if we could camp here he said Si. Where ?
Right here in the car park ?
Si. Will it cost us anything
? No.
We couldn’t believe our ears – In a lovey little hotel / resort type
place, with rooms all around and a swimming pool in the middle. When we asked about a bathroom and shower he
gave us the keys to one of the rooms to use when we wanted. And all this in the middle of an area where
you wouldn’t normally think of driving into !!
So here we are all set up for the night. A very nice couple from Uraguay came over for
a chat while we were setting up – Fernando and his wife who are here on
vacation – So we had a chat about our trip, and they gave us a few ideas for
the best way to travel in Southern Chile and Argentina, and showed us where
they live in Uraguay – As always, it is chatting to people like this that makes
our journey so special. Tomorrow we
will plod on towards Lima which is still over 700 kms south. But for tonight we have an unexpectedly great
little spot to camp, and after enjoying some bangers and mash (S American
style), we turned in for the night.
Photos here https://picasaweb.google.com/117739775480775657932/0138MacaraToLambeyeque?authkey=Gv1sRgCJWRnOjfuevAyQE#
Photos here https://picasaweb.google.com/117739775480775657932/0138MacaraToLambeyeque?authkey=Gv1sRgCJWRnOjfuevAyQE#
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