Finally in Peru!!

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Well....we have moved on a bit.....

On Monday morning we caught a bus to Cuenca.....3 hrs to Ambato and then 7 hrs to Cuenca. Our friend Brice (France) that we met up in Mindo was already there with a messed up back and waiting for us. He was going stir crazy due to the pain and immobility so he booked our room for us at the same hostel. It was great to see him again and I am sure he was delighted to see familiar faces. The poor guy has 2 herniated discs so he is in rough shape. Our plan was to get there....get him some what better....enough that we could carry his backpack and get him on the bus with us to Peru.

Cuenca was pretty nice....for a city. I am not going to lie...I was somewhat disappointed because I was expecting another town like Baños and it wasn´t anything like it. Baños is likely one of my all time favorite stops in Ecuador....what an awesome place!! I prefer the smaller towns/villages compared to the cities so hence why I wasn´t all that thrilled with the size of Cuenca. But really....don´t get me wrong....it IS a nice city! It has that small town feel to it with the cobblestone streets and nice churches, etc. I just wasn´t in the right frame of mind for it I guess. The first night in our hostel.....a pretty shabby one really but the nice owners made up for it.....was not fun. We were kept up until past 3am with drunk ppl outside on the street yelling and being a total nuissance. Brice´s room is upstairs from ours and he finally went out on his balcony and started to yell at them. haha It did work cuz things quieted down after that. The next day we attempted to set up some spanish lessons for the following day and just did some sightseeing. That night, after talking to Thomas on the phone, I decided to catch a bus very early the next morning to Quito...for one last visit. I made the decision at midnight and was on the bus to Quito at 6am the next morning. Crazy how things go sometimes. haha The 10hr ride to Quito went uneventful which was a relief and it was great to see Thomas and his brother Mattius once again. We had dinner in Quito and then Mattius and I split off from Thomas while he went to class at the university. We went to an indoor climbing gym for an hour and then went to a super cool cafe that had an abstract picture exhibit going on. Later that night we met back up with Thomas and headed back home to the farm for the night. It was pretty late when we got back and it was going to be a very early start.....5am departure for Mindo so the boys could do some kayaking.

Our departure ended up being more around 6am....too early for my liking regardless. haha We were joined by Mattius´s friend Nicole...another kayaker. After arriving in Mindo a few hours later, they dropped me off in Mindo for the day while they went off to scope some rivers. Mattius and Thomas are guiding a kayaking trip in March so their sole purpose there was to scope out some runs on the rivers. The rivers were NOT easy by any means so it was not a good time for me to venture out with them....I had no problem with that. 😉 So while the 3 of them kayaked, I walked up to the Butterfly farm a few km´s from town. You may recall the name Mindo....I have actually been there before....that is where we did the Zipline above the rainforest amongst other things. But we never did make it to the butterfly farm so it was nice to get there this time. On the walk there I encountered a number of different butterflies and that number only grew the closer I got. The butterflies in the farm were beautiful and I managed to snap some awesome pics (to be posted later of course....teehee). While in the garden it started to totally downpour like mad! I tried to out wait it for a good 30 mins but it became obvious it was NOT going to let up. So I borrowed some bags from the gift shop there....covered EVERYTHING in plastic bags....put on my rain coat....and started the walk back to town. By the time I got back I was SOAKED. I could wring out my underwear....no joke. Luckily I had a sarong with me and my boxer shorts for sleeping so I quickly changed into those and felt much much better. The boys were supposed to meet me around 1pm and well....by 4pm I still hadn´t seen them. I was growing quite concerned since I figured the rivers were going to raging mad from all of the rain. Around 430pm I finally got a hold of Thomas on his cellphone...they were ok and on their way but I was right....something had happened and they were pretty shooken up. Turns out Nicole (Mattius´s friend) flipped out of her kayak on 3 different occasions and was definitely in over her head in the rapids. At one point while they were trying to help her, they got split up. Nobody knew where anyone was and it took them over an hour to find each other....each one fearing the worst.....needless to say they were pretty exhausted mentally and physically when I did see them. Glad everyone was ok!! We ate supper in Mindo and then headed back home for a very good nights rest.

The next morning we did some work on the farm.....it included me helping Thomas clean out the chicken coupe. Yummmy! haha It also involved Thomas chasing about 40 chickens around the horse pasture with a pitchfork in his hand cuz he clumsily left the pen door open. Ha! Was that a funny sight!! Later, we started working on preparations for the next morning´s event....Thomas´s meeting at the farm. I can´t recall if I mentioned it before or not, so I will mention it again. Thomas has been working on creating a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) on his farm. Many locals had expressed interest so he made a meeting for the next day that was to be the big info and recruiting event. We made bread and yogurt for the next morning, cleaned up the Classroom where he was holding the meeting, and other preparations. Later that night we made many pizzas in the huge clay oven his students had made in the fall semester and many joined that play instruments. It was a great evening surrounded by great ppl, food and music....until the wee hours of the morning....

The next morning we woke up fairly early since the meeting was to take place at 10am. I helped with some morning preparations and then said my goodbyes to everyone...including my sad goodbye to Thomas.....and then I walked to Pifo to catch the bus south again. I had a pretty uneventful journey back to Cuenca...thank goodness....but it was long. What should have taken 10 hrs took 12hrs....and what cost me $8 to go one way then cost me $14 to go back. Go figure. The ol´Ecuadorian way. haha I arrived in Cuenca at midnight and quickly jumped into bed preparing for our 10am departure for Loja...the last town before hitting Peru.

The next morning we caught an 11am bus to Loja.....this time we as in 4 of us. Brice (the crippled frenchman.....we alternated carrying his backpack), myself, Nicole....and our new recruit....Sjirk (a guy from Amsterdam that Nicole met while I was up north). Numbers are helpful when crossing a border so I was happy to now be 4 strong instead of 3. The bus ride seemed like it took forever to Loja....about 6hrs.....but it was uneventful. We got there and settled in to a nice little hostel with super creaky and saggy beds. It sure didn´t lack character! haha We hung low that night and rested for our early morning (7am) bus to Piura, Peru!

So....what we thought would be a smooth journey into Peru turned out to be anything but!!! It was about 3 hrs before we reached the border and all seemed fine. We got our passports stamped saying we had left Ecuador and that we were now in Peru. We got the ol´ ¨Welcome to Peru!¨from all around and got our pictures taken infront of the sign and then as we were about to re'enter (no dashes on this keyboard) the bus...we were informed of that morning´s events. Apparently the Peruvian farmers went on strike...that morning of course.....and set up barricades all around the country. Nobody could leave or enter from any of the borders. Joy. We were rather bummed out thinking we were never going to make it there. Grr. What was going to take place was that all of the ppl on the bus were to get back on....and then the bus was going to drive back to the closest town in Ecuador and stay the night there. We had ppl approaching us in cars saying they could drive us to the barricade for a nominal fee and that we could likely walk through the barrier and catch a car on the other side. Hmmmm....somewhat tempting but sounded a bit fishy....a robbery set up perhaps? We opted to get back on the bus and go back into Ecuador. But then, we were told to HIDE on the bus by the Peruvian border dude cuz they weren´t going to re'stamp our passports to say we were going back into Peru. We got a bad vibe from this since we technically were going to be illegally in Ecuador. Sigh. The border dude said it would be safe for us to attempt to walk across the barriers if we wished to do so....after a few secs of pondering it, the 4 of us decided to try our luck and jump off the bus. We were joined by a 5th person....a british man in his 50s....so now we were 5 strong. We cautiously piled into one vehicle...ya...picture 5 ppl crammed into a SMALL car with 5 large backpacks.....1 of the guys is over 6ft tall and has a horrid back....and another is 2m´s tall....what is that.....6´6ft?. Boy, that was fun. Anyhow...we did it....Nicole on my lap....a couple of us with pepperspray ready for that ´just in case´. We got to the barrier and all seemed fine....we even walked through it no problem. Everyone was quite friendly and ok with us walking through so that was nice....we just walked on saying Gracias to everyone. We did encounter another vehicle right away.....well...a moto....basically a motorcycle with a hut on the back that seats 3 ppl. The guy charged us an outrageous price saying he would take us to the next barricade. We were like ¨what?¨. The NEXT barricade? Ok, so ya....this is where things got quite out of hand.....there was not only AN extra barricade......there were 12!!! Good gawd. So it turned into quite the adventure. 5 gringos walking for km´s here and there in a place where they have likely NEVER seen tourists.....stared at by many....even had some taking pics of us...catching moto´s here and there for outrageous prices.....walking through barrier after barrier after barrier....only ONE out of us 5 had Peruvian money so he had to cover for EVERYONE....funds depleting rapidly, starving, taking turns carrying Brice´s 50lb backpack, it was about 30C, the sun getting lower.......and no Piura in sight. Wow, what an adventure!! We eventually made it to a small town called Tombogrande where we decided we would likely spend the night since it was the safest place to be at that point before the sun dropped. Once we got there, we had some locals tell us there was a backroad way to Piura that had no barricades....we had to get across the river to get to some waiting cars. Again, all seemed sketchy but what did we have to lose at this point. We had some locals drive us to the river for free....we tried to offer them money but they wouldn´t accept it. That was a nice change from all the money grabbers we had encountered from the moment we stepped foot into Peru. Those guys told us how much it was to cross the river (by boat) and then we got on the boat to only be charged DOUBLE cuz of our backpacks. Sigh. Go figure.....we are slowly finding out this is a common theme in Peru....always negotiate a price that includes your backpacks!! Grr. Anyhow...once we got on the other side of the river, we were being offered rides to Piura for RIDICULOUS prices. Expensive.....even in Canada! So we basically told them to shove it and decided we were going to spend the night there and hope the buses were up and running again the next morning. Just then, we saw a girl that looked....well....not so native to the area......and started talking to her. Turns out she is an American that works for the Peace Corp and is doing volunteer work in this tiny village just outside of Tombogrande. She tried to negotiate a better price for us to Piura with no luck so she opted to try and find a place for us to sleep in her village...she said Tombogrande was a bit sketchy and that her village was way safer. We ended up staying in an empty house on the concrete floor for the night...for free. Wasn´t the coziest sleeping quarters but we were rather relieved to be able to relax....we were beyond exhausted at this point....mentally and physically. We got some money out of an ATM in Tombogrande too which was a relief since we had virtually nothing left. The night was a great one....we spent it hanging with locals in the tiny village....getting drunk...learning about different Peruvian customs (mainly drinking ones...haha)...had a great feast....and hit the sack around 11pm. It rained and rained and rained and rained. Wow. I didn´t think it could rain any more! It was wild. The entire night was a heavy downpour that didn´t let up until just before we got out of bed. Rachel (the American girl) welcomed us in the morning and informed us that we MAY be able to catch a bus to Piura that day. That ended up not happening....by early afternoon the barricades were still up and we heard the military was coming in to forcefully remove them. We finally managed to bargain a decently priced ride in a tiny tiny little car....going the backroad way to Piura. The 5 of us crammed in there with Nicole on my lap....3 backpacks strapped to the roof (no rack....the entire roof dented in)....and the wheel well rubbing the wheels cuz the car was sooo weighed down. It took about 2 hours goign through water that was up the car doors in some places.....but we FINALLY made it!! yeh!! We immediately found a bus to Chiclayo and were on our way within 1 hour of arriving in Piura. What a relief!

Chiclayo turned out to be not as great as we expected....beach town. But I think our experience was tainted from the hostel we decided to stay in. Katuwira Lodge. The Lonely Planet spoke highly of this place but it wasn´t all that it was cracked up to be unfortunately. Ppl got rained on in the night...there was little to no running water....it was really run down and quite expensive....and the beach STUNK! Sounds silly cuz I know ocean beachs stink but this was REALLY stinky. I could barely take it. So in the morning....all of us grumpy, we decided to pack it in and get to the next destination; Huanchaco, in which we heard many good things about. Brice decided to stay in Chiclayo to check out some museum so the 4 of us moved along. We apparently missed a really great museum but ah well...so be it. Once we arrived in Huanchaco, we knew we made the right decision. It was super cool!! A really really awesome beach´surf town that was yes...quite touristy....but that is ok. haha

This is where we are now.....Huanchaco.

I am now out of time so I will update more tomorrow on the festivities here in Huanchaco. It is a super place and many stories to come!!

Ciao for now!

K

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