The South American Shuffle - 3 countries in 8 days Part One

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I’m starting to think the whim of joining the call of the wild, volunteering in a Bolivian animal sanctuary may have been an overly-ambitious and possibly slightly silly call.

But then, that’s grumpy, tired me. Me who has been in 3 countries and 9 cities in about the same number of days. Me who has had to negotiate a whole new set of eating and requirements, confusions and overfriendly locals on a daily basis. And most significantly, me who just had my first taste of crime - South American style … but more of that later…

About a week ago I set out, with more than my quota of enthusiasm and possibly less than my due of common sense. The 50+ hours of bus hours ahead were a mere trifle and the call of the cats (and monkeys) was loud and clear.

Day One after an overnight bus from Quito was Cuenca, Ecuador
Ecuador’s city of churches. World heritage listed by UNESCO. Very pretty and very European, not much going on. Time to take advantage of the rare and very, very beautiful, wireless internet to stock up on the latest episodes of Scrubs for the long, long bus rides to come. I also spent a day visiting the local Incan ruins - Ingapirka. I’m sure they are fascinating in the right frame of mind but to me they just seemed like some nicely laid out rocks.

Day Three Cuenca, Ecuador - Loja, Ecuador
In truth, I have little more than a fleeting recollection of Loja. I know I was there because I’ve still got the bus tickets. Beyond that I can only imagine it got caught up in the blur of the South American shuffle in my mind. Needless to say not the most memorable city 😉

Day Four Loja, Ecuador - Piura, Peru. Border time.
This was nowhere near the hassle that the ominous words ‘Border Crossing’ had conjured up in my mind.

In fact, the whole experience verged on homely, with a mummy and baby goat afront the border police station. Inside were friendly officials who were prompted by the outside of my passport to start bouncing from the hips with hands in front as paws saying ‘Karngaro! Karngaro!’ and grinning inanely.

A dash of ‘olde worlde’ was added to the experience with the addition of a big leather bound ledger where the details of all incoming and outgoing people traffic are recorded by hand. This one puzzled me. They have internet cafes in abundance throughout South America so I’m not sure how immigration missed the technology boat. I am sure those with a less-then-legal inclination would appreciate the difficulty it would take in cross referencing this information though.

Given that I’d only travelled a few kilometres I wasn’t expecting a huge difference between Ecuador and Peru. It’s amazing what a difference a border makes though. The entry into Peru made Ecuador’s poverty and haphazardness seem luxurious and organised. It wasn’t the mud huts and dirt roads. It was the piles and piles of rubbish and the stench that carried for miles. It was the children, dirty and bedraggled sitting in the dirt and filth. Thankfully, it was also the lack of privatately owned cars that engorge Ecuadorian roads rendering the air almost hallucinogenic from toxins and the building walls grey.

What was weirder, though, was the proliferation of well lit, highly branded megastores in my first Peruvian city, Piura selling music, fashion and all things Western. I think they would even rival some in Los Angeles for schmick. Nothing in Ecuador even came close to that harsh sheen of the gloss and bright lights. Good thing, that.

Other than that Piura was not much to talk about but a night in a good bar with some new friends was a welcome diversion. A $1.50 haircut the next day turned out to actually be quite good. On the whole a fun 24 hours.

Day Four. Overnight bus to Lima, Peru’s capital.
Checked straight into a hostel and four hours later checked straight out in favour of the overnight bus out of there. There was nothing particularly repellent about Lima, but also nothing to keep me there any longer than necessary.

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Photos

Ingapirka
Pretty rocks

The Amazing Andes
Again, architecture triumphs over common sense in Ecuador's good quality bitumen highway that snakes the Andes.

Border police station
Complete with mum and baby goat... aww