Life's a Beach

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Leaving Ecuador behind we entered Peru at the town of Tumbes. The border crossing was pretty quick and easy, a few forms to be filled in, queue up at one desk to be stamped out of Ecuador, go to a second desk and hand your passport in to be stamped into Peru.

Back on the truck it was another long and dusty drive through Peru to the coast. Straight away Peru felt different, louder, dustier, more of the South American chaos I’d been expecting but not really encountered in Ecuador.

Punta Sal was the first stop, arriving at the campsite in the early afternoon we set up the tents under bamboo gazebos - using bricks to secure the tents as pegs and sand are not happy bed fellows – sand instantly fills the tent and all my belongings but when you get to wake up with the pacific ocean at your feet who cares right?.

We were the only people on the beach, the sand stretched on for miles in both directions, the water was warm and there was a shack serving food and colds beers, with a fire pit dug for once the sun had gone down there was a promise of a fun evening ahead……. I could have quite happily spent the next 3 months there. The afternoon was spent swimming in the ocean and lazing on the sand, a perfect remedy to sort out the aching bones from the long drive days.

The day before in Cuenca we’d stocked up on some suitable Halloween accessories so dinner that night was accompanied by much laughter, finger pointing and piss taking at the silly costumes that we’d cobbled together. Once the stars were out the fire was lit, with the background noise of music and soft chatter it was time to kick back, drink some beers and contemplate what an amazing two weeks I’d had so far.



Waking in the morning to a clear sky and the sound of the waves crashing it was a day spent swimming, sleeping and general lazing around. With hammocks strung through the trees for when lying in the sand got too much it really was the perfect way to spend a day. An early afternoon visit from a pod of whales pretty much cemented Punta Sal as my favourite campsite ever.

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