Blogs from Tumbes, Peru, South America

DAYS 35-36 Today we farewelled Equador although the 6.30 am taxi to the bus depot was not welcomed by the group. Loaded up with breakfast & lunch supplies for a 5.5 hr local bus to the Peru border where we had to change busses after clearing customs & immigration. The trip was generally downhill from the highlands heading towards the coast. The outlook was more lush valleys scattered with agriculture & dairy farming communities. On levelling out the land was noticeably drier yet we came across vast bananas plantations. Our guide offloaded us at the border turn-off & arranged taxis instead of remaining on the bus which proceeded to the next town before going to the border. The move proved to be a godsend in saving about 45 min at the notoriously slow border crossing. It ... read more

Peru was awesome. As great as our trip was through Chile and Argentina, there was so much more to Peru. The food, the people, the culture was all fantastic. I do not have as much to share in a wrap-up of month 2, but here are a few things: Peru is incredible for budget travel. We did not really miss out on anything, yet spent half of what we did in Chile/Argentina. The babies in Peru are incredibly well behaved. They are put on long bus rides, loud crazy buses, the works, and never even blink. Partial entry never completed... read more

Finally got a few more pictures of Mancora area to post. Just south of the beach is a real nice area away from town but with some private resorts. Taking a long walk through this area tomorrow before leaving on Sunday and heading to Zorritos just an hour up the coast. ... read more

Armonia dias means Harmony Ten, and we loaded up a minibus to go see them (150 sol, there and back with the driver waiting for the performance to finish). While we waited for the performance we set up in a beer tent, which is where the rooster was photographed. The performance was quite a drive inland from Tumbes and cost 25 sol each to get into the enclosed soccer field to see them up close. If you were poor, you could still see and hear them quite well from the other side of the fence, which I thought was a nice touch. Couldnt see that happening in australia really. We went in almost first and staked out a spot in front of the stage and stayed there all night. Everyone got quite drunk and enjoyed themselves ... read more

Grandma´s birthday is one of the primary motivators for Victoria and her Australian family to travel to Peru. The rest of the Australian group arrived around lunchtime on the day of the party, rested and recovered to be ready for the night. The venue is actually the family home owned jointly by grandma and all of her children. A lot of effort and expense went into this event, bunting on the walls, catering, a band for music. All quite impressive really. As with any event of this nature anywhere in the world, every freeloading friend or relative showed up, whether or not they had contributed to the expense or effort involved, but it managed to go off well anyway. In any event, the party guests consumed 80 crates of beer (960 longnecks) plus whatever individual guests ... read more