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The Combis
We rode in this for 3.5 hours with 21 people We have been doing a ton of travelling since the last post. Last time, we were in southern Peru and now we've made it all the way into southern Ecuador. Last night was actually the first night since our last post that we slept in a bed. We've been taking northbound night busses every night. It's not the most comfortable accomodation, but it's practical. It's usually about the same price as a hostal, but we wake up in a new city!
After Machu Picchu, we took an overnight bus to Lima. However, Lima is terrible so we got out of there as quickly as possible. We wasted an afternoon there checking out the 10 billion little shoe stores and then caught another overnight bus to the city of Trujillo. This is also a relatively large city, but we heard that there is a small fishing village nearby that we wanted to check out. We got to Trujillo at dawn and caught a combis to the small town of Huanchaco. The combis are essentially minivans that are gutted to add more seats. There is one man at the door who is constantly yelling to get more people in. At one point
we counted 21 people in our minivan! Anyways, we get to Huanchaco, and its a quiet little fishing village that happens to have a great left point break right out front. The water looked cold and dirty, but I wanted to surf! We found a little surf shop, rented a halfway decent surfboard and wetsuit and paddled out. The water was pretty grimy, and I couldn't even see my feet, but I don't know if I'll ever have another opportunity to surf in Peru so I had to go out. There were two other guys out there, but it was a huge point so we were really spread out. It wasn't great, but I definitely caught some of the longest waves of my life. I had one left that probably went 100 yards. There was a mini-pier that I was able to surf around, and then I called it a session.
We hung out in Trujillo on the beach for the rest of the day and just relaxed in the little beach town. Afterwards, we went back to the city to catch another overnight bus. On our way back, we got completely lost and wandered into a bad neighborhood.
Finally some old man came up to us and pointed us in the right direction. He warned us if we had gone any further we were probably going to get mugged. We got to the station, ate a ton of delicious street food, and caught an overnight bus to Jaen. This was the last big city in Peru, before crossing the border.
Getting from Jaen, to Ecuador was an adventure all in its own. We ended up driving for hours in more combis and taxis on dirt roads through the mountains. However, along the way, we met an interesting German hippie named Mario. He had the same destination, so we decided to travel together. We finally got to the border after about 6 hours of cramped driving on bumpy dirt roads to find that the entire border crossing is about 6 buildings and a bridge. It's about 12:30 in the afternoon and they tell us that the lady that stamps passports won't be working again until 4PM. There was a little river that separated Peru from Ecuador so we swam in the river for the afternoon just killing time. When we finally were able to cross, it was near
sunset. We hopped on the bus on the other side and noticed that the bus driver was making a lot of stops for no reason. Turns out one time he opens the door and a ton of beer bottles fall out. He was drunk, driving a full car of us up a mountain side in the dark. It was sketchy, but we had no other way of getting into the city.
After more travelling, we finally got to the small city of Vilcabamba in Ecuador. This place was spectacular, and each of us decided that we would eventually retire here. It was beautiful, quiet, and relaxing. It was in set in a valley in the mountains with spectacular views in ever direction. We split a hostel with our new German friend that night. In the morning, we ended up renting horses and riding for several hours up into the mountains. We eventually ended at a spectacular waterfall in the forest where we showered and had lunch. Afterwards, we rode back, hopped on another bus to Loja, and are now waiting for another overnight bus into the central highlands of Ecuador.
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