Yes, I finally got scammed - - Tumbes, Guayaquil, Mancora

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Well I finally made it... tonight is my last night here in South America. I will be leaving tomorrow Mancora tomorrow around 2pm, and leaving South Americ around 3:30am. I am a little sad tonight.

I should probably catch everyone up on the happenings, as I realize it has been quite awhile since my last blog.

7/29
7:00am
I wake up early in Tarapoto, hoping to catch a bus in the direction of Ecuador. Bought a ticket for an 18 hour bus departing to Piura at 1:30 for 70 soles with Sol Peruana. On my way back to my hotel, I met a fellow tourist from Europe from my Tuktuk at the stoplight. He was in a different mototaxi, and shouted over. We decided to meet for lunch at noon at the plaza de armas. Turns out his name was Louis... and he was from Switzerland.

1:30pm
After gobbling down a quick lunch with Louis (which would turn out to be my last meal for the next 36 hours), I left on the 18 hour bus at 1:30. I asked for a seat with leg room, and they put me in the front of the bus (the seats are situated a level above the driver). I had a whole windshield in front of me, so I could watch the road the entire time. It was terrifying. The peruvian buses get their dangerous reputation for good reason... traveling at very efficient, yet unsafe speeds, passing in the other lane with cars rapidly approaching, and driving through windy mountain roads with cliffs on the side. We even drove through a river at one point... strange. During the day, we were driving west... into the sun, which made it awfully hot in the front. The ride was scenic... mountains covered in rainforest, that eventually turned to barren wastelands as we got closer to the coast. The length of the ride wasn´t very bad. I have become very good at being patient.

7/30
5:30am
We arrive at the Piura bus station early! I leave the terminal immediately and buy a ticket for the next bus to Tumbes (a town very close, within 20 min of the Ecuadorian border. International buses will be easier to come by in Tumbes.) The ride cost 20 soles, and will be 4 hours.

11:30 am
The bus from Piura arrives in Tumbes. I am hustled out of the bus station in a taxi. I get in the cab, and two men besides the driver get in... I get nervous, strike one on the danger meter. One of them allegedly works for an international bus company, I see his CIFA vest and feel a little better. They panic and begin talking about an aggricultural strike that begins in a hour which will close the border for 4 days. They stop by a bus station, insistent on checking the buses for me, and a guy comes and tells me that the buses aren´t running. The taxi proceeds to speed to the border, about 20 minutes away, where I will be able to catch a bus on the Ecuadorian side without problem. We leave the city of Tumbes and I look down at my door and realize that the handle and window piece were broken off on my side, I am not able to open door from inside. Two strikes... get a little more nervous. I inquire about it, and they inform me that this is a certified taxi, and point to a sticker on the windshield that was a taxi license... obviously fake. Strike 3, and getting very nervous. We get to the peru immigration center and I stamp out without a problem. Need to get my stamp into Ecuador, and then I will be golden. Oh wait, the men in the taxi informed me that I would need to purchase a 100 dollar ecuadorian visa before getting in. I was almost certain that it wasn´t needed, so I decided to wait for the immigration office to ask. The Ecuadorian immigration center is strangely located on the other side of the city. The talk about how they need to pay a tariff to get the cab through. They asked for sixty dollars, which would include my bus ticket too. I felt that that was a lot, and brought it up to them. I said I would rather pay it myself, rather than giving the money to them and having them pay it for me. They started to get anxious so I paid. I wasn´t really in the best position to argue. My travel book warns about tariffs, as they never have to be paid at the border there... always scams. Strike 4... I freak out. The guy hands a bill to a policeman and he lets us through. About 15 feet later, they ask me to get out of the cab and walk through the city, as the cab cant go any farther. Oh yea, $30 for the cab ride. I try to argue once again, but they said its paying for 3 people who have been helping me. They keep tellng me how dangerous the city is and that they are there to help me and keep me safe. BS. They bought me a ticket at a rundown bus station, (which turned out to only be 5 dollars) while one of them desperately tried to distract me and prevent me from seeing that the ticket price was ridic cheap. I loaded my backpack in the luggage compartment of the bus. I just had to get my entrance stamp before boarding the bus. We get in another cab, and by then I really just wanted them to go away. They asked for my soles so they could go convert them. I refused and they told me I needed to give them to them for payment for their help. I argued once again, and the new driver started to catch onto their mischief. At once, they both opened up the doors and ran out, leaving me stranded in the taxi, without my backpack... not knowing what to do. Now, in retrospect I made quite a few bad decisions that put me in such a vulnerable position, but having not slept or eaten in days from travel, along with the confusing border, and the threat of a FAKE strike ruined my inhibitions. So 90$ lighter, I was finally able to catch a bus from the Ecuadorian immigration office. Buses were indeed running, there was no protest, and there was no visa needed. I was grateful, things could have turned out to be much, much worse.

7:30pm
After a 6 hour busride through southern ecuador, I arrive in Guayaquil. 5/6 hours consisted of driving through banana farms, and stopping frequently to pick up/drop off passengers. I arrive in the terminal dirty, unshowered, tired, disheveled, in pajama pants and flip flops. The terminal turns out to be comparable to a very nice mall, and I suddenly found myself out of place in a much more modern country. I found the food court, feasted on my first real meal in 36 hours... a bigmac value meal. Checked into my hostel, and watched some tv. Got some much needed R&R.

7/31
Guiyaquil turned out to be quite nice. The stark modern contrast from the primitive jungle life was a nice change in pace for me. The city is filled with a beautiful waterfront area, with airconditioned malls underneath and a multitude of gorgeous parks complete with water features, bancock trees, tons of flowers, and two things I rarely saw in peru: Security and trash cans! That evening, I hiked up to the lighthouse in the Northern suburbs which had a great view, and a whole museum like courtyard devoted to pirates. It was really cool. While I was having a drink up there, I ran into some British folks that I had met at the border the day before. I bought them a round, and we became good friends. We proceeded to hang out for the rest of the night, for drinks and dinner. They were on a similar tourist trail like myself. Except they were headed to Puerto Lopez the next day to whale watch... which made me jealous bc I do not have enough time to.

8/1
I wake up early and decide I do not have enough time to meet Katie. Internat´l airfare in Ecuador is quite expensive to lima (600$) so I decided to catch a bus back to Mancora (about 8 hours south). This would put me within 2 hours of an affordable flight back to lima. Had I met katie, it would have been another 6 hours in the wrong direction. It was unfortunate it didn´t work out, but by this point, i wanted to minimize my traveling. I leave at 10:20am in the bus, cross the border without a problem, and made a few friends from switzerland while I was at it. They decided to follow me to Mancora, rather than stay in Tumbes. We went to the van station, and left in a collectivo. They are old old old run down 9 person vans, that they fit 19 people into before leaving. No worries, only 2 hours to Mancora. To our amazement, after cramming the van full to the brim, the car stopped and picked up yet ANOTHER person. It was hilarious, as I was sitting shotgun and comfortable, while watching the others suffer in the back. We drove along the Pacific for 2 hours, watching the sunset before Mancora. The Swiss were less than impressed with the ride, but invited me to dinner with them anyways. I said of course, as I was still starving for english company.

8/2
TODAY. Mancora is great. It is a roudy surfer town with awesome beach and a lot of sunshine. I have already feasted on their specialty local cousine, ceviche, which is lightly cooked fish/squid/oysters/anything seafood mixed with corn and sweet potatoes... all soaked in lemon juice. Delish! I got really sunburnt today, as I didn´t have anyone to rub it on my back. Today I checked into a new hostel, as whenever I arrive in a city afterdark, I usually check into the first available hostel I see and search for others during daylight hours. It is called Las Olas, and it is right on the beach, complete with cabanas and chairs. It is great to relax before leaving tomorrow. I finally met some americans today. The girls were playing football (not futball) on the beach. They all work for the peace corpse down here in Peru. We had a few drinks and a few laughs on the beach, and made plans to meet up for dinner later. But alas, come time for dinner, I was not able to find the restaurant they were talking about, so to my dismay, I ate alone tonight and blogged. They were a lot of fun too. Bummer. Well, see everyone soon. Sorry for not posting pics yet, I always blog on a whim, so I never have my cord. DRAT!

CO IN 2 DAYS!!!!

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