Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Much ado about Peru!

Well here we are in Peru - Zorritos to be exact - the beach is gorgeous
The Hotel - Los Balcones de Zorritos - is real cute - little noisy at night from the waves crashing right outside our window but there could be a lot worse noises though aye?

Out the otherside of the hotel is miles and miles of barren looking land - I don't think they have seen rain in these parts for awhile!

Our taxi driver filling up his tank with the gas he brought from a little old lady on the side of the road - he told us it was contraband fuel
Coming down to Peru was a bit of an adventure and a little nerve wracking. I had imagined that we would go through the immigration, exiting Ecuador and entering Peru in the same location however what really happens is you exit Ecuador at one spot, grab a taxi (the one we got had me a little worried but it was alrgiht in the end) for a 10 minute ride; then a ten minute walk across the actual border (along with thousands of other people coming and going in both directions);find another taxi for about a 5 minute trip to the Peru immigration office. When we got dropped off by the bus at the exit point, there was a huge queue so it took us about an hour and half to get through. As I said before the taxi we got into first seemed a bit dodgy - another fellow was in the front and we didn't quite understand that we were sharing the ride with him so when we started going a little off the beaten track, I thought we might have been hijacked, however it turned out he was dropping front seat guy off first.
I really think we were being looked after though because a super nice guy approached us and told us he would take us through to the Peru immigration office - we were sitting targets for bad dudes and it was getting on to dark by this time, so Washington became our new BFF and took us over the border to his car, helped us with the immigration and then on to our hotel (about and hour away). I think it was a good deal for $40, so we are going to get him to come and get us on Friday for the return trip.
Its been a relaxing few days here at the hotel - nothing to do but walk on the beach, or fall asleep on the deck. Definately something Mark has needed after the huge month he has had.
Anyway I don't think I am as nerveos about crossing back into Ecuador, now that I know what to expect, oh and the fact that the guy at the immigration office in Ecuador said to us "when are you coming back" and he didn't seem too worried when we said Friday! Here's hoping!

2 comments:

The Kinlocher's said...

How nerve wracking for you - I can just imagine what you thought was going on when you were "hijacked" - and the heart must have been pounding. Just as well you didn't have to do anything other than relax. Hope you are still relaxing - one more day before you go through it all again in reverse.

Enjoy yourselves and catch up on that sleep.x

The Kinlocher's said...

Ps I just goggled where you are -there certainly seems to be a lot of beach front accommodation. And that Panamericana Norte sure is a long long road huh?
Have you done the boardwalk?