Early Starts: Vilcabamba to Lima

Vilcabamba Friday 8^th April

Up at 5.15 and leave the room at 5.35 to find the gate guard already waiting to carry my bag to the taxi  and get my “breakfast-to-go” out of the fridge. Taxi is waiting and it’s a quick dawn journey to Loja which is much bigger than I expected. Drove through miles of new looking suburbs of modern detached houses before finally reaching the bus terminal, which is a bit less classy than the ones in Brazil Argentina and Chile. The bus left on time at 7.00. Sitting next to a young Canadian guy who has been trying to climb mountains in Equador but got beaten by bad weather. Two other tourists on the bus, a young couple from Ireland, at least the man is, who have been travelling in Australia and Columbia. All of them telling me how much they liked Columbia. The scenery is beautiful as we climb through verdant green mountains looking down at fluffy white clouds in the valleys. 

Clouds in the Valleys

Realise that this is "cloud forest" as depicted in the Singapore Gardens by the Bay but this is the real thing! In Vilcabamba and even more so along the roads here, power lines have clumps of what I thought originally was moss but which I later learnt was Tillandsia Recurvata, one of the bromeliad family, growing on them.

http://www.insituplants.com/blog/some-notes-on-the-natural-habitat-of-tillandsia-spp-and-inferences-therefrom-on-their-care-in-the-interior-environment

http://www.backyardnature.net/q/ballmoss.htm

In Vilcabamba the clumps look to be golf to tennis ball size but here great strands hang down a couple of feet and I can see other plants with broader green leaves have taken root. Even the highest, steepest hillsides show signs of agriculture with people planting crops on slopes steeper than 45 degrees. Most of the hillsides look grassy but I don't see many signs of gazing animals except a few cows along the road. Later we descend into a deep valley where there are deep green rice fields in shallow terraces along the valley floor. We stopped for 20 minutes in Macara and not long after leaving we were at the Ecuador Immigration Office where only the four of us tourists needed to get out of the bus to get our passports stamped. Then it was a short ride across the bridge over a small river where we got stamped into Peru. 

Welcome to Peru

There was some confusion among the other passengers who stayed on the bus but then the conductor told them they had to go to the immigration office too.  So we had a long wait and a chance for me to eat the muffin, hard boiled egg and banana in my “breakfast-to-go”.  Initially the landscape in Peru was identical to that in Ecuador but later we descended to a flat, featureless plain of grass and small bushes with yellow flowers. Only a few km after crossing  the border, the bus was stopped by the police,  one of whom came onto the bus to check all our passports and identity cards. Three of the local people had to get off for some extra questioning but returned ten minutes later. Much later we drove through the outskirts of, I think, Tambogrande, dry, dusty and litter strewn, miles of small, one storey dwellings with  corrugated iron roofs; it looks poor and miserable. Then we joined an expressway speeding across the plain until we hit the outskirts of Piura which look a bit more prosperous than those of Tambogrande, more two storey houses and some evidence of paint. Looks like elections are coming to Peru. The picture of one of the candidates for election reminds me of photos of American politicians and real estate agents -  well tanned, slightly overfed, perfect teeth  and a smile that oozes insincerity. Arrived at the terminal soon after four from where I had a short taxi ride to the Ixnuk hotel for ten Peruvian sols (3.3 sols =US$1). The room was spotlessly clean and comfortable, pity it doesn't have an outside  window but I'm  only here for one night. The manager offered to take me to the airport tomorrow at 7.30, which is a bit later than I would choose for a 9.15 flight but then I am always paranoid about being early. Went out about 6pm to explore the town and find dinner. Looked around the town’s two main squares, both of which were busy with people  relaxing or playing with their children. Changed $20 to sols but the man wouldn't accept my slightly torn US$20; wish I had used it at Madre Tierra where they didn't seem to be so picky.

I was hoping to find a cosy cafe or restaurant overlooking the river but the river bank is lined with concrete, mostly windowless, utilitarian buildings. Not much round either of the two main squares either where I can find only a few hole-in-the-wall places and a "Pollo Dorado" which looks like the local version of KFC. But then a little way from one of the squares is “Don Carlos”, a brightly lit “family” style restaurant which looks like part of a chain. Order a beef brochette, which  turns out to be surprisingly good and huge,   and a beer. Bill comes to 35 Sols, just over US$10.

Main Square in Piura

Feeling suitably replete head back to the hotel.

Piura Saturday 9th April.

Decided to forgo the free ride to the airport; noticed it had been scheduled for 0745, 15 minutes later than we had agreed. Taxi was only 5 soles and I arrived a few minutes before the check-in opened. Bit surprised the security guy wanted to hand search my luggage before check-in but otherwise all went quickly and smoothly. Pleasant cafe for a cookie and really good coffee but I am their only customer until a young couple of tourists come in.

The flight was delayed by about an hour but finally it started boarding and we could walk across the concrete to the aircraft steps, something I don’t often experience but which feels more “real” than walking through a jetway or boarding a bus. Once boarded, I got my window seat near the front with an empty middle seat next to me, so was feeling the benefit of checking in early, or so I thought. But then two very frail and tiny old ladies were carried up the steps in wheelchairs and there seemed to be some problem with where they were supposed to be sitting. So the woman next but one to me in the aisle seat was asked to move and they were put next to me. Nothing wrong with that except it meant I was the last passenger to get off the plane after they were assisted into wheelchairs after arriving at Lima. The flight itself was fine. Leaving Puria we flew over desert, just little bushes and lots of sand and the arid plain continued to Lima with only a few isolated areas of green agriculture. Far off to the left I could see green mountains and beyond them snow-capped peaks. When I did finally get off, my bag was already on the carousel and I got a taxi from the "official" taxi desk rather than risk one of the dozen or more taxi touts. When the woman at the desk told  me the price was 60 sols I did wonder whether the official taxi desk was just a licensed tout but it seemed the best option. The journey was quite long, nearly an hour through heavy traffic and involved several "rat runs" through residential areas and a drive along the coast beneath brown crumbling cliffs secured with heavy duty netting,  listening to Surfing USA while passing the surf school on the beach, not something I had expected to see in Lima, before getting to the Hotel San Antonio Abad. The hotel looks very elegant, although the room itself is nothing special. It does have a window but no fridge.