Crossing Borders

Hi again!

So we last left you getting onto an overnight bus from San Pedro to Arica, Chile.  As you may have guessed, the bus was early. So instead of arriving at a cheerful 6.30am, we arrived at a cruel 5am without breakfast!! What is the South American obsession with 5am?!

We made our way across the border dispite rumors of a protest that had closed it, with 4 brits and a dutch dude (it was one of these brits that accused Steph of being British ... honestly!)

So, the border wasn´t really closed, we just had to switch buses after the Chilean border and catch another  to Tacna, Peru. From there we somehow managed to stay awake until our bus at 1.30pm (this was mainly due to Anna refusing to sit down).  We also had a nice chat and many random questions to our travel agency dude (I´m sure he was glad when Steph left and the questions ended!)

18 hours later, we arrived in Lima! A taxi to the hostel (as it is not recommended to travel by any other means of transport from the bus stations) and we finally took showers after 4 days and a run (by Steph, not Anna).

In Lima we finally had our chance to eat the pizza that we´d be craving since Pisco Elqui and discovered a nice part of the city while hunting it down! Our days in Lima amounted to 2, as this was just a quick stopover before heading onto Quito in Ecuador.  We did manage to find gifts for people, some of which were then shipped to Scotland.

I know some of you have shipped post internationally before, but we have NEVER encountered a process like this.  After filling out 2 forms, re-packing the box (colorful duct tape is frowned upon in Peru), handing over a copy of Anna´s passport and then finally getting her to fingerprint 6 copies of a form, the package was allowed to be sent! Hey, atleast they said it would get there (by the 31st of March that is).  Hmm ... anyone taking bets on who makes it home first ... Anna or the package?!

Our bus to Tumbes (the border town with Ecuador) was another funfilled 20 hours! It´s just a good thing the seats recline better than in airplanes! Reaching Tumbes, this is where things got a bit interesting ...

We had intended to take another 3 hour bus to a town a couple hours into Ecuador, but then the ´friendly´ bag unloader said that he could take it across for roughly the same price. Sounded like a good deal ... well, until he changed his price by a substancial amount of money.  Anna would have none of that and Steph kindly acted as translator in the back of a taxi between Anna and the drivers.  Once Anna threatened to get out of the taxi there and then, they seemed to get the point and dropped their price by more than half.  Not good enough, but still better than what it was.  If you would like more details please e-mail either one of us, but unfortunately if I write anymore on the subject swear words would be involved and we want to keep this blog grandparent friendly.

It was another overnight bus that got us in at 5AM (that time again!) Early, again.  This time we sat in the bus station with the locals waiting for the sun to come up. Randomly a Peruvian couple were trying to help us and got into an arguement with the bus driver about where we should get off the bus.  We decided to go with the bus driver´s opinion after Steph nearly barked at a taxi driver for hounding us constantly. At least there were free toilets.

As the sunrose, we got a taxi to the bus that would take us to Otavalo.

Buenos Noches!

Anna and Steph