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Matt and I headed north to Ecuador the most direct way on the map, but the longest and most uncomfortable way, filled with more tests of my patience. We took a 3 hour combi (those 15 passenger vans they cram us into like sardines) at 5am from Leymembamba to Chachapoyas (our other option was the 3am bus). Once in Chachapoyas we had to kill the whole day because they are doing construction on the road OUT of Chacha (making a 1 lane mountain road into 2 lanes…this required the road to be closed from 6am until 6pm every day for the next few months). Chacha has nothing to offer the tourist except guides to the ruins and mountains outside of town. We found an okay vegetarian restaurant across from the combi stop on calle 2 de Mayo and tried to waste the day as best as we could…sleeping in the bus station, emails, sitting in the plaza, walking to the mirador and getting stared at by many locals. I know we’re not the only foreigners that pass through this town but we had a girl stare at us for at least 10 minutes then ask if we would pose in a picture. We asked her why and her reason was that we were gringos. Maybe staring isn’t considered rude in this country but I find it unsettling. I’d much rather have someone talk to me than look at me like I’m some freak. I don’t think I ever ask foreigners to pose in pictures with me. Famous people and drag queens, yes, the average foreigner, no.

Anyways, we took the 7:30pm bus from Chachapoyas (the road is NOT finished, the bus actually went through a cave and barely made it and crossed a river…not the bridge) to Bagua Grande (3 hours) where I almost got killed by two junkyard dogs while looking for a place to pee. Luckily they were on chains and I swear I was 2 feet from the end of the chain. They were foaming at the mouth and I’m proud to say I yelled at the dogs instead of going fetal and crying. I’ve made such improvements over my fear of the man-eating dogs. Within 10 minutes of arriving in Bagua, the Jaen Express showed up (VERY lucky timing. our plan was to sleep in Bagua and try to get a bus at 6am). We hopped on the Jaen Express, which reminds me of those old buses that the gospel people ride in the south. We were the only non locals and we tried to sleep the hour or so to get to Jaen. We found a hostal and slept a little amid the loud music videos the concierage was watching all night.

That morning we hopped on a colectivo (still the same as a combi, except these don’t leave until they are full, so you could wait a few minutes or hours) to San Ignacio. The road was mostly dirt and bumpy but beautiful. The road followed a brown raging rapid river and we passed a lot of corn fields, coconut palms, mango and papayatrees and coffee plantations. Once we got to San Ignacio we walked through town to find a colectivo taxi to take us to the border. The car filled up fast so we were lucky there, too. Imagine a hatchback ford escort and fitting 4 people in the back and 2 in the passenger seat for 2.5 hours on an extremely pot-holed road. I’m glad I’m not big, but I barely fit my shoulders in this taxi…but that was the only way to the border.

Once at the border, we tried to cross but the border guard was at home eating lunch and wouldn’t be back. We relaxed, had some veggie sandwiches, watched the dogs chase the donkeys and when our hour was up (I had to go to the person’s house to get them…but they weren’t ready yet) we got stamped, walked across the bridge into Ecuador, got our entry stamp and learned that our only mode of transport was the ranchera trucks (imagine a giant open air wooden benched bus, perhaps from a circus or farm tour). The next ranchera was in 2.5 hours, so once again we had to find something to do. It was nice and hot outside, so we decided to swim in the river that divides Peru from Ecuador. The was was fast moving, clear and cold and hopefully no parasites found us because it was refreshing and so nice after all the buses and taxis.

When we hopped on the ranchera, we endured the 2 hour ride on wooden benches and were practically underneath a thunderstorm the whole time. Luckily the truck had a roof, but we had plenty of rain whipped at us from the sides. The lightening was beautiful, though and when we arrived in Zumba, we were just in time to hop on the bus to Loja (a real bus with seats that recline and doors and windows). I don’t remember the 4 hours on that bus but we arrived really late at night, found a cheap hostal and passed out.

The next day we found an ATM (Ecuador is on the US Dollar and we didn’t have much on us) and caught another bus (1 hour) to Vilcabamba, the valley of longevity. Our guidebook states there is no ATM in Vilcabamba but there is. It didn’t like my debit card but Matt’s was fine. I have also heard it won’t accept cards from Switzerland.

So that was our off the beaten path journey to Ecuador. It was about 18 hours in transit plus too much waiting time. Our return journey we’re going a different way and will only take 3 buses instead of 6. It’s 2 hours longer by bus but I think we’ll both be happy to not deal with all the bus changes and wait times. It was definitely an adventure and once was enough.

This entry was posted on Sunday, November 25th, 2007 at 8:02 pm and is filed under travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.