The Asian Invasion of Ecuador: Counterfiet bills, most luxurious bus ride, last week in Peru

A local paper had a centerfold layout
of "Elizabeth Wilson"

(this was the last week of July 12', I've been slacking on posting this blog)

For the 8 hour bus trip from Lima to Trujillo, we paid for what is considered the best bus company in Peru. Here, there are dozens of bus companies and varying costs and qualities. Cruz del sur was the most expensive bus ride we took during our trip by far but it was worth it! Normally, bus tickets cost about $1.50/hour of travel so this trip on a cheaper bus would have cost about $12 but we paid triple that for nice bus company. It was like flying first class, we had luxurious leather seats, served meals and a button for attendant assistance. We even had Wi-fi. As soon as we got to Trujillo we took a 20 minute cab ride to the beach town of Huanchaco where we would stay for the next couple days.

The reed "tortura" boats of Huanchaco

The town is know for 2 things, surfing and the traditional reed boats use by fishermen. I liked this town as it was pretty chill and the surf was pretty good. There were a few surf shops right on the beach so it was easy (and cheap) to rent a board, cost me about $5 to rent for a few hours. The odd thing about the town was that at night, most restaurants were closed and there were hardly any people out, definitely not a party town.

On one of the days we were there, there was a parade involving all the schools, not sure why but 1000's of kids were dressed in their different schools uniforms and marching through town, it was chaos. They don't actually march for more then a block but stand around and being kids, making ruckus until its their turn to march the 1 block through a gallery of people.

We also visited the adobe city of Chan Chan just outside of Huanchaco. Most of it isn't preserved but it was still an interesting visit. At one time 60,000 people lived here in the 1300's. It was conquered by the Incas but later by the Spanish. It is the largest adobe city in the world I believe.

After a few days, we caught a short 2 hour bus ride to another beach town, Pacasmayo. We only spent 1 night there and the waves were too small nor could I find a surf shop to rent a board. We hardly saw any other tourists in town and we actually spent a lot of time in our hotel room watching tv.

one of them is counterfeit, guess!

Next was the 5 hour travel to Piura where we would spend another night before continuing north into Ecuador. Nothing too interesting except that I encountered a counterfeit bill for the first time. We were at a fairly fancy department store buying an item for less then $10. I handed the clerk a 20 sole bill ($8 or so) and the clerk examined the bill like they pretty much always do. The bills come in denominations of 10 ($4) 20, 50, 100 and 200 ($80) soles and even with the smallest 10 sole bill they always examine it. It turned out that I unknowingly had acquired a fake 20 sole bill and just handed it to the clerk. She called security who came and told me it was fake and needed by documents for record. They didn't seem too worried about it and assured me that I wasn't in trouble but just needed my document for record keeping. I didn't have my passport on me so they just let me go. When I compared it to a real bill I couldn't tell a difference except for in the weight of the paper, the counterfeit was lighter weight but the print quality was nearly identical. Funny that they make fake bills of such small denominations. Now I have a 20 sole souvenir.

After a quick night in piura, our last in Peru, it was an 8 hour bus ride to loja, in Ecuador. We were a bit nervous about the border crossing since we had failed to register our visas within the required 30 days upon arrival into Ecuador.

crossing the border into Ecuador

When we arrived at the border (which was really non chalant and small), we stopped on the Peruvian side, got our passport looked at by the military and then crossed the small bridge (by foot) to the Ecuadorian side where our bus was waiting. Here we had to wait for Ecuador immigration and after about a 15 minute wait, our turn was up and he told us to cross back across the bridge to the Peruvian side to get our exit stamp that we didn't get. So we did, across the bridge again back into Peru, got our stamp, walked across the bridge again to Ecuador. This whole process took us an hour or so and wwere nervous that our bus would leave us since everyone else was already done (and strangely some never got off the bus). Ecuador immigration gave us our entry stamp without problems and we were off. Back in Ecuador after a fabulous month in Peru. Now I'm home for the next 2 years.