02 December 2010

With the slow going mountain roads I did not think I would make it to Peru today but I did. I got lost in Loja though I initially went in the right direction but turned around because I did not believe it was the right way. I drove all the way to the University at the end of town before I stopped to ask a gas station attendant where the road was. He pointed me back to where I had started. I think I lost an hour.

In Catacoocha I also got lost but not for long. Probably only lost about twenty minutes. All the mountain roads were generally good until about twenty miles outside of Macará. Then they just got nasty with real rough spots interrupting short bursts of smooth pavement.

Crossing the border from Ecuador into Peru was smooth, simple, and free. No tramitadors. The customs officials were watching Shaolin Soccer in Spanish.  There was  a bit of confusion when I changed my money because I thought the guy said 90 to 1 but it was really 2.6 to 1.

The real adventure of the day was awaiting me a few miles away in Tambo Grande. At the other end of town the bridge was out so I was forced to cross one of the three makeshift bridges constructed with thin logs and mud and barely as wide as my car. I held my breath the entire time as I slowly crossed. I had to pay one sola to a man waiting on the other side. Further past the bridge the road split with no sign so I went straight. The sand started thickening and I quickly realized my mistake only to get stuck as I was backing out. I took out my tiny camping shovel and tried digging around the tires and placing sticks under the front passenger tire for traction but nothing helped.

Shoddy makeshift narrow bridges

Eventually I saw a guy walking by and asked him for help pushing the car. Several of his friends came over to help but nothing worked. We even lifted the car out of the spot it was in. We lifted one side, then the other to shake it lose but it wouldn’t budge. After more digging under the car and a hard push forward, the car wiggled free. An old man came over to help us and he was the one who put the pedal to the metal and drove it real fast out of that spot. He told me to punch it out of there so I wouldn’t get stuck again.

So I took the other road. This road was a rocky dirt road.  A few miles in I stopped to ask a mototaxi (motorcycle taxi) for directions for the road to Piura. He said keep going straight. So I kept going straight into nothing. I found another driver and I asked him the way and he said I was way off and need to turn around and cross the river.

Cross the river??  So I turned around and drove back to Tambo Grande and recrossed the rickety bridge. I almost went off the edge this time despite the slow, careful crawl. I asked a taxi driver the way to Piura and he pointed back to the entrance to town. It was down the left I should’ve taken instead of entering Tambo Grande. None of what I had just endured was necessary. I was pretty livid the whole time after I got stuck until I was on the right road.

It took me a while to find a room in Piura because everything was full. This hotel doesn’t even have a place to park. I had to park a few blocks away in a lot. The receptionist drove with me to the lot though.

People in Ecuador stand on the side of the road and wave down cars to catch a ride so after passing a few people I picked up an older lady with a sack of onions. She didn’t need to go but a few miles. In Peru I stopped to pick up a lady but I didn’t understand her and I wasn’t sure if we were going the same way. I’m not sure it’s a good idea to stop for people needing lifts since I don’t understand Spanish so well but I will probably do it again.