En la Frontera

We left Quito at 8:15 pm on a bus to the border of Peru. The first 12 hour bus ride wasn't so bad. We played some rounds of 20 questions, I popped some Tylenol PM, and slept off and on until 6 am. We got to the Ecuador border town at about 7 am. We got our exit stamps and walked through no-man's land. Legally no where.

We took taxis to the bus station to recover our bags. As soon as we got to the station, we were affronted by "taxistas" who wanted to take us to the Peruvian customs in a town about 30 minutes away. They told us one bus line had a bus leaving at nine am, and they could get us there in time.

One man piled all of our giant suitcases and duffle bags on top of a cart, which he proceeded to pull through the streets of the little town and across the border into Peru. They took us to a car yard, haggled prices and insisted on using three small cars instead of two big cars, all the while offering to buy our US dollars for 2.08 soles... the exchange rate is 2.8 soles to the dollar.

First they drove us to customs. At customs, the officials gave us papers to fill out. Non-officials "offered" to fill the papers out for us for a small fee. A man took my paper and said "Passport?" to me. I clutched my passport tightly and held it close to my chest. "No way, guey," I said and snatched my paper from his grimy hand.

After we all went through, we climbed in the taxis and made our way to the bus station. A few minutes into the drive, the taxista shoved is hand toward us palm open, demanding for five dollars to get gas. We looked at the gas level on the dashboard. It read "full." We said no, he persisted. We continued to say no. He finally relented.

They dropped us off at the bus station with the said 9 o'clock bus and sped off. There was no 9 o'clock bus. Mentirosas. The next bus was at 7 in the evening.

Lisa and Cory left to find another station. The rest of us waited at the liar's station with all of our bags. They found one with an 11 o'clock bus. We dragged our bags through town, making a spectacle of ourselves. Miren a los gringos con tantas maletas grandes.

We made it to the station, bought tickets and snacks to sustain us until 11 pm. We past coast line and hours upon hours of desert. After 27 hours of travel, mostly boring but with adventure in the middle, we arrived in Trujillo, our summer home.