Stowaway

The Peru/Ecuador border crossing was by far my easiest of the whole trip. The only weird part was that customs for Ecuador (were I need to check my bike out) was about 5 km prior to the border. If you missed it you had to drive all the way back before you could complete immigrations. 

 

This is where I met Pedro who did exactly that and had to back track. Once at the border though the Ecuador immigration along with the Peruvian Immigration and Aduana (customs) were located in one building. The question is why would they not have the Ecuador customs there as well?

Before I hit the border though I realized I had a stowaway. Meet Gord the Gekko who traveled 60 km to the border with me. But as suspected once I smuggled him into Peru he blasted. Probably went to chase some Peruvian chica Gekko's.

As soon as you crossed the border it was like landing in a different world. I just left lush Andean mountains and banana plantations for extreme heat (32 degrees) and desert as far as the eye could see.

  Here I am dusty, dirty and sweating to death but I could not wipe the grin off my face. It seems I get the greatest kick out of these extremes that I can see each and every day.

I finally landed in Mancora found a place to stay near the beach and settled down for the night.

I have yet to have major cravings for things back home. But one thing I do know is I like a good cup of coffee. It seems I am going to be out of luck for a while as both in Ecuador and Peru it seems their version of good coffee is a cup of warm milk which you add instant coffee too. 

Timmies Please! (Canadian thing)