Chiclayo and Piura
From Truillo I went to Huanchaco which is a nice beach town famous for little tortora reed boats (the size of a kayak) called caballito - little horse. Men ride on the waves with them and give rides. They resemble the ones used on Lake Titicaca but are smaller and narrower. I spent two days there sunbathing on the beach and making friends with the locals. From there I went to Chiclayo, a nice town with nice city center and a huge market with food, fabrics, plastics, paper products, metal products, the usual little kitchens with food, etc, etc. Part of the market is dedicated to natural medicine and witchcraft - there are all kinds of herbs and potions and many natural docs see patients and advise how to regain health and strength. I met Alexis - one of the doctors - and spent some time with him admiring his herbs and also learning about the history of the pre-Inca cultures. I went with him to a neighboring off-the-beaten-track town to see the market there and for lunch to which he invited me. I, in turn, invited him to a cafe, the only one in town which had capuccino, and he liked it very much - he said he will remember the day as the day he tried capuccino for the first time. I will keep in touch with him regarding the herbs - maybe when I learn more about them we can do an exchange program of herbs from different parts of the world. From Chiclayo I made a day trip to Lambayeque - there are two museums there connected to Chimu, Moche and Lambayeque cultures. One of them, Museo de las Tumbas Reales de Sipan (shaped like a piramid), was as nicely designed as the museum of pre-Columbian art in Cusco. The artefacts were all found in Sipan - ruins located not far away from Lambayeque - in Moche tombs of various what seems to be like important personas. There's lot's of interesting jewelry and pottery there. Also, there are replicas of the tombs as they were excavated so they show the hightly respected men rest in their graves together with their wives, guards, servants, lamas and dogs.
From Chiclayo I went to Tumbes where I planned to stay for a day but didn't actually and went directly over the border to Equador. I had a very unpleasant encounter with taxi drivers in Tumbes who wanted to rob me. When I got of the bus a taxi driver asked me if I needed a taxi to the border and I said that I wanted to spent the night in Tumbes and see the mangrove national park. He told me there were strikes on the Ecuadorian side of the border and the border would be closed at midnight. Since there were earlier problems in Bolivia and people got stock in La Paz for weeks and then I saw the strikes in Chilean border I believed him. What I then understood was: let's got to the police and ask them about the situation. So I agreed. We, and his friend, got into the car. After a few minutes we got to the highway and left the city behind. I asked them where we were going and the driver said that I wanted to go the border, yes? And I said no, I didn't make up my mind yet since we didn't ask the police. He was convincing me that I had to go now, right this moment, before the border is closed. Since we were already on the road I asked him how much he wanted for his service to which he replied "later you will give us a tip" and I said NO! I have to know right now. And he said 80 soles. I asked him "soles?" "Yes, soles." It was a steep price but I thought, OK, if he risks being stuck on the border I can pay for his risk - I paid a steep price at the Peruvian-Chilean border before. At the Peruvian immigration office I asked the immigration officer about problems on the border and he asked "what problems?" At that point I should have just stayed there and wait until the morning for the bus but I was stupid and thought, OK, I got fooled, I will pay the taxi drivers what I agreed to and just forget about the whole story as soon as they let me out on the other side. From the immigration office we drove about 2 km to some kind of a check point and then we were what seems like "the other side" but it looked like some kind of ghost town market - it was completely dark and I could just see the empty market stalls. Then the driver told me we were on the Equatorian side and this was the end of the trip and I owed him what he paid at the checkpoint which was 40 dollars and the 80 dollars I agreed to pay him. I said he said soles, he said "o really, sorry lady I made a mistake, I meant US dollars." I got so mad... I told him to drive me back to the immigration office and the police would tell us what the fair price for the ride was. I sensed they were not the type of villains who would kill me for 120 bucks - they were the petty thieves who would intimidate tourists if they let them. I said I only had $20 because they didn't give me the chance to go to the bank at Tumbes (I had $150 more in my pocket but a lie was justified in the circumstances). I gave him the $20 bill and he started to argue that it was not enough, etc. etc. I wanted to take it back saying he would not get anything if he argued and it ripped a little. He was holding onto it and I was holding onto it and I told him if he was not satisfied I would rip this bill into tiny fucking little pieces and he would get nothing, zero dollares. Steam was coming out my nose. They let me go. I got really furious that I was so stupid and didn't ask anyone around at the bus station what the situation at the border really was. Whenever I am tired and my senses are not as sharp as normally I get into some troubles. In the end I got stranded in this ghost town and spent the night in a very shabby bug-infested hotel close to the market. The Ecuadorian immigration was about 4 km further down the town, I learned in the morning. I am never going to take another taxi unless it's a radio taxi. 90% of taxis I took tried to rip me off, the worst being the taxis in Buenos Aires and this incident. The moral of this story is such: if you ever travel to Peru don't go through the Tumbes-Huaquillas border - I later read about it and it is a very dangerous border - people get robbed there by thieves, taxi drivers and immigration officers. I walked through all borders previously but this one, if one has to go through it, should be crossed by bus full of people and in daylight.
Yesterday I came to Guayaquil in Ecuador and more about it soon.
From Chiclayo I went to Tumbes where I planned to stay for a day but didn't actually and went directly over the border to Equador. I had a very unpleasant encounter with taxi drivers in Tumbes who wanted to rob me. When I got of the bus a taxi driver asked me if I needed a taxi to the border and I said that I wanted to spent the night in Tumbes and see the mangrove national park. He told me there were strikes on the Ecuadorian side of the border and the border would be closed at midnight. Since there were earlier problems in Bolivia and people got stock in La Paz for weeks and then I saw the strikes in Chilean border I believed him. What I then understood was: let's got to the police and ask them about the situation. So I agreed. We, and his friend, got into the car. After a few minutes we got to the highway and left the city behind. I asked them where we were going and the driver said that I wanted to go the border, yes? And I said no, I didn't make up my mind yet since we didn't ask the police. He was convincing me that I had to go now, right this moment, before the border is closed. Since we were already on the road I asked him how much he wanted for his service to which he replied "later you will give us a tip" and I said NO! I have to know right now. And he said 80 soles. I asked him "soles?" "Yes, soles." It was a steep price but I thought, OK, if he risks being stuck on the border I can pay for his risk - I paid a steep price at the Peruvian-Chilean border before. At the Peruvian immigration office I asked the immigration officer about problems on the border and he asked "what problems?" At that point I should have just stayed there and wait until the morning for the bus but I was stupid and thought, OK, I got fooled, I will pay the taxi drivers what I agreed to and just forget about the whole story as soon as they let me out on the other side. From the immigration office we drove about 2 km to some kind of a check point and then we were what seems like "the other side" but it looked like some kind of ghost town market - it was completely dark and I could just see the empty market stalls. Then the driver told me we were on the Equatorian side and this was the end of the trip and I owed him what he paid at the checkpoint which was 40 dollars and the 80 dollars I agreed to pay him. I said he said soles, he said "o really, sorry lady I made a mistake, I meant US dollars." I got so mad... I told him to drive me back to the immigration office and the police would tell us what the fair price for the ride was. I sensed they were not the type of villains who would kill me for 120 bucks - they were the petty thieves who would intimidate tourists if they let them. I said I only had $20 because they didn't give me the chance to go to the bank at Tumbes (I had $150 more in my pocket but a lie was justified in the circumstances). I gave him the $20 bill and he started to argue that it was not enough, etc. etc. I wanted to take it back saying he would not get anything if he argued and it ripped a little. He was holding onto it and I was holding onto it and I told him if he was not satisfied I would rip this bill into tiny fucking little pieces and he would get nothing, zero dollares. Steam was coming out my nose. They let me go. I got really furious that I was so stupid and didn't ask anyone around at the bus station what the situation at the border really was. Whenever I am tired and my senses are not as sharp as normally I get into some troubles. In the end I got stranded in this ghost town and spent the night in a very shabby bug-infested hotel close to the market. The Ecuadorian immigration was about 4 km further down the town, I learned in the morning. I am never going to take another taxi unless it's a radio taxi. 90% of taxis I took tried to rip me off, the worst being the taxis in Buenos Aires and this incident. The moral of this story is such: if you ever travel to Peru don't go through the Tumbes-Huaquillas border - I later read about it and it is a very dangerous border - people get robbed there by thieves, taxi drivers and immigration officers. I walked through all borders previously but this one, if one has to go through it, should be crossed by bus full of people and in daylight.
Yesterday I came to Guayaquil in Ecuador and more about it soon.
posted by Asia Kabat at 5:06 PM
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