Ecuador or bust

So Louise and I decided to go across the Peruvian/Ecuadorian border at a place called La Balsa. Our guidebooks both referred to it as a back route, with lots of changes of transport but spectacular scenery and given how far inland we were it seemed the quickest way to go.

After a good night's sleep on the floor of Rob and Fernando's room (Chachapoyas was full that night and we changed our plans at the last minute to stay another night) we set off "bright" and early at 6am. First leg in a private taxi for 3 hours to get us to the tarmac road at Bagua Grande. We went along a spectacular river valley where the rocks were folded and stressed in ways that showed how violent the formation of the landscape was here. And then we were in rice paddy fields and coffee country, with cows that looked like they'd come from India (same breed) and people strolling round in flipflops. Just like that out of the mountains and cloud forest and into lush farmland.

At Bagua Grande we got into a shared taxi for the one hour to Jaen, we had the privilege of only the two of us in the back, the standard is 4. The rest of the car was loaded as normal, 2 rather stout gentlemen in the front passenger seat and a campesino (country farmer) in the boot. At Jaen a motorbike rickshaw transferred us to a collectivo for the 3 hour journey to San Ignacio. We were the focus of much interest at the bus terminal as obviously gringos don't travel this way a lot. Still it seems fair, we stare at people and they stare at us! One brave idler asked questions and was keen to have my autograph, so I signed for him....I'm a star in Jaen!

We quickly left paved road behind us after Jaen and gradually climbed into the mountains again until we reached the surprisingly large town of San Ignacio. This time the motocycle rickshaw had to go up a steep hill and with two large gringos and very heavy bags it couldn't do it in first! So the driver pushed with one leg....

The final leg to the border, 1.5 hours in a shared taxi to La Balsa, it used to be a raft but now there is a bridge. However, the border was shut for lunch and siestas, which wasn't a problem because there was no transport on the Ecuadorian side until 5:30pm. Some very cursory form filling and we were through and to celebrate had rice and chicken for lunch (the very standard food everywhere).

The bus for the Ecuadorian road looked like it was from a zoo, open sides, bench seats and bright pictures. The road was incredibly rough and so it was slow progress. Gave us lots of time to discuss the presence of two cockerels on the bus and the over representation of cockerels in the chicken population (as generally demononstrated every morning between 4am and when you give in and get up). Cockerel fighting is legal and you see "coliseos de gallinos" in most towns round here.

Finally into Zumba around 7pm, the less glamorous side of travelling. The best we could do for a room was a hostel where we didn't wash in the bathroom because we'd have been less clean afterwards and the beds were damp!

We left town the next morning on the 5:30am bus, grateful to be gone and at 11:30am I got off in the hippy heaven that is Vilcabamba!