Crossing the border from Ecuador into Peru

Hello Everyone, We made it safely and soundly into Peru. As you know we were leaving from Lojo Ecuador by bus to Piura Peru. We took the 11:00 p.m. bus and slept a good part of trip. At 4:oo a.m. we were awoken to file off the bus and wait in line for the immigration process. After we were stamped out of Ecuador we walked a 100 yds to the Peru side and got our stamps for entry. What's been amazing is that there are no fees associated with leaving or entering Colombia, Ecuador and now Peru. I bet our Houston amigos wish this was true for Mexico. Anyway, we made it to Piura around 7:00 a.m. We were pretty sure before hand that we wanted to move on further south, but upon arrival into town, "pretty sure" got upgraded real fast to "oh hell ya". This town was horrible and very dirty with litter everywhere & poverty quite apparent with all the shanty towns in the area. But before we move forward, it's time to hit the ATM machine to get the Peru currency which is called Soles. The exchange rate is 2.905 to our $1.oo. So, almost 3 to 1. While I stay with the luggage Bob hits the street to find the nearest one. Bob was keeping an eye out for an ATM as we were getting close to the bus station. I always worry when Bob takes off; just human nature. But no reason to worry, my hero returns within 15 mins or so from the ATM he had spotted with Soles in his pocket. Now what we are learning is that the bus system here in Peru kind of sucks. There's not a main bus terminal with several companies to chose from to make our decision process for our next leg of travel easy. Here each bus company has there own small terminal and the one we just got off of didn't go to Chiclayo. Fortunately Bob pays attention. While also looking for the ATM he eye-balled a few companies that make runs to Chiclayo that ended up being just 5 blocks away. We hopped into a taxi to the next terminal & find out we have approximately 10 mins or so to grab a bite. Bob goes off & comes back with a 34 cent sandwich (more like a bun with very little chicken) from a street vendor to keep the stomach growls to a minimum. So I walk the whole 15 feet to the vendor & opt for the pork sandwich. To my surprise, the sandwich had basically nothing on it, so I show the lady & she has basically no response, she only wants to know what I want instead. So I opted for the pollo. & no Mom, we didn't get sick. The buses here offer VIP seating and economical seating. VIP seats are oversize chairs which recline all the way back and are actually called "camas" which means "beds". They also provide meals and beverages on board. Since we arrived too late to purchase VIP we settled for the economical seating. We were only traveling a few hours. Our seats were on the 2nd level and upfront. We had a huge window to look out. Not sure that's always a good thing. Watching someone else drive is never easy, especially in these crazy countries down south. But we made it safely. We didn't have reservations made for our hotel but Bob had an a few in mind. We went to his first choice and wha-la...they have availability. We settled in and headed out to explore a bit. This is the 4th largest city in Peru but really doesn't have a lot to offer as for as tourism. We walked all thru the downtown area, experienced the Mercado Modelo which offers everything from electronics to clothing (similar to a huge flea market) and we took a "collectivo" to a small fishing village called Pimental which was about 20 mins away. The water wasn't very nice but had a large beach area. Like I mentioned before, Peruvians don't know the concept of a trash can. The beaches and streets were trashed. This place really has potential with the boardwalk already built and tons of restaurant & bars and beautiful condos. It's ashame it was so dirty. If the water & sand could be prettier, that would help also, but I guess Mother Nature thinks otherwise. Tonight we are back on the bus and making our way to a city called Huacachina. We purchased our tickets in advance and splurged the extra bucks traveling VIP. We have a long journey and I know the "cama" seating that reclines back 160 degrees will be put to good use. The first leg of our trip is 12 hours to Lima and than we hope to quickly change buses to continue traveling to Huacachina, which is 3 more hours from Lima. From here on out our travels will be fast and furious making our way to Machu Picchu. Since we're so far away from Machu Picchu we'll be breaking up our trip and staying at the following cities. (Huacachina, Nazca, Arequipe, Cuzco, Agua Calientes and then Machu Picchu.) We'll be spending a night and full day at each place on the above itinerary and I'm not sure we'll be in touch from this point till we settle down in Argentina. If it's possible we'll post a short blog and pictures. Each city has something for us to see and do and we're looking forward to the experience. Huacachina is built around an oasis in the middle of nothing but sand dunes. We'll be doing some dune buggy tours and sandboarding. Sandboarding if very similar to snowboarding, but on sand, not snow. HA HA Nazca is also a desert town. This town seems to basically exist so that tourist can fly over & view the "Nazca Lines", geoglyphs (lines in the desert; the most famous being a monkey) created by the Nazca culture between 200 BC & and 700 AD. Should be an awesome adventure. Arequipe is a colonial town. From the pictures it looks beautiful. Most of the buildings are constructed out of volcano stone. Cuzco...well I'm hoping to do well in the highest altitude I've ever been in. 12,000 ft above sea level. But, I did find some drugs to help w/the altitude adjustment. I'm very excited about that. Cuzco is suppose to be an amazing city with tons of sites and things to do. Agua Calientes - just a stop over really. From this city we plan to catch a bus and head straight into Machu Picchu before the train of tourist arrives. So, you see we'll be squeezing in a much as possible over the next few days and seeing some really cool things. After this trip we will be flying to Buenos Aires, Argentina, renting an apartment and chilling out for 2 months solid. We'll be in touch with lots of photos as soon as possible. Till then...Much love, Bonnie & Bob