Leaving Ecuador in the Dust, Enter the Sandman

FINALLY!!!!!  We were up and at it Tuesday morning,  ready to leave without our package,  we checked the email one last time and there it was.  FEDEX told us the package had cleared customs.  I still had to pay import fees before they would release it.  I took care of that,  then had to wait until Wednesday afternoon before FEDEX confirmed that they had the box.  Rather than wait until they got around to delivery,  I took a two hour bus ride into Guayaquil to pick it up, after I paid taxes of course.  Box in hand we were up early Friday morning and out the door, running for the border. Stayed overnight in a border town, then crossed over Saturday morning.  The crossing was smooth and easy.  A new complex with nobody milling around that didn't belong there and nobody hounding you with services.  Into Peru by 11am and rode a couple of hours to Sullena.  Got up, rode through the desert towards Chiclayo and stopped about twenty miles north of there.   This part of the country reminds me of the desert in the southwest US.  It could be anywhere from west Texas to San Bernadino, California,  throw in a detour through the sand hills of Nebraska and that is what it looks like.  More pictures from Playas, Ecuador and then Peru.  

                                      We took a few pictures in the grocery store 

                    Wine and spirits, beer in the cooler in back, yes Budweiser too

We saw these guys come in on one of those log boats

They had caught a couple of rays, both pregnant

                                          Pushing out the little ones

There were about six baby rays between the two of them 

                                                   Judy holding one

             Returning them to the sea

More seaside scenes-crabs all over the rocks

                  Driftwood stump -top and bottom photos

              Back at the crowded beach you can go horseback riding also

                  Doughnut cart on the beach----tough job but somebody has to do it

                              Here are some of those log boats with sails

                                             More copyright infringement

We met this lady, Lezley from the US, lives in Ecuador about 12 hours north of Playas. You can get a coconut on the beach to drink the milk.  It's clear, more like water than milk.

                  Then the vendor cuts it open and you eat the coconut meat

            This is just a picture of shells on the beach,  Judy thought we should make a jigsaw puzzle out of it

Last but not least, we got opening season NFL broadcast on tv.  Who else but the worlds favorite team, you are correct, the Dallas Cowboys.

  This next picture is for the "haters" out there, you'll love it   We both know who you are!!!

                                         Tony fall down, go boom.

               Goodbye Ecuador, Hello Peru

Starts off with rice paddys

Then we move over to the coast for a couple of hours 

                       This is one side of the road, on the other side is this

We stopped in Sullana for the night, nice little down town pedestrian only walkway

I had read that there were huge numbers of tuk-tuks in Peru,  but I didn't expect this

This doesn't even come close to giving you an idea of how many there are.  Multiply by 1000 

  

We left Sunday morning and rode through the desert I mentioned earlier

   This reminds me of the Bonneville salt flats, only it's sand and not white salt

          The wind was whipping across the highway,  sandblasting us and moving the bike around on the road. 

  This was a stretch of desert that was 130 miles of absolutely nothing out there.  This is the first gas station you come to when you hit civilization again.

The exchange rate is 2.75 sols to the dollar.  95 octane is close to $7/gallon.   Not only that,  it's gasahol, but I haven't found out what percentage yet. I miss the $2/gallon of gas in Ecuador already.

  

So, here we are in Peru.  Glad to be travelling again and I'm sure you're glad to be getting some pictures again.  Let's see where the road takes us in this country, check back in a few days for an update.  Until then I leave you with this