Heading North

Holly, Tash and I had a bus departure at 12:30pm yesterday so while Holly finished packing and checking out, Tash and I went browsing the markets of chachkees in Mancora in search of dried seahorses and starfish for Tash's fishy-themed bathroom back home. While browsing I ran into 2 more people I know from Barranco; Papacho, a native Peruvian from Chiclayo was in a market area selling his hand-made artisan jewelry doused with gorgeous stones he's collected from around the world, and Francesca, my middle aged hippie friend who sells hippie jewelry at the disco, Help from whom i've bought several things from! What a small world to run into people you know while you're an 18 hour bus ride away from where you know them! Holly and Tash think it's hilarious that I know someone almost everywhere I go! What can I say, I like making friends everywhere I go! I must get it from Stan. After checking out and paying for my 3 nights of accommodation, 2 big bottles of water, and 2 beers from the bar for just a grand total of $44, we took a tuk tuk (haha) to the bus station just 6 minutes down the road as our bus was scheduled to leave at 12:30pm. We made it just 10 minutes before our scheduled departure and were told the bus was going to leave at 1pm so we went to fetch sandwiches for the 14 hour bus ride ahead of us, including clearing immigration. We bought 2 sandwiches each (they could be consumed in 3 bites) of tortilla con verduras which means omelette with vegetables for 1.50 Soles each (.55) and they were probably one of the 10 top most delicious things I have eaten in Peru and I have tried everything at least once. Our bus finally left at 1:45pm (Peru time) and we rode on our non air conditioned bus straight through to the border where we exited the bus and waited in line for 45 minutes to turn in our immigration card and then rode another 30 minutes to a location to have our passport stamped. After the stamping, we waited for a bus transfer that would take us to our next destination about 7 hours away in Ambato, Ecuador. While waiting for the transfer, we each bought a plate of street food for $1 which got us about 4 bites of chicken and some yucca. It was weird switching from the Sole, the currency in Peru, back to American money which is the currency used in Ecuador. Our bus ride was far less torturous than I thought it would be having had back surgery nearly 1 year ago and not doing well sitting for long periods of time. I slept for probably half of the total bus ride and only the last hour and a half were difficult. Other than the  experienced discomfort and antsy-ness, it was freezing, like cold enough to see our breath outside, and I was dressed in a tank top, shorts, and flip flops. Of course my warmer clothes were under the bus in my duffle bag. The andean woman next to me in her indigenous get up looked me up and down like I was a crazy gringa. We arrived at our bus terminal which seemed to be near the end of an alley at 3:30am and waved down a taxi to drive us the 30 minutes to Baños, our destination city. We arrived at a hostel that was recommended in a travel book that Tash brought and for $7.50 a night we have a comfortable, warm bed in a 4 bed dormitory, hot water, access to a kitchen to cook whatever we want as long as we clean up after ourselves, internet, towels, pamphlets for recommendations for stuff to do around town, and a key to our room that locks. We went straight to bed and I slept until 10:40am! For some reason sitting and sleeping on a bus for nearly 14 hours makes me tired. We woke up to a rainy day and went browsing around town with gary from London and Nils from Denmark. We stopped for a cup of coffee then walked around looking for a bar called Bar Bamboos which is owned by Patricio, a friend of Francesca from Barranco! After finding the door to his bar and finding out it was closed, we headed back towards the hostel and on the way came across some wonderfully artistic graffiti along some brick walls and didn't hesitate to take pictures. The 5 of us walked back to the general vicinity of the hostel and us girls decided to walk into an excursion shop to book some activities for tomorrow. For $35 we're going zip lining on a 1000 meter wire and ATV riding around waterfalls and a volcano. We have 3 hours! I just a scrumptiously delicious nectarine and plum and now i'm heading to bed so that I am well rested for our adventure tomorrow. Buenas noches amigos!