April 10
PERU-Chala
Thursday 1st we started at 0800 and
drove along Ruta 1 to Nazca where we found the Hotel Maison Suisse in
time for lunch. The journey went well but parts of the road
needed resurfacing. The rest of the day was spent relaxing and
chatting to Karin & 
Reinhold Renner from Puerto Inca and points
south. Friday
we were up early for an 0800 flight to see the Lines of Nazca. We
saw most of them but Howard’s photos did not come out. Reinhold
let him copy his pictures. The 12 seater plane had a propeller
for propulsion.
Saturday 3rd we made a reasonable start after saying “goodbye” to Karin and Reinhold, We found a Repsol fuel station so that we could use a credit card and then went into Nazca to find a bank. A very helpful Peruvian guided us to an ATM. We shopped and lunched in Ica before visiting the Oasis at Huacachina where we were involved in a traffic jam, no one would stop to let the jam clear they just drove onto the back of the jam. As we left Ica a taxi flagged us down, pointing to a back wheel, we stopped and both got out. The taxi departed and we left and drove to Paracas, on the coast. there was no camp site, the first Hotel said “we could safely park outside”. The Mirador Hotel let us into their interior car park, with electricity
, and we could use the pool and showers.
Karin and Reinhold arrived later on. Sunday we were up
early. Mervyn’s camera was missing. It had disappeared with
the taxi yesterday. We had booked a boat for 0830 and the car was
due to arrive at 0750. The car was late but we were at the boat
in good time. The trip to the Islas Ballestas took two hours, we
saw many Sea Lions, a few Elephant Seals, Pelicans, Inca Terns,
Peruvian Boobies, Cormorants and many other Sea Gulls. We
reported the missing camera to the police and then returned to the
van. Howard copied Reinhold’s pictures from Nazca to his
computer, they were excellent. Monday we returned to Ica,
to the police station where a policeman accompanied Mervyn to the
markets to look for his camera. We went back to The Mirador in
Paracas for the night. Tuesday
our journey north to Lima continued. We arrived just before lunch
but Howard had to take a taxi, with Mervyn following in the van, to
find the Pension Yolanda. We could not enter their very small
yard so we headed for the Hitchhiker where, with some manoeuvring we
entered. After our late lunch we set off to a local 
supermarket and then
relaxed when we returned to the caravan. Wednesday we took a taxi to
The British Embassy where we were advised not to search the markets for
Mervyn’s camera, as it was dangerous. We walked to Wilhelmi
Monge’s camera “shop”, in his house. There we had a long talk and
then visited three other camera shops where there were no “pal”
cameras. Howard went into a manicure shop to have his toe nails
cut. He received the full treatment, and then we returned to the
caravan. Thursday
our search for the camera continued with a visit to the Tourist Police
in Lima and then on to a market, Polvos Azules, where video cameras
were cheap. We were back in the caravan for lunch. Friday we went back to
Polvos Azules where Mervyn bought a camera. He spent the
afternoon experimenting with the new camera.
Saturday 10th Mervyn spent the morning working with the new camera and the afternoon he edited his films. Howard relaxed. Sunday we made an early start but it took us an hour and a half for the sixty five km to clear Lima. The shanty towns then continued for another twenty km. We turned into the Reserva Nacional de Lachay to eat lunch and to camp. Monday we set off north from de Lachay and soon stopped to visit the Adobe Fortress of Paramonga built by The Chimu (850 - 1470 AD). Just short of Casma we
visited Sechin (1600 BC) built in stone and
better preserved than the Adobe at Paramonga. We continued on
through Casma to Tortuga where we followed a twisty, narrow road
to camp in a hotel with an even narrower road. Tuesday our journey north
continued uneventfully until we reached Trujillo where we started to
look for Huaca de la Luna. Three garages gave us correct directions and
a man on a bike said “just there”. It was an old temple where
every new ruler built a new version on top of the old one. There
are five layers only the top two having been excavated. Wednesday we took a taxi to
go shopping in Trujillo and then relaxed and chatted to Karin and
Reinhold in the afternoon. Thursday we again took a
taxi, this time to go to the three archaeological sites, first to Chan
Chan where we visited the only excavated palace. There were eight
unexcavated palaces. Then on to Huaca la Esmeralda and finally to Huaca
Arco Iris. We were back in the van for lunch and a restful
afternoon. Friday
we made the usual early start in order to visit El Brujo,
it was unsigned and we missed it. We will go on the way
back. We drove to Chiclayo, made unsuccessful enquiries at a
garage and then Howard took a motorised rickshaw to the camp, Mervyn
followed in the van.
Saturday 17th we took a small taxi, a converted scooter, to visit the two museums in Chiclayo. We next went to a small supermarket and bought some food. There was not a lot of choice. After lunch we relaxed. Sunday we left Lambayeque and the best showers so far, in South America, to continue north-west to Piura. An uneventful drive to the town but a complicated route to the hotels, the first two were unable to take us and there was a very difficult entrance to the third, El Algarrobo, where we stopped in time for lunch. Monday we started off going into town to try and buy Insurance for Ecuador. We saw four people and it took an hour and a half to discover that we could not buy the Insurance for Ecuador. We left to continue our north-west travels, inland and then along the coast road where we saw many Frigate Birds. We saw a camping sign, in a Youth Hostel and decided to stop for the night. Karin and Reinhold arrived later. Tuesday we left for the border with Ecuador and duly arrived it took fifteen minutes to exit Peru and we continued on to Ecuador. We drove across the border and, following directions arrived at the Customs Post. The immigration window was closed, we were directed back towards the border but had to turn right, there was a toll booth but we did not have any dollars. At the Immigration Post they would not enter us until we had paid the one dollar toll. We drove back to the toll with all our small change which was not accepted. We drove through the toll to return to the first office, there an officer sent us back with an Ecuadorian. At the toll no go without “three” dollars. We reversed out and so did the vehicles behind us. The Ecuadorian, who spoke no English said “wait here” and he disappeared. Karin and Reinhold arrived and offered to let us have the three dollars. After thirty minutes Mervyn went to look for the Ecuadorian without success. We returned to the first office to explain to the Officer what had happened. Mervyn went to cancel our entry to Ecuador, for the vehicle but an Immigration Officer was found and we were entered, after three hours! We lunched and left straight after Karin and Reinhold who went to Cuenca while we went to Machala to try for insurance, we were unsuccessful. We set off towards Cuenca and stopped in a Hosteria 25km from Machala. Wednesday we continued on to Cuenca and found Karin and Reinhold’s Toyota in the first camp. We could not enter because of the low gateway. We searched and asked for directions for the second camp. We finally asked a cyclist who said “follow me”. We did for a hundred yards to the entrance, which had a large hump, the cyclist reappeared with two boards so that we could enter. The cyclist turned out to be the Owner, Umberto, and was he not only spoke English but was also very helpful. We shopped in the afternoon. Thursday Umberto went in a taxi with us to buy Insurance for Ecuador. We bought an insurance for people, but not for other vehicles, then we had an ice cream and returned to the van. After lunch Mervyn set off into town with his new camera. Howard went on the net. Friday we took a taxi to see if we could get third party insurance for vehicles. It was not available. Our next stop was the supermarket and back to the van for a late lunch. Mervyn then completed his sightseeing in Cuenca, and Howard again went on the net.
Saturday 24th in spite of an early start it took us two hours to go the first eighty km due to the traffic. We continued north-east on the road towards Quito. Progress was still slow due to the very steep and very winding roads in the mountains. The later part of the drive was also slowed by low cloud with visibility of fifty metres in places. We soon found our “camp” in the back yard of the Residential Patricia in Chunchi with an almost impossible entrance. We made it!! Lunch was taken after we had arrived at 1245. Sunday the exit was even more difficult than the entrance. We had minor damage to the left hand front indicator. The journey to Quito was uneventful except for early and late low cloud and rain. Without any signs it took us over two hours to find the hotel Fer Reisen. When we arrived, after 361 km we were given a warm welcome and two cars were moved to make room for us. As we were late we had an excellent meal in the restaurant. The scenery on the last few days has been very reminiscent of Switzerland. Monday we started with some repair work on the van. Then Señor Lamiño, the manager, took us in his car to the local Iveco garage where we arranged to call on Wednesday to have the diesel injectors looked at. He then drove us back to the Hotel in time for lunch. A restful afternoon followed. Tuesday Mervyn went into town while Howard worked with his photos. Wednesday we were up early to go to the Iveco garage. An employee worked, on and off for most of the day, they were waiting for the Diagnostic Computer to arrive. Steve, one of the senior staff suggested that we camped in the firm’s yard to make an early start in the morning. Thursday the computer arrived at 0930, in the meantime an electrician looked at the rear view camera as we were not getting a picture on the screen. He was unsuccessful. Eventually it was found that their computer would not connect to the caravan. We left at 1145 with directions for the road south. We missed it! It took us two hours to clear Quito. We travelled south to Amboto and eventually found The Villa Hilda where we thought we could stay. We couldn’t! This took an hour. We drove on and finally stopped at a fuel station in Santa Lucia. Friday another early start to go to Cuenca. The journey passed slowly with the very steep and very winding roads through the mountains and in and out of low cloud. At Tambo we diverted to look for Ingapirca Ruinas, as usual the unsigned Ruins were unfindable. After an hour of searching we gave up! The rest of the trip was OK we arrived and entered the site at Umberto‘s. Howard disconnected a plug and reconnected it to a different wire and we had electricity. We decided on a meal out. After waiting for half an hour, sheltering from the heavy rain, we obtained a taxi. At the restaurant, La Fornace, the doorman used an umbrella to escort us to the doorway. The meal was excellent.
Reinhold Renner from Puerto Inca and points
south. Friday
we were up early for an 0800 flight to see the Lines of Nazca. We
saw most of them but Howard’s photos did not come out. Reinhold
let him copy his pictures. The 12 seater plane had a propeller
for propulsion.Saturday 3rd we made a reasonable start after saying “goodbye” to Karin and Reinhold, We found a Repsol fuel station so that we could use a credit card and then went into Nazca to find a bank. A very helpful Peruvian guided us to an ATM. We shopped and lunched in Ica before visiting the Oasis at Huacachina where we were involved in a traffic jam, no one would stop to let the jam clear they just drove onto the back of the jam. As we left Ica a taxi flagged us down, pointing to a back wheel, we stopped and both got out. The taxi departed and we left and drove to Paracas, on the coast. there was no camp site, the first Hotel said “we could safely park outside”. The Mirador Hotel let us into their interior car park, with electricity
, and we could use the pool and showers.
Karin and Reinhold arrived later on. Sunday we were up
early. Mervyn’s camera was missing. It had disappeared with
the taxi yesterday. We had booked a boat for 0830 and the car was
due to arrive at 0750. The car was late but we were at the boat
in good time. The trip to the Islas Ballestas took two hours, we
saw many Sea Lions, a few Elephant Seals, Pelicans, Inca Terns,
Peruvian Boobies, Cormorants and many other Sea Gulls. We
reported the missing camera to the police and then returned to the
van. Howard copied Reinhold’s pictures from Nazca to his
computer, they were excellent. Monday we returned to Ica,
to the police station where a policeman accompanied Mervyn to the
markets to look for his camera. We went back to The Mirador in
Paracas for the night. Tuesday
our journey north to Lima continued. We arrived just before lunch
but Howard had to take a taxi, with Mervyn following in the van, to
find the Pension Yolanda. We could not enter their very small
yard so we headed for the Hitchhiker where, with some manoeuvring we
entered. After our late lunch we set off to a local supermarket and then
relaxed when we returned to the caravan. Wednesday we took a taxi to
The British Embassy where we were advised not to search the markets for
Mervyn’s camera, as it was dangerous. We walked to Wilhelmi
Monge’s camera “shop”, in his house. There we had a long talk and
then visited three other camera shops where there were no “pal”
cameras. Howard went into a manicure shop to have his toe nails
cut. He received the full treatment, and then we returned to the
caravan. Thursday
our search for the camera continued with a visit to the Tourist Police
in Lima and then on to a market, Polvos Azules, where video cameras
were cheap. We were back in the caravan for lunch. Friday we went back to
Polvos Azules where Mervyn bought a camera. He spent the
afternoon experimenting with the new camera.Saturday 10th Mervyn spent the morning working with the new camera and the afternoon he edited his films. Howard relaxed. Sunday we made an early start but it took us an hour and a half for the sixty five km to clear Lima. The shanty towns then continued for another twenty km. We turned into the Reserva Nacional de Lachay to eat lunch and to camp. Monday we set off north from de Lachay and soon stopped to visit the Adobe Fortress of Paramonga built by The Chimu (850 - 1470 AD). Just short of Casma we
visited Sechin (1600 BC) built in stone and
better preserved than the Adobe at Paramonga. We continued on
through Casma to Tortuga where we followed a twisty, narrow road
to camp in a hotel with an even narrower road. Tuesday our journey north
continued uneventfully until we reached Trujillo where we started to
look for Huaca de la Luna. Three garages gave us correct directions and
a man on a bike said “just there”. It was an old temple where
every new ruler built a new version on top of the old one. There
are five layers only the top two having been excavated. Wednesday we took a taxi to
go shopping in Trujillo and then relaxed and chatted to Karin and
Reinhold in the afternoon. Thursday we again took a
taxi, this time to go to the three archaeological sites, first to Chan
Chan where we visited the only excavated palace. There were eight
unexcavated palaces. Then on to Huaca la Esmeralda and finally to Huaca
Arco Iris. We were back in the van for lunch and a restful
afternoon. Friday
we made the usual early start in order to visit El Brujo,
it was unsigned and we missed it. We will go on the way
back. We drove to Chiclayo, made unsuccessful enquiries at a
garage and then Howard took a motorised rickshaw to the camp, Mervyn
followed in the van.Saturday 17th we took a small taxi, a converted scooter, to visit the two museums in Chiclayo. We next went to a small supermarket and bought some food. There was not a lot of choice. After lunch we relaxed. Sunday we left Lambayeque and the best showers so far, in South America, to continue north-west to Piura. An uneventful drive to the town but a complicated route to the hotels, the first two were unable to take us and there was a very difficult entrance to the third, El Algarrobo, where we stopped in time for lunch. Monday we started off going into town to try and buy Insurance for Ecuador. We saw four people and it took an hour and a half to discover that we could not buy the Insurance for Ecuador. We left to continue our north-west travels, inland and then along the coast road where we saw many Frigate Birds. We saw a camping sign, in a Youth Hostel and decided to stop for the night. Karin and Reinhold arrived later. Tuesday we left for the border with Ecuador and duly arrived it took fifteen minutes to exit Peru and we continued on to Ecuador. We drove across the border and, following directions arrived at the Customs Post. The immigration window was closed, we were directed back towards the border but had to turn right, there was a toll booth but we did not have any dollars. At the Immigration Post they would not enter us until we had paid the one dollar toll. We drove back to the toll with all our small change which was not accepted. We drove through the toll to return to the first office, there an officer sent us back with an Ecuadorian. At the toll no go without “three” dollars. We reversed out and so did the vehicles behind us. The Ecuadorian, who spoke no English said “wait here” and he disappeared. Karin and Reinhold arrived and offered to let us have the three dollars. After thirty minutes Mervyn went to look for the Ecuadorian without success. We returned to the first office to explain to the Officer what had happened. Mervyn went to cancel our entry to Ecuador, for the vehicle but an Immigration Officer was found and we were entered, after three hours! We lunched and left straight after Karin and Reinhold who went to Cuenca while we went to Machala to try for insurance, we were unsuccessful. We set off towards Cuenca and stopped in a Hosteria 25km from Machala. Wednesday we continued on to Cuenca and found Karin and Reinhold’s Toyota in the first camp. We could not enter because of the low gateway. We searched and asked for directions for the second camp. We finally asked a cyclist who said “follow me”. We did for a hundred yards to the entrance, which had a large hump, the cyclist reappeared with two boards so that we could enter. The cyclist turned out to be the Owner, Umberto, and was he not only spoke English but was also very helpful. We shopped in the afternoon. Thursday Umberto went in a taxi with us to buy Insurance for Ecuador. We bought an insurance for people, but not for other vehicles, then we had an ice cream and returned to the van. After lunch Mervyn set off into town with his new camera. Howard went on the net. Friday we took a taxi to see if we could get third party insurance for vehicles. It was not available. Our next stop was the supermarket and back to the van for a late lunch. Mervyn then completed his sightseeing in Cuenca, and Howard again went on the net.
Saturday 24th in spite of an early start it took us two hours to go the first eighty km due to the traffic. We continued north-east on the road towards Quito. Progress was still slow due to the very steep and very winding roads in the mountains. The later part of the drive was also slowed by low cloud with visibility of fifty metres in places. We soon found our “camp” in the back yard of the Residential Patricia in Chunchi with an almost impossible entrance. We made it!! Lunch was taken after we had arrived at 1245. Sunday the exit was even more difficult than the entrance. We had minor damage to the left hand front indicator. The journey to Quito was uneventful except for early and late low cloud and rain. Without any signs it took us over two hours to find the hotel Fer Reisen. When we arrived, after 361 km we were given a warm welcome and two cars were moved to make room for us. As we were late we had an excellent meal in the restaurant. The scenery on the last few days has been very reminiscent of Switzerland. Monday we started with some repair work on the van. Then Señor Lamiño, the manager, took us in his car to the local Iveco garage where we arranged to call on Wednesday to have the diesel injectors looked at. He then drove us back to the Hotel in time for lunch. A restful afternoon followed. Tuesday Mervyn went into town while Howard worked with his photos. Wednesday we were up early to go to the Iveco garage. An employee worked, on and off for most of the day, they were waiting for the Diagnostic Computer to arrive. Steve, one of the senior staff suggested that we camped in the firm’s yard to make an early start in the morning. Thursday the computer arrived at 0930, in the meantime an electrician looked at the rear view camera as we were not getting a picture on the screen. He was unsuccessful. Eventually it was found that their computer would not connect to the caravan. We left at 1145 with directions for the road south. We missed it! It took us two hours to clear Quito. We travelled south to Amboto and eventually found The Villa Hilda where we thought we could stay. We couldn’t! This took an hour. We drove on and finally stopped at a fuel station in Santa Lucia. Friday another early start to go to Cuenca. The journey passed slowly with the very steep and very winding roads through the mountains and in and out of low cloud. At Tambo we diverted to look for Ingapirca Ruinas, as usual the unsigned Ruins were unfindable. After an hour of searching we gave up! The rest of the trip was OK we arrived and entered the site at Umberto‘s. Howard disconnected a plug and reconnected it to a different wire and we had electricity. We decided on a meal out. After waiting for half an hour, sheltering from the heavy rain, we obtained a taxi. At the restaurant, La Fornace, the doorman used an umbrella to escort us to the doorway. The meal was excellent.
ECUADOR-Cuenca