On the Road Again

Our last venture in Ecuador was to ride the Devil’s Nose train, a “must-see” experience according to our guidebook (and many other guides apparently). The train sets off from Riobamba, passing through the town of Aluasi before running the Devil’s Nose loop. Many tourists bus to Aluasi and pick up the train there to ride the switchbacks as the train traverses a sheer mountainside. The main drawing point that distinguishes this from most Ecuadorian bus trips is that passengers are allowed to ride on the train’s roof. We enjoyed the experience but could have done without the loads of pushy tourists.

Ready for a new adventure, we hit the road early the next morning for Peru. We bounced down the road on the 6 hour trip to Guayaquil. As soon as we arrived we went in search of an international bus, by far the best way to cross the “worse border in South America.” Stories abound of travelers being scammed, ripped off, or straight up robbed by taxi drivers and corrupt police. Friends of ours were stopped and told they need to buy a $200 tourist card to safely cross the border. They were too savvy for that but were still handed a counterfeit bill changing dollars into Peruvian Soles.

Our bus guided us to the various necessary immigration stops before dropping us off in the shady Peruvian border town of Tumbes. After 13 hours of travel we were fairly bedraggled and unready for the onslaught of street touts shouting they could get us to wherever we needed to go. We eventually managed to get dropped off by a bus supposedly headed to Mancora, our intended destination. Unfortunately, the bus wasn’t planning on leaving for anywhere that night. We managed to squeeze ourselves into a car packed with approximately 12 Peruvians headed down to the coast. Two hours later, we arrived in Mancora. Luckily the beach has been a great place for us to recuperate the past few days, watching kitesurfers cut through the ocean and soar over waves.