4 Aug
Left Santa Rosa Ecuador at 7-ish and drove to Bella Vista where the guys from yesterday told us the propane plant was. We were bounced around to 4 different guys and the conclusion was they couldn't fill a permanent tank, only exchange tanks. So we headed for the border.
At the border, we didn't see the left turn access to the bi-country border services, so we drove across the bridge to Peru. At the bi-country border services there, we were able to get our immigration done, but couldn't get permission to enter the RV because we lacked the departure stamp from Ecuador. You would think that the bi-country border services would be a one stop place, but we were told we would have to go back to Ecuador to get the departure stamp. So we drove the 2km back to the Ecuador buildings to wait in line for a stamp. It took less than 30 seconds to get the stamp and about 15 minutes waiting our turn.
We then went back to Peru and it took 3 people plus their supervisor to complete the computer work. The challenge was the manufacturer of our RV, Thor, was not in their database. This, coupled with the fact that the VIN is a Ford VIN for the chassis and motor, provided a lot of confusion. Then Roger presented his International Driver's license (without his TX one which is required on the back of the form in English) and this caused more confusion. Luckily the address matched the address Roger had hand written in his passport, plus the address section on the title matched the International Driver's license so it eventually was accepted.
It took a while to get through the border, solely from an administrivia perspective. The two South America border crossings so far have been better organized and more efficient (???) than Central America. The only disadvantage of the E/P border was there were no money changers, which meant we had to eventually find a place to change dollars to Nuevo (New) Sol's, the Peru currency.
The first Peruvian city you come to is Tumbes. It was crowded and had lots of traffic down the PanAm Hwy, plus no parking. So we drove on through without getting cash changed. In Zorrito, a slow beach town, I happened to see a bank on the PanAm, so we stopped on the side of the road to get sols. The exchange rate is 2.75sols to 1USD. After we had money we drove on to Mancora. We stopped at a gas station that had GLP (gas, liquid, propane) hoping to get our tank filled. The owner of the station was extremely helpful. The GLP nozzle at the pump did not match our propane tank. He called a guy and found out that the guy was out of town until tomorrow. He then took us to the guy's place of work to talk with the guy's boss to see if he had an adaptor that would work. The boss didn't but said to come back tomorrow at 8 to see if his employee had an adaptor. So the gas station owner took us back to the station. We were riding in a motorcycle taxi to do this running around.
When we got back to the gas station we asked about hotels with secure parking and high entrances. The gas station guy turned us over to a man who was working there and also had a motorcycle taxi. This man said he knew of a couple hotels that might meet our needs, so we got into his taxi and he drove us around for their inspection. The first hotel didn't have room and wouldn't just let us park there. The second hotel had a terrible entrance and there was no way Roger could drive the RV up the apron to get into the parking lot. The third hotel was down on the beach, had a room, but ended up saying we couldn't park the RV even it we got a room. Also there was a high probability that the RV would catch overhead electrical wires down the streets we would have had to drive to get to the hotel. So after playing Goldilocks we ended up back at the gas station and were given permission to park overnight. The station has a security guard that comes on shift at 7 pm. Roger introduced himself to the guard.
After all the running around, Roger and I took a taxi to Plaza de Armas to the Claro shop to get a Peru phone SIM card. The lady there could have sold me a SIM card, but couldn't initiate service. She told me that would have to be done in the big Claro center in Piura, so that's where we'll be going tomorrow. We stopped at an Internet cafe to get directions and try to log on to E-Mail; however gmail and hotmail have security questions that couldn't be addressed on an Internet cafe's terminal. We then went walking down to the beach side. There were several restaurants, so we stopped and had dinner. Roger ordered fried fish fillet which was OK. I ordered langoustine with criollo rice and it was very good. Roger dumped his white rice and enjoyed sharing my criollo rice. We also had ice cream, with 3 of the 4 flavors being excellent. We then walked back to the gas station, and did some housekeeping (an endless task wherever you call home.) We have a game plan for tomorrow, and hopefully third time is a charm with the GPL. Then we'll be off to Piura and points further south. We estimate a week or so to transit Peru, then on to Chile.
Left Santa Rosa Ecuador at 7-ish and drove to Bella Vista where the guys from yesterday told us the propane plant was. We were bounced around to 4 different guys and the conclusion was they couldn't fill a permanent tank, only exchange tanks. So we headed for the border.
At the border, we didn't see the left turn access to the bi-country border services, so we drove across the bridge to Peru. At the bi-country border services there, we were able to get our immigration done, but couldn't get permission to enter the RV because we lacked the departure stamp from Ecuador. You would think that the bi-country border services would be a one stop place, but we were told we would have to go back to Ecuador to get the departure stamp. So we drove the 2km back to the Ecuador buildings to wait in line for a stamp. It took less than 30 seconds to get the stamp and about 15 minutes waiting our turn.
We then went back to Peru and it took 3 people plus their supervisor to complete the computer work. The challenge was the manufacturer of our RV, Thor, was not in their database. This, coupled with the fact that the VIN is a Ford VIN for the chassis and motor, provided a lot of confusion. Then Roger presented his International Driver's license (without his TX one which is required on the back of the form in English) and this caused more confusion. Luckily the address matched the address Roger had hand written in his passport, plus the address section on the title matched the International Driver's license so it eventually was accepted.
It took a while to get through the border, solely from an administrivia perspective. The two South America border crossings so far have been better organized and more efficient (???) than Central America. The only disadvantage of the E/P border was there were no money changers, which meant we had to eventually find a place to change dollars to Nuevo (New) Sol's, the Peru currency.
The first Peruvian city you come to is Tumbes. It was crowded and had lots of traffic down the PanAm Hwy, plus no parking. So we drove on through without getting cash changed. In Zorrito, a slow beach town, I happened to see a bank on the PanAm, so we stopped on the side of the road to get sols. The exchange rate is 2.75sols to 1USD. After we had money we drove on to Mancora. We stopped at a gas station that had GLP (gas, liquid, propane) hoping to get our tank filled. The owner of the station was extremely helpful. The GLP nozzle at the pump did not match our propane tank. He called a guy and found out that the guy was out of town until tomorrow. He then took us to the guy's place of work to talk with the guy's boss to see if he had an adaptor that would work. The boss didn't but said to come back tomorrow at 8 to see if his employee had an adaptor. So the gas station owner took us back to the station. We were riding in a motorcycle taxi to do this running around.
When we got back to the gas station we asked about hotels with secure parking and high entrances. The gas station guy turned us over to a man who was working there and also had a motorcycle taxi. This man said he knew of a couple hotels that might meet our needs, so we got into his taxi and he drove us around for their inspection. The first hotel didn't have room and wouldn't just let us park there. The second hotel had a terrible entrance and there was no way Roger could drive the RV up the apron to get into the parking lot. The third hotel was down on the beach, had a room, but ended up saying we couldn't park the RV even it we got a room. Also there was a high probability that the RV would catch overhead electrical wires down the streets we would have had to drive to get to the hotel. So after playing Goldilocks we ended up back at the gas station and were given permission to park overnight. The station has a security guard that comes on shift at 7 pm. Roger introduced himself to the guard.
After all the running around, Roger and I took a taxi to Plaza de Armas to the Claro shop to get a Peru phone SIM card. The lady there could have sold me a SIM card, but couldn't initiate service. She told me that would have to be done in the big Claro center in Piura, so that's where we'll be going tomorrow. We stopped at an Internet cafe to get directions and try to log on to E-Mail; however gmail and hotmail have security questions that couldn't be addressed on an Internet cafe's terminal. We then went walking down to the beach side. There were several restaurants, so we stopped and had dinner. Roger ordered fried fish fillet which was OK. I ordered langoustine with criollo rice and it was very good. Roger dumped his white rice and enjoyed sharing my criollo rice. We also had ice cream, with 3 of the 4 flavors being excellent. We then walked back to the gas station, and did some housekeeping (an endless task wherever you call home.) We have a game plan for tomorrow, and hopefully third time is a charm with the GPL. Then we'll be off to Piura and points further south. We estimate a week or so to transit Peru, then on to Chile.
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