Searching for a spot

2 Aug

We continue to enjoy being "Norm-free" and feel sorry for Sandra.

We drove from just north of Ipiales, Colombia all the way to Quito, Peru.  But I'm ahead of myself.

Roger and I accomplished our first border crossing "all by ourselves."  First we had to get our passports stamped leaving Colombia, and turn in our customs paperwork from Cartagena on the RV.  We kept a copy just in case.

Then we drove across the bridge to Ecuador, where we had to get our passports stamped entering the country.  After that we had to wait for the color copy place to open, so we could get color copies of our title, Roger's (driver) passport picture page, and Ecuador entry page, and his International driver's license.  It's a good thing we had our International driver's license, because Roger lost his driver's license in Cartagena at the shipping company.  Fortunately somebody found it and turned it in, so the shipping company sent it to Bogota to Jaime to keep until we get there.

Once we had the required color copies (annoying because we had black and white copies of all the paperwork, but Norm never told us that color was required.  He's still getting us in absentia.  The Customs lady from Ecuador came out to the RV to verify the VIN, license plate, and to take pictures.  The only cost was for the color copies, so after that we were on our way.

The government of Ecuador subsidizes the price of transportation fuel, so the price of gas is $1.48 USD and diesel is $1.02!  The monetary unit of Ecuador is the US dollar, so it's easy math.  Although change is interesting, because it can be either in US coins or Ecuadorian coins.

We drove through some very beautiful country in Ecuador, despite the hairpin turns, and curves.  Every acre of useable land is either farmed, or grazed, or lived on.  The drive from the border to Quito was scenic despite the complete cloud coverage.  Somewhere around Guayllabamba we crossed the equator.  We were expecting at the very least a sign, but didn't see anything.  The only reason I know why we crossed was that I was watching the map for it.

We fumbled around for some time in Quito trying to find a safe, level place to spend the night.  Too bad RV camping isn't in existence yet, there is some tent camping but we're vertically challenged (too tall) to make it into a lot of places.  We ended up spending the night in an airport parking lot, that turned out to be really nice because the cost was $5 and we were able to fill up with fresh water on our way out.  It's the simple things...

Random thoughts:
-  We're operating under a "trust but verify" mode.  The only map we have is a map of north South America.  GPS is loaded with South America as well.  However there are times where the two don't necessary match with route numbers, so we've asked several times now very helpful people if we were going the right way.  Today's kudo goes to the toothless man, who was extremely useful confirming our suspicions.  I think it made his day to help us out as well.  So far, everybody we've asked has been more than helpful.
-  Pollution must be an issue when toll takers are wearing respirators.
-  Roger is developing "right lane fear".  Buses routinely stop on the right side with or without a lane.  Cars sometimes pass on the right side for no apparent reason.  Cars can be parked on the right side of the road for no apparent reason.
-  Trucks and buses routinely have "religious protection" on their vehicles or ask for religious guidance while they are driving.
-  Colombia has more motorcycle riders than Ecuador in the countryside.  Ecuador has more car drivers, usually packed with stuff and people like Colombia does.
-  Why can't the USA use the $1 coin, like Ecuador does?  It's the same legal currency.
-  We have yet to see the police or military presence in Ecuador than we did in Colombia.