Official Ecuadorian Aduana-cycle
My riding buddy Mike
Always, always, always, you need to "check out of the previous country before entering the next. We hadn't seen any obvious official looking buildings so we were a bit perplexed. They said Ecuador's immigration office was back about 3 kilometers which is about two miles. True to form when we backtracked the two miles we were in no mans' land and had to keep going. We stopped and got gas and asked directions to "migracion". They pointed the way we were going and said "three kilometers". We went at least another five miles but found the building 'hiding' behind some fencing. We got checked out and headed back to Peru where it took a bit over an hour to get ourselves and the bikes checked in. With a large Peruvian sticker plastered on the front of our bikes we headed into Peru and were congratulating ourselves on yet another successful border crossing. The day was about to turn a bit darker for us though.
Fancy digs of Peru's border crossing immigration and aduana
Peru's plush Officia de Migration
The first town in Peru is called Tumbe and we easily found the town square. It was like many other medium sized town squares with nicely trimmed trees and benches where people lounged a bit and enjoyed the nice weather. Mike and I celebrated the morning by having an early lunch at a nice sidewalk cafe which looked across the street at the park. After finishing we got back on the bikes and headed out of town looking for a quart of oil to top Mike's bike off with. We pulled into the second gas station out of town and Mike parked by the building while I parked in the shade under the overhang of the gas pumps. Mike walked towards me and the small display of various gas additives, transmission oil, and motor oil. I watched as he purchased a liter of oil and walked back to his bike where he exclaimed "Where's my tank bag?!" We had suffered our first robbery of the trip.
Lunch at the town square(tank bag intact)
Apparently someone took the opportunity to snatch the bag from off his tank during the 1-2 minutes we were distracted by the oil purchase. With his tank bag Mike lost his camera, our SPOT GPS, his ipods, his backup glasses. and worst of all his paperwork which included his passport and moto temporary import papers. It was hard to not panic but what could be done?
We headed back into town to find a policeman and report the theft. As there was a protest march going on, very civilized, so the police were much more concerned with their assigned duties than us. Understandable. They did give us directions to the police station though and we explained as best we could what happened. I've neglected to include an important person we met while still at the town square. Many times during this trip we have been approached by people wanting to practice their English and upon returning to the square a guy, maybe twenty years old, came up to us and asked if we were looking for a restaurant. We explained our dilemma and he was sad and helped us explain first to the police at the square and then at the police station. The police had we three, Mike, myself, and our new friend Cesar, get into a police truck and we went to the gas station where the robbery occurred. They questioned the proprietor and had us re-enact what happened. Then they took us to another police station probably because it was just outside of town proper and their jurisdiction.
We were introduced to many policemen there and taken upstairs where we spent awhile answering questions while the cop filled out a report. He then gave Mike a copy of a document with which he says Mike can travel to Lima and the U.S. embassy to get replacement documents.
All this took about four hours even with Cesar's help. He did not want any money but asked if Mike had something he could remember us by. Mike said he did not have anything to spare but gave him a chunk of money for helping us out. Without him it would have been much more difficult.
Our translator Cesar
When we got back to the first police station where our bikes were parked the KLR would not start. We pushed started it and I asked Cesar if he knew of a battery store. With him riding on the back of Mike's bike we found an auto parts store which had some batteries for motos. As my manual did not tell the size or number I had to pull the seat off, or so I thought, to get the size/number. Upon accessing the battery I tried tightening the screws to the posts and found them both very loose. Even though I thought this to be the problem I thought I would buy a new battery for preventative reasons. The batteries they had were not close enough in size so since the bike did start we decided to put the bike back together and head out.
We said our thank yous and goodbyes to Cesar, who's dream is to come to the States some day, and down the road. We stopped at a roadside eatery on the beach consisting of a concrete floor, thatch roof and no walls. I saw a plate of food that looked good and asked the name of it. We ordered it and had great fresh fish with rice and salad.
It was about 5:30 p.m. so we decided that the next place with lodging we would take it. Fortunately we came upon Mancora which caters to surfers and backpackers. There appeared to many options for the night and we picked one that is on the beach and has wifi. We dumped our stuff in the room and immediately started going about the business of discovering exactly how far we had to go to get to Lima where Mike could get a replacement passport. Upon finding that it; is 720 miles, takes one day to get a replacement , takes $100 U.S., and that they are only open Monday-Friday 8-12 a.m. and it being Wednesday night, we opted to stay two nights here in Mancora and head for Lima Friday morning. This would give us three days to reach Lima Sunday afternoon, find a place, find the embassy, get photos for the new passport, and be ready to hit the embassy first thing Monday at 8 a.m.
Patiently waiting in Mancora
Beach Buddy
Motos? We don't need no stinking motos!
These are for you Scott! glad you are going home tomorrow at 7 a.m.!
We both then overdosed on having wifi and took hours answering emails, skyping, and updating our blogs before heading to bed. Hope you are staying warm and thank you for reading-John
1 comment:
Oh my God, you lost the spot gps!!!
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