I left from Chachapoyas, Peru – the capital of the Amazonas province in northern Peru. Actually, Chachapoyas proved to be one of my most favorite places in Peru. Almost no-one goes to Chacha, probably because it is so far from all the gringo highlights in southern Peru…but Chacha mystifies the inquisitive traveler with literally hundreds of jaw-dropping things to do and see. I also happened to show up in town on the eve of the biggest festival that the town hosts…always a good omen.
After a few days in Chacha, with a visit to Kuelap – an archaeological ruin only slightly less amazing than Machu Picchu (but with no tourists…we had the entire place to ourselves), and a hike to the Gotca waterfall – the third highest in the world, I decided to trade in Peru for Ecuador.
Dawn at Kuelap (on top of hill to right)
Instead of taking the most traveled crossing, on the coast, or the second crossing with a good road and high traffic, I choose a much more remote border crossing with shitty roads and next to no traffic. In fact, it turned out to be a bit of an epic adventure just to get from Chachapoyas, Peru to Vilcabamba, Ecuador. Here’s a synopsis:
Number of days: 2
Hours inside a vehicle: 17
Kilometers traveled: 312
Vehicles: 4 collectivos (shared car taxis: think as many people jammed in the car as possible), 3 moto-taxis, 1 open-bed truck, 1 bus, 1 pedestrian bridge
Armed checkpoints: 3 official, 1 unofficial
Dead animals: one dead chicken….reckless driving is a killer
Coconuts shared with border official: 2
Near death experiences: uncountable
Explanation: lots of different vehicles taken over multiple days…needless to say it was uncomfortable. I also encountered, aside from the normal police/army checkpoints, two blokes stopping cars at a makeshift speed bump in the middle of nowhere in Peru. One had a shotgun and the other a rifle with a scope (I suppose in case anyone decided to run)…they definitely did not belong to the government, but they were asking for donations of monetary value. It’s remarkably easy to give money to guys with guns. Also, in one of the vehicles we managed to tenderize a chicken for someone’s dinner…not surprising considering the speed the driver took the very narrow dirt road with very steep cliffs sprouting up around each corner accompanied by a semi operated by a suicidal driver coming from the opposite direction. To top it off, after walking across the bridge to Ecuador (and having to knock house to house to find the immigration officer – on both sides of the border) I helped the immigration officer crack open some coconuts so we could reap the benefits of the juice. It was a pretty laid back border.
All in all, in anyone finds themselves traveling and encountering tedium at the easiness of transportation, or boredom for that matter, than I suggest trying the border crossing less traveled. It will put a skip back in your step…or, at the hands of your eighteen year old chauffer, you’ll drive fifty km/h too fast through a dangerous curve in the pothole ridden gravel road and end up in a tumbling ball of metal and flesh bouncing three hundred meters to you death, ending your journey in the pristine river flowing through the bottom of the valley – either way you’ll be at peace at the end of the journey.
Now, (finally) in Vilcabamba (a town that boasts extreme longevity in its population) I have encountered a tough decision…go and work for some days on a farm owned by really fascinating people who are ‘planting a seed crystal for a new civilization’ or find somewhere to watch the world cup with hundreds of fanatical Ecuadorians. Damn, I’m no good at these choices.
No comments:
Post a Comment