February 9th-10th 2015

I wake up just after 5 am at Izhcayluma hostel on Monday morning ready to start a long day. It’s my 89^th day in Ecuador and, somewhat tragically my last. But I’m excited to test my method of leaving a country I love again, and excited for where I’m headed. Cuispes, Peru. For the benefit of those looking to make this border crossing we’ll divide it into a series of easy steps.

Step 1 Day 1 From Vilcabamba to Zumba by Bus- Not for the faint of heart.

Cost: 6.50 USD

Time: 4.5 hours

I head down to the road outside Izhcayluma around 5:45, hoping not to miss the first bus heading to Zumba, which is said to leave the town center at 6. (There’s another at 7 and some more later in the day) I try to find some shelter from the rain not wanting to start my journey soaked and it luckily has faded away before long. Being n Ecuador a truck stops and offers me a ride about halfway to Zumba but I decide it will be simpler to stick to the plan and thank him for the offer before climbing onto the bus which passes at 6:20 and stops for my extended arm. It’s full of sleeping Ecuadorians but I find one of the last seats available and settle in.

I’ve read that the paved road ends just 45 minutes into a 5 hour journey, this is no longer true and the road maintains some sort of payment about 98 percent of the time until we pull into Palanda at 8:45 am. From there it becomes a bit of a rough ride, a narrow dirt road winding up through the majesty of the Andes mountains, and a bus bouncing roughly along it. I take a look out the window and see empty space below, our wheels maybe a foot from the edge of the rough hewn dirt road and the empty space below. I’m not bad at buses, but the last few hours of this ride are more than a little scary, knowing one little mistake from the driver, or one small malfunction in the bus, will send us plummeting into the abyss. Granted it’s a pretty incredible looking abyss, and the scenery is perhaps the most impressive I’ve ever seen.

No mistake or malfunction occurs and we pull into Zumba’s stunningly modern bus Terminal at 10:55 A.M.

 

Step 2 Day 1: Chiva or Taxi to La Balsa border crossing.

Cost: 20 Dollar Taxi split three ways or 2 dollars Chiva

Time: 70 minutes

I just missed the Chiva to the border which I’m told left just a few minutes before my arrival. There’s another at 2:30 Pm. For those who don’t know a chiva is an open air truck that’s been converted to a bus with rows of wooden benches built into the truck bed. This one costs somewhere between 1 and 3 dollars for the slightly over hour long ride along a dirt road to the border. That said I manage to meet the two other non locals on the bus, two nice young guys from Argentina who are planning to head all the way to Chachapoyas in a single day. That’s an ambitious if not impossible journey.

After a little discussion we decide to split a taxi to the border. At 20 dollars total it’s a little indulgence but saving 3.5 hours seems worth it. The new looking pickups waiting outside the bus station welcome us warmly and we head off towards the border though a winding dirt road, if a slightly less terrifying one then before. Still there’s signs of landslides everywhere, and when our Driver tells us this is an alternate route because of a bridge being knocked at a few weeks ago I get nervous. Then he points to the bridge off in the distance scary stuff.

We learn that they cultivate just about everything, from coffee to corn, cane sugar to rice, in this region and before long we’re at a roaring river which marks the border with Peru.

 

Step 3 Day 1: Cross the border

Cost: 0 Dollars

Time: 1.5 hours

We are dropped off outside a small house that serves as the Ecuadorian immigration office. A friendly man in a police vest notices us from a distance and saunters towards the empty building, a smile on his face. One by one he takes our passports, fills out a spreadsheet on an ancient looking computer and then stamps us out of the country. Nice and easy.

We shoulder our bags and walk across the bridge snapping a few photos of us above International waters. Kind of? Sort of? I don’t know. Once on the Peruvian side we look for the office and find it at the second house on the left. But alas, there’s not a sign of life inside.

We deposit our bigger bags and then head across the street to ask around. We’re told the guard has gone to town and will be back, though they don’t know when. I take the opportunity to change sixty dollars at a rate of one USD to 2.90 Soles. Not a perfect rate but not a rip off by any means. One thing I didn’t know, was that border crossing area is Damn hot, easily 30 degrees and so I’m very glad to use my newly obtained Soles to purchase my first drink in Peru, the fittingly named Inca Cola.

One of the other men from across the street stops by to tell us he’s called the immigration officer and after maybe 45 minutes spent waiting he does show up in the back of a tuk tuk, an apologetic smile on his face since he had to pay a bill in town.

He’s very friendly and as he’s filling out some information for us on paper and handing us our immigration forms he explains that it’s incredibly rare for anyone to cross after the chivas. We ask if they get many tourists and he shrugs saying that 3 or 4 a day is a busy to him.

We follow his instructions with our passports and Andean ‘immigration cards to another house just further away from the bridge and down towards what looks like a small school with a soccer field out front. A police officer hurries over from across the street and registers us on his list one by one. He explains that the entire border is out of power today, before sending us back to the original office to get our passports stamped. As a Canadian I can get up to 183 days in Peru in any given year. This time around I explain my situation of leaving and coming back so he gives me 90, more than I need but that still leaves 93 more days when I re-enter.

Step 4: Day 1 : Collectivo to San Ignacio

Cost: 17 Soles (5.55 USD)

Time: 1.5 hours

Once we’re all cleared to enter Peru we cross the street and climb into a minivan bound for San Ignacio. I’ve read stories of these things being crammed full of people but we’re lucky as we only pick up one other person on the way To San Ignacio. The road is paved again, though there is still constant signs of landslides all around and the road is so curved the speed limit is only 35 Kph. The windshield of our car is cracked in lots of places but our slightly over hour long ride passes smoothly. The driver leaves us in the northern collective terminal (a dirt parking lot), we pay him the 17 Soles per person and then climb into two waiting Tuk Tuk’s which coast 3 Soles to bring us to the Eastern Collectivo terminal and out next step.

Step 5 Day 1: Minibus or Collectivo to Jaen

Cost: 12 Soles (4 USD)

Duration: 2.5 hours

We’re lucky in that when our twin tuk tuk’s pull into the eastern collective terminal (another dirt parking lot) There’s a minibus just waiting to leave with 3 seats left for 12 soles each. You’d think being big on these journeys would make them less comfortable, but I’ve found that more often then not, people respect my size and as such I get better seats. Be it emergency exit rows on planes, or the front seat of this mini bus. The 2.5 hours passed easily enough and the roads and speed limits certainly improved as we descended into a more tropical climate in a valet between the mountains. Rice patties started appearing all around us and I felt suddenly like I was back in Asia. Pulling into Jaen around 5 pm and being greeted by a sea of Tuk Tuk’s (called mototaxi’s here) Did nothing to change that impression.

 

Step 6 Day 1: Spend the Night in Jaen

Cost: 44 Soles (14 USD)

Time: 1 Night

The Argentineans left me here, continuing along their road to Chachapoyas, I would have been tempted to go with them if I’d been bound for Chachapoyas, instead I’m going to Cuispes and don’t think arriving late at night is a feasible Idea so I say goodbye to them and check into the Villa de Sol hotel just across from that collective station. They have clean and modern private rooms with bathroom, fans tv’s and surprisingly decent wifi. Room Prices are as follows (20 soles, 25 soles, 35, soles, and 50 soles) They’re sold out of the cheapest rooms so I take a comfortable room at 25 Soles (about 10 Canadian Dollars 8.50 American.)

I relax for a few minutes before heading into the center of town by collective (1.5 soles) where I find the surprisingly busy central square of Jaen. The town is bustling, but there’s not a tourist in sight and I attract stares like a white man in rural India. The square is interesting and complete with a one of a kind Cathedral. Here I find an ATM to get out some more Peruvian money then it’s dinner time. I find myself a decent fast food place and order a double cheeseburger and fries from the beautiful and very friendly waitress who is shocked to find I speak Spanish.

The meal get’s strange when I’m brought an empty and uncut bun along with a plate of fries, I make myself ask if this is indeed the double cheeseburger. She smiles and nods but when I point out it’s just bread she blushes furiously and hurries to get me the burger. I have no idea what happened or how it wasn’t noticed but what I end up getting is quite tasty. I pay my bill of 15 soles and after a little more wandering and talking to a few friendly Peruvian people I head back to my hotel and pass out.

 

Step 7 Day 2: Minibus to Bagua Grande

Cost: 8 soles including tuk-tuk (2.60 USD)

Time: 1 hour

This was my first wait time of any significance. I woke up around 8:30 packed my bag and by 9 was on my way in a tuk tuk (3 soles) to the small station where min buses bound for Bagua Grande load up on passengers. I arrive just as one is pulling out and so have to wait about 20 minutes for the next one, again I’m gifted the seat with the most leg room and by 9:30 we’re on our way to Bagua Grande, where the climate only grows more tropical.

Step 8 Day 2: Collectivo to Pedro Ruiz

Cost: 13.5 Soles (4.50 USD)

Time: 2 hours (including 30 minute landslide delay.)

In Bagua Grande I hop off my minibus and onto a waiting tuk tuk (1.50) which leaves me at a little office where a friendly old man pays my tuk tuk driver my fare until I can find change. Here is my most significant wait, about an hour passes waiting in this little make shift office with discovery channel playing and a pornographic calendar proudly displayed on the wall.

I end up getting to know a few of the guys running the company as we wait for passengers bound for Pedro Ruiz. (This will be the same process for anyone going to Chachapoyas as they also run the collectivo’s there which take about 3 hours and cost somewhere around 25 soles) Finally enough passenger show up and we pile into the car, (I’m again given the front seat)

The roads seem good enough though the threat of landslides is back, and as we descend back into another valley alongside a river clearly running higher than usual the clear evidence of landslides returns. About an hour into the drive though we pull up and stop. The driver gets out of the car so I follow suit, stretching my legs and wondering what’s going on. Some distance up ahead there’s a construction crew and I’m told their still working on completely clearing a massive landslide that killed three people a few days ago. Sad… and quite scary too. Still nothing to stand in the way of commerce as a bunch of families from a nearby village have set up at this regular roadblock selling ice cream, drinks, full meals, and even homemade jello. I get one for 0.5 soles and am surprised to tasted a baconish flavor to the red goo as I suck it out of a little plastic bag. It’s tasty enough but not what I expected.

 

 

After about half an hour our line of traffic starts moving and we pass by the sad scene of the landslide followed by a few beautiful waterfalls before pulling into Pedro Ruiz just under 2 hours after we left Bagua Grande. If your going to Chachapoyas your collective will likely continue straight through this little town famous for it’s carpenters (look at the doors) or, alternatively you can find more collectivos bound that way here in town.

 

Step 9: Mototaxi (tuk-tuk) To Cuispes

Cost: 12 soles  (4 USD)(You could probably bargain down I was too tired)

Time: 35 minutes

Climbing out of my collectivo the friendly driver changes 100 soles into smaller notes for me then finds me a tuk-tuk and almost instantaneously I’m on my way to Cuispes. Along the main road the driver stops to let me buy a drink and get correct change. Then we head out along the main road through Pedro Ruiz taking a dirt road turn off to the right and slowly climbing up a mountain on long switchbacks. The motorcycle engine roars and struggle to make the climb but after 30 minutes of truly stunning views I’m in the main square of cuispes a charming and tiny little town with no tv or internet, just surrounded by countless waterfalls and friendly people. My host is waiting outside Posada de Cuispes on the main square to welcome me and show me to a very nice room. Tomorrow is waterfall time!

 

Reflections:

I really enjoyed this voyage through the Andes and while it was a little rough around the edges, it was nowhere near as difficult and uncomfortable as the internet led me to believe. I saw some amazing scenery, drove some incredible and terrifying roads, and met some truly lovely people along the way, eager to talk about their country and happy to meet someone from so far away. Overall this is a great and definitely secure option to cross from Ecuador into Peru. Plus Cuispes is awesome and I’ve got high hopes for Chachapoyas where I’m heading tomorrow too. (It’s everything I hoped for)  So if you find yourself in Vilcabamba bound for Peru, please consider this off the beaten path adventure. It’s lots of fun and really not all that hard.