Tuesday, Aug. 05, 2003 - 5:47 a.m.
Freekin' Go Already!
Well, I'm in Peru and I'm fine. I met up with two English blokes that have been nice enough to let me tag along with them for today and maybe tomorrow. I don't know what happened to Tom, the bastard. I wasn't able to contact him at all yesterday, I e-mailed him like 4 times. The last one said, I'm leaving tomorrow with or without you, I'll be at the bus station at 8am. So, that's what I did, no sign of Tom. I bought a ticket to the border town of Huayquillas, but it wasn't leaving for almost 2 hours at 10am! I was surprised, but I went ahead and bought the ticket. About 20 min later I learned there was a bus at 9 with a different company. But the first bus company wouldn't give me a refund (typical in this country). I thought about swallowing the $6 and going with the earlier bus, but it's more than my hourly wage and $6 can go farther in, say, Bolivia. Needless to say I was pretty pissed off.
Soon I was inside one of the public bathroom stalls, feeling sorry for myself and having a good cry, thinking "I don't want to go on this stupid trip anymore!" But then I remembered that almost the same exact thing happened when I was on the plane to Osaka, Japan. I reminded myself that I'm starting a really exciting adventure (just not the most ideal start) and things will get better.
When I got on the bus I was sitting across from two gringo boys that turned out to be from England, Ross and James. They are traveling around the world for a year, 8 months into their travels. They've been to a number of other countries in S. America, but not Peru yet. Anyway, it was apparent that they too were crossing the border into Peru, so I was relieved to have someone else to go with. The 5 hour bus ride to the border was uneventful, other than a soft tire that had to be changed. Also, I didn't realize that it was going to be hot & humid, we are at a lower altitude here.
The border crossing is extreemly ascinine and non-efficient. First you stop at the Ecuadorian immigration office, outside of town. Then you catch a taxi to the town of Huayquillas, only about a 5 min ride away. The town of Huayquillas was like a huge, ugly, dirty market. Money changers immediately started pestering us from the open taxi windows. The taxi ($1.50) dropped us off at the bridge that makes the official border between Ecuador and Peru. We walked across the bridge and the taxi driver and his "friend" took us through the market, down a side street, money changers in tow, to where a car was waiting that he said would take us to Tumbes, the Peruvian town we needed to go to. I knew that it could be kind of sketchy changing money there at the border town, I had been warned of counterfeit money, "fixed" calculators and bad exchange rates. The taxi drivers "friend" told us all the banks in Peru were closed for 4 days due to Peru's independence (however, I was skeptical because I didn't read anything about it in my guidebook). He said we wouldn't be able to change any money in Tumbes. The moneychangers were saying all sorts of things and shoving their calculators in my face, plus I was a little wary of the car that was going to take us to Tumbes because it wasn't a regular taxi cab. But the driver showed us his credentials and because I wasn't alone, I agreed to the cab driver and to the moneychangers. Being stressed out and a little overwhelmed I was unfortunately short changed by the moneychangers by about 5 soles (almost 2 dollars). Then as the cab driver was taking us to Tumbes (About 40 km) I learned that the ride was $6 per person, not $6 total as I had assumed. It was then that I started to get nervous, since I had only exchanged $15 US dollars and had 40 soles. The cab ride alone was going to be 20. Then I realized that I was in a tight spot until I could get more money!
My friend and fellow teacher (and former housemate) Penny, is also currently in Peru. I got an e-mail from her yesterday saying she was in the coastal town of Mancara. I did consider going on to Mancara, about 2 hours from Tumbes, however, I needed to secure more Peruvian soles before I felt comfortable continuing on. I decided to stay in Tumbes with Ross and James until I could get more money.
The three of us went into Tumbes (pronounced "Toom-bays), a town that is a little bit better than the border towns, but not by much (there's nothing to do or see here, other than e-mail). We went to a hostel and checked into a room for three, so we got a cheaper rate than I would've gotten on my own. Then we went into town and found some banks. Right away the two guys were able to get money out of the cash machines, but I unfortunately had no luck. I tried three more banks before I decided to try cashing some travelers checks. After waiting in line for 10 minutes I learned that the bank wanted to charge me $12 in commission! (at first I thought they said 12 soles). Finally I went to a "casas de cambio" (house of change) and exchanged $20 cash for almost 70 soles, which was a good exchange rate. Unfortunately, they would only change cash and not travelers checks. I have a feeling that because I changed my bank account at US Bank that my current ATM card is invalid. My worst fear is that I'm going to need a new ATM card and then we'll have to figure out how in the hell to get it sent to me down here. I'm going to e-mail the bank next and have a go at them.
Anyways, now I'm at an internet cafe. I'm going to e-mail Penny and find out where she is so that I can meet up with her. I'm either going to go to Chiclayo (8 hrs south) with Ross and James or continue on to Trujillo (12 hrs south) on my own, which is where Tom and I were originally headed.
Anyways, besides being a little frazzled and stressed out, I'm fine. I'm really lucky that I met up with these two English guys and I'm keeping my wits about me.
