When I said we would do nothing I obviously had not counted on Kate. So the following day we went on an expedition to one of the ancient ruins equipped with an England born guide. To our great satisfaction we got all our money worth out of the guide, not only because it was a very interesting site, but the kids basically did not stop for 3 or 4 hours asking questions that he had to answer: What is this animal above the bird on this drawing? Why did the tomb robbers make such a big hole in the wall? What is under this heap? and this one? all questions that normally Mummy and Daddy would have been tortured with.
Arriving at the airport in Panama left me with a rather strange feeling. I had not been to an airport for almost 9 months, when before our trip I probably went through 4 or 5 airports per week. Often when traveling for business I looked with envie at the holiday travelers who waited with their families to board a plane to some exotic holiday destination while I just had to go to Birmingham or Frankfurt. Now I found myself on the other side and saw all the busy running around by the ‘important’ business people. They were running from one side to the other of the terminal and did not seem to have any time for the beauty of the landscape outside or the shops with the local handicrafts. Somehow I was nevertheless jealous and wondered to what important destinations or meetings they were on the way to. Strange, isn’t it?
In the end we boraded our plane and had a nightflight (!!, it was the cheapest) to Ecuador. Arriving in Guayaquil we went to our hotel... which was a dump! Not that we needed absolute luxury, but sleeping 5 in one little room with no window, a very noisy air-condition and a strange smell in the room was just not much fun. And since we had to wait for a few days, we decided the next morning to upgrade our hotel (to one with a swimming pool) and we spent the days waiting with shopping, going to agents that should help with the disembarkment of the camper and some walks through hot and steamy Guayaquil.
I will spare you the bureaucracy of getting the camper out of the port. After several trips to the port and about two days waiting there and filling in forms I finally managed to drive towards our hotel one evening with our (only minorly damaged - rough treatment by the sailors) camper. The following day we packed up and drove directly to Peru within a day.
In the end we boraded our plane and had a nightflight (!!, it was the cheapest) to Ecuador. Arriving in Guayaquil we went to our hotel... which was a dump! Not that we needed absolute luxury, but sleeping 5 in one little room with no window, a very noisy air-condition and a strange smell in the room was just not much fun. And since we had to wait for a few days, we decided the next morning to upgrade our hotel (to one with a swimming pool) and we spent the days waiting with shopping, going to agents that should help with the disembarkment of the camper and some walks through hot and steamy Guayaquil.
I will spare you the bureaucracy of getting the camper out of the port. After several trips to the port and about two days waiting there and filling in forms I finally managed to drive towards our hotel one evening with our (only minorly damaged - rough treatment by the sailors) camper. The following day we packed up and drove directly to Peru within a day.
We managed to make it across the most chaotic border we had encountered so far. First, I thought we would not make it across because one of the two emmigration posts from Ecuador was closed. But a friendly money exchange man helped me to convince the remaining officials that they had just to give me a stamp and everything would be done. Out of gratefulness I changed 50 US$ to get Peruvian Soles - just to find out at the first opportunity to spend some money that the friendly helper had given me counterfeit money. It probably still was worth having
avoided the hazzle of having to come back the following day to cross the border.
In Peru, we stopped in the first bigger town and spent our night in a car park for buses. However, Kate had found out that when having supper (in the best hotel in town) we were allowed to use the pool as well. So we went there, had a splash, had dinner and went off to bed.
The following day we drove on to Mancora through a landscape that slowly started to move from tropical to desert like. We found a hotel that would let us camp in there yard and give us full access to showers, swimming pool and their beach part. It was very nice, but the mosquito night made us move on very quickly the following morning.
The landscape as we drove along the coast further South turned into complete desert. It was beautiful, but we were not very lucky with our next campsite either. Since we left it too late to look for something, we had to camp at the edge of a village close to where everybody left their rubbish. The second disappointment followed the next morning. We found out that the new museum of Lambayeque that hosts the recently discovered beautiful contents of the tumb of an ancient king of the Mocchi was shut on Mondays! We felt like being back in France.
In Peru, we stopped in the first bigger town and spent our night in a car park for buses. However, Kate had found out that when having supper (in the best hotel in town) we were allowed to use the pool as well. So we went there, had a splash, had dinner and went off to bed.
The following day we drove on to Mancora through a landscape that slowly started to move from tropical to desert like. We found a hotel that would let us camp in there yard and give us full access to showers, swimming pool and their beach part. It was very nice, but the mosquito night made us move on very quickly the following morning.
The landscape as we drove along the coast further South turned into complete desert. It was beautiful, but we were not very lucky with our next campsite either. Since we left it too late to look for something, we had to camp at the edge of a village close to where everybody left their rubbish. The second disappointment followed the next morning. We found out that the new museum of Lambayeque that hosts the recently discovered beautiful contents of the tumb of an ancient king of the Mocchi was shut on Mondays! We felt like being back in France.
Hence, we drove on towards Trujillo which is an important city in Peru featuring several big sites with ruins dating back from a period prior to the Inka civilisation. With some luck we found a small hotel with a nice lawn that was open to camping right at the beach in a suburb of Trujillo. This was the first time since Ecuador that we felt we could spend some time doing nothing and relax.
Here we discovered the full effects of the Humbolt stream that comes up the Western coast of South America. First of all, it is responsible for daily thick fog banks above the sea and some way inland (despite the desert). This leads to a rather cool climate of between 20°C at night and 25°C at daytime. Furthermore, the sea water can easily compete with the European Atlantic coast featuring water temperatures of around 15-18°C. The advantage of all this seems to be a tremendous richness of fish in the sea.
Here we discovered the full effects of the Humbolt stream that comes up the Western coast of South America. First of all, it is responsible for daily thick fog banks above the sea and some way inland (despite the desert). This leads to a rather cool climate of between 20°C at night and 25°C at daytime. Furthermore, the sea water can easily compete with the European Atlantic coast featuring water temperatures of around 15-18°C. The advantage of all this seems to be a tremendous richness of fish in the sea.
