South America Travel Log

Our year long journey to Costa Rica, Equador, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina...

Border Crossing from Ecuador into Tumbes

Filed under: Peru, Ecuador, Main — khutala at 10:55 pm on Saturday, March 17, 2007

We had to get an intercultural visa so we could stay in Ecuador for longer. So, we had to cross the border from Ecuador to Tumbes, Peru and then back into Ecuador again.

Cuenca to Machala

There are 2 bus companies that leave every hour or every other hour.
The “Rutas Orenses” company has some of the nicest buses I’ve been on in Ecuador with air conditioning and foot rests.
$5 for 4 hours.

In Machala we caught the CIFA bus direct to Tumbes. They start at 7am and leave about every 2 hours. There are 2 different classes of buses. The special service is a double decker with air and foot rests. The others are more normal Ecuadorian style buses.

This is the order of what happens when crossing the border

Machala – >Ecuadorian border post (1 + hour)
Ecuadorian border post -> Huaquillas (15 min)
Huaquillas - > Peruvian Border post (15 min)
Peruvian Border post - > Tumbes (15 min)

So, as you can see this is not a typical border situation where the 2 borders are across a bridge from each other. There is quite a distance between them. This is probably part of why it is so easy to be taken advantage of while crossing this border. If you don’t have the proper transportation it is really easy for someone to try to “help out”

The BEST advice I can give is to take the CIFA bus across the border. It is really cheap. $2.50 and much more secure than trying to do it on your own.

Either the helper on the bus or someone at the border will wait with the people who are getting their passports stamped. That way someone is around kind of watching out for you.

We had a problem leaving Ecuador. The border patrol officer claimed that our extension stamps weren’t valid. We had to wait for his supervisor and make copies of our passports for them. The bus helper showed us where the copy machine was. The others got on the bus and left us at the border. He waited with us and once we were sorted out helped us get on the next CIFA bus that passed by.

On our way back from Peru the next bus that was available wasn’t going all the way into Machala. There is a giant round about 15 minutes outside of town. Buses both local and long distance pass by there constantly. They told us we had to get off there in order to get a bus to Cuecna. We were lucky to get on one almost immediately after we were dropped off, but a person could potentially wait for about 30 minutes for the next bus to come along depending on where they were going.

One other piece of advice would be to try and go before 11am. On our way into Peru there weren’t very many people hanging around trying to get you to change money, take a ride, help you out etc. On our way back at 3pm the place was hoping with them.

We stayed 1 night in Machala.

Hotel Mosquera Internacional
7/2931752
Price - $20 for a double (actually triple. All rooms have 3 beds) with a private bath.
Cleanliness – It is okay.
Comfort – The bed was okay. The pillows were hard and lumpy. Thank goodness it had air conditioning. It would have been torture without it.
Character – None to speak of.
Amenities – Unfortunately, no breakfast. We had to get up early and nothing was open to eat at before we left at 7am. No hot water either. Air conditioning. TV with limited cable. A fridge with drinks in the lobby. You can walk to the CIFA station from there.
Recommended? It was fine for a 1 night stop over, but without hot water, I wouldn’t want to stay there any longer than that.

Arequipa and Colca Canyon

Filed under: Peru, Main — khutala at 11:40 pm on Saturday, September 30, 2006

Overnight bus from Cuzco to Arequipa  on Julsa for $12.  The trip took 9 hours.

We arrived at 5:30am.  We made a reservation with the hostal Tambo Viejo.  They said they would be at the bus station to pick us up.  We waited for 20-30 minutes before we decided they weren’t coming.  Then we took a taxi to the hostel.  It took a while for the lady to answer the door and it looked like we surprised her by our arrival instead of her being sorry for forgetting us. 

Tambo Viejo
 www.tamboviejo.comPrice -  $16 with bath and cable. 
Cleanliness – The rooms were very clean.  The common living area seemed a little cluttered. Comfort – The rooms in the back were very comfortable.  I should know.  I was sick, so I had to lay in bed for 24 hours straight.  They are doing construction in the front, so those rooms were very loud. It is on a very busy main street, so it doesn’t seem that secure when you first walk up, but we didn’t have any problems.  

Character – The courtyard/gardens were a nice place to have breakfast.  They had a really cute friendly dog and a parrot that says “hola” and barks. 

Amenities – supposed pick up from the bus station, cable TV in the rooms, an old computer with Internet downstairs and an internet cafe right next door. Supposedly they will help arrange tours and travel stuff, but no one was ever at the desk to do that.  We ended up using a tour company in town.  Breakfast and snacks are available to buy.  If you arrive before check in time and they have an open room, they will let you use it until your room is available. 

Recommended? - This is a tough one.  The room was very nice.  It was a good place to be sick and I loved the dog, but there were a couple of down sides that might make me look for somewhere different.  The people who ran the place seemed very scatterbrained and disorganized.  Like I said, they forgot to pick us up.  They rarely manned the front desk and they tried to charge us twice for the first set of nights we stayed there because they didn’t keep good records.    Also, it was just on the too far to walk side of things from the main plaza.  Arequipa has an amazing plaza and down town area.  It would have been nicer to be within walking distance.  
  Since I was sick, we didn’t do much.  It took a lot of energy just to walk around.  The Plaza is beautiful, so it is nice just to eat or have drinks in one of the balcony restaurants.  We also visited Santa Catalina.  It was very interesting, but without a guide, we just made up what a lot of the things were for or what the significance was.  We were there for an hour and a half and still hadn’t seen everything.  It did start to get repetitive, so we left without seeing all there was. 

Colca Canyon Tour
We went into a couple travel agencies to ask about tours and eventually picked one where the lady spoke clear Spanish and explained everything well.  It turns out they are actually recommended in Lonely Planet Peru, but I lost the brochure with their name.  I know they are on Santa Catalina Rd.  a block up from the Plaza de Armas on the left hand side.  Here are what the tours entail.2 day tour
We payed $23 each including guide, transportation, and hotel with toast for breakfast.  Entrance to park($12) , hotsprings($3) and meals were extra.  There were other price categories from $33-73.  The only difference was the hotel. 

•      Get picked up from hotel around 8:30am.  Depending on where you are on the list, this could take up to 30-40 minutes.

•      Drive to a little store to use the bathroom and buy coca candies etc.

•      Stop at a few vista points including to see the vicunas (llama relatives)

•      Stop for a bathroom break where they have a little craft market and cafe.  This was actually my favorite part because I got invited to play catch by 4 year old girl who was supposed to be posing for pictures for the tourists with her little llama, but she was not interested in that nonsense.  She just wanted to play.  We had a great time for about 15 minutes. 

•      Stop at the highest point on the mountain.  Over 4000 meters

•      Arrive at Chivay and eat lunch at an arranged location where they had a buffet ($5) or menu.

•      Drop everyone off at their respective hotels and have 2 hours for resting or walking around Chivay.

(Our hostel was the cheapest option and cheap it was.  The bed speads had stains all over them.  The window had a 2 inch gap in it making an already cold place that much colder.  The door rattled with the wind and the pillows were hard as rock.  It did have its own bathroom, but no seat on the toilet.  I didn’t take a shower.  It was too cold, so I can’t comment on the hot water it was supposed to have.)
•      Pick everyone back up to go to the hot springs. 

•      Return everyone to the hotel to get ready for dinner.

•      At 7:30 go to dinner at a mediocre restaurant with a great folkloric presentation of music and dancing.

•      Wake up at 5am to leave at 5:30 to make it to the canyon by 8:30.

•      Stop to see a church in a little town along the way

•      It is very cold at the canyon.  Wear very warm clothes.  You basically sit on rocks for 1-2 hours waiting and watching for the birds.  It is early, so the sun can’t really warm you that well. 

•      After we saw the birds, we went on a walk/hike for about 1 ½ hours along the edge of the cliffs.  It is beautiful, but by that time the day is getting warmer and the movement means you will want to shed some of your layers. 

•      Drive straight back to Chivay for lunch

•      Drive back to Arequipa with shorter stops at the same places for bathroom breaks. 

We had a good time on the trip.  We met some great people and saw some beautiful scenery and birds.

I realize that was pretty detailed and long, but I went into detail for 2 reasons.  1.)   We really didn’t know what the tour would entail before we left, so that made planning what to wear and bring a little difficult.  I also didn’t realize that it was over 5 hours of driving each day and so the vehicle the company has is very important.  Ours was not the most comfortable in the world.2.)   I enjoyed everything we did, but if you don’t have that much time, I thought of a way to fit in both Arequipa and the Colca Canyon trip.  Don’t go on the tour first thing in the morning.  Stay in Arequipa and do whatever you want until about 4pm.  Then take public transportation to Chivay where you can meet up with the group in time to see the Folkloric show in the evening The bus goes on the same route both ways, so the only thing you would miss would be the hot springs which were fine, but if you are short on time, they could be missed.  

We stayed at Tambo Viejo one more night and then left the next morning at 7:30 for Puno.   

Machu Picchu is expensive!

Filed under: Peru, Main — khutala at 1:51 pm on Wednesday, September 27, 2006

Amaru Hotel

http://www.cusco.net/amaru/

Price -  $18 without bath and with breakfast.  Quite a bit more with a bath. 
Cleanliness – Clean                                                                     Comfort – The beds were descent, but it was really cold in the rooms.  The shared bath was downstairs and a little inconvenient from the room.  Especially for midnight runs.  The computer and couch area was fine, but nothing great.  The floors are wood and so they squeak.  Ask for a room upstairs so you don’t have to hear the people above you.             Character – The building is old and charming.  There are potted plants in the court yard and interesting twists and turns to the building         Amenities – Airport pickup, nice breakfast, TV with local channels, book exchange, will organize tours, cheap internet, luggage storage. Recommended? - I would recommend the rooms with a bath.  If you are going for cheaper lodging, there may be other places that are better.  However, they were extremely helpful.  They let us sleep in a clean room from 7-11am until our room was available.  They also allowed us to use their facilities for 3 hours the day we returned from Machu Picchu until we were had to catch the bus later that evening.  
                                                                                     The lonely Planet Peru is 2 years old and the prices are totally off.  Basically, everything regarding MP has doubled.

Before we arrived in Cuzco, I didn’t realize you could only get to Machu Picchu on a train.  That creates a monopoly, so it is very expensive to get there.

Train from Cuzco to MP in vista dome (with a snack and windows on the roof to see the view of the mountains)  approx $105

Train from Cuzco to MP in backpacker train (can buy snack.  Bad windows for looking at view) approx $75

Train from Ollantaybambo to MP in vista dome approx $70              Train from Ollantaybambo to MP in backpacker train approx $50.   There are also really early  and night trains(around 5am and around 8pm) that is the cheapest way to go                                                             You can buy one way tickets that mix and match eg. Vista dome there and backpacker to return.  We had to do that because the return on the backpacker was sold out.  The one way price is more than half of the round trip price. 

We took a Sacred Valley tour and stayed in Ollantaybambo overnight then took the train from there.  We then returned to Cuzco with local transportation.  Sacred Valley tour - $12 per person includes transportation and Bilingual guide.  + $13 for 1 day tourist ticket to ruins.  (Can buy the 5 day $20 ticket for specific ruins, museums and churches)
Stop at Vista Points on the way to PisacCraft and souvenir market at Pisac (Sun, Tues and Thurs.  Worth going even without a tour)                                                                               lunch at Urubamba ($12 buffet is where they take you, but we walked across the street to a $3 place)                                                             Inca fortress at Ollantaybambo (we stayed here instead of returning to Cuzco)                                                                                                Chinchero to look at the church                                                                                              Return to Cuzco

Ollantaybambo
We looked at a couple different hotels along the road to the train station.  Oruquideas $25 for double room with bath and breakfast.  Kantayoc $11 double room shared bath, but no toilet seat.  KB Tambo $13 for double room with bath, but there was no separation between toilet and shower.  We picked Hospedaje Los Andenes $13 for double room with bath.  Nothing fancy, but it did the trick and the best we saw in that price range.  The attached restaurant was not so hot.  KB Tambo had a good breakfast.  The apple pancakes were delicious. 

Train to Machu Picchu the next morning around 9.  Arrived in Aguas Calientes.  A person from the hotel met us at the station and walked us over.  We stowed our luggage and then caught the bus for the last 8km uphill to Machu Picchu ($12) Entrance fee to Machu Picchu $40 (You can get a pretty stamp in your passport when you leave)The guide books are correct.  The highest number of visitors is between 10-3.  Groups of school children start to arrive at 12 or 1 and they stay later in the day.  They are sweet, but a little scary because they like to run quickly and almost knocked me down once.  We didn’t go with a group or hire a guide.  We thought we might once we got there depending on the cost, but we never saw guides available to hire.  I think you have to do it in Aguas Calientes but I’m not sure.  It was nice to stay in town over night so that we could stay later at MPIn Cuzco, I saw signs for a MP tour for $149.  If you are going to go there and back in one day, this might be a good deal depending on what is included. We ate at a pizza restaurant called Pachamama (not on the main strip).  It was very good.  Better than any other pizza we have had in South America so far.  The next day we returned to Ollantaybambo where we caught a local minibus to Urubamba (1 sol).  From there we caught a regular local bus back to Pisac (2 sols).  We didn’t have time to get everything we wanted during the Sacred Valley Tour also, due to the fact that it was a smaller market day and all the bus tours had been gone for a while, the prices started at a much much lower price. You could still bargain some but the price difference was much smaller between asking and final purchase price.  Buses back to Cuzco left from a street near the market (2.50 sols).  It was completely full by the time we got there, so we had to stand for the 1 ½  trip.   We left Cuzco on a night bus to Arequipa.  We went with Julsa for $12.  The trip took 9 hours.  Even though it was comfortable, it was difficult to sleep because there were at least 5 people snoring loudly at any given time.  We arrived exhausted the next morning.  As others have recommended, it might be a good idea to take a light sleep medication.

Flight from Guyaquil to Cuzco

Filed under: Peru, Ecuador, Main — khutala at 4:35 pm on Thursday, September 21, 2006

We flew from Guyaquil to Cuszco in order to avoid 48 hours straight in a bus and the border crossing that seems so dangerous. 

I checked with travel agents and on the airline website.  TACA was $50 cheaper than the travel agent quote for one way. 

One travel agent would only sell me a round trip ticket because we don’t have a return ticket to the States.  That was $470.  A one way quote from a different agent was $350. 

We got it for $298 one way through the airline itself. 

The flight involved an overnight lay over in Lima.  We stayed at a hotel called Manhattan Inn 7 minutes away from the airport since we had to be up at 3:30am to be at the airport around 4:15am.  Even though it is domestic, they still want you to check in 2 hours before hand.  The hotel cost $50 (more than I wanted to pay) but hotels in down town that cost more like $25 would require a $10+ taxi ride there and back then we are up to $45, so we just went with the slightly more expensive but convenient hotel.Â