FOUR DAYS IN PERU

27. February - 2. March 2011

After a great time in Canoa and a few nice days in Guayaquil it was time to leave Ecuador for the third time. Since I was going to meet Micha and Ruediger in a few days in Santiago de Chile there was a long way to go by bus. First 6 hours from Guayaquil to Tumbes in Peru. This time the border crossing went very smooth and fast and wasn't anything new to me. Unfortunately there was no more bus going to Lima that night and I had to stay overnight in Tumbes. There is nothing to do in Tumbes and I was happy when I finally got on the bus to Lima the next afternoon. After 22 hours I arrived in Lima where I only spent two hours waiting for the next bus. In five hours I got to Ica where I was staying in the nearby village / oasis Huacachina for a day. The place is amazingly beautiful with a small lake surrounded by huge sand dunes. It's a very quiet and relaxed place with only a few hostels and restaurants. Just after I arrived in the evening, I went to a local winery for some wine and pisco tasting. The next morning I spent walking around town and buying a bus ticket to Tacna (which wasn't as easy as I thought and therefore took a few hours). In the afternoon I went on a tour with a sand buggy through the dunes. The driver was going like crazy with some jumps and spins in the sand. A lot of fun. We also stopped a few times for sandboarding – sliding down the hill lying on a snowboard.

After that it was time for another night in the bus. Within 19 hours I got to Tacna, just north of the Chilean border. From there I took a colectivo taxi (a taxi shared by as many people as possible) to Chile. Without any problems at the border, I am finally in Chile.