TRAVELING BY BUS FROM AREQUIPA TO CANOA

I missed Canoa, Carlos and the beach and decided to go back to Ecuador for a while. Unfortunately I was quite far away from Canoa. The distance between Arequipa and Canoa is app. 2000 km / 1250 miles (as the crow flies) - and I traveled all of it by bus.

Saturday afternoon at 4 pm I stared the trip in Arequipa after saying good bye to Micha. In 15 hours I would travel from Arequipa to Lima. Since the bus was very comfortable the trip was quite nice. A few minutes after we got on the bus, the movie started and I got chips and Inka Cola (which tastes like liquid bubble gum). We got fairly good food, had nice blankets, pillows, comfortable seats … and WIFI. And the bus was going direct to Lima, meaning it didn't stop at all in between. I slept well and was relaxed when I got to Lima at 8 am Sunday morning. As in most cities early Sunday morning, almost everything was closed and there were not many people walking around. I was very disappointed when I realized that Dunkin Donuts in Lima doesn't have bagels. But I did get a muffin at Starbucks where I spent most of the time waiting for the bus north at 3 pm. My bus ticket was all the way to Guayaquil in Ecuador (a 24+ hour busride) but I wasn't sure if I would be allowed to enter the country. With the tourist visa it is allowed to spend 90 days in Ecuador. And I had already used all 90 days. But there were rumors that it is possible to extend the visa. The busride was quite boring. The landscape was very dry – I felt like driving through a desert for days – which I actually did. I didn't think Peru is soo dry with most of the country along the coast being a desert. The bus wasn't as good as the first one but still had food (although not very good food) and went - more or less – direct. Unfortunately when I got to to the border Monday around noon, I wasn't allowed to enter Ecuador. But the officer told me that I could get another tourist visa at the consulate in Tumbes, 20 km south of the border. So – again – I took a taxi to the border, walked over the bridge, took a taxi to the migration office of Peru (where I entered the country only 30 minutes after I left it) and than got to Tumbes by Taxi. After a few minutes the driver asked me to pay. I refused to pay before getting to Tumbes but paid part of the fare. The driver then bought some gas at a “gas station” - which actually was a little shack that sold gasoline out of plastic bottles. The consulate in Tumbes has the very convenient opening hours from 8 am – 2 pm. Of course, I got there at 2.30 pm. Well, at least I could enjoy a shower (which felt very good after two days in buses) in a hostel because I had to stay a night in Tumbes. Tuesday morning at 8 am I was at the consulate. Of course - this is not Europe or the US - I should not have expected the office to be open on time. After around 20 minutes, the doors finally opened and I could talk to someone. There were two officers at the consulate. One officer was reading the newspaper, watching a movie and sometimes making copies of some documents. The other handled all the visa questions. She explained that it is possible to get another tourist visa for 90 days. All I needed was a credit card, two fotos, a bus ticket leaving Ecuador and 60 $. So, after waiting and sitting in front of her desk for a while, I went to the bus station, bought a 2$ bus ticket from the Ecuadorian to the Peruvian border town. Then I paid the 60 $ at the bank (it only took two minutes to pay but I did have to wait in line for over 30 minutes). When I got back to the consulate the consul just arrived at her office (at 10 am) and after waiting a little more she signed my visa. THANKS! The next bus to Guayaquil was supposed to leave at 12pm, but -of course- it was an hour late. The comfort of the bus was another step down from the previous bus (no food, no movie, no stewardess) and the bus stopped very often. This time the border crossing went without any problems. I showed my brand new visa to the officer and was allowed to enter Ecuador. YEAH – finally. After hours of driving along banana plantations in Ecuadors south the bus arrived around 8 pm in Guayaquil. Only one more bus to get to Canoa. Luckily the bus station in Guayaquil is big, new and clean (and has a McDonalds) and it was not too bad to wait until midnight for the bus. This bus was yet more basic than the bus before and didn't even have a bathroom. The bus stopped often in the middle of the night to let people on and of the bus. But finally after too many hours on buses I arrived in Canoa Wednesday morning at 7 am just in time for Carlos' birthday.

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