I left on schedule at 9:00am according to plan. My first problem came when I went to fuel up and was told tourists aren’t allowed to buy fuel in town. Apparently there’s a bit of dodgy fuel stuff happening with people from Peru coming to Ecuador to buy their cheap petrol. Meanwhile I noticed there was one fuel pump just dedicated to a long line of people filling plastic jerry cans? The guy said I could buy it out of town but there were no other petrol stations on my short 5km trip to the border. I didn’t have much fuel left as I’d planned to use the last of my money filling the tank. Oh well I should have enough to get to the first petrol station in Peru.

My next mistake was stopping at a road junction and asking a cop which road to take as the main one was straight ahead and had a big sign above it saying thankyou for visiting Ecuador and the smaller one had a sign with several letters and went to a building behind a big fence. He said I had to go through to the Peru side to do all the paperwork there. I did question him about it but he then said it again in English, so I left Ecuador. It was 4kms down a big, deserted road and across a bridge. It reminded me of the old Soviet Union borders. I went through a couple of checkpoints and parked up the bike.

I went into an office and a lovely lady stamped me out of Ecuador and then at another window next door a nice man stamped me into Peru for 90 days. All very quick and then I went to the window to get the bike stamped out and after several offices and windows I eventually found out that I had to go back 4kms to Ecuador to get the bike stamped out. I didn’t want to have to go and get stamped out of Peru and back into Ecuador so I just rode back. No one said anything. I went back to the intersection where I’d been misled the first time and went in there and after a couple of attempts found out that you have to go to the GST refund door (or something similar). That went well and I left there with my bike stamped out of Ecuador.

I then went to ride back they way I had come and was stopped and told I had to go the other way. I did this and ended up on the road back into town and unable to do a U-turn. So I thought while I’m still here illegally I might as well find another petrol station and buy some fuel. I couldn’t find one, so I checked google and there was one down a side street on the way out. It was in a dodgy looking part of town and the address took me to a mechanical workshop with a big dog on a chain out the front. The guy looked confused as to why I was there. So was I actually. He grabbed the dog and then waved me to come into the workshop. Sounds a bit weird but it seemed okay so I did.

Turns out the guy was lovely. He told me about the problem getting petrol in town and then made a phone call. He didn’t speak English. Next thing I know he gives me a chair and we sit down for a chat while we waited for his friend who would bring some petrol. Being in a mechanical workshop behind an entrance guarded by a mean looking dog, while being illegally in the country with my illegal bike and waiting to buy blackmarket fuel definitely wasn’t on any list of things to do. It was starting to take a while, but we were having a great chat about the medical system in Ecuador and about how he was waiting for kidney transplant.

As I write this, I realise something like that should probably bring up a red flag. Anyway, after about 20 minutes and another phone call, a taxi rocks up. From the call I thought he said his friend was a fireman? The taxi driver got out and was dressed medical scrubs. No. Not Really. He was wearing fireman pants. The mechanic introduced me and said that I was from Australia and needed fuel.  A bit of chat went on that I didn’t understand but it was about money so I gave him all the Ecuadorian money that I had left which was about $15AUD and the guy gave him a plastic jerry can and he left.

He returned a bit later with fuel in the jerry can and we filled my bike. There was fuel left over which ended up in the taxi. And I was happy with that. By now it was almost midday and I was in still in Ecuador. We chatted a bit more and I said I had to go. And I did. And I left him my blog address so he could follow me because when we pulled it up on his phone it was translated into Spanish which I thought was cool. I like to think I’m a nice judge of character and that most people are nice. Hopefully that continues.

It was the déjà vu ride back to Peru with all the right stamps, a tank of fuel and both my kidneys. There was a new guy at the window who came and checked all the numbers on my bike were correct and then stamped it into Peru and pointed me in the direction of the SOAT guy. I had to buy third-party insurance in case I’m in an accident and someone is injured. I don’t think it’s possible for a foreigner to get any insurance in South America to cover your bike or damage to other vehicles or theft. The SOAT cost me $26:00USD which was annoying as it had to be in $US cash. I did have some stashed away in my bag which was fortunate and so with that done I was good to go.

I had noticed a bank near where I had entered and so I circled around the system again and went in to get some Peruvian Soles ($), but that didn’t work so I left without them. I then headed for Peru but because I’d been to the bank I ended up in the wrong exit lane and was stopped and sent back again and had to go back around the whole loop again and into the original exit lane where everyone wanted to check my paperwork that I’d already packed away. I was feeling like quite a novice by this stage. There were a few more people around but I’m sure a few of the more observant ones had noticed that I was on my fourth trip through customs and having a chuckle.

I left the border about 1:00pm for what could have been a one hour border crossing and had ended up four hours. I decided to skirt around the border town on the Peru side and head down to Tumbes and find and ATM and get some money so I could buy some food and some water. That just followed the rest of my day and didn’t quite work out. The first machine rejected my cards. A couple didn’t work. Some said my cards didn’t have sufficient funds. I just kept riding around going to banks until I finally found one with a machine inside and a security guard outside who said he would watch my bike (and gear). And it worked. A total rip off with a $12AUD fee to withdraw the maximum amount of $160AUD in Peruvian Soles (soleys).

All I had to do then was find somewhere to get food and water while keeping an eye on my bike. And then find somewhere to live for the night. The joys of independent travel.

Kms 7092