Monday, November 2, 2015

Driving From Ecuador To Peru

Greetings from Peru! Much time has passed since our last update, partly because we have not had internet connections good enough to upload a bunch of photos. Let’s summarize our trip since the last post from Shanti, also to help us keep track of where we’ve been.

From Shanti in Canoa, we went to Puerto Cayo to Samuel’s pretty Jardin Suizo, where we stayed four nights.
From there, we headed toward the mountains and spent one night at a place called Campo Alegre near Juan Montalvo on our way to the Hosteria Abraspungo between Riobamba and Guano. Abraspungo is owned by an RC pilot, and we were invited to camp for free.
After six nights and some slope flying excursions, we headed south to Vilcabamba. We didn’t make that in one day, and camped one night in Doña Maria’s front yard in La Victoria near Cuenca. In Vilcabamba we stayed seven nights at the German-run Hosteria Izhcayluma.
Jardin Suizo Hostería
Jardín Suizo - Puerto Cayo, Ecuador
ceiba forest
Ceibas large tropical tree/großer tropischer Baum/árbol tropical grande
ceiba young and old
Ceiba young and old/jung und alt/joven y adulto
Now it was time to leave Ecuador before our visa expired, and we drove to the border near Macara, where we found the nice and friendly Hostel Candamo.
Crossing the border into Peru was entertaining mainly because I travel with a US passport with Colombian visa in a car with US plates, for which I showed a Colombian drivers license and a German-issued international drivers license.
We spent our first night in Peru at a nice restaurant in Tambo Grande, La Choza, before we parked in front of the house of an RC pilot in Piura. We stayed there for six nights and flew with the whole Piura club at their club field.
On we went to the Peruvian coast to El Refugio Vichayito, from where we are publishing this update.
Shredair camper in San Lorenzo, Ecuador
San Lorenzo, Ecuador
sunsent
Sunset at Puerto Cayo, Ecuador/Sonnenuntergang/Puesta del sol
This part of our journey took us through ever-changing landscape, and we hope the photos show a glimpse of that.
From the tropical dry forest of the Ecuadorian coast and across a strip of coastal cloud forest, we went through Ecuador’s vast banana plantations (Chiquita and Dole come to mind). Crossing a 13,000 foot pass brought us into the heart of Ecuador’s volcanic Andes, where we were lucky enough to be greeted by Ecuador’s highest mountain, Chimborazo, which is over 20,000 feet high and often under clouds.
The high mountain road to Vilcabamba was spectacular. In certain places around Vilcabamba, you hear more German and English spoken than Spanish. It appears to be quite the touristic enclave, and it has the climate to account for that.
banana plantation
Banana highway/Autobahn/autopista, Ecuador
rice fields
Rice fields/Reisfelder/sembrados de arroz, Ecuador
old house

The northern part of Peru is a starkly scenic and rocky desert reaching vast sandy beach expanses on the Pacific coast. We have walked along 2.5 miles of sandy beach to the nearby town of Los Organos, seeing hardly any people. We did see thousands of Arctic Terns zipping by on their annual migration from the Alaska to Cape Horn; they’ll be flying north again in late April.
On the way to Chimborazo
4.000 Mtrs Pass
Chimborazo
First view of/erster Blick auf/primera vista de Chimborazo
Chimborazo volcano
We also did some flying. There was a nice bluff north of San Lorenzo on Ecuador’s coast where the frigate birds shared just enough lift to scratch along the bluff. In contrast, flying at the slope site above Pelileo, Ecuador, was spectacular, with strong thermal lift. And right in front of the erupting Volcano Tungurahua! Twice we went there with our host Ernesto and Fausto, Ecuatorian pilots.
Finally, we went flying with our Peruvian hosts Victor and Abraham, and in fact with the entire membership of the RC Club Capiura at their field in Piura. This was a great experience for us sensing genuine friendship between the club members being extended to include us.
Chimborazo from The Condor Camp
Chimborazo from The Condor Camp
El Altar volcano
El Altar crater/Vulkankrater/cráter
Where will we go next? Stay along the coast or go back into the Andes? We have yet to decide, and the next post will reveal which way we went.

2 comments:

Adam & Glenda said...

Great pictures! Glenda and I just read through your post and we want to stay at Hosteria Izhcayluma! We can't wait to see which way you go!

Talk to you soon!
Adam, Glenda, Liliana and Persephone!

Anonymous said...

Go down the coast! Better flying there!!!