“Sherrell, this isn't a hike. It's a death march.”

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More time on the bus

Posted on Sunday Jul 27, 2008

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The last post was interupted by our bus arriving early and Sherrell frantically running in and telling me we had to go -- right now!

In my rush I forgot to mention that we were deathly ill for about a week as well when Ecuador decided to make life tougher for tourists. Now we are super-paranoid about getting sick from the hordes hacking and coughing on the buses.

Anyway, another 6 hour bus ride brought us to Chachalayo where there are some cool pre-inca sites. Then tomorrow we take another 10 hour overnight bus up to Chachapoyas where this pre-inca village was built with 3 times more stones than the great pyramids of Egypt, yes 3 times more. Not many people know about this place, but it`s bigger than Machapichu.

In Peru (kicked out of Ecuador)

Posted on Sunday Jul 27, 2008

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We got back from the Andes in Ecuador and scrambled for two weeks. Sherrell got her annual cancer checkup at a cancer clinic (2 hours by bus). The price was good considering the quality of equipment and medical care, but the paperwork was tiresome. It also took 3 trips and we still need to do 2 more when we get back. The good news is all is well and she`s almost done with the doctors for another year.

The bummer part of all this, is Ecuador recently decided not to renew 90 visas for the standard $15. They decided $100 was better, and then they decided not to renew them at all! Since our visas expired a week before we were due to go to Peru, we had planned on renewing them for the 8 days or so before we left for Peru. However $100 per person for 8 days wasn`t going to work, and then when they closed the door on renewals, we were forced to leave the country early.

So we took a 6 hour bus to Guayaquil, Ecuador, toured the town for 7 hours, then took a 11:30pm bus to Mancora, Peru which took another 10 hours or so. Mancora is a surf town and is a lot like Canoa back near Bahia de Caraquez, Ecuador just bigger and the wave is better. Today we hop on another 8 hour bus to get a little further south in Peru.