On the road again!
From: Trudy Parker
Date: May 13, 2007 12:45 PM
Hi Mum,
Just got into Quito this morning, Sunday at about 6am, after leaving Lima on Friday at 2pm!
Happy I am here. Will be happier in the next few days when I hop on that plane. Apparently it is raining lots in England!
Quito is at quite a high altitude, so I am feeling a little tired atm.
I realised I needed to get a stamp on my NEW passport before leaving Lima, but I only picked up my passport on Friday, midday, and then immigration in Lima is crazy (so I did make an attempt and go in and line up, but I was running out of time it was 1pm by then and hadnt packed my bag) so I thought, bugger it...I dont want to stay here another day, I am getting on that bus come hell or high water. So I took the risk that I might encounter a delay while crossing the border.
On the trip up the bus nearly left with two of us...again! They dont count the people, and plus people need to stretch their legs and clean their trip on such long trips.
And then on the bus, a man stole a ladies bag, and from what I could understand it had a laptop in it. And I thought those buses were safer than the local ones. We had to stop for about an hour while customs officials and police assessed the situation. Essentially it was a bloody waste of time. And I doubt we would see them do that for a traveller.
And then I get to the Peruvian border, and apparently there is a problem with the fact that I do not have a stamp in my new passport, so I had to go into an office and ´discuss´ it. I had to pay an unadvertised fee just to get the stamp....so read into that what you will, my first bribe! It was only 4 US$. Lucky I had money on me, because they have a denomination called soles in Peru, and I had gotten rid of all that cash cause you get a crap exchange rate.
So anyway I finally get to Ecuador, a place call Guayquil at about 8pm on Saturday night, which is not a very nice place, I just wanted to get on a bus to Quito. I get a cab from the bus terminal we were dropped at, and this Israeli guy mooches in on my ride. I had negotiated 5 US$ and then he asks to go to a different terminal for 1US$ more, so we were going to drop me off first and then him, but the cab driver gets it all wrong, and drops him off first, and the Israeli has no change, and someone stole his shoes while I was telling him which bus he needed to get to! So I said just leave before you lose anything else.
And then when I get to my bus terminal I pay the taxi driver, and I give him my 5 bucks and he says where is the other 1$ dollar and I said, I told you he was not my friend I was not going to pay for him, and 5 bucks is too much for where you took me anyway, I am not paying anymore. And so the security guard at my bus terminal said to the cab driver I was right, so I went inside and bought my ticket.
I return to the bus company I came down with from Quito, but this time around the bus is a real crappy one, just like the one I got robbed in. So I have my bag tied to the seat and resting on my lap all the way! hahaha,
In the middle of the night we get stopped and we all have to get out of the bus for customs officials to check our identification. I was really cranky because when you get taken off the bus like that anything else can happen, you get all sorts of bad people hanging around those areas. Plus if you were to leave your bag on the bus, customs may be inclined to steal from it. It was an unessessary procedure, we werent even near a border.
But anyway after a cold and bumpy ride I am here in Quito! Today I am just going to do a few chores, like washing clothes and shopping and thinking about how in the hell I am going to pack my bag in the coming days!
Say hi to everyone, take care.
Love trudy
Date: May 13, 2007 12:45 PM
Hi Mum,
Just got into Quito this morning, Sunday at about 6am, after leaving Lima on Friday at 2pm!
Happy I am here. Will be happier in the next few days when I hop on that plane. Apparently it is raining lots in England!
Quito is at quite a high altitude, so I am feeling a little tired atm.
I realised I needed to get a stamp on my NEW passport before leaving Lima, but I only picked up my passport on Friday, midday, and then immigration in Lima is crazy (so I did make an attempt and go in and line up, but I was running out of time it was 1pm by then and hadnt packed my bag) so I thought, bugger it...I dont want to stay here another day, I am getting on that bus come hell or high water. So I took the risk that I might encounter a delay while crossing the border.
On the trip up the bus nearly left with two of us...again! They dont count the people, and plus people need to stretch their legs and clean their trip on such long trips.
And then on the bus, a man stole a ladies bag, and from what I could understand it had a laptop in it. And I thought those buses were safer than the local ones. We had to stop for about an hour while customs officials and police assessed the situation. Essentially it was a bloody waste of time. And I doubt we would see them do that for a traveller.
And then I get to the Peruvian border, and apparently there is a problem with the fact that I do not have a stamp in my new passport, so I had to go into an office and ´discuss´ it. I had to pay an unadvertised fee just to get the stamp....so read into that what you will, my first bribe! It was only 4 US$. Lucky I had money on me, because they have a denomination called soles in Peru, and I had gotten rid of all that cash cause you get a crap exchange rate.
So anyway I finally get to Ecuador, a place call Guayquil at about 8pm on Saturday night, which is not a very nice place, I just wanted to get on a bus to Quito. I get a cab from the bus terminal we were dropped at, and this Israeli guy mooches in on my ride. I had negotiated 5 US$ and then he asks to go to a different terminal for 1US$ more, so we were going to drop me off first and then him, but the cab driver gets it all wrong, and drops him off first, and the Israeli has no change, and someone stole his shoes while I was telling him which bus he needed to get to! So I said just leave before you lose anything else.
And then when I get to my bus terminal I pay the taxi driver, and I give him my 5 bucks and he says where is the other 1$ dollar and I said, I told you he was not my friend I was not going to pay for him, and 5 bucks is too much for where you took me anyway, I am not paying anymore. And so the security guard at my bus terminal said to the cab driver I was right, so I went inside and bought my ticket.
I return to the bus company I came down with from Quito, but this time around the bus is a real crappy one, just like the one I got robbed in. So I have my bag tied to the seat and resting on my lap all the way! hahaha,
In the middle of the night we get stopped and we all have to get out of the bus for customs officials to check our identification. I was really cranky because when you get taken off the bus like that anything else can happen, you get all sorts of bad people hanging around those areas. Plus if you were to leave your bag on the bus, customs may be inclined to steal from it. It was an unessessary procedure, we werent even near a border.
But anyway after a cold and bumpy ride I am here in Quito! Today I am just going to do a few chores, like washing clothes and shopping and thinking about how in the hell I am going to pack my bag in the coming days!
Say hi to everyone, take care.
Love trudy
posted by trudy.p at 3:54 am
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