Mancora to Arenillas, Ecuador

 

The last few days have heralded a change from Atacama desert, to scrubby bush, to lush paddy fields, bananas and coconut palms by the sea ie. the tropics. Further confirmation of changing conditions arrived in the form of multiple squadrons of vicious mosquitos that attacked us the moment we turned our lights out last night. After a delicious dinner of Dorado, beachside, we returned to our villa and drank a glass of Balvennie. We retired to bed at about 10pm thinking we would enjoy the pleasurable sound of the Pacific surf and drift off to sleep. Not a bit of it. By 1am both Ham and Chris had given up trying to sleep and taken to the swimming pool to escape the mosquitos, others had barracaded themselves under sheets in 25 degrees and everyone was itching like hell. The morning dawned and it became clear no one had slept a wink. Poor Bumble had about 20 bites on her face! To add, there was no water in the house in the morning so we 'upped sticks' early and set off for the Ecuadorian border.

 

Along the way we had to drive through Tumbres, a town that took the brunt of Cyclone Yaku last week. The centre of Tumbres was still awash and the roads were full of mud and muddles with giant potholes lurking beneath. Ham's Lagonda was studiously following my tracks but somehow disappeared down a huge pothole that removed the entire rear section of his exhaust pipe and bent his boot upwards. Ham set off on foot to retrieve his exhaust pipe, which was about 100m back, and Didier, who is French, was explaining to me they had lost 'the air thing' when the exhaust pipe reappeared on the roof-rack of a passing truck. I exchanged it for Sol50 and Ham tied it to the back of the car and off we went. All the while Bumble had been posing for photos with many 'passers by' and all in the midst of a chaotic throng of Tuk Tuks, lorries, dust and people. Now all three cars have battle scars. I broke my rear mud guard yesterday when I reversed into a ravine and Chris also broke his mud guard when he drove into a huge pothole at speed.

On we drove.

The Ecuador border was very efficient and we suddenly drove into a country where there was no litter (Peru has a very big litter problem) and the lush roadside verges were mown and the roads without potholes. However.... as is the way in South America, when driving along, we were suddenly ushered off the road and found ourselves surrounded by soldiers with guns and facemasks. Didier quickly lined the soldiers up for a photo in front of the cars and turned the 'boot search' into a 'jolly' with lots of pictures and smiles. We were allowed on our way without having to open up anything. Good old fashioned French charm!

 

 

We arrived at our hotel in Arenillas in time for lunch and a much needed siesta. There was some fettling of cars in the afternoon and Ham's exhaust was re-instated.

Ecuador looks like it could be a very beautiful country. We have high expectations....