The drive out of Quito on Sunday 12th March was not without its excitement. For reasons best known to herself Matron (the rather bossy verbal manifestation of MapsMe) took us on a suicidal route out of the city which basically involved climbing the side of a hill up a 1 in 2.5 incline with a blind bend and a junction at the top. Even in first gear and low ratio Lucy was not able to manage the slope and for the second time during our travels Alan deemed it necessary to suggest that Sue might like to step outside for a little while.
Sorting the problem out involved trying to go backwards down the slope until there was a rather less punishing incline but going backwards down the slope also proved to be problematic because even with all brakes on the slope was such that Lucy was still sliding backwards while the wheels were stationary.
Clearly this state of affairs could not be allowed to continue indefinitely and so Alan ran the truck into a ditch on the left hand side of the road. It proved possible, just, to get enough momentum going by driving diagonally across the road and up to the junction where Sue was directing traffic so that Alan could exit without trying to stop in a place where no vehicle should have to stop.
Matron got no applause for this particular episode and we decided that the next time she tried to take us on a short cut we would ignore it and stick to the main road.
The rest of our journey continued without incident and by mid afternoon we arrived in the town of Banos, so called because of its thermal baths.
We camped in the grounds of a hotel which was nicely positioned near the bottom of a waterfall just outside the town. We both agreed that architectural design of the hotel buildings was the most insane that we have ever seen. Sue said it was like something out of the Teletubbies with a half round roof with bulls eye windows whilst Alan decided it was the stuff of nightmares with stairways leading nowhere. However, the proprietors were very kind and friendly and let us camp for nothing and use the facilities in return for having a meal in their restaurant.
The 2017 Carbuncle Award goes to .....
Corkscrew building on same site
We spent the day in Banos on Monday and wallowed around in their hot mineral baths together with a lot of other people but didn't feel masochistic enough to jump into the ice cold water coming down from the waterfall next to the baths. We did however have a rather a strenuous walk up a very narrow and sometimes ill defined track which ultimately took us out to one of the intermediary sections of the waterfall next to our crazy looking hotel.
Waterfall above the thermal pools at Banos
Mountain view with orchids, Banos
Sue in the mountains on waterfall walk above Banos
Alan managed to provide a bit of drama by falling over on the very slippery path on his way to the shower, landing on his left elbow and his ribs. The hen's egg size lump on his elbow subsided after a couple of days but the cracked ribs unfortunately severely restricted his ability to move, lift anything, cough, sneeze and laugh for some weeks. Putting up the roof tent and getting in and out of it was not really an option after that.
There being nothing further to detain us in Banos we left on Tuesday morning for Riobamba. Skipping swiftly over the next couple of days which were not overly interesting we then drove south to the town of Alausi on Thursday 16th March to ride the Devils Nose railway.
Andean view - on the road from Banos to Riobamba
Milk donkey - on the road to Alausi
Not for the first time that week we had a little moment with Lucy just as we were coming down into Alausi. Our route had taken us along the Pan American highway and the road had been descending steadily for some considerable time. Just after we turned off the main road and were coming down the very steep hill into the town Alan calmly announced that he had no brakes. It was a dramatic failure without any intervening period of sponginess to give warning and very scary it was too. Alan ran the vehicle into a ditch, then got out and felt the hubs which were exceedingly hot.
After about ten minutes we had recovered from the fright, the brakes had came back and we concluded that they had overheated causing the brake fluid to boil and become compressible (Alan got a mechanic to check the brakes later in the day and he confirmed this is indeed what had happened).
El Nariz del Diablo or Devil's Nose is a stretch of track on the Trans-Andean railway which used to run from Guayaquil on the coast to Quito but now only runs from Riobamba to Sibambe. The Devil's Nose is the hair raising descent from Alausi to Sibambe where the train descends nearly 1,000 metres by means of a shunt and reverse procedure which was interesting to experience. Basically the train goes along a one way piece of track and then it reverses back onto a lower piece of track and then it goes forward again having completed a sort of switchback manoeuvre.
Devils Nose Railway, Alausi to Sibambe
On the Devils Nose train
Devils Nose Railway
The Devils Nose
The Devils Nose Railway
Devils Nose Railway, switchback section
It used to be possible for daredevils to ride on the roof of the train until around 2006 when some idiot strung a cable across the line one time and decapitated a couple of tourists. Sue was rather relieved that they no longer allow passengers on the roof of the carriages because Alan would most certainly have been up there given half a chance.
Elderly country woman, Alausi
Elderly woman, Alausi
Country woman in traditional dress, Alausi
Mountain view above Alausi
Sowing maize in the Andes
Reluctant photo subject
Working in the fields
Country women at work
We continued south on Saturday 18th March to the beautiful old colonial city of Cuenca where we spent of couple of very pleasant days strolling round the historic part of the city and also visiting food markets in a couple of nearby villages.
Cuenca Cathedral
Rear view, Cuenca Cathedral
Church step - recycled gravestone
View of Cuenca from Mirador
Roast guinea pig for lunch?
Country people at fairground
Country people at fairground
Having exchanged introductions and niceties, we then drove in convoy for an hour or so to Mansion Linda, the very elegant residence of Don Miguel and his late wife Linda, next to the Rio Vilcabamba and occupying a lovely position in the valley of the same name.
Mansion Linda
Don Miguel
Mountain view from above Mansion Linda
Despite looking like a couple of gypsies (which Don Miguel seemed to take delight in calling us), we were given the master suite and Nathaly, 'head of house', brought us breakfast each morning on our terrace overlooking the lake, quite a luxury! The rather green looking lake was occupied by several thousand tilapia, two ducks and apparently a large snake which we never saw.
The day following our arrival we scrubbed ourselves up for Don Miguel's 'gala' dinner, a glittering occasion. Nathaly had been permitted to go and buy herself what was described as a uniform but turned out to be an exceedingly slinky tight black dress such that she completely upstaged everyone else at the dinner party. However, we all agreed she looked lovely and she kept her head and officiated well in her capacity as head of house.
Nathaly officiating at the gala dinner
Guests at the gala dinner
One of our abiding memories is the sight of Don Miguel in his gardening gear and wellies, a glass of wine in one hand and a fishing rod in the other, trying to catch the fish course with a lump of Mothers Pride. He failed, but the delicious Coq au Vin and Tiramisu made up for the lack of a starter!
Don Miguel in pursuit of the fish course
House guests can be a bit like fish in that they tend to go off after a few days. So, on Saturday 25th March we bade a fond farewell to Don Miguel and set off again towards the Ecuador/Peru border.
It will not have escaped anyone's notice that we have only seen a tiny corner of South America and yet our original intention was to travel all the way down to Tierra del Fuego, entirely unrealistic we now know. Since we are committed to returning to UK in April our plan has been to leave Footloose Lucy in Peru for nine months and then return to continue our travels early next year. Most countries will only provide a Temporary Import Permit (TIP) for a vehicle for a maximum of three months but the customs authorities in Peru will allow the TIP to be suspended while you are out of the country. More of this later.
The road from Vilcabamba via Loja followed a now familiar course up and down and around the mountain bends. About an hour and a half into our journey the vehicle suddenly developed a ticking sound which became a loud ticking sound which became a very loud ticking sound. We stopped, Alan had a look under the bonnet, saw that the whole engine compartment was covered in oil and then noticed that the cylinder head was jumping up and down and one of the bolts which holds it down had sheared off.
We made our way slowly down the hill and pulled in at the first workshop we saw which we hoped might be a mechanic but turned out to be a welder's workshop. The chap there by the name of Romero was exceedingly helpful and guided us to a mechanic's workshop further down the hill. By the time we limped into the 'Luis Servicio Mecanico' workshop the oil in the sump was down to about one litre from a capacity of about five and a half litres, so we were within an ace of the engine seizing. That would have ruined the entire day!
The mecanico did very well and within three hours Lucy was fixed. In the meantime, Romero who initially came to the rescue and took us down to Luis, then took Alan into town to get the replacement oil, then took him back up the road to get a pipe from his welding establishment, went off to see his father for a bit and then came back just to make sure that we were okay. Truly a gentleman.
Mecanico working on Lucy (probably not a Muslim)
After our unscheduled overnight stop in Catamayo we set off again on Sunday morning and arrived in the scruffy little border town of Macara late on Sunday afternoon.
Sue getting relief from the bug bites
For the previous week or so we had been hearing and seeing news reports that northern Peru was suffering the worst floods for forty years, there had been people killed, there had been landslides, mudslides and thousands of homes destroyed by the swollen rivers. However, there were conflicting reports about which areas were particularly affected and we thought we might get more up to date information at the border.
Information at the border was still a bit uncertain, we heard that a bridge on the road to Piura (where we needed to obtain the TIP suspension) had been washed away but it might be possible to cross the river itself if the rain stopped for long enough. With our feelings of doubt and confusion undiminished we decided not to cross the border but to return to Loja to re-think.
Back over the mountain roads we went to Loja where we enlisted the help of a very helpful man at Tourist Information who spoke perfect English and spent several hours speaking to customs and border officials on our behalf. Our minds were made up after he established that the road to Piura was impassable and that the city itself was under water and in a state of emergency.
Military band at Loja
Yamaha sousaphones, Loja military band
Once the option of leaving Lucy in Peru for nine months was no longer open to us, the only option remaining was to ship her back to UK from Ecuador.
Andean view, road from Loja to Guayaquil
Guayaquil is Ecuador's largest city and major port and that is where we headed on Wednesday 29th March, arriving the following afternoon. Don Miguel very kindly came to our rescue and put us in touch with a friend of his in Guayaquil who was able to oil the wheels for us and introduce us to a shipping agent. By late Thursday afternoon we were sitting in the shipping agent's office with two foot soldiers, both by the name of Jose and both of whom had a positive 'can do' attitude and seemed to think that it was not a great problem to get Lucy into a container and shipped back to UK.
Conveniently, there was a very nice hostel immediately next to the shipping agent's office overlooking the Malecon and the river Guayas in probably the nicest part of the city. So that is where we installed ourselves for the duration.
By Friday Lucy was booked onto a container ship sailing on 13th April and we were asked to report back on Monday afternoon by which time Jose and Jose would have information on customs requirements and timescales. So far so good.
There isn't a huge amount to do in Guayaquil and it is hot and humid, but we managed to fill our time over the weekend strolling up and down the exceedingly long Malecon. Then we walked up through the narrow and very attractive streets of the hill of Santa Ana and then climbed 450 steps up to the lighthouse where we had an amazing view of the city, the river and all its tributaries. The presidential election was held on Sunday which didn't help as many places were closed and there was a ban on alcohol sales from Friday lunchtime to Monday morning (thank goodness we had our own supply!).
Municipal building at night, Guayaquil
View from the Malecon at night
Walking up to the lighthouse, Cerro Santa Ana, Guayaquil
View of Guayaquil and river from the lighthouse
Coming back down from the lighthouse
The news from the two Jose's on Monday afternoon was that they had requested the customs inspection and 'stuffing' procedure on Friday or, at the latest, on the following Monday 10th April. The charmingly named stuffing ceremony is their term for the secure packing of contents into a container with the customs seal on the outside.
As there was nothing further we could do at that stage we decided to head up the coast for a couple of days rather than kick our heels around in Guayaquil.
We drove from Guayaquil on a perfectly sound road and then stopped for the night in a rather basic cabana at a fishing village called Puerto Engabao. It was a fishing village, just that, nothing more or less. There was a long beach with big Pacific combers crashing in and a number of surfers, some of whom were quite good, and there were a lot of fishing boats. These were virtually all painted blue with religious motifs on the side imploring The Almighty to variously spare the craft, spare the contents of the craft and fill it with fish.
Fishing boats at Puerto Engabao
Frigate birds circling the catch
Pushing the boats up the beach
Altogether now!
Fishing boats, Puerto Engabao
Fishing boats at rest, Puerto Engabao
We watched the boats coming in through the surf and onto the beach and being manhandled up beyond the high tide mark on wooden rollers. Then we went back to what our host described as his restaurant on the beach which was basically a shack about the size of a privy with a veranda and some chairs. It was right on the beach and yards from the surf but he was able to produce some rather fine fresh prawns and, wonder of wonders, several bottles of Stella Artois!
Sue in the sunset
Sunset, Puerto Engabao
A roost of Frigate birds
The next day, Wednesday 5th April, we were expected at a village further up the coast to stay at the house of a friend of Ricardo, the proprietor of the hostel where we were staying in Guayaquil. The coast road was reportedly 'irregular and rutted' but passable. Wrong! The road was deeply indented by crossing streams and the ravines were up to a metre deep and more than that wide. We came to a fish farm where the tyre tracks, such as they were, completely ran out and the road became increasingly foul. At this point Sue had an acute dose of the screaming habdabs and insisted that we turn back. We went back to the fish farm where they confirmed that the road ahead was indeed 'muy mal' and that we should not attempt it.
Burrowing owl, next to dirt road, Puerto Engabao
Pair of burrowing owls (right one looking over its shoulder)
So we bounced our way back over the ruts and mud holes and then we got stuck. We got very stuck, in fact we got so stuck that Sue couldn't open her door and had to clamber out on Alan's side. After several unsuccessful attempts to rock the vehicle we decided to deploy the winch which miraculously was long enough to reach a concrete post 25 metres away. A very large and friendly black guy came along on his motorbike and he gave us a hand and together we winched dear old Lucy out of the deep hole (if we'd thought about it we would have taken a photograph but we were somewhat preoccupied at the time).
There was rather a lot of oil in the mud and having abandoned any idea of continuing up the coast we decided to return to Guayaquil to get Lucy's oil problem investigated. It turned out that the oil filter had been knocked when we got stuck so this was duly replaced and the oil changed yet again.
As if all that wasn't enough for one day, it then took Alan two and a half hours to drive back from the mechanic's through the city centre to the hostel. The reason for this was that a fair proportion of the populous of Guayaquil didn't like the result of the election and they were all marching and protesting, thus bringing the traffic to a complete standstill. The riot police were also out in force, some of them in very serious looking protective gear which made them look like extras from Terminator Three. As far as we are aware events did not turn ugly and the protestors drifted away after they had made their point.
Riot police on standby outside our hostel
Alan spent much of Thursday trotting in and out of the shipping agent's office with information about what the customs and port authority required from us changing by the hour. At one point we were told that we would have to produce a certificate of migration showing exactly where we'd been in Ecuador (to make sure we haven't been anywhere to collect drugs) and that the military security people wished to interview us in order to prove that we really were here. By the end of the day they told us neither of those were required after all.
Inevitably Friday passed without any further progress and we spent another weekend strolling up and down the Malecon and generally going stir crazy in Guayaquil.
The whole process finally got under way yesterday, Monday 10th April. Alan and little Jose set off for the port at 9 am on Monday morning and then spent the next five hours playing hide and seek with the Ecuadorian customs, police and port authority.
On arriving at the entrance to the port a young man looked at the various pieces of paper and obviously didn't understand them. He took Alan's photograph and fingerprint and then announced that he couldn't allow him to enter the port because he was wearing the wrong clothing (shorts and sandals). Alan changed into long trousers but he unsurprisingly didn't have a hard hat, high vis jacket and steel cap boots which were also required. This threw everybody into a turmoil and the matter was referred up the line until eventually it reached the great god of port services who gave it as his decision that so long as Alan and Jose had hard hats and high vis jackets they could bring Lucy into the port. These were duly provided.
Before they could enter however they were required to drive over the weighbridge. The weighbridge was controlled by a superior individual who was the only person entrusted with the key and he was in a meeting. Eventually, the man with the key came back from his meeting and they managed to catch him before he went off for his lunch or siesta. Lucy was duly weighed and then lodged in a so called secure compound.
Meanwhile, Alan and little Jose went off to see the police to see if they wanted to inspect the vehicle. The police might want to inspect the vehicle but they certainly weren't going to inspect anything unless they had a written request for the inspection. It transpired that a letter was required from the shipping agent which was duly typed, emailed to little Jose who picked it up at a cyber café. Alan signed it and they went back to the port only to be told that the number of the container was needed on the letter. Several more frantic phone calls produced the number of the container but then the next phone call said that container had been withdrawn "because it smells of fish"!
Another letter was dispatched with the number of another container that had been pulled out of the hat and then Alan and Jose marched back to the port to deliver this letter to the police to formally request their inspection of Lucy. Unfortunately they wouldn't let them into the port because they didn't have boots, high vis jackets and helmets.......
Faced with such an impasse Alan and Jose finally gave in and returned to Guayaquil with the intention of sending the shipping company's port authority agent to deliver the letter instead.
If Monday was anything to go by then the prospects of getting the police inspection, the customs inspection and the 'stuffing' ceremony done all in one day didn't look good. Luckily, today (Tuesday) was a much better day. Alan met with the port agent at 7 am and together they went to the port where amazingly everything went like clockwork.
First they went to the police station armed with the letter asking for permission to talk to them and for them to inspect Lucy. A quarter of an hour later a triumphant agent came back with the letter which now had a large blue stamp on it. In other words, the police decided that they didn't want to look at Lucy after all but they were happy to assume she wasn't full of narcotics.
Next they went to collect the customs agent who for some strange reason was at an entirely different port, returned with him to where Lucy was and Alan drove her to the container. After half a dozen customs men had briefly looked inside Lucy and under the bonnet, she was successfully 'stuffed' into the container and that was that. The whole procedure was finished by 10.30 am.
By lunchtime we had purchased our air tickets home and tomorrow we will be flying back to dear old Blighty.
This has been an absolutely wonderful trip but we are of course very pleased to be returning home and seeing all our loved ones again. Here is a brief summing up of the year:
Planned itinerary - Houston, Texas to Tierra del Fuego
Actual itinerary - Houston, Texas to Guayaquil, Ecuador
Distance covered - 20,000 miles
Best moment - Hundreds of fireflies dancing on the grass - Palenque, Mexico
Worst moment - Brake failure coming down steep hill into Alausi, Ecuador
Favourite place - Alan - Mayan bat cave, Palenque, Mexico; Sue - Galapagos
The most off-piste place visited - La Chunga village, Darien, Panama
Biggest headache - Shipping Lucy back to UK from Ecuador
Pleasant surprise - The kindness of strangers, over and over again
Vehicle's weakness - Underpowered engine and brakes not sufficiently uprated for the extra weight
Vehicle's strength - go anywhere capability
Problems - lots, but we sorted them
Anything we'd change - More powerful engine, uprated brakes, and a bigger canopy to protect us from the rain
Plans - Return to South America in January 2018 and continue our travels!
