Into Peru

Trip Start Mar 02, 2005
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17
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Trip End May 07, 2005


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Saturday, April 2, 2005

I flew back to Guayaquil from the Galapagos Islands today. The 7 day boat trip was great. I will write much more about the trip in another entry that I hope to add in the next day or two. But IŽll include a couple highlights: snorkeling with sea lions and manta rays, watching blue footed boobies court each other(birds with bright blue feet), seeing the male frigate bird inflate its red pouch like a balloon to attract females, walking on hardened lava flows, seeing 600 pound tortoises in the wild, lying on the deck of the boat at night and looking up at the thousands and thousands of stars, watching the full moon rise over the ocean (it was bright orange)...

Anyway, this afternoon I flew back from the Galapagos and landed in Guayaquil at 3pm. I went straight to the bus station and caught a bus bound for Tumbes, the northernmost city along the coast of Peru. It was a 5 and a half hour bus ride along the coastal plain of Ecuador - mile after mile of banana farms (Ecuador is the worldŽs largest banana exporter). The same bus took me across the border and into the town of Tumbes where I arrived just before 10pm.

Now that IŽm in Peru I canŽt use dollars anymore. The currency here is the Sol, and there are about 3.3 Sol for one dollar. A moneychanger actually came onto the bus at the border to change my money - he gave me a fair exchange rate.

Tomorrow I will try to get a flight to Arequipa or Cuzco in the south of Peru. If this isnŽt possible IŽll have to take a 20 hour bus to Lima and then from there either fly or take another 15 hour bus to Arequipa.
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