Our 36 hour bus adventure between Quito and Trujillo Peru was quite exciting. Here are some of the more memorable moments.
1. WELCOME TO THE VOMIT EXPRESS: Although only a few of us truly suffer from motion-sickness, the overwhelming need to hurl everyone felt as we wound our way down the Andes Mountains in the dark was ridiculous, although I believe we all managed to hold it in though.
2. GOD BLESS KFC: We were assured we would stop for dinner at 9 pm, as 11 rolled around we all seriously began to question the ability to obtain food. Then we pulled over at a KFC, the lights were on so 36 hungry world racers filed in. Turned out KFC was technically closed, however they agreed to sell us the remainder of the chicken and make more chicken burgers and fries for everyone else. We got back on the bus at midnight stuffed and happy.
3. THREE MORE KM TO CUSTOMS?!?: After spending 2 hours in line to obtain our nearly invisible exit stamps from Ecuador we walked about a killometer across the Ecuador/Peru border only to find out the customs building was another 3 km down the road. Fantastic. So we managed to secure two “buses” to take us the remainder of the way. Good news was Peruvian customs only took 30 minutes. Nice.
4. I THOUGHT TUMBES WAS ON THE BEACH?: After going through customs we spent the remainder of the day in a border town called Tumbes waiting for the other 3 teams, who had been a different part of Ecuador to meet up with us. The signs along the road as we drove into town all showed Tumbes with pictures of seashells, crabs and seagulls so I was excited for some beach time, turns out the beach is NOWHERE near the city. Bummer. Instead we rented a hostel room to store all of our bags, then spent the rest of the day just eating, walking around and talking.
5. ARE WE THERE YET?: On our second bus ride, between Tumbes and Trujillo I was excited to get some good sleep in, we all were. About an hour into the ride we were stopped at our first customs roadblock. A handful of officers boarded the bus and they spent a good 10 minutes checking out the luggage compartments. In all my travels I’ve had similar customs checks at least a dozen times so nothing seemed out of the normal. We headed on our way again so I put in my earbuds, adjusted my pillow and fell asleep. I was shaken out of my sleep when the cabin lights came on, seconds later officers were again walking down the aisle. “Huh? Another roadblock?” Little did I know this same situation would be repeated at least 10 more times over the night, each time I woke up increasingly more disoriented. So much for good sleep.
My team has now been in Porvenier, Trujillo, Peru for about a week. Our ministry this month looks so different from last months, but it’s so good! I’m excited to share with you guys everything God is doing here!
The bus ride from the border to Tumbes
W Squad gathered in colorful Tumbes
