The road couldn’t get any worse…but it didn’t get any better either!

After an hour of struggling along the dirt roads over the mountain tops we arrived at the border control.
There are so many rumours of the terrible crossings that we were dreading this one more than any other. It is apparently bad for locals and travellers alike and we armed ourselves with everything we could possibly be asked for and headed in to the police station.
The border town of El Balsa was tiny with 4 or 5 buildings all huddled together. One was the police station, another a restaurant and the others I think were houses.
The police looked us up and down incredulously and started with our papers. I was asked if Alex and I were married and I stumbled with the answer and eventually said no. The officer looked at me questioningly, whether due to my hesitation or the fact that we weren’t married I have no idea but that was the extent of our interrogation. They stamped our pasports and lifted the barrier for us to drive to the next barrier. We were in no-mans land between Ecuador and Peru…such a weird feeling. Alex went and completed the papers to get us into Peru, another man came and lifted the barrier and we were away…again on a terrible terrible road! It had been the easiest border crossing yet…if you discount the terrible roads to get there!
At this point I looked at the road map of Peru…again the small country map in the lonely planet and this was when I realised the extent of my terrible decision to cross into Peru at El Balsa.
The map showed a broken road all the way to the Panamericana…roughly 500km. We had covered 200km in Ecuador on bad roads already and that had taken 11 solid hours, goodness only knows how long this was going to take us.
I broke the news to Alex who couldn’t believe it. There was nothing else we could do but get on with it, so thats just what we did!
We drove the dreadful roads with mind boggling drops until we hit a tiny town at around 4pm. It was the first town we had seen so decided to stay the night. We found a hotel and asked if we could park for the night in the carpark. The owner agreed and showed us the cold showers and we noticed a plug socket in one of the shower rooms. We quickly showered and made carrot and potato soup in there on our new electric hob (Alex beeming smugly the whole time) and settled down to watch a movie. As we did about a hundred lorries also came to camp for the night and a few of the drivers even invited us out for beers. We were so tired from our day driving that we got an early night and tried to prepare physically and mentally for another tough day on the road.
We had managed to drive a whopping 40km and had another 60 to go to get to the next town where I hoped and prayed that the road would improve.
It took us 3 hours to get to that town, Jaen and we sighed with relief as we hit tarmac along with a million tuc-tucs. We looked for a cash machine as there had been nowhere at the border to get any Peruvian currency, we had managed to talk a man sat in the street to change $5 for us into Nuevo soles and that was all we had.
Of course there wasnt a damn cash machine as there never is and the roads were crazy with all of the tuc-tucs flying around at a hundred miles an hour. We carried on on our way, relieved to be on a good road but unhappy with the new clanking noises coming from underneath Peggy.
After two very friendly police checks we hit a toll. Not the kind you normally get, just two guys stood in the road holding a rope. They stopped us and told us it was a toll. We asked how much it was and he said whatever you want to pay. Of course we had no change and had to give him 10S (our $5). He didnt seem overly impressed but he dropped his rope anyway and let us pass. Whether we had just been politely robbed or it was actually a toll remains a mystery!
Of course within an hour we hit a real toll and didn’t have a penny left, we pulled over and Alex went to try to explain to the man at the desk who miraculously told us we didnt have to pay as we were tourists! We thanked him happily and carried on on the lovely smooth road. I don’t think we will ever complain about badly paved roads again!
We found a cash point in the next town and drove for 6 solid hours and finally made it to our first destination to actually see something. We were half way through our 500kms to the Panamericana highway and things were looking up on the road front, maybe it wasn’t such a bad idea afterall.
We pulled up in Chachapoyas and went straight away to find a hostal. There was nowhere to boondock for the night and it was reasonable to stay so we checked in and went for a walk around the lovely little town. We ate chevice which is the speciality in Peru and it was pretty good, coming from a person who is not struck on raw fish…Alex loved it!
We tried to work a little at the hostal but the internet was dreadful so we went out for dinner instead. We had a fab evening and laughed about the terrible journey, the crazy few weeks we had been having and the beauty of the paved road.
We had planned our days adventures and set out the next morning to go to visit some of the Inca sites in the area. The whole place was surrounded with ruins, temples and art and we chose to start at the ‘Sarcophagus’ which was typically 42km away…up a mountain. Determined not to let this put us off we got back on a bumpy road from hell and rattled our way up to hell only knows how high on the side of a mountain with a sheer drop at MY side AGAIN. We arrived at a small town and asked for directions only to be told that the road to the sarcophagus was closed. Great. 42km up in the air on terrible roads for nothing. We consulted the map of the area that we had picked up from the hostal and after bickering about whether to just turn around and go back we found another site of interest and decided to just go there instead. So, we carry on up this mountain that must have been 4000m high. It took us forever to get there, the road just didnt seem to end it just kept going up and up and up. The scenery of course was amazing and the drive, aside from having our skeletons almost rattled out of our skin, was very beautiful. Passing wild miniature orchids, dusty blue eucalyptus and gnarly cactus all in reaching distance from the van window on the tiny tracks. We awed at the farmed land around us on angles that would be worthy of a black ski run all tidily planted in rows, what back breaking work that must be! When we finally arrived at our new site of interest we walked to the cavern along a little path and down some steps and found two little adobe buildings (about 2 years old) and a HUGE black locked gate covering the entrance to the cave! We weren’t having much luck at all. A sign handily informed us that we needed permission to enter the cavern and we just wondered out loud how such a place can go on. Just a little sign at the bottom of the mountain saying that the road was closed would be handy and possibly a sign telling you you need to get permission and where to get it from wouldn’t go a miss either! We had driven all that way for absolutely nothing other than to risk our lives and Peggys suspension and a view which we had seen driving all the way from the border.
We looked at the time and noticed we only had 2 hours before dark and we didnt fancy driving THAT road in the dark so we started the long arduos journey back down the mountain. We didnt really want to stay back at the hostal again so we consulted the map again and decided on finding the base of a walk to a waterfall and camp there for the night and set out and do the walk in the morning.
Of course, down one mountain and  35km up another mountain we found Gocta and a lovely, friendly lady let us stay in her garden for free. Her toilet and shower were outside and she said we were welcome to use them. 15 dogs barked at the van all night and then we were roused further by the very early to rise cockerels. At least we were up early to do the walk!

Again, apologies for the pics, they are pinched off the internet but do reflect what we saw ( or could have seen)…and the videos are all ours!

Find out what happens next on our travelling wedding adventure!