I'm legal again!

This week I got the chance to go on an awesome trip. My VISA to be in Peru expired yesterday, the 16th, so I had to leave the country and come back again in order to get a new one. This meant driving up to Ecuador. Ken and I took off Tuesday morning early and headed out with a cooler full of food and things to keep us hydrated. The first stretch was just like around here, but then the trip became very biodiverse. If that's a word. For a long time we were in the sand dunes. A lot of the area looked like the deserts that you see in movies in the Middle East. Just dry, and hot. And nothing. We stopped one time to look around and there wasn't a single sound. No bugs, or anything. Just dead silence. Then we got into the dry forests, then the subtropics. Banana and coconut trees everywhere. Then we drove through the plateaus and saw huge canyons. Then suddenly everything turned green and again and we drove 2 hours along the most beautiful coastline I have ever seen. The water was blue and completely clear. There was surfing village after surfing village. White sand for miles. We ate some amazing seafood at a restaurant in a city called Piura, then headed to Tumbes where we got to our hotel and got our bus tickets to Ecuador figured out. That night, we went swimming in the pool. Of course since we were less than a day's drive from the equator, the pool was welcome. We were served lemonade by the poolside and everything. Tiki huts around, moon overhead, palm trees everywhere...not a care in the world.
On Wednesday morning, we headed across the border to Ecuador. After immigrations, we went to a little roadside stand and had a gatorade and a bag of chips while we watched some World Cup action with Peruvians crammed into this roadside stand. After an hour we crossed back over, but not until after we stopped to try the coconuts. They had stands where you could get coconuts with a straw in them. They call them pipas. They were chilled, and the cold coconut milk was refreshing, then you can eat the coconut or toss it. After we crossed back and I got my new VISA, we started the 7 hour drive back.
The most memorable part of the trip was when Ken decided to stop at this small hotel and restaurant to get a business card to one day take his family for vacation. They invited us in to try lunch. It was beautiful. From the road, you couldn't tell it was anything special, but once inside the gates that changed. Everything was absolutely tranquil. Private beach. People chilling around a pool. The best seafood I've ever eaten. And it was cheap. I so want to go back and stay one day. It was awesome. Completely relaxing. Then we headed back. All in all great trip. Of course there are many more stories to tell about it, but I've written enough for now. You'll have to ask me for the others.