|
|
|
||
Chachapoyas, Peru- I am always amazed at the difference a border can make. These political lines we draw in the sand marking our territory apart from theirs can seem so arbitrary. The border at La Balsa from Ecuador to Peru is just a simple bridge over a river. There is no indication that things will be different once you cross to the other side. But within minutes of crossing, Peru started to reveal itself. The open-sided trucks (rancheras) of Ecuador turned into small Toyota wagons, in which you were expected to cram up to eight grown men (3 across the front- knees up to allow the stick to shift. 3-4 in the rear seat. One more plus produce or animals in the hatch). The grey concrete-block homes turned into mud-brick huts. (picture of mud home to left) The hills grew rockier and more spare. Drivers dodged black sheets full of coffee beans laying out on the roads to dry. We made our way to the steep village of San Ignacio, where I switched from a car and crammed into a combi van with about 20 other people, then descended for hours along a river valley to Jaèn. The milk cows of Ecuador turned into longhorn cattle, with groups of them wandering along and blocking the roads. Acres and acres of rice paddies appeared, old men thrashing armfulls of grain against the ground. Smoke filled the sky from the burning of harvested fields. The towns grew even more haphazard and cacophonous and dusty. Ecuador is not rich. Peru is poor. (more…)
