Entering Peru from the coast road out of Ecuador
 

That was fun :-)

We should have known that it was too good to be true that the Ecuadorians had finally realised that road signs were useful.

For the last 50k it was clearly marked we were on the road to the border, so keep following the signs.

We crossed the new bridge, went past some freshly built new offices on the other side f the carriage way and arrived at the border post.

Except it was the Peruvian post.

So it was back about 4 kms.

Apparently you have to be a clairvoyant to know that you should ignore the signs at the lt roundabout and take a right into Huayquilas where there is an office (unmarked of course) at the side of the road to deal with passports.

And they don't deal with the termination of the temporary import of the bikes, here, oh no, that would be to easy. The Aduana was an unsigned building another 4km back into Ecuador, which we had now officially left.

Even there there did not have the systems to deal with the forms, so they just took them and told us to go.

I thought we were back in Central America for about an hour.

The rest of Ecuador, especially the coast, was great.

By contrast the Peruvian border crossing ws well organiaed, and bribe free. :-)

Still haven't got insurance :-(

Haha, we had a similar experience a few weeks ago using the same border.

When we tried to go back into Huaquillas we got stuck in a no go zone in the new border buildings. We drove up onto the sidewalk and went over a log to escape. It was pretty ridiculous.

We checked at the Migracion desk on the way to the roudabout, and were told they don't deal with the vehicle documents. Tried at the aduana, and they told us no. By that time we were sick of Ecuador's shenanigans and didn't get the bikes stamped out.

Once they get those new buildings up and running it should be a pretty smooth border.

Yes, same for us, 1st we had to get past the new booths that had rope strung across and then the plank, but a guard came out and moved it for us.

It then became obvious what the tub with a stop sign was for in the road, it was because the dual carriage was was in fact only temporary single lanes :-)

I think the Ecuador building is ready, but it looks like they are waiting for Peru to finish their side.

Macara border is a good option
 

In case it is of use to anyone, the border at Macara (south of Loja) is excellent. The frontier is a bridge and all imigration and aduana offices are located at either end of the bridge. The whole process took half an hour.

This crossing was completed (from Peru into Ecuador) with my bike on the back of a truck due to a knackered voltage regulator (2 new batteries fried to crisp in 2 days!). There is an aduana officer on the ecuadoruian side called Miguel Murioz and he is an absolute star - he rides bikes and seeing my bike on the back of a truck, he phoned a mechanic in Loja and gave me directions to his garage. He was so busy talking bikes with me that the agent processing my paperwork had to keep interrupting with questions about the bike detailsand in the end gave up and just filled in everything himselffrom my registration document!

A word of warning about northern peru - the cops on the PANAm are everywhere and we were stopped severaltimes, especially arounf Trujillio. Once we were done for speeding (the fine went from $100 to $20 with some haggling, though I think he would have accepted less....doh!). I was asked for insurance on several occasions, but got away with my argentine bought policy. This is not valid in Peru, but my papers seemed to satisfy them and I got the impression they didnt know what they were looking at.

The stretch from Lima to the border is the longest ive spent on the Panam, and it is easily the worst part of the trip so far - avoid it if you can!

even better san ignacio/la chonta
 

this crossing is even better,cause hardly anyone uses it.
the custom officer at the ecuadorian side first told me it was impossible to cross here since he didn't have the appropiate documents,but it took 15min to explain the complication of the detour involved to go to macara and he filled out some paper.
4 days later in vilcabamba 22.00 the hotel clerk told me: they are looking for you.
outside is a police car and the guy from custom handing me out a new printed and correct temporary import permit.he also excuses himself for disturbing me so late at night.
i was so surprised i didn't know what to say.
imagine this guy getting the correct docs and then finally managing to find me.
vilcabamba is about 180k's from the border!!!!!!!!

We have done the Panam since the border, now just North f Lima,, with a dog leg to Huaraz and back.

We have only been stopped occasionally by the police, and it is lways a case of a chat. Today it was for ideas of how to fix the breaks on his Harley... yes, Harley !

If you don't want to be fined for speeding, don't speed ! :-)

And to be controversial, what is wrong with the desert ? Its great. The dunes are neat, and the colours on some of the hills are reminiscent f the Painted Desert.

Speeding: Erm, yes; fair cop gov. Although maintaining 35km/hr through urban zones while dodging mototaxis on your right as the trucks scream by on your left is bloody dangerous in my book.

Dunes: We spent a lot of time around Iquique watching the dakar, so maybe I'm just weary of the desert by now. Or maybe the volume of traffic got on my nerves. Ride your own route :thumbup1:

Apparently the Dakar is going to Peru next year, near Ica, *lots* f dunes there :-)