Ecuador is where I first became introduced to “cloud forests”. These “cloud forests” sound at least fifty percent more lovely than they actually are. The idea of a forest being hidden in the clouds seems very mystical and surreal, but in the end, all they are is a really moist patch of trees with hardly any visibility. “Cloud forests” are still really kind of pretty and sometimes intimidating to drive through. They can be really troubling when you’re on a road that seems to be bordered by two abysses and thanks to the clouds, you can’t see anything below you so you have no idea whether it’s a bluff or cliff. I went through “cloud forests” in Colombia but none of them were as cloudy and foresty as the ones I found in Ecuador. I rate “cloud forests” to be the moistest kind of biome. It’s kind of funny because “cloud forests” are pretty much made up of rain shadow so the other side of the mountain is usually desert, which is the least moist biome I think. We passed by a ton of houses in “cloud forests” and probably some villages. I don’t think I would ever want to live in a “cloud forest” because of the overdose on pure moister. Anyways, after driving through deserts and “cloud forests” we finally made it to the border crossing between Ecuador and Peru.
The border crossing was pretty easy, except on the Peruvian side some paper work had to be done and that slowed us down a lot. Once we started driving through the Peruvian lowlands and deserts, it became apparent that litter and trash is kind of a problem down here. Plastic bottles and grocery bags are everywhere and are constantly blowing through the wind for all eternity. A lot of the litter seemed to be doing exactly what it was supposed to be and did a fine job of spreading all along the side of any road.
We were in a kind of hot desert and we decided to head north to the desert coast to enjoy some beach time and whatnot. The drive to the coast took longer than I thought it was going to take but we still managed to make it before sundown. The road ends at a very “hip” and “happening” town called Mancora. Mancora is wonderful for “cool” younger peoples. It has a really stereotypical beach with people sun bathing all over it and surfers “chillin’” on the sand. There are a lot of stalls and road side shops set up that cater to the surfer “dudes” and those kinds of people. There was tons of male jewelry everywhere. Leather and hemp bracelets, necklaces with teeth bigger than a baby’s head, brown bead necklaces, just manly jewelry. I bought a really cool hat made with some part of some kind of tree. I like Mancora and when I get older and find myself older “friends” we can all go down here and “party”. Desert coasts are cool. There isn’t all that much to say about desert coasts for descriptiveness. It’s a desert with coast, there’s water and then no water, one side’s really wet and the other is really dry. The desert was pretty though. It reminded me of the badlands but with more trash.
We left Mancora and headed south towards the south. I can’t remember anything noteworthy happening between Mancora and here except my headphones broke. *sadface*.
Right now I’m at a beach in Trujillo looking for new headphones and writing a blog post. Trujillo is pretty cool (not in quotation marks). We got to see Simon Bolivar’s house and desk. I like houses that have courtyards. I saw the first “real” (there are some McDonald’s that are only ice cream stands here) McDonald’s since Florida here. I haven’t eaten a burger in a long time.
This blog post is over. Good bye, good day, have fun.
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