The first Inca Kola and Ceviche Peruano

After visiting the beautiful colonial city of Cuenca we headed towards the Ecuador-Peru border. We planned to spend a few days relaxing on the beach whilst making our way down to Lima where we were going to pick up some new overlanders. All was going well, the group was getting along amazingly. As a former psychology student I found interesting the fact that a newly-formed group could form a group identity in such a short time. I guess it's a matter of circumstances as well as the fact that we were all there for a common purpose. Personally I felt really pleased with the overlanding experience; a good surprise, considering that i expected to hate it, and I thought I would have considered the truck as a mean to get fro A to B rather than a 'common space' for the group, the place where we got together and got to know each other.

Peru looked completely different from Ecuador since the beginning. Gone were the verdant mountains and valleys, Peru was barren and dusty. The north of the country was incredibly dreary, a flat expanse of sandy desert and rocky terrain. Gone were the 'ooh' and 'aah' of amazement around every bend whilst driving. And how about Peruvians? After spending a month in Ecuador we kept hearing bad things about Peruvians, that they were dodgy thieves and so on. Indeed in Quito we were mugged by two Peruvians. Why this animosity? I guess partly it's due to the Peruvian-Ecuadorian war in the 1940s, or maybe it's just heritage of the continuous bickering that happens between two neighbouring countries, such as France and England? I wouldn't know to be honest.

In my opinion, I felt welcome both in Peru and Ecuador. Although, I have to say, not as welcome as in Brazil or Argentina. In the South American west I felt like a 'gringa', a foreigner. Not that I expected to be treated like a local, but at times I felt locals considered tourists merely as a source of income, rather than genuinely wanting to make them feel welcome. However, this was only my experience in a handful of occasions, by no means do I wish to generalise this statement to the whole of these two countries. If I was to find differences between Peru and Ecuador, I'd probably say Ecuadorians are far more Americanised. It may be due to the fact that Ecuador uses the US dollar as a local currency, ot to the fact that many Ecuadorians I spoke to spent some of their formative years in the States. The fact is, most Ecuadorians I met saw the USA as the model to follow. Conversely, Peruvians seemed more disillusioned about politics, thinking all politicians are corrupt anyway. Maybe the Fujimori decade is the reason for that? Once again, I can't tell.

On a different note, the time spent on the beach in the north of Peru was really enjoyable. We camped on the beach in the tiny village of Punta Sal, near Mancora. There's something special about sleeping on the beach, under the stars, and waking up every morning to jump in the sea. I was finally able to try the original ceviche, not the Ecuadorian rip-off (according to Peruvians, I still thought it was nice). I have to say, the Peruvian version is far superior. You get a plateful of fish, not a bowl of soup. The fish is marinated in lime juice and served ultra-fresh topped with chillies and onions, with an accompaniment of sweet potatoes annd corn. A dish that I will try to introduce to introduce my family to. Will it work in the north of Italy ass well as it did in the north of Peru?

At the border city of Tumbes I had my first encounter with the drink that was going to be defining my time in Peru. Inca Kola is a bright yellow soft drink, incredibly sweet and full of caffeine. I don't know how to describe the taste; some say it's like bubblegum, others compare it to creaming soda. For me it's just Inca Kola, a godsend for hangovers, heat and altitude. I bough my first one right on the border, with my last dollar coins. And my last one? Bought on the Peru-Bolivia border, I carried it through Bolivia, Argentina, Chile and New Zealand, and I drank it on Christmas Day. It didn't feel right though. we weren't in Peru.