And we thought this would be uneventful.

San Ignacio is about 50km from the border and it is a paved road on the Peru side so it is a easy ride and relatively quick which gives us an early start on the Ecuador side which is not paved and may have a bridge washed out.

After a quick breakfast we make our way to the border expecting to find the same officer we took a picture of last time. He is not working today but the officer recognized him in our photo and had a good laugh. The Peru side of the border was quick, a short visit to immigration and them to Aduana and we were done in less than 30 minutes.

The Ecuador side was very slow as the Aduana officer had to phone in our info and dictate the spelling of our names and serial numbers for the bikes. This has to be very accurate as well because whoever was on the other end of the phone was filling in our paperwork and then it was emailed to the border, printed, signed by us and the officer,  then we were free to go. This process took about 1.5hrs, but it was still early in the day so we were not worried.

The weather has been dry here so we do not have to contend with mud, just loose rocks and ruts from when it was wet. It is slow going as the road switch-backs up out of the valley and then dropping down into another valley on the other side. This process repeats a couple of times and people live and farm on the valleys steep slopes. It still amazes us where they grow corn, grains, and vegetables.

The ride gets a little exciting on one particular curve as I meet a small SUV, I have made the mistake of being on the inside of the left hand curve and as you can probably guess, this time I could not react fast enough. I grabbed for the clutch and brake at the same time in an attempt to stop and the driver did the same, we skidded towards each other and after a bit of crunching sound we came to a stop. 

So my bike is now on its side, the front tire under the truck, but I am fine as I only banged my leg on the handlebar. Once again all that hot, sweaty riding gear saved my bacon.

So, this is a first. I have to negotiate with the SUV driver about how much damage I have caused to his little vehicle. Turns out a new trim piece for a Suzuki Gran Vittara in Ecuador costs about $700, painted red to match of course. Knowing full well that it was my fault for being on the wrong side of the road I had to accept the quote over the phone as accurate, pay the guy, and get on with fixing my bike. Once again the radiator is busted and leaking coolant. I have been here before, I manage to slow the leak this time but the core aluminum part is punctured and the fan is pretty much destroyed.

Zumba is only a few kilometers away so the decision is made to ride into town and see if we can get it fixed better. There is a mechanic shop just as we enter town and an auto parts store beside that, things were looking up. The mechanic could not do anything about the radiator but he did have an torch so that I could heat the handlebar and straighten it out.

First attempt using pure force to straighten the handlebar.

Ah, that is better, a little heat instead of horsepower.

I bought some coolant from the store and decided to limp the bike the last 100km into Vilcabamba, which is a little bit bigger and a much nicer spot to be stuck for a couple of days if required. This plan worked well for the most part, the high mountain pass provided nice cold weather and a bunch of rain which helped to keep the engine cool. The temperature light came on/off a few times but nothing to worry about. The other lucky item is that the bridge has been repaired and we did not require the four hour jungle detour like the last time we were here.

This was two logs the last time we were here.

Another document check due to proximity to border.