A rough start in Ecuador

We are back in South America from the States after about nine months of working and getting things in order “back home.” However, if there’s one thing we know now, it is that old cars don’t like sitting around. No matter how well maintained they are.

We flew into Quito, Ecuador just after Christmas and planned to spend a week or two in the city while we waited for the holiday madness to wear off which takes a while in Latin America. We learned this last year when we spent the holidays in Medellín, Colombia. Things don’t return to normal until roughly the second week of January.

The day after we got settled in to our airbnb in Quito, I hired our new uber friend driver (Israel) to take me up to the border of Colombia where we had the truck stored in a parking lot in Ipiales. The drive was very scenic and under normal circumstances would have taken about five hours driving north. Being that it was around the holidays, we ran into a few snags along the way. Local villagers along the route make make-shift road blocks along the way trying to score a few coins. Basically, they will block the road with whatever they can find; cinder blocks, used tires, tree branches, wheel barrows, chains, and even some kids with string that might as well be yarn strung across the highway. They will literally sit there until you crack your window and put a coin in their hands, a quarter is usually enough… until you run out. We got stopped roughly 20 times heading north and eventually ran out of change.

A side note: the currency in Ecuador is now officially the United States Dollar. The Ecuadorian Sucre went defunct to the tune of inflation in the year 2000 and is now used mostly for art. You find it all around the country, but never as currency.

We got to the truck in Ipiales, Colombia late afternoon and found the truck in pristine condition which was a sigh of relief. Though I’ve gotten a few pictures from the parking lot owner over WhatsApp from time to time, you never really know until you see with your own eyes. Everything was just how we left it, just a tad dirtier. Our Renogy 100 watt solar charger thrown on top of the carport kept the battery at 100%. The car cover we bought at Home Center in Calí, Colombia kept everything covered up and untouched/unseen, the humidity collection bags we hung from our ceiling net inside were all full of water. Things were great, and even better? When I turned the key, there was no hesitation whatsoever! Though, there was a HUGE cloud of dust that came from the engine bay which I had open from disconnecting the solar charger from the battery.

Israel hung out with me while I sorted things and we planned to drive back to Quito together after stopping for dinner in Tulcán, Ecuador (which we eventually did). We headed back to the border which is only a 5 minute drive from this parking lot, and stopped at “Aduana” which is the agency that handles taxes for Ecuador. You need to stop at every border crossing to get a temporary import permit, or “TIP” as widely known by travelers, which is usually isn’t a big deal, just some paperwork and you’re on your way. The problem for me was that I didn’t stamp my passport out of Colombia since I only planned to be there less than an hour and I was familiar with how relaxed the border crossing is in Ipiales. When I presented my title and passport to Aduana, they explained that the date on the passport needs to match the date of the “TIP”. Even though I’d only been in Ecuador 2 days, that wasn’t close enough. They instructed me to stamp out of Ecuador (which made me nervous since my family is in Ecuador) walk over to immigration in Colombia (5 min walk) and stamp in/out which can be done in 30 seconds, then return after the required two hour cool off period to stamp in to Ecuador and then return to Aduana for my “TIP”. Reluctantly, this is what I did, while Israel followed me around. For the two hour waiting period we took a trip in Israel’s car into Tulcán which is a border town in Ecuador. A day before New Year’s Eve, festivities were kicking off in a big way! This made for navigating the streets to his favorite restaurant in the town a bit of a hassle. It was worth it though! We were tired and hungry from the long day and it was now dark. We returned to the border after dinner and everything went as promised and we made our trip south caravanning the windy dark highway and finally reaching Quito around one in the morning. I left the truck at his house overnight since he had a fenced yard and he dropped me off at my airbnb to return to my family.

For the next week we took some day trips with our truck and enjoyed exploring the city and getting some errands done. After a few days of driving, the brakes went out. Like, completely out. Zero brakes. A drove the truck very slowly in first gear with my hazard lights on to a nearby shop that was recommended by a friend. They checked all of the brakes, and performed some maintenance but after a couple of days troubleshooting, my suspicions were confirmed. The ABS pump had died. Even in the states this would be a pain to get the part and here we are in the opposite hemisphere. Through some help from mechanics back in the states I was able to source the VERY expensive part and get it shipped to Ecuador. The shipping portion was to date, my most frustrating experience of my life. From extremely high costs, to an insane amount of paperwork for importing, it was just overall a miserable experience. In fact, it was easier to import the vehicle via shipping container which also had its own set of nuances.

A week in Quito turned into a month, which wasn’t all that bad really. We had fun with friends and explored some really neat areas.