SA 33: Hasta La Vista Ecuador, Onto Peru
I hitch a ride with my new Swiss friends Sara and Gian to Peru.
Introduction
Welcome to 1000 Miles South America. My goal is to run 1000 miles on every continent and I started my fourth on May 22, 2026. I finished running from volcano to volcano in Ecuador, climbing and skiing each one, on June 11, 2026. Now I’m continuing to run through Peru. Follow this blog or my Instagram for updates.
Ecuador Recap
Total Distance: 511.75 miles
Total Ascent: 119,559.28 ft
High point: 20,561 ft
Highlights: Cayambe (18,991ft), Antisana (18,891ft), Cotopaxi (19,347ft), Quilotoa (13,146ft), Chimborazo (20,561ft), Tres Cruces (14,104ft), Cajas National Park (13,000ft)
Trip Report
Summary: I hitch a ride with my new Swiss friends Sara and Gian to Peru.
The clock strikes July, and I’m forced to check my priorities here in South America.
I’ve been traversing Ecuador for almost 6 weeks and have only 6 weeks before coming back to the USA.
There are some places that I don’t want to leave South America without seeing, one in particular being the Cordillera Blanca.
Coincidentally, my new Swiss friends must drive to Peru immediately. Their 90-day Ecuador visa expires in two days. They tell me they will go straight to the Cordillera Blanca.
Rewind: I met Sara and Gian while hiking the Qapaq Ñan last week. They started driving south from the Northern tip of Canada in June 2024 and have been on the road over 2 years now. You can see their epic journey on Instagram @giasi.inviadi.
Do you have space in the car for another dude? I ask them. They do! I find myself on a serendipitous road trip with Sara and Gian. We have 22 hours of driving ahead of us.
Due to narco-trafficking, there is only one border station open between Ecuador and Peru: the coast. We descend out of the Andes.
We arrive at the border, and the heat attacks every square inch of my body. The hazy air puts me in a daze, and I wonder how humans live in these conditions. It’s hard for me to fathom how we drove just 2 hours in a car to get here when I’ve been almost exclusively above 8500 ft in the Andes for 6 weeks.
We arrive at the coast by sunset. The heat of the sun dissipates, and the breeze from the coast revives me. I swim in the ocean. Sara finds a Peruvian Booby, relative to the blue-footed booby.
breakfast on the sea
My friend from the office, Rory, told me about a nice left-break in northern Peru. Our route takes us right past it, and I ask Sara and Gian if we can stop to surf.
Punto Veleros is a cute town with a nicer beach and better surf breaks than neighboring Mancora where all the international tourists go. Here we only meet locals and Peruvian tourists.
The waves are small but breaking consistently in neat sets when I arrive, so I rent a paddle board instead of a surf board. Rocky, the owner of the rental stand, surfs everyday. He tells me the waves are small this time of year, but in January and February, the waves can be 3 meters (10ft) high. There’s even a “tubo”. He surfs with a 6’8” board when it’s big. Punto Veleros has 3 high quality reef breaks, all left, and then a couple beach breaks.
I’ve only SUPped (stand up paddled) a few times but thoroughly enjoy chasing these waves, just the right size for my ability.
This region is chock-full-o-left breaks, a goofy-footed paradise. Chicama, a bit further south, has the longest left-breaking wave in the world allegedly. We will head down tomorrow to investigate. A couple more days to the Cordillera Blanca.