Huanchaco Huanchaco Huanchaco!

Having spent the day preparing for our first overnight bus trip-and recovering from the night before-we boarded the Peru bound bus in Loja on Saturday January 21st at midnight.  Although we truly enjoyed the beauty of Ecuador, salted corn street snacks and music playing garbage trucks (yes, they played music, jovial music, similar to that of an ice cream truck which was occasionally disappointing, but all in all entertaining), we thoroughly looked forward to our adventure in Peru.  Don´t ask me why, but up until this point all of our bus travels have included over the top violent, blood and guts type of movies.  It´s a strange South American bus thing I guess, so needless to say I was quite happy to be viewing The Zookeeper that night.  Absolutely ridiculous-yes, Over the top gory and violent-not so much, I´ll take it! The journey was nine hours to Piura, our first Peruvian city, with a boarding crossing at about 3:30 a.m.  Everything was very easy, except for finding a comfortable position to sleep and trying not to sweat to death with all that body heat and no air conditioning. At one point I think Mason actually had his head out the window.  Our most exciting aspect was waking up in the middle of the night to a family attempting to load the bus with boxes among boxes of what we assume was food and sitting next to a lady with a bag full of chickens.  That´s right.  Quite literally a bag full of live chickens.

In a cloud of dust and confusion we were kicked out of the bus on the side of the dirt road. Welcome to Piura!  Upon looking around we immediately decided that we should get the hell out of dodge-and quick! Not quite sure where we were going we started walking down the road in the direction of other backpack clad individuals.  After a long walk, and multiple unsuccessful ATM visits we finally found a bus company that had a daily bus departing for Trujillo at nine; we walked in at 8:50.  If there is one thing our travels down here have taught us it is patience.  Sometimes things just take a REALLY long time, and gettng worked up about it is not going to help.  So we waited, patiently in line watching the minutes tick away, but somehow managed to make the bus.

The scenery was not nearly has pleasant as the mysterious fog-ridden mountains of central Ecuador. The dry, desert climate, long straight roads and multiple garbage dumps we passed had us dreaming of reaching the ocean. After 6 hours, one (inevitable) gory movie, and seeing a few mirages that we swore were ocean waves, we arrived in Trujillo at 3:30 pm and were enjoying the last rays of the day, kicking back on the beach by 4:30 pm. Our hostel was set in a chilled out little beach town called Huanchaco, about 12 km north of the city of Trujillo where surfing was a way of live and daily hammock time was necessary.  The main drag, Ave La Rivera, followed the curve of the beach and was freckled with seafood joints, bars, hotels, hostels and surf shops.  After so many days battling rain and cold it was refreshing to relax on the beach, in the warm sun and take an occasional dip into the pacific ocean.

Traveling into the city was easy and cheap as little buses called combis drove the main avenue all day.  All you had to do was flag one down and hop on (very carefully as these too rarely stopped to load or unload passengers).  The fare was 1.50 Soles per person, which equals about 50 cents, and supported locals directly.  They usually filled up pretty quickly and were cause for standing room only.  One day while heading to Trujillo our combi took an unexpected turn and headed into the residential area of Huanchaco instead of straight for the city.  It was quite an eye opening experience to witness the real parts of town where locals reside and not the main area fancified for tourists and travelers.  The roads were dirt and filled with potholes and the houses were thrown together with whatever materials were around.  Suddenly our bus came jolting to a stop, breaking down on the side of the road. Confused we looked around wondering what was going on, but nobody else seemed to be too concerned.  The two drivers hopped out and began inspecting the engine (really just kicking it). Although it was somewhat difficult to see the reality of the town all I could hope was that the money we were spending there was benefitting the locals in some way.  While the drivers were fixing (kicking) the engine we did get to witness the locals in their real environment and not catering to tourists, which was refreshing.  There were playing children, happy exchanges and one women enjoying the day with her pet monkey-on a leash, drinking a juice box.  One of my favorite sites yet!

We coincided our trip with La Fiesta de la Marinera, a festival celebrating the national dance of Peru.  The Marinera is a graceful flirtation between two partners performed with handkerchiefs as props and gorgeous elaborate costumes.  The beautiful reenactment of a courtship represents a stunning blend of Spanish, African and Indigenous influences. Almost daily in Trujillo and Huanchaco we could catch dancers ranging from 6 to 60 years old gracing the streets with their elegant dance moves.  It was an awesome glance into one aspect of the deep culture native to Coastal Peru.  Our visit also happened to overlap with the World Cup Surfing Competition.  Overnight a large stage popped up on the beach as well as various sponsor tents, vendors and large inflated beer bottles decorating the area.  Although the waves were somewhat unimpressive it was fun to hang out and watch surfers, young and old, bobbing in the oceans and doing their best to carve her tide.

Although we did plenty of soaking in the sun (and both had the sunburns and weird tan lines to prove it), Trujillo is also rich in archaeological discoveries and we took some time to get out an explore the sites. Sitting slightly southest of the city lay two beautiful Moche temples dating back to 600 AD.  Although the Temple of the Sun is Peru´s largest pre-Colombian structure, it was ravaged for gold and silver by Spanish Conquistidors and left mostly destroyed.  The Temple of the Moon, however, has remained largely intact and is riddled with rooms containing large adobe brick walls with beautiful polychrome friezes.  This just blew us away! Each Moche priests that came into power covered the previous reigns designs with their own interpretation of the higher powers, so they are still continuing to peel away the layers of these extravagent murals.  The tour is operated by local students studying archaeology and anthropology and their focus is conservation not restoration, so all of the friezes are orginal!  It is amazing to think that only 20 years this site was merely a pile of dirt and they still have significant areas to excavate.  We also were lucky enough to catch site of a hairless Peruvian dog from the area.  These odd looking canines have abnormally high body temperatures and have been used for curing ailments such as stomach pain and asthma.



Walking around the temples and the city left us quite exhausted, but it was our last night in town and Mason saw a handmade flyer for some live music at a local bar so we decided to check it out.  The bar was called Mystika and definitely floated our vibe.  We were greeted by fire and sword juggling and a man selling vinyl records at the door.  It was tempting, but I resisted the urge to purchase Los Beatles! deciding it would be too difficult to carry around. The band consisted of four men playing a variety of instruments including three different drums, a flute, a charango-10 stringed Andean instrument made out of a armadillo shell, and some pan flutes.  Their entrancing notes of their traditional Peruvian music captivated us and our fatigue dissipated with the first song.  We danced in the middle of a crowded room full together with locals and tourists alike, spilling out into the streets and affecting the entire neighborhood with song.

The Southern Ecuadorian Highlands

We have truly found that traveling with a group is so much more convenient sometimes. In addition to the comradery, it just makes the hassle of lengthy bus trips more tolerable, instances that could be somewhat nerve-racking straight up comical, and- with our classic four person tag-team Spanish-conversations more comprehendable. 

Riding our state of nirvana after being pampered in Banos, the crew threw on our packs and headed south for Cuenca. The bus ride was about 7 hours total, but unfortunately included some backtracking and a layover in a small town called Ambato. The first leg of the trip went quite swimmingly, but let us off in a sea of chaos at our terminal in Ambato. By terminal I really just mean the side of a busy road, where we were rushed across the street in a terrifying backpacker version of frogger, very loudly and hurriedly assisted in purchasing bus tickets for the remainder of the ride, then told we had a few hours before the bus would arrive. Although we were a little confused we took the time to eat some lunch (chicken foot soup that helped Mason overcome some stomach sickness that he had incurred) and chill out on the side of the road chatting with some bus vendors. 

I really enjoy how everybody here can sell whatever they want.  I really do.  Some people may think that this sounds annoying and that folks would constantly hassle-or potentially hussle-you, but I look at it as embracing the entrepreneurial spirit in everyone.  Seriously, in the United States we have so many rules and restrictions that even to open a street corner hot dog cart entails taking out a loan, getting a food vending license, jumping through hoops, paying fees and all the like.  Here people make some delicious homemade empanas, or pick some fruit from a tree and then hop on the busses at the stops and walk up and down the aisles selling their goodies.  Then when the bus is beginning to depart they hop off (often when the bus is moving, that doesn´t seem to frighten people for some reason). And you know what, as someone who has been frequenting the busses, I often get hungry and it´s nice to have some options.  The folks we were hanging out with were so sweet too.  Just trying to make an honest living in whatever way they can.  They also saved our asses as we had our bags loaded and were ready to board the incorrect bus, and even gave us some food for the ride-just genuinely kind people.  We finally make it to Cuenca quite late at night (after nearly getting off in the wrong city) hungry, tired and with nowhere to stay.  Our trusty Lonely Planet lead us to a few hostels-all full-but luckily third times a charm and we found a place that could fit five haggard travelers.
Cuenca was a charming little city, that had a bit of a Europoean feel to me.  There were lots of plazas, cobble stone streets and we found the residents to be helpful-at least more so than Quito.  The weather was pretty wet for our duration, so a lot of our activities were in done during spirts of sun, and we found ourselfs ducking under canopies quite often.  Our traveling companions truly make us feel like a walking REI commercial.  We-having researched and prepared for rain and cold-came down geared up with waterproof boots, rain pants and coats, covers for our packs and quick dry clothes.  Neither Erik or Sandra, both traveling for multiple months, even have coats and Sandra´s only pair of shoes are an old pair of Chuck Taylors!  But we found a solution in some extra grocery bags as you can see in the photo....worked like a charm!  There were some great museums around the city and we visited a local modern art display (it´s just weird everywhere) and a cultural display of pre-Inca life which included Shrunken Heads!  The tradition of severing and shrinking heads is unique to the Amazon rain forest tribes known as the Jivaroan people of Ecuador and Peru.  It´s quite a ellaborate process as you may imagine, and the heads were commonly of enemies that caused harm to the tribe and were used as trophies or for ritual purposes. 

Here, Nadine met up with some of her friends the tiny Canadian Island she lives on.  They were renting an apartment for a month and invited us over for a dinner.  What an interesting bunch!  Willy and Leslie, her friends, met 40 plus years ago while traveling in India and have lived all over the world.  It was great to converse with them and really  feel a true sense of the traveling spirit.  We spend all night laughing and talking and truly pissing off the other residents of the complex with consisted mostly of older retired Americans that-as Nadine so delicately puts it-are just coming to Ecuador to die. 

Our crew split up in Cuenca with Erik, Sandra and us heading down to Loja for a night and then ready to cross over into Peru.  Knowing we were not going to be in the town long, we opted for a bit of a dumpy hostel with a bit of a hospital feel, but only costing us $5 a night.  Our time primarily consisted of wondering around and getting a feel for the bar scene, however as the night progressed we happened to stumble on a very random beauty pageant that was taking place in the main plaza.  Although this seemed quite weird and very random to us, everyone in town seemed to be out for the festivities and we were able to see some fabulous fire works.  Later we met a group of younger locals that informed us the celebration was for Saint Sebastion, and then proceeded to fill us full of hot fermented sugar cane juice that just so happens to be very good and very alcoholic.  The group really enjoyed their new gringo friends and had great conversations until the police kindly informed us, that pretty much everyone else had cleared the plaza and we should probably do the same.  On our way home we-almost literally-ran into a great little dive bar with a Black Keys-esque duo that just jammed!  We all immediately flocked to the dance floor and, as the only ones dancing, humored the band and added to the entertainment of the locals.  I couldn´t think of a better way to spend our last night in Ecuador.

Las Aguas de Baños

Happy to be moving on from the hussle and bustle of Quito we packed up our bags Thursday morning and headed for Baños with our new found traveling crew.  Sandra, from Germany, just finished University and has been traveling for the last five months; Erik, from Holland, is wondering around North and South America over the next year or so trying to figure out what he wants to do, but is pretty dead set on being a rock star; Nadine is a 60 year old women from a little Canadian island off of Victoria who takes off to travel the world every January (except the winter she was diagnosed with cancer in which she was sincerely pissed off that she had to cancel her ticket to Thailand-she is currently free and clear of the disease and back to adventuring!)  They all smoke like chimneys and each has a wicked, yet utterly enduring sense of humor.  They have truly become our traveling family.



The bus ride was quick and beautiful, crossing lush agricultural land.  It was cool to see the variety of crops in the area and we are sufficiently jealous of their rich, black soil.  Baños is a small town surrounded by high mountains and has every adventure sport you could think of available for the many tourists that paint the streets. Paragliding, mountain biking, bridge jumping, ziplines, canyoning whitewater rafting; you name it they provide it.  Since we are biking and rafting on our journey into Machu Picchu we decided to rent a dune buggie for a day to explore the roads and take in the breathtaking waterfalls and mountainous scenery.  It was quite an amazing experience.....except for getting passed by the busses that apparently don´t feel the need to slow down on curves or wait for oncoming traffic to pass...but minus those few close encounters we had an absolutely fabulous time!




Baños is also know for its hotsprings (hence the name) and multiple spas provided very inexpensive massages and various other treatments.  Since we would probably never treat ourselves-and could definitely never afford-luxerious pampering in the states we decided it would provide for a nice and relaxing afternoon. Was it ever!  We both received a mud exfoliation (pretty much they put clay on us and wrapped us in newspaper-surprising enjoyable) steam bath/cold water exchange (good for re-setting the central nervous system) and full body massages (need I say more?) Wow....all that coupled with our last nights visit to the hotsprings made for quite a relaxing few days.  The town also had quite a bustling night life with unique bars, crowded discotecs, and a surprising amount of Karaoke joints.  We found out quickly that our traveling crew loved to dance as much as we did which made for some really great nights of rocking out (in which we found our venting hiking shirts to be the perfect attire).

Another fun aspect here was exploring the extensive food markets and experiencing a lot more local cuisine.  There was a central mercado in the middle of town which had very inexpensive almuerzos (lunch) and a variety of juice, vegetable and meat stands.  Directly behind our hostel was a wild Sunday market which had probably every fruit and veggie you could imagine, chickens on leashes, enitire roasted pigs, and the famous roasted guinea pig-still pretty much fully intact, teeth and all. We didn´t try the guinea pig (Cuy) here, but I imagine we will before the trip is over.  Perhaps our two favorite street meals were fried plantanes with cheese and a dish consisting of large corn kernals, a bit of onion and tomato and pig fat for flavor. Don´t be fooled by the thought of straight pig fat....it was delicious! All in all Baños provided a wonderful few days.  It was nice to be able to relax and enjoy our surroundings and we´ll never forget the enjoyment of being surrounded by great food and getting swallowed up in the chaos of local exhanges.

South America Adventure-Part 1

After 23 hours, four airports, three flights and two very crooked necks we finally arrived in Quito, Ecuador Sunday Jan. 8 around 11:30 p.m.  Aside from the sheer duration of our trip, everything went very smoothly, and it was nice to touch down without any extra stresses-i.e. lost baggage, canceled flights, panic attacks due to my fear of flying.  That night we were looking forward to relaxing and getting good nights rest in an actual bed, but little did we know that our adventure would begin immediately upon stepping into an Ecuadorian taxi for transport to our hostel in Old Town.  It was a bit of a drive-25 minutes or so-and apparently red lights, driving lanes and traffic signs don´t really mean that much here!  Thank God there were handles in that cab, that´s all I have to say. Although, it was a bit...well...terrifying, it was also kind of thrilling speeding down the streets of a foreign country not knowing what will come around the next bend, or hell, if we´ll even make the corner, but it was a feeling I instantly embraced and it reminded me why I´ve missed traveling so much.

Our hostel was located in the historical district of Quito, which meant skinny cobble stone streets, non-existent sidewalks, and a plethora of churches.  We spent a good deal of time exploring this area and the deep history that seemed to ooze from the architecture.  The Central Plaza was a nice spot to hang out and mingle with some of the locals, and we found La Basilica, which rested in the middle of Old Town and was the tallest structure in the area. We were able to enter for $2 and climb up through the steeples, about six stories high.  This trek included multiple rickety ladders and unsteady spiral staircases, but it was well worth the view at the top.

The weather was a bit stormy for our duration in Quito, and we did endure a hell of a freak hail storm while wandering the streets one day. However, our last full day there brought out the sun and allowed us to venture up Volcan Pichincha, a volcano which rests just on the outskirts of town.  Recently Quito installed a $2.2 million Gondola Chairlift called the TeleforiQo to allow easier access to the top of the volcano.  My guess is they were tired of hauling off the multiple tourists that went down on the hike due to the extraordinarily high altitude (Quito sits at about 9,000 feet with the top of Pichincha resting at 15,000) The ride was beautiful and allowed for a spectacular view of the city and surrounding towns.  Two friends from our hostel joined us for the trek, Dominik from Poland and Ceci from Argentina.  Ceci´s spanish was a godsend for us and provided us an opportunity to practice our Spanish and her to practice her English. After descending from atop the volcano, we wandered around the Mariscal disctrict and visited the Artisan Market where we saw some of the beautiful crafts native of Ecuador.

Although we enjoyed the city atmosphere, Quito, like any city was a bit sketchy and dangerous to be out at night.  However, our hostel had a rooftop terrace, so most nights were spent conversing with fellow travelers. We met some amazing people from all over the world.  There is such a beautiful, unspoken connection between travelers.  It is an instantaneous friendship experienced by the similarity of feeling so small in a foreign place.  It was truly amazing to feel those bonds again.  I so frequently find myself reminiscing about other traveling experiences, and I love to send a thought out to those that experienced those times with me, and those I met along the way.  Although, I love those moments, I try to reflect only briefly and remind myself to stay in the moment as I know I am creating memories that I will cherish reflecting on in the future.