Triple Trouble

OMG I cannot believe that it is already June! Time flies when you´re having fun and fun is exactly what we have been having. My apologies for not updating sooner, but we´ve been moving pretty fast and internet is not always the easiest to come by, so now I´m here and I want to update you on everything that I´ve been doing for the last two plus weeks.

We left Lima after Sarah´s birthday and headed up the coast to the city of Trujillo, but we didn´t actually stay there. Instead we took a taxi out to the surf village of Huanchaco. We were very excited to finally be on the beach after spending the last month or so in the mountains. Unfortunately, our excitement was short lived because the weather there turned out to be cloudy, chilly and a little windy. We filled our time there though. A man at the hostel we were staying at told us about a local cerviche place that we had to try. It wasn´t on the map and we had to follow his very vague directions and asking the locals who eventually led us right to the door, we enjoyed Peru´s best cerviche. The only disappointment from the day was that the man who told us about the restaurant told us not to take our cameras for safety and now I have no documentation of this delicious meal. I also do not have docmentation of the events that followed including Sarah learning to juggle with the rastafarians on the beach or me getting one of those dirty traveller braids put in my hair. There is even a shell on the end of it. It wasn´t all fun and games as we did experience a little culture in Huanchaco too by visiting the Pre Inca site of Chan Chan.


Continuing up the coast we made our last stop in Peru to the surfer hot spot of Mancora. We decided here to Loki it up. Loki is a chain of party hostels in Bolivia and Peru that we had heard a lot about but had never stayed in one. This Loki was like a resort, a big pool in the center surrounded by the rooms on one side and the massive bar on the other. Needless to say we had a really excellent time at the Loki. Oh and its also right on the beach. Our first day there I enjoyed breakfast at a nearby restaurant that actually had french toast with real maple syrup, I could not have been happier. I am starting to realize right now that a lot of my blogging is about food. I love to eat and really I just love food so bear with me. Mancora was intense and the Loki was great, but its a vortex I´ve decided. They want you to eat, drink and not sleep at the Loki and once you get in you can´t get out. We did get out but Sarah and I were happy to extended our stay there since Amanda was very sick and didn´t get to experience the Loki in all its goodness.


Ready to move on to Ecuador we boarded a bus to take us to the border. I was a little nervous about crossing the border since its meant to be the worst border in South America. It turned out to be fine, it took a little longer than some of the other border crossings, but no questions asked. Our first stop in Ecuador was to the colonial town of Cuenca. We arrived at night not having a hostel booked and just went with the first one we saw at the bus station. It was alright, no one else was staying there and that gave it a haunted like feel. Cuenca the city was beautiful. The architecture was stunning and very well preserved. The whole city was named a UNESCO World Heritage city a few years ago and you can tell why. We spent most of the day wandering the city and adjusting to using the US dollar as the currency. The highlight of the day was when we went into this shop that makes and sells Panamaian hats. Turns out they are really from Ecuador and were misnamed a century ago. In this shop this little old man shakes all of our hands and takes up stairs to his little shop filled with the hats. He measures our heads to find a hat that fits us and knows exactly which hat will look the best on us. The only thing I could relate it to is in Harry Potter when the wandmaker helps Harry choose his wand. Yes, I´m that cool to make a Harry Potter reference. Anways, it was a totally awesome experience and I couldn´t walk away without a hat and obviously I look good in it.


We left the next day for Baños, but first stopping at the largest Inca site in Ecuador, Ingapirca. After Machu Picchu nothing really holds the coin, but it was great to see the Inca face craved into the side of the mountain. We´ve seen them before, but were never able to get this close or to see one with Inca eyelashes.

We had an interesting bus experience trying to get to Baños. Instead of going to the bus station or terminal, we stood on the side of the road waiting for a bus to go by that said Quito since that was the right direction and just get on that. It reminds of older movies where people just get on and off at random stops. The bus ride itself was terrible, very curvy and very fast in the mountains. I could not have been happier to arrive in Baños in one piece.

I have to giggle a little bit every time I think about that I was in a town that is called bathroom. Obviously there is a reason for it, there are thermal springs under the city from the area volcanos. Speaking of volcanos, in case you missed it, the Tungurahua volcano just outside of Baños erupted last Friday and guess who was there to see it. This girl. It was amazing. We took a taxi up to a viewpoint at night and just stood there watching it. We could see the red lava pouring down the volcano and sparks shooting out of the top. Luckily, the ash didn´t really cover Baños and we did not have to be evacuated from the city as we feared.

Baños was a really great city with many adventure activities to choose from. I choose to rent one of this buggys and drive up the ´waterfall road.´ It was awesome! I rented it with this Australian guy and we had a blast. It was raining for a little bit while we were driving, but that made it more fun. We stopped at one waterfall and took a cable car across the river to get closer, it was a little scary to be suspended over the river but it turned out to be really cool. We visited another waterfall that we had to hike down to that was called something about the devil. I´ve never seen such powerful water. Both of us were very impressed and stared at it for about five minutes just in awe. We were having such a great time on the buggy we ended up returning it an hour later than we were supposed to have it!

In Baños, we were trying to decide where to go next in Ecuador and how to plan the rest of our trip and when to fly back to Brazil. After much discussion, Amanda, Sarah and I decided to split up for a few weeks before meeting in Bogota mid-June to fly back to Brazil. Amanda and Sarah went into the jungle in Ecuador and I decided to keep moving north into Colombia. First though, we had to go to Quito.

I arrived in Quito before Amanda and Sarah traveling with two Danish girls that had been with us since Huanchaco. Quito the city is massive. Its built between the mountains and the length of the city is unbelievable. The main thing that I wanted to do in Quito was visit the middle of the earth, the equator. We had to take a few buses to get up there and it was super touristy when we actually go there, but now I can say that I´ve been to the equator. Also in Quito, one of my friends from high school, Audrey Raemisch, has been living there for the past two years so we met up for lunch one day. It was good to see here and get in a little Waunakee gossip.

I saw a little more of the city too in Quito. The old town of the city is really cool and Sarah and I spent the afternoon there. We went to the top of the Basilica overlooking the city. We had to climb these really steep steps to get to the top, but the view was worth it. We also tried to find a local handicrafts market but instead ended up in a dodgy area and then got caught in the rain on our way back to the metrobus. Its really always an exciting day for us!

I left the next day for Colombia while Amanda and Sarah stayed an extra day in Quito before going into the jungle. I decided against taking the bus to Cali in Colombia by myself and instead took my first internal South American flight. It was only an hour flight, but it was really bumpy and I was happy to land in Colombia. I feel like a real badass being in Colombia too since its the only country in South America that the US State Department has a travel warning against. So far so good though. I arrived at the hostel in Cali and it turned out I had a four person dorm for myself. Very exciting to have a room to myself after three months of sharing. Some friends that I had met before were staying there too. I´m so glad that I flew into Colombia too after listening to their 26 hour bus journey!

In the morning, we spent the day walking around Cali. It not that exciting of a city, but we tried some local food and drink from the street and just absorbed the new country. It much more developed than Bolivia, Peru, and Ecuador and kind of reminds me of Brazil except they speak Spanish. It was really hot in Cali and it looked like it was going to rain so we decided to go to the movies and saw Robin Hood. About 5 minutes into the movie, the older couple next to me starts talking to each other and realize they are in Robin Hood and they thought they were going to see Prince of Pershia.

The main reason I wanted to go to Cali was that its supposed to be the salsa city of Colombia. Everyone wanted to go out, but it was a Tuesday night. We tried. The first place we went to was full and the second place was very lame and the third place was alright, but at that point we were tired and decided to call it a night after a bit. When we arrived back at the hostel, the woman working behind the desk had had a few drinks and decided she would just teach us salsa in the courtyard. It was fun, but I still don´t think I have the hips for salsa.

I had to get up early the next day to get on my plan to Cartagena. I arrived without a hitch and met another girl who I had met in Baños. We walked around the Old City that is all walled in to protect the city from pirates. It is sooooo hot! I´m so lucky that I have a room with air conditioning, seriously I don´t think I´ve been this hot since Thailand!

Today we went to a volcano that instead of being filled with lava is filled with mud. At the top you go into a mud bath and these old men massage you while you are in it. Super strange, but really fun. Then after the mud bath you go down into the lake and women help you clean the mud off. Surprisingly the men are very gentle and the woman very rough. On the way back to the city we stopped at a beach and swam in the Caribbean Sea, it felt like bath water, so nice. We had a private walking tour tonight around the walls of the city with a man who we think works at our hostel, but we aren´t sure. It was nice to see the city at night, very romantic!

Anyways, I´m getting kicked out of the internet cafe. I´m taking a bus tomorrow to Santa Marta and then wherever I can in the next 2 weeks in Colombia!