What a great day!
Dana was feeling much better today and was finally able to eat something and keep it down. This morning we went on a 30 minute search for an internet cafe since our usual spot was closed and were able to talk to our families for a least a good hour. It was great to finally talk to and see my family. I know they were happy too.
After a long skype date we returned to the hostel for some tea before heading back out to market. The hostel is buzzing with people excited for Halloween. Apparently its a really big holiday here. Later today after a great lunch, we were on the search for day packs for our trip, sunglasses, and Dana wanted a hat...with llamas on it of course! We bargained all over the place and finally found some really good backpacks for pretty cheap. We also bargained for our sunglasses because people were asking just way too much for them, and this is how bargaining goes in Cuzco, South America: sunglasses were S/20 (about $7) a pair so we asked if we could get both of them for S/30. He said S/38 and eventually came down to S/35. When we pulled our money out of our pocket we had about 32 and some change and after a few pretty pleases and sad faces and of course a couple of laughs (the people behind the cash register thought it was hilarious) we got them both for S/32.30. Its a win win for everybody really because those stupid, cheap sunglasses should only cost about $2. After our shopping excapades, around 5 o´clock this afternoon, all the kids had come out in their Halloween costumes. Instead of saying ¨trick or treat¨they just say ¨halloween!¨ Its so cute. We bought a bag of candy and handed it out to the little kids all over the square. They were all so happy and laughing and we couldn´t stop smiling. We also watched a cultural fair type show. There was a big stage set up in front of the old cathedral in the main square, and while people were playing their traditional instruments and singing there were dancers in traditional dress doing several different routines. Most all of the couples danced with little handkerchiefs, men and women. Finally, we went back to the restuarant we were at last night, Jack´s, and now that Dana was able to eat we had amazing nachos, a warm fudgie brownie with chocolate shavings and icing, and a vanilla milkshake to officially celebrate her birthday.
Even though we´re really not going to be able to celebrate Halloween in constumes and socialized drinking, we enjoyed this Halloween immensely, handing out candy to adorable Peruvian children, enjoying the folk dances and songs of Peru, and having some good old fashioned chocolate and icecream.
We leave tomorrow morning at 6AM for our 5 day trek to Machu Picchu so there will not be a post for several days. There will be many, many pictures and much more stories to tell when we get back. Thanks for following along!
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Friday, October 30, 2009
Day 19-20: Cusco, Peru
The first two full days here in Cusco we took it easy. I woke up on Thursday morning feeling a bit better and ready to check out the town. We had a fair bit of things to take care of for the trek. No one had joined our 9 day trek so we decided to do a 5 day one instead leaving this Sunday. It is an alternative route to Macchu Picchu so it is less crowded. We are going with a Dutch couple, which will be saving us a lot of money. We just have to get some more warm weather stuff, sunglasses, and small daypacks to carry our stuff in. We ended up walking about 6 miles back and forth to the trek agency sorting things out. I guess it is good practice for the trek.
Last night we decided to go to the bar and hang out for a bit. They had an activity going on where if you draw a skeleton, you get a free bottle of Champagne. Ours was pretty awesome and ended up on the front door. It had a tophat and a cigar. Afterwards we went out for a little with some people to dance. It was a pretty good time.
Today is my birthday... woo hoo the big 22! Unfortunately I spent the day in the bathroom and in bed. I think tea that I had at this one little place didn´t boil the water. Getting dehydrated up here is 10x worse. I took two naps and tried to drink lots of water; hopefully I will recover by Sunday. I think I feel well enough now to go out with Allison and get some soup. Maybe I will be able to hangout and watch the band they have here at the hostel tonight.
Wish me luck
Last night we decided to go to the bar and hang out for a bit. They had an activity going on where if you draw a skeleton, you get a free bottle of Champagne. Ours was pretty awesome and ended up on the front door. It had a tophat and a cigar. Afterwards we went out for a little with some people to dance. It was a pretty good time.
Today is my birthday... woo hoo the big 22! Unfortunately I spent the day in the bathroom and in bed. I think tea that I had at this one little place didn´t boil the water. Getting dehydrated up here is 10x worse. I took two naps and tried to drink lots of water; hopefully I will recover by Sunday. I think I feel well enough now to go out with Allison and get some soup. Maybe I will be able to hangout and watch the band they have here at the hostel tonight.
Wish me luck
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Day 18: Cusco, Peru
The 15 hour bus ride was a bit grueling. Thank goodness we had motion sickness pills which knocked me out and I didn´t feel sick as the bus rocked back and forth around the mountains. The distance from Nazca to Cusco isn´t that far, but the bus had to go really slow on the mountain roads. Needless to say we were really excited when we got off the bus.
The altitude hit us more than we thought it would (little sleep didn´t help.) The air is so thin, we would walk up some stairs and be out of breath. To get to our hostel we had to hike up about 20 stairs, and with our packs on it felt like a million. As soon as we got to our cozy beds we took a nap and a much needed shower. Later in the afternoon we explored the town a bit and found a bite to eat. The town is really awesome; a tasteful combination of old Incan and newer Colonial architecture. However I had the spins at lunch from the altitude, so I held on to the table until I felt better, haha. The good thing is I think we are adjusting and should hopefully feel 100% by the time our trek starts.
Andeas mountains:1
Allison and Dana:0
The altitude hit us more than we thought it would (little sleep didn´t help.) The air is so thin, we would walk up some stairs and be out of breath. To get to our hostel we had to hike up about 20 stairs, and with our packs on it felt like a million. As soon as we got to our cozy beds we took a nap and a much needed shower. Later in the afternoon we explored the town a bit and found a bite to eat. The town is really awesome; a tasteful combination of old Incan and newer Colonial architecture. However I had the spins at lunch from the altitude, so I held on to the table until I felt better, haha. The good thing is I think we are adjusting and should hopefully feel 100% by the time our trek starts.
Andeas mountains:1
Allison and Dana:0
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Day 16-17: Nazca, Peru

Nazca is noisy! There are always dogs barking in the street, people honk their horns at EVERYTHING, and street vendors have megaphones projecting what they are selling.
We just got back from flying over the Nazca lines. If you don´t know what they are, they are ancient drawings in the Nazca desert. They date back to 300BC and no one knows who made them or what their purpose is, although there are different theories. We went up in a 8 man cesna plane and the flight itself was only about 30 minutes. The plane banked very hard to the right and left and a couple of people felt very sick, Dana included. Our hostel that we stayed at here has been the worst yet unfortunately. We slept in a plywood box pretty much and there is only 2 bathrooms for the entire hostel. The roof top is well decorated with paintings, pictures of Che Guevarra, wicker furniture and is open air which is nice but everything else we had to struggle through.

Tonight we are taking a bus up to Cuzco. Dana, Isabelle, and I all opted for the first class bus on which we get dinner and breakfast and they play good movies too. The seats will be very wide and leather and will be more comfortable on our 18 hr. ride up to Cuzco. (We felt like we deserved it after our ordeal in Nazca.) Jorge is taking the second class bus which is still nice but leaves later at night. Honestly, Dana and I can´t wait to get up to Cuzco. We´ve heard such good things. Also it will be good for us to have a couple of extra days to acclimate to the altitude. The city is 11,152 feet above sea level and will take several days for us to get used to.
All in all, seeing the Nazca lines was definitely worth the $45 and if you´re down here you might as well do it, but my advice to someone in the future would be to come in early, take the flight and enjoy it, and then leave Nazca behind. We´re ready to get out of the sandbox!
Monday, October 26, 2009
Day 14-15: Huacachina, Peru

From Lima Jorge, Isabelle, Allison, and I all rode down on a very nice bus to Huacachina. Huacachina is an oasis in the middle of the desert. Our Hostel was very nice. The pool was clean as were the rooms and the showers were hot! We met another girl who was staying in our room, Crystal- she is from Canada and is doing volunteer work in Brazil. She was killing time in Huacachina while she waited for her visa.
Sunday morning we all woke up and ate our breakfast pool side. (We try and find hostels in which breakfast is included. In Peru, breakfast normally consists of some sort of bread, butter, jelly, coffee, and juice.) There were two very loud parrots that were in the palm trees next to our table that kept saying ¨¡Hola!¨ Later that morning we had a brilliant idea to hike up one of the sand dunes behind our hostel just to get a good look at the dessert and our oasis. It was really hard to treck up just sand and our calves burning as we all tried to hold our sandals on our feet because the sand was so hot. The view from the top was great and well worth it though. Our little trek made us really appreciate the buggy ride we would have later.


The reason most tourists stop by Huacachina is for sandboarding. Our trip left out at 4pm. We all climbed in our 10 man sandbuggy and took off into the desert. Our first driver was having a little too much fun because he blew out the suspension and he had to call us in another buggy. We had such a blast being thrown around the desert, going straight up one mountain side to come down almost vertically on the other. They stopped at the top of 4 or 5 large drops to let us go down on our boards. They were supposed to resemble snowboards but they were pretty much plywood and plastic. It worked though! They waxed up our boards and after trying to go down on my feet the first time, which was pretty slow moving, everybody decided to go down on their belly and it was much faster and more fun. Of course we got sand everywhere! It was in our face, up our nose, down our shirt, in our pockets and shoes. Totally worth it though. There was even an older couple who took the trip and the man was almost always the first to take the hill. It was great! After two hours they drove us to see a spectacular view of the sunset. The ride back was just as fun as the ride there. The drivers probably love their jobs, driving crazy in a desert dunebuggy all day. It was a lot of fun.

Saturday, October 24, 2009
Day 13: Lima, Peru
We were in transit most of the day, from Cuenca, Ecuador to Lima, Peru. We woke up of course to the rooster at 7 am and attempted to rest some more. That proved to be challenging with the noises all around. We had decided before we left for the trip to fly from Cuenca to Lima. The bus ride would have been over 30 hours, so I think we made the right decision. We had to haggle with the taxi guy because they were trying to rip us off at the airport in Lima, but with my wonderful skills of haggling we got the right price to get to our hostel.
The hostel we are staying at is really nice. It is kind of on a noisy street, but the hot water and super comfortable bunkbeds make up for it. The owner of the hostel is turing 27 so there was a party on the rooftop terrace where their bar is. We checked it out but retired early. All we could think about was waffles, fruit, and coffee for breakfast. We are on to Huacachina tomorrow.
The hostel we are staying at is really nice. It is kind of on a noisy street, but the hot water and super comfortable bunkbeds make up for it. The owner of the hostel is turing 27 so there was a party on the rooftop terrace where their bar is. We checked it out but retired early. All we could think about was waffles, fruit, and coffee for breakfast. We are on to Huacachina tomorrow.
Day 10-12: Back on the mainland. Cuenca, Ecuador

We made it safe and sound to Cuenca, Ecuador. Its the third largest city in Ecuador but has such a wonderful charm to it. Cuenca is a great example of how the past and the present mingle together; there are plenty of churches and cathedrals that were built during the Spanish Colonial era as well as the much more modern malls and Victoria´s Secret stores. Our hostel is right downtown called La Casa Naranja. Its actually an old colonial house that has been restored. It had very high ceilings and you had to walk outside to get to the bathroom. Our room itself smelled aweful like urine and there was no way to air it out because there were no windows so we burnt a candle when we were in there. But there was hot water! Actually every place we´ve stayed so far has had hot water (except for the boat in the Galapagos) so that hasn´t been an issue yet.


Every morning we woke up to a rooster crowing way too loud, way too early. He was obviously confused because he started to crow around 3:30 in the morning. We started the days early and walked around the city. There were so many little shops everywhere. The bread shops were my favorite to walk by because they smelled so good. There are little stores for everything; suits, bread, icecream, and convenience stores. One day a girl named Sofia, native to Cuenca, randomly walked up to us and started a conversation and showed us where the market was to buy indeginous goods. Dana bought a really cute woven purse and I bought a white linen shirt that had been hand embroidered. We basically did a lot of walking and bargaining for fun. The last night we went out for cuy. Its the delicacy of Ecuador and Peru, geniue pig, and yes we ate it. It had the head and eyeballs and teeth all still there! It actually wasn´t a bad texture for meat but we agreed that we didn´t like the way it was seasoned and will not eat it again probably. We tried to go out to some bars or discotecas with a guy we met who was staying at our hostel, but it just seemed like everyone was hanging out outside so we bought a bottle of rum and a 3 liter of coke for $4 and went back to the Hostel. It was a quiet night of sharing stories.


We are now in Lima, Peru and are traveling about three hours south to Ica tomorrow. We´ll be staying there for 4 or 5 days. Apparently there is sand boarding on the itnerary? We´re excited. We also met back up with our friend from Quito, Jorge, who´s going with us as well as a girl from Holland who wants to tag along.
Thanks for following along--more pictures to come!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)