The birthplace of my hammock obesssion

I have always loved hammocks, but Puerto Lopez, Ecuador really solidified that feeling. Throughout the rest of the trip I was always on the verge of buying one, but I never did, I was able to resist the shopping temptation for once. Looking back, not buying one was a poor decision. Puerto Lopez is this little beach town that sits just south of the amazing Machilia National Park. We stayed there for 4 nights and 5 days. I definitely could have stayed there longer, and this was one of the reasons why:

Sunsets looked like this every night

Or they looked like this

The hostel we were at was also pretty prime. I just really loved the vibe of the whole place. It looks like a place you would stay at during summer camp in a really tropical location, not that I ever went to summer camp, but it's what I imagined it to be like, cabins and bunk beds and long tables and hammocks everywhere. The hammocks! Each room had it's own hammock directly outside the room AND there was a rooftop that had nothing but hammocks, perfect for watching sunsets, hanging out and listening to music, chatting, sleeping, whatever.

One section of the super rad hostel

After we settled into our new digs, Briana, Edgar, Christian, and I headed out to explore the town, all 5 blocks of it. The "main drag" was right on the waterfront and has a ton of restaurants and tourist agencies, but it was all super low key, I don't even know if that street had a name. It wasn't like some over developed tourist trap, it was a little semi-paved road where pedestrians and bicyclists ruled. We soon nicknamed Edgar our tour guide, our resident Ecuadorian had actually done some volunteering in Puerto Lopez saving baby turtles! (I'm going to do that, I need to do that). Being the great tour guide that he was, Edgar led us to a restaurant named Spoldylus. Delicious and cheap, my kind of place. We frequented it quite often, as in every day at least once a day. They had these AMAZING fresh fruit juices in all kinds of flavors, the best though: Maracuya a.k.a passion fruit, OMG!  They always took forever to make though, so we were convinced that the owners we actually going and chopping down the fruit to make our smoothies that fresh (most likely not the case, but just bear with me).

Days 1 and 2 = being a beach bum. Wake up at whatever time, head to the beach, tan/read, swim, eat, tan/read, swim, get annihilated by a wave and get my nosering ripped out, tan/read, eat, drink beer (that was more of a continual process, don't judge me, the hostel was selling 3/4 liters for $1!!), and repeat the next day (without the nosering incident). It wasn't until day three that we forced ourselves to get up early, 8am, and hop on a boat to Isla de la Plata!

Isla de la Plata

Blue-footed booby!

Isla de la Plata is the poor man's Galapagos, minus the giant tortoises (tear). You get to see all the other cool stuff though, like amazing island beaches and blue footed boobies! We did a hike of the island, after an hour boat ride, and saw so many birds! There was a narrow path that we had to walk on, and the boobies were not exactly thrilled to have to share with the humans. Every couple feet there was another in the path squaking (is that what they do?) at us, it was kind of scary having to pass them because the guide said they sometimes bite! AH! The birds weren't biting that day, but the bee-relative-deamon-creatures definitely were! Those things were seriously so annoying, their sting HURTS not just a little, like a lot, but as soon as they leave the pain goes away and there is no mark. Smart little effers, they leave no evidence of the damage they do. Anyway, I got over the bee things as soon as we were back on the beach and heading to the snorkeling location. I GOT TO SWIM WITH SEA TURTLES!!!!! My excitement cannot be expressed in words, it was just the coolest thing ever. Favorite animals. So magestic. Incredible. I tried to follow one, but it was really fast :/ Overall it was just a really great day. Definitely a highlight of the trip for me.

Demon spawn bee things, look at that stinger!

The next day, the plan was to go to Machilia and enjoy some of the beautiful sights. Let's just say that it wasn't as great as the day before. Apparently in South America ceviche is a breakfast food, so I decided to "do as the romans do" and eat it for breakfast. Before this day, I kept saying I couldn't do it because I would get sick, welp, that's exactly what happened. We took a bus to the entrance to the park and then walked about 40 minutes from the entrance to the beach. Right about then I started feeling really icky and as soon as we made it to the beach a layed down and curled up in a little ball. Not too much later I had to run to the bushes to get it all out of my system. I hate throwing up, I hate it! It is so vile and disgusting, but it did make me feel a litter better. Unfortunately the rest of the day I couldn't really appreciate the perfectly-perfect, desolate, white-sand beach because I was trying to catch some Zs and not feel like crap. On the way back to town, we ended up taking a mototaxi. 4 grown adults squished in the back of a mototaxi slowly making it's way down the highway, I would have loved to see what we looked like because it was sure to be ridiculous.

Up, up, and away! (Take 2)

I think one reason why I liked Ecuador so much was because it kept surprising me. There seemed to be so many "only in South America" moments and those are the moments I cherish the most. One of those would have to be my crash take-off for parasailing. Different than paragliding in Lima because this time we were pulled by a boat. So what do I mean by crash take off? Well, that I crashed about 2 seconds after I took off. Basically the "forgot" to strap me in on the right side. As soon as I took off from the beach I knew something was wrong, I looked to my right and saw the clip just hanging out, not doing it's job. The following thought process happened in about 3 seconds: (hear the emergency whistle from the beach) that's not a good sound-I guess they won't let me keep going-how am I gonna land?-it might hurt- ehhhh, I'll be fine, it's not like this is terribly dangerous or anything- ooooooo there's that stomach free falling feeling- great here comes the water- brace yourself- I wonder if they will let me try again because I'm pissed I didn't really get to do it!- ok try not to break any bones upon landing-CONTACT! But everything was totally fine, I didn't feel it at all. I think my adrenaline was pumping and I was able to stay remarkably calm. Then the entire freaking beach comes running up to me to see if I'm ok and the first thing I do is ask if I can go again hahaha. I really love that story, but that's probably because I made it out with nothing but a few scratches. So I went again not more than 10 minutes later, they triple checked all the straps and everything and then I was off! Parasailing in pure bliss. I liked it better than paragliding because I was by myself and there wasn't an awkward instructor attached to you.

All that happened in the morning, later that night Briana were back on a bus, headed for Quito. Such a nice bus! I was a little wary, but it turned out to be one of the nicest that we took. There was air conditioning! Night busses really are the way to go, you don't have to pay for a hostel that night and you get to sleep while you move from one location to another, just avoid them in Peru.

Iguanaville

The Catedral

21 hours after we left Trujillo, Peru we arrived in Guayaquil Ecuador. It normally should not take that long to get there, but once we had crossed the border into Ecuador the bus kept stopping to pick up people on the side of the freeway. I mean I guess it's cool that the bus is down to help the people out who need a ride, but it was slowing us down! Even though we had just been sitting for hours we were dead tired when we got to Guayaquil, the traveling just wipes you out. As we pulled into the bus terminal I saw these shining golden arches, I looked at Briana and she had the same look in her eye, we were going to McDonalds. I must say, those chicken nuggets, whatever they are made of, had never tasted so delicious. The food down here is really incredible, but sometimes some good old american fast-food is what hits the spot.

So much cooler than the catedral

When we left the terminal it was so HOT! It was like 9pm though... and raining, so gross. We jumped in a cab and gave them the address of our hotel. There aren't really any hostels in Guayaquil, it was weird, it's just not really set up for low budget travelers. I mean yeah, our hotel was super cheap, but it was definitely a hotel and lacked the cool vibes that hostels have. Also the bed was like sleeping on a rock, but we were only there for one night so I could deal with it. Guayaquil was really just the connecting point to go to Puerto Lopez, aka the beach! 

So many!

I got to pet one!

We figured that we had to at least see something while we were in Guayaquil, so we asked about the main plaza and the security guard told us to head to Plaza de las Iguanas. I didn't realize that it's name came from all the iguanas hanging around the plaza. They were just hanging out everywhere, chillin with the pigeons and climbing trees and eating lettuce. So cool! There was also a really pretty church on the plaza, but the iguanas are what captured our attention. We stayed for like an hour, petting them and marveling. I've never seen a live iguana before so I was totally obsessed!

Eventually the heat was getting to be to much and we were ready to head back to the bus terminal. This thing is absolutely massive. It's bigger than the Guayaquil airport, it actually looks like it is the airport from the outside. It had three floors and every single one was bustling with people and food vendors. I think our bus left from platform 86 and there were still more platforms after that! Craziness. Waiting on the platform for our bus is where Briana and I first met Chrisitan and Edgar and they became our travel companions for the rest of the time in Puerto Lopez . So less than 24 hours after traveling for 21 hours, we were back on another bus. At least this time we were headed to hammocks, beaches, fresh squeezed fruit juices, and 5 days of relaxation.

Last Stop in Peru

The best I can do to compete with weekly fb posts of IV sunsets

The Huanchaco fisherman's boats

After trekking around Peru for three weeks (it's already February 8th at this point!) , our last stop was Huanchaco/Trujillo before we continued on to Ecuador! Huanchaco is a beach town about 10 miles outside the major city of Trujillo, and just seemed like a nicer place to say. Our hostel was right on the beach, with a balcony perfectly placed to watch sunsets. It was pretty awesome to fall asleep to the sound of waves crashing too. Another plus for Huanchaco was it's food options! Don't get me wrong, I love peruvian food, but having options was incredible. Even though I was still a little sick, it didn't seem to matter as much.

Trying to blend in

So what was it that brought us to Trujillo in the first place? Ruins, obviopo. We were headed to a HUGE clay city called Chan Chan. It's not inhabited anymore and whenever it rains major parts of the city fall apart, but it was still incredible to see. Almost all of the walls had these really neat designs carved into them. Most of the city was reconstructed, but I trust the accuracy of the reconstruction people. There was also an man dressed in traditional incan ceremonial clothes roaming the site, but you had to pay to take a photo of him. So me and Briana waited until someone called him and then snapped really quick photos with his charriot and "gold" club :) The place really was huge and you got to see all the different sectors of the city, like where all the people lived, where they held ceremonies, sacrificial areas, where the market was, etc. Really cool stuff.

The water was FREEZING unfortunately, so not much bathing went down. There was, however, a lot of beach market shopping, surfer watching, and sand walking. It was just really relaxing because it seemed like ever since we left Cuzco, it was constant going, going, going.

The lower outer wall of Huaca de la Luna

Another one of our days in Huanchaco/Trujillo we headed to the Huacas, pronounced waka (waka, hey, hey?) de la Luna and del Sol. They are basically two giant ceremonial structures out in the middle of nowhere. The Huaca de la Luna started out as a small temple, but as time went on it was built over 5 times into a bigger and more expansive temple. We got to go inside and you can really clearly see the layers that it was built in based on the paint that was on the wall. It's all original paint too! That was really impressive to me, that it has lasted that long. Huaca del Sol was inaccessible because it's still being excavated and just looks like a big lump of dirt, but it was a really impressive lump of dirt.


It was finally time to say goodbye to Peru. We had head some not so great stories about the border crossing between Peru and Ecuador so we were searching for a bus that took us to each immigation station, waited for us, and picked us up. Ideally we were going to do the 16 hour journey directly to Guayaquil, but there was only one spot left, and we were two people. So we had to take a bus further north and then connect to a direct bus. This whole trip has made me really bus-savoy. A 5 hour journey now seems like absolutely nothing. Long story short, we got our direct bus, had no problems crossing the border and made it to Ecuador safe and sound!

Let's Count How Many Gringos We See!

Sunset heading to Barranca from Lima

The search for ruins with Briana in northern Peru definitely took us off the gringo trail. To have a little fun, we decided to count how many other gringos, or potential gringos (we didn't exactly go up to them and ask them where they were from), we saw along our journey north. We weren't even taking busses anymore because they didn't run in the routes we were going. Mode of transportation: collectivos. Cabs that takes 4-5 people from one destination to another, generally a long distance, for a really cheap fare. I totally loved it! I felt safer in those cabs hanging out with old peruvians than I did in the big buses, whose driver's sobriety was questionable. Looking back, my parents probably would have completely flipped their stuff if they saw some of the conditions we were traveling in, but hey, it's south america after all. It's all part of the adventure!

Barranca- Gringo Count: 0

That's right, three days and two nights and we did not see another white person. The looks we were getting from people definitely made it seem like we were the only tourists that had passed through there in a while. The whole town in general was reaaaalllly sketchy and unsafe for foreigners. Every time we left the hotel, the owner would call a mototaxi for us and tell the driver that he wanted him to deliver his cousin(me, because I look more latina then Briana) to whatever location haha. It was a nice gesture though and I appreciated him for it.

Pyramids!

So why were we even in this sketchy town? To see Caral, the oldest city in the America's! Caral was really cool and a totally different experience than Machu Picchu. It is still being excavated and there has been like zero reconstruction on the buildings. For some that just means it looks like a pile of dirt/mud/clay/rocks, but for me it was totally rad because those were like the actual things that people used thousands of years ago. Like, that is where they walked and that is where they made human sacrifices and you know that no one has really touched it since then. 

Huaraz- Gringo Count: 8 (That's two hands!)

Normally this trekking center lodged in the middle of the cordillera is full of gringos, but we were there for low/rainy season. When I say rainy season, I mean rain every single day, who knew? We sure didn't, but we didn't let the rain stop us from adventuring! 

Where the shamans would get a little crazy with the san pedro cactus

First up were the ruins at Chavin de Huantar. Yeah, ok, I am a little obsessed with ruins, I'll admit it (Mexico is next!). We thought the ruins were close to town when it reality it was quite the opposite. We spent 3 hours riding in a mini-bus going about 5mph because every other 5 feet there was a giant pothole. 3 hours! I was expecting like 30 minutes. The scenery was really pretty though. I finally learned my lesson about how close to look out the window after the 3rd time my forehead made contact with the glass due to the potholes and unexpected bumps in the road. The ruins at Chavin were really cool because we got to walk inside the main pyramid. basically a labyrinth of corridors with windows that look into other passageways or secret rooms. On the tour of Chavin is where we met Tomas, an Austrian living and working in Ecuador. I totally love that part of traveling, meeting new people and making new friends. 

Lago 69

Our second full day in Huaraz we went hiking in the cordillera to Lake 69, why that is it's name I have no idea. We were all together at the start of the hike, but as the incline continued and got steeper Tomas and Briana kept a quicker pace. I was just taking a lot of photos ;) Honestly though, when you are hiking up from 4500 meters to 6000 meters above sea level it's hard to get oxygen in your lungs. I am really proud that I finished the whole thing though, it was incredible! The views of the mountains were breathtaking and there were these two giant waterfalls that kept coming in and out of view. Lago 69, though, just wow. The lake was the most turquoise water I have ever seen, not transparent though, just like pure glacial melt. So freaking cold!! I was really tempted to jump in, like really tempted, but I had no change of clothes and walking back in wet clothes did not seem appealing at all. The three dutch guys we were with though did a couple laps. Nuts. Looking back on the vacation, I think that was one of my favorite days, even if the altitude totally kicked my ass.  

Casma- Gringo Count: 4

Totally looks fake

Before we were headed to the beach, we had one last stop to make and one last set of ruins to see. In actuality, the ruins of Sechin and our stay in Casma totally could have been skipped. The site way super tiny and not terribly exciting. They had an on-site "museum" which was so terribly underfunded and horribly put together. Nonetheless, Sechin did have it's own vibe like all the other ruins did. From the top of the "viewpoint", it looked like a little toy or some kind of diorama. They best part about going to Sechin was that we got to ride in a mototaxi on the freeway! That was also terrifying when the semis started rolling through. If I could change anything about my trip, I probably would have skipped Sechin. I am making it sound horrible and it probably would have been a lot better had I not been incredibly sick. Sometimes you eat a piece of lettuce without thinking about it, and then boom you realize that the lettuce was probably rinsed with Peruvian poop water, and then the next day (or possibly that night) your stomach is majorly protesting. Good thing I went to the doctor before I left the states and loaded up on meds for that kind of stuff.  

To sum it all up: 1 week, 3 ruin sites, 1 hard ass hike, and 12 gringos. Next we headed to Huanchaco/Trujillo, our last destination in Peru, where we lost count of the gringos after 5 minutes.

 

Lima, Peru

To start, I would just like to say that Peru is an absolutely massive country, something I did not really fully take note of when I was beginning my travels. Due to this fact I was forced to buy a plane ticket from Cuzco to Lima in order to stay on schedule. That was definitely an unexpected blow to my bank account, but a boost to my frequent flyer miles (Those really do not cancel each other out, but I gotta look on the bright side.)

View from the mall in Miraflores

The great city of Lima is, in my opinion, not so great at all. The neighborhood of Miraflores, however, is pretty incredible. The city sits right on the Pacific Ocean and the local mall provides some spectacular views when the sky is not overcast. Kate says it looks like an IV on steroids and Miraflores kind of was. It's streets are bustling with young people and packed with bars and cheap places to eat (the cheap food definitely sets it apart from IV). The whole vibe is just really cool. Our hostel had a connection with the bar down the street so we could get discounted drinks. I must say though, after exploring some other parts of the city I was SO glad that we were in Miraflores. The rest is a lot more run down/unsafe and really dreary looking.

Our second day in Lima we went downtown to the Plaza de Armas. Lima has an incredible central plaza! There was a german girl staying in our room at the hostel and she told us that there was going to be a changing of the guard at the main government building. It was cool to see but the band was the best part, they were playing some jams for sure. Who knew military bands knew how to get down, really entertaining. After the whole production was over, I don't even think I saw the actual guards change cause there was so much going on, we decided to head down one of the pedestrian streets. We just walked with no direction and ended up at the other main plaza in Lima, Plaza Bolivar. We definitely noticed a difference in the crowd there, we were getting a lot more stares and random "I love you's". Apparently that was the only english they knew. We returned back to Plaza de Armas fairly quickly. On the opposite corner of the plaza from where the pedestrian street was some really great shopping. The artesania in Peru is basically the same as in Chile but so much cheaper! I surprised myself though by not really buying anything. Who am I turning into? I guess I'm just getting a lot pickier and don't feel the need to buy everything at every stall, that was a little excessive. 

Before the changing of the guard

Plaza de Armas

This is about 1/5 the storeroom

 February 1 hit me with a certain kind of shock, I only had one more month of traveling left. I know that is a long time, but I had just been looking forward to this vacation for so long and it was already flying by too quickly. The last two days in Lima went just as quickly. We went to this incredible museum called the Larco Herrera Museum and has a huge collection of pre-colombian art/artifacts. We're talking pottery, jewelry, fabrics, weapons from before the incan empire. After taking an Pre-Colombia art class I was allll about it. It's one of the best museums that I have ever been to, it was just incredible. 

Pure gold pectoral

I want these earings!

 My favorite day in Lima though was the last, I went paragliding! The instructor was actually really annoying an arrogant, but the paragliding was incredible! We drove about 45 minutes outside of Lima to the mountains where the air was clear and you could see all the way to the ocean. But first, we ran out of gas... It was kind of hilarious, we were on the road and then our instructor, Marco, just goes "ohhh no, no, no, no, this cannot be happening. So we pull over and Marco grabs a cab to find gas. Me and Briana were just sitting in the car laughing. We were up and running again within 10 minutes and soon enough arrived at the paragliding mountain. You think it's going to be really adrenaline pumping, and the take off is, but it is so incredible peaceful once you are in the air. You really feel like you are flying and it's really calming. If you are forever in search of a good, quiet place to think I highly recommend learning how to paraglide by yourself. :) 

 

Takeoff!