And so it ends

As I write this, I am sitting in our huge, fun hostel in Quito Ecuador. It is from here that we will fly back to Boston tonight, late at night.
We are very sad to be ending this trip, as there is so much more for us to see in Quito, in Ecuador, all of South America. But we have made the best of our time so far and are ready to share our memories with friends and family.
On that note, family. We have spent the last week living with an old family friend of mine, and the Cabezas Lopez family. They were too kind as to host us in thier house for almost a full week, and welcome us into thier life. We had a personal (english speaking) tour guide for the whole experience, and were able to see the best things around the area. We were also able to learn about her family history, which goes all the way back to her great grandfather being the first mayor of the now large city she lives in. We went to large family meals, scholastic celebrations, and got to see all of the property that the family has owned since before the town was a town. We had an amazing time there, and did not want to leave the lifestyle, but it is now time to go home.
This trip has been an incredible experience for the both of us, and both for different reasons. But the last thought I will leave you with is the biggest thing that I will take away. This was my first time traveling just to see the world, and I have had my eyes opened. After this, no matter where I go I will be able to find more beauty in places, and love different cultures for being thier own. And this has sparked my traveling lifestyle, because there is always more and more to see.
So, thats it. Thanks for reading and we'll both be sure to keep traveling and keep writing!
Spencer and Lizzie

(Dont Want to Leave) Mancora, but Loving Ecuador

After ten hours to Trujillo, we arrived at 6 in the morning. By 1 in the afternoon we were back on a ten hour bus north to Mancora.
Mancora is a small, Gringo friendly town on the beach of the Pacific. It is known for its beautiful beach, warm waters, fresh seafood (cebiche), friendly locals, and for generally being a good time. It exceeded our expectations.
I (Spencer) personally decided that to make the best of my time, I would spend my days surfing. With cold waters and crowded beaches back home, this was a great place to find a change in pace. I spent the three full days we had spending only 7 USD to rent a board, getting beat up on the sharp rocks under the water, getting terribly sunburnt, and falling off of my surfboard. It was perfect. Lizzie on the other hand chose to take the cheaper, safter alternative and enjoyed the sand, sun, and shallow waters... and watching me fall off of my surfboard.
We both enjoyed our time thoroughly while in Mancora, and had strong hesitations upon leaving. We had also met countless other Gringos who had decided to make Mancora their home for weeks/months, but with less than ten days left in the trip, our time for Ecuador was dwindling as we were getting sunburnt. So we left, slowly.
We hopped on a bus on our last day, which was supposed to be an easy 8 hours. The actual time spent moving was that, but the trip was lengthened by first switching busses with a 3 hour break in between, then multiple hour long hold-ups at the Peru/Ecuador boarder. 4 Hours late, we arrived to the beautiful city of Cuenca, Ecuador.
Here we have taken to seeing the city, which is a beautiful cobblestoned colonial city set on a river. It is very nice here, and we would love to stay for more time, but again we have places to be. Another overnight bus tonight, and we will be in Quito, in the north of Ecuador. From there we will be getting picked up by an old family friend of mine who is taking us into her home and giving us a real taste of what its like to be an Ecuadorian. Next update from there, Ibarra.
Thanks for reading!

Huaraz

We got our glacier fix in the Cordilla Blancas on the famous Santa Cruz Trek. It was reccomended that we rent a mule and give ourselves four days so we rented equitment for 3 days and threw our gear on our backs. On the second day we faced, after taking a detour and performing a NOLS river crossing, the hill. So we set up our stove and made some weak soup before we committed trekking sacrilidge-we plugged in to some music. Dancing up to great heights we realized when we reached the top why hikers dont listen to music. It was that perfect mountain quiet distubed only by the cracking of ice.

A whopping 20 hours of bus driving later we are in Mancora, at the beach near Ecuador.

-Lizzie

Machu Picchu!

After five days of stunning trekking we woke up at 330am to join the line of shadows climbing up the stairs. We watched the sun rise over the city in the mountains, wound through the buildings and then climbed the mountain wayna picchu for a better view.

After returning to Aguas Calientes we waited nine hours for our train which was supposed to bring us back to Cusco at about midnight. Unfortunately the Peruvian's ability to protest may even rival the french´s. Frusterated by the private companies like Coca Cola owning all the clean water in the area and then making it so expensive they can't afford it, they blocked all roads to Cusco. By 7am with the curtains pulled so the many drunk protesters wouldnt see us, we had been driving around the city all night trying to find a way in. Finally we hopped out of the bus and decided to walk. We stepped over the newly cut trees blocking the road and walked silently through a crowd of villagers before luckily catching a local van into the city which just barely got out in time before the police closed the road.

By 8am we crawled into our beds!

Lizzie

Shaman Learnings

Altitude sickness struck us hard in Cuzco on the first day. Along with food poisoning from the night before, our weak stomachs and nasty headaches left us with a day inside. We left the hostel for some exploration of the city, but quickly returned. Nothing twelve hours of sleep cant fix.
This morning we woke up with level stomachs, and restless minds. We hiked up to one of five or six Incan ruins to be found in Cuzco, surrounded by lush forests and green hills, something we have seen little of in Peru so far. There we met up with the only English speaking tour guide available, who ended up being perfect.
(Lizzie here!) Mario, our village shaman-philosopher-tour guide may not have given us an historically accurate or scientifically thorough tour of Cusco's ruins but he gave us a window into the many beliefs of the mysterious cultures that lived here in the Andes. He personifies the culmination of his ancestor's and today's beliefs. He explained duality or ying and yang in some of the stones, he had us meditate on sacred ground, recommended a local hallucinogenic drug, and told us that believing in Jesus above was the key to all spiritual struggles. As the shaman he uses his hands to heal diseases of the mind body and soul, especially healing the many lost people of today. Every stone wall hid symbols and philosophies and there was no limit to his insight. He pointed out the number of corners on a specific rock and the meaning of that number(he had an insight to almost all numbers), I couldn't even digest all the symbols and philosophies he shared but his breadth of knowledge was unforgettable.
And Spencer will finish this one off by mentioning that I rode a horse for the first time today! Beautiful scenery behind us, we rode a couple of small horses with gas problems from site to site, costing us only 20 USD together. Peru has been so fun!
Thanks for reading!

Lima round 3

Again we found ourselves back on a Cruz Del Sur bus, honking, jerking, passing trucks, and eating one-step-below airplane food. This has proved to be the best way to get around so far. The prices are steeper than the more localized buses, but the comfort of knowing you are going to get to your destination is worth it.
We arrived in Lima late in the evening, as we have in nearly every location. The dark gives a slightly nerve racking view of the cities, but it makes the next morning all the more of a surprise. There we satisfied Lizzie and my cravings for Mexican food, and made our way back to our loud hostel.
It was our third time in Lima, and subsequently our third district of the city. Our first nights, we stayed in between the two largely touristy areas, and the next directly in the historical center. This time we decided upon the beach-front section, but again were greeted by streets full of gringos. We explored the newer streets, parks, and made our way down to the beach. The sun sets over the ocean in the pacific, and we spent the evening watching it over the large group of surfers on the beach.
The following morning, priority number one was the clinic. Quick, thorough, and necessary, we both walked away with smiles on our faces. Not something you can always expect in a foreign hospital. From there we went to our first museum of the trip, El Museo de la Nacion. Excited about free admission, we skipped right in and quickly started to feel lost. We got ourselves a private English tour for a mere 5 USD. There we experienced the ceramics, textiles, metalwork and paintings ranging from the stone age until recent. We gained a deeper understanding of the different cultures from the southern jungles to the northern beaches, and the high country in between, while relating our personal Peruvian experiences to the art. Sometimes its nice to have the information handed to you.
Our most enthusiastic taxi driver yet drove us to his favorite restaurant for my previous favorite, new fear, Ceviche. He promised cheap prices, and a good cook that wouldn't have you running to the bathroom after. Ceviche is the Peruvian sushi. Fresh (hopefully) fish that sits in a sauce of lime, among other things. The lime is supposed to have almost a cooking property, and should kill all of the bacteria in the fish. And let me tell you, its delicious. Unfortunately this was my second experience with the food, and most likely my last. I still have yet to try Cuy, the more popular Peruvian dish consisting of a roasted guinea pig. Possibly a replacement for my previous favorite is on the way.
The next morning we had plane tickets to the mountain town of Cusco. This is where we will start our five day trek to Maccu Piccu. Our flight took off at 6:00 am, so we returned back to the Hostel, to attempt sleeping at 7:00. Food poisoning affected us both last night, as I ran in and out of our room until 3:30 when we departed to the airport.
The lack of good roads on the direct route to Cusco, or a long roundabout route would've both taken between 40-60 hours. We chose to fly, for a round trip price of 150 each. An hour after takeoff we woke up on the runway in Cusco, where we will spend the next 12 days. The city sits at 11,200 ft, so we will use the first 3 days to acclimate before our trek. Huge green mountains all around, and a red tile roof on almost every house makes for a beautiful sight, and we are excited to explore the city. Just have to catch up on some serious lost sleep first.
Thanks for reading

In beautiful Cusco and Spencers getting over food poisoning.

What I love about Traveling

The reason I love traveling is not for the unforgettable sights, the foreign smells, the new philosophies or the foreign languages, it´s for the moment every day when I wake up and have no idea whether today will be great or just tough. I take an antibiotic, a probiotic, an antimalarial and a vitamin then just head out to see what happens to me.

Today we flew over the famous Nazca Lines, huge drawings in the desert done by a pre-Incan civilization that have survived the winds and roads only to be discovered by planes flyig overhead.

Then we bought 5 apples, 3 mystery vegetables that a kindly farmer let us sample from his lunch, an onion, a pepper, and three tomatoes for fifty cents.


Lizzie

Back on Track

After Lizzie´s scare, we have adapted to make this trip work around our situation. This was already the plan, or, our lack of having an itinerary for this trip is working well. We did not plan much of this trip in the states. Dreams, ideas, plane tickets, a group trek in Maccu Piccu, and a hostel for our first night was all we had.
We took a ¨collectivo¨ taxi from Huancayo to Lima. This meant that upon arrival to the taxi lot, we were mobbed by touts trying to get us to pay them, and not their competetors to drive us to Lima. The second we decided, the excitement wore off as we waited in the car for all of the seats to be filled. The benifit of taking the taxi vs. a bus was speed, as the price was equal. The road from Huancayo to Lima is a long, long mountain pass covering almost an entire lateral section of the Andes. Thus, the small taxi is able to cover the same distance 2 hours quicker than the buses, making our planned driving time a mere five hours. Of course, nearly half way through the trip west, we were stopped by a protest against local government, and held up for three hours sitting on the road in a small Peruvian town. But we made it.
After a tense taxi trip the next morning, we arrrived to a nice, modern hospital. This was a relieving change to the hospital we visited in Huancayo. There, Lizzie paid to have her bite wounds cleaned in an open, no-curtain room next to a woman giving birth. Uncomfortable to say the least. Also there, Lizzie was encouraged to get their rabies vaccination (vacuna antirabica). This vaccine wouldve been applied once every day for seven days, then once again in a week, and again two weeks after that. Fortunately, through Lizzie´s parents we were able to find out that the treatment for rabies never involves a seven day regiment. She wouldve, in fact, been recieving some sort of placebo vaccine to get us out of thier hair. So we ran. Back to the hospital in Lima.
There we were greeted by English speaking staff, modern looking rooms, and short wait times. Our doctor and nurse both spoke english, and quickly were able to get the vaccines needed, and give Lizzie her first two of four shots. Still though, we learned that we will have to return to Lima on the 29th of June, seven days after the first vaccinations, and again twenty-one days later to get her last vaccinations. This is how we will be structuring the rest of our trip through Peru. Wereturned to our hostel, excited of the professionalism of the hospital and the good news.
Our first time in Lima, our hostel was a 15 sole (around 5 USD) taxi ride to the historic center of the city. This time around, we found a hostel 2 blocks from the center plaza, or Plaza Mayor. From there we enjoyed Lima, visiting the Plaza, seeing the cathedrals and government buildings, took a tour of a courthouse and tourture chamber from the inquisition, and bought English novels to replace the few we brought. After the night, we concluded our second stay in Lima and got on an early bus to Paracas, a small beach town south of Lima. Update to follow, but its time for some dinner in Nasca.

Plans Change...

I was bitten by a dog. As I breathe in the alpaca wool face down, a local smears all kinds of medicinal plants from the jungle on my wound. I have to remember the face of the attacker so we can go find him and test him. Whatever the results we are headed to Lima for treatment. Thank goodness he rubbed energy healing stones on my head and I am ready to think ahead.

Will keep you posted on the rabies situation,

Lizzie

Huancayo

We decided that one day in Lima was enough and hopped on a luxury bus through the Andes arriving in a small city called Huancayo. With dusty streets, numerous taverns and coal trains it was accurately described to us as a southwestern town in the Andes.

Unfortunately just after breakfast Spencer was feeling sick so we spent the morning lounging and planning the rest of our trip. It is almost impossible to find transportation using the route we are planning to machu picchu, but it may have come down to gut wrenching public transportation and 3am arrival times. (Most people just fly to Cuzco.)

We were however able to explore the town and fell in love with the traditionally dressed older women, the numerous shoe repair shops, the crowded sidewalks and the Churros, (yummy fried and sugared treats).

Adios!

Lizzie

Lima first impressions

Im happy to say we began our trip with an adventure.

After over an hour of driving around lima asking for directions from every passerby we finally found our hole in the wall hostel just before 2am. Needless to say we slept in and then set out to find some breakfast.

Three hours later we sat down to lunch that redefined my defination of tortillas, maybe anything fried and flattened fits the defination. Three hours we spent staring blankly as buses whizzed by yelling their destination, and then walking several miles with maps in hand winding through pencil venders, hired street type writers and colonial mansions.

Once we finally reached the historical center of lima the day was almost spent and we took a tour of San fransico monestary and the catacombs below it.

Until next time!

Lizzie