So I last left you on the border about to catch my bus into Peru. The night bus was fine, nothing crazy I slept really well and the border crossing was cake. Two lines. Stamp out of Ecuador and stamp into Peru.. No questions asked. Arrived in Mancora at the lovely hour of 4 am... as always seemed to find more gringos on the bus. So I joined them and headed to Loki Hostel where they weren´t sure they had a room for us but we could sleep on their pool lounge chairs until the morning. This place was insane. And well for many reasons I actually didnt énd up staying there. I went down the street to stay at Runasimi or something like that for 15 soles or 5 dollars a night. It was really hot at night time and sometimes hard to sleep. I enjoyed the beach in Mancora and had planned to spend time there surfing however there were little tiny tiny waves. One day I visited nearby beach of Los Organos.. It was hard to compare beaches after being in Galapagos but it kind of reminded me of Cali in some ways, but different than Montanita. The day I was planning to leave, actually headed to the bus company to buy a bus ticket.. I met this lovely Peruvian guy, Paolo who said he had extra rooms in his house and I could stay for free! Sweet. The waves were supposed to get better so I would hang out for the weekend and get some surfing in. Had some really awesome waves and days surfing but then also caught a little bout of food poisioning. After that I decided it was time to move on.. I considered volunteering and staying there but then realized that its already mid march and I kind of needed to continue moving.
Next stop was an overnight terrible bus from the bus company El Dorado from Mancora to Trujillo to visit the ruins of Chan Chan and possibly enjoy more surfing. El Dorado stopped all the time and it was raining during the night so everyone had their windows closed and no air con!! But arrived in Huanchacho, the beach town near Trujillo and found an adorable family run surf school and hostel called Indigan.. The place was deserted but turns out the night before everyone had a big party. The sons are all professional surfers. It was a great atmosphere and really enjoyed my time there. I visitied the enchanting and rather crazy ruins of
Chan Chan myself by collectivo or minivan sort of bus thingy here in SA and was walking back towards the main road where a german guy had hired a taxi to visit all the other sites and asked if i wanted to join! The other sites were a bit disappointing but it was very cool what they had made from literally... sand! Walking to Chan Chan was very strange and I actually felt a little nervous being alone.. it was like being in a weird movie! The next day surfing was okay! The waves were good in the morning but in the afternoon were absolutely mad, so many times I got taken with waves and the amount of work to get out to where you needed to be was insane. It was still good fun and thats all part of surfing right! That evening the group of people I found on facebook were playing ultimate frisbee!! YAYY finally after all my attempts to play it was a success.. however very interesting because they didn´t know the rules... and it was a lot of randoms who just walked by and wanted to play. But still very awesome. The following day I was supposed to meet one of the frisbee guys to go on a hike but I couldn´t get my change back from the hostel owners in time to catch the bus to meet to group, sad! So just had a relaxed day. That afternoon would be my first experience with Peru´s horrendous horrendous bus company nightmares!!! The bus companies all have their own station so you have to head to each one to see how much their tickets are.. unfortunately they are very far apart. Never ever having this problem in all my travels, I arrived at one and wanted a ticket for 8 hours later, they were sold out. Walked to the next one about 1km away, they were sold out but had a ticket from a stopover city there... however they had no tickets to reach the stopover city. Tried to walk to the next one but people told me I shouldn´t walk there... Took a collectivo or a minivan where they stuff tons of people in there for 33 cents.. That turned out to be a bus terminal... but nearly empty.. However I found a ticket to the stopover city, and the company with that ticket available was also there so I could buy both tickets.. I had to then go to that bus terminal and finally was on my way. Ooo minus the bus having a flat tire. That was just an extra 30 minutes chillin in the bus.
Then moments like this that make me love traveling so much happened. The lady I was sitting next to on the bus told me that she lived in the city and didn´t want me to wait alone in the bus terminal so she would take me to her house, make some dinner for me, and then bring me back to the terminal. I met all her family and saw her beautiful house. Had dinner, then she insisted that I use her computer to contact my family and tell them I was okay. I used that time to catch up on emails and did actually send my momma a message. Then they took me back to the bus terminal and waited until the bus departed and waved goodbye like my sweet grandmother would do.. Ahh the kindness of strangers.
I arrived in Huaraz early in the morning and it was freezing, especially coming from Trujillo where my shirt was completely drenched in sweat trying to find the bus station. It was still dark out so I decided to hang out in the bus station until I could walk because I knew it was close and taxis always try to rip you off really badly during the night time. Then I ran into a guy I met in Galapagos so we walked together. After I found the hostel I was recommended to stay at, I got some breakfast from a sweet lady on the street for 1$ including a hot quinoa drink. I spend the first day in Huaraz just walking around. The next day I booked a tour for Laguna 69 which is an incredibly beautiful lake from a glacier. the hike was challenging but I had a blast with some Korean girls that I met in the hostel.
The following day I booked a tour of Pastouriri glacier... I was a little bummed with the tour because I was told there would be lots of stops and information but I think the guides were lazy that day. We did get to see a cool seven color lake, the crazy raymundi plant which are family with tequila and grow to be crazy big. The elevation at the glacier was crazy high up, so the simple walk seemed really difficult but when we got there I felt like we were in walk of the penguins or something without the penguins.
From Huaraz I headed into Lima where I stayed in a bit of a hippie commune hostel, sort of similar to the one in Cali, Colombia. Filled with artesians from Argentina who played music and made bracelets to sell on the street or on the beach. There were also landslides in other parts of the country so some people were stuck. The argentinans stayed on mattressed on the floor in the common room so it seemed a little strange but eventually later on that day I had a bed. I wandered around Miraflores, probably the wealthiest district in Lima where all the foreign companies are and all the foreigners live. Back in my nannying days in AZ, a little boy in the neighborhood had a nanny from Peru, and we spent tons of time together in the park watching the little ones and she said if I go to Peru that I have to visit her family! So I had contacted them and that night one of Ericas sisters, Kathy would pick me up to show me around Barranco. A hipster kind of neighborhood. We ate anticuchos for dinner which was cow hearts... hmmm maybe this is hard to say but probably my favorite type of beef. The following day I got to play ultimate frisbee with some peruvians and a few expats. After we played until the sand started to burn our feet, our friends at the American Embassy provided us with some delicious meat to BBQ and we shared snacks and drinks. I was absolutely exhuasted but relished every minute of playing! That evening, with one of the other backpackers who also played frisbee, we met up for ... Papa Johns pizza.. I know I know, but sometimes you just need some home comfort food. And South Americans don´t know how to do pizza. It was so good.
Sunday I went to their ultimate frisbee practice and enjoyed walking along their boardwalk and relaxing. It was absolutely perfect weather and the parks and everything along the board walk are amazing. In a way... it´s kind of like California. That evening, Erica´s other sister, Giannina picked me up to go and meet their family at their home. Her 99 year old grandmother was hilarious and adored me and said I had to come to her 100th birthday party next year. Her parents were sweet as pie and they had huge german shepards in a beautiful house! After that she took me to Larcomar Mall with her mother for some Pardos which is famous for broasted chicken.. Actually kind of blanking on the word in English. But the most delicious chicken, pisco sour, and garlic dipping sauce around. Pisco sour is the drink of peru.. its a type of alcohol distilled from grapes, made with sugar, lime juice, egg whites, and pisco. YUMMMY! Add a maracuya to that, HEAVEN. Its somewhat similar to a margarita to help you guys get a picture.. They dropped me back at my hostel and the next morning I wanted to explore the historic center but had more bus hassles again. Sooo I skipped it and just headed onto Ica, and Huacachina.The main thing to do in Huacachina is enjoy the sand dunes with dune buggy rides and sandboarding. This was such an awesome time, but lots of work to climb back up the hill. I was soo sweaty and remember when booking the tour was so sad it was only two hours but understood why later. The driver drove like crazy but it was some serious fun! After returning I decided to stay there one more day and just enjoy a pool day and relax. The Belgian girl Sarah I was hanging with and I met some guys from Argentina and the group grew and had a seriously awesome pool day! Once again with the bus ticket hassle... because Semana Santa was coming up ticket prices for buses tripled and were nearly sold out. I had to help translate for this travel agency for a chinese guy and get tickets for the following day. What should have been a 13 dollar bus ride was 39. On my way there I visited the Nasca lines which are mysterious lines in the desert sand in all sorts of shapes. There is a little viewing tower. I got dropped off by the bus and was waiting for the next bus to come when a Swiss family who booked a private car asked if I wanted to join them. They had a tour guide and he dropped me right at the bus station so that was really convienent. The bus was delayed because of the traffic leaving Lima for the holiday... Then I did not sleep well at all, because the road was so curvy I kept waking up bonking my head on the window or something crazy like that! Not to mention the roads are very very scary. I just decided not looking out the front window was the best idea. Luckily there are two drivers and an assistant so I could tell that they were switching drivers quite often.
Cusco is soooo touristy it is driving me absolutely crazy but I am really excited for tomorrow to visit Pisac mountain. Once again I´m staying at a commune.. two bathrooms, very dirty, minus the lovely bunk beds, filled with musical argentinans. It is 3$ a night... so I can´t really be bothered to move hostels but have been doing things solo because they just hang out at the hostel all day. I did the free walking tour which was mediocre compared to others Ive been on. Then today did a tour of a chocolate museum and bought the most delicious chocolate bar... it is almost gone already. On Monday I will do what they call ¨¨Inka Jungle Trail¨which is the alternative to inka trail, much cheaper, shorter, and less walking.
I´m super bummed that there really has been no Semana Santa events here like many people said there would be but maybe I can find some tomorrow for Easter.. Easter is definitely one of my favorites and hate to miss it because my parents are the best and still spoil us with Easter Baskets filled with treats and an egg hunt. Soo happy hunting Cody and Brian, oooo and MOMS amazing cooking.
It had been a while without blog posts soo glad to catch everyone up on things! Have a wonderful and blessed Easter from Cusco, Peru!
xoxo
Next stop was an overnight terrible bus from the bus company El Dorado from Mancora to Trujillo to visit the ruins of Chan Chan and possibly enjoy more surfing. El Dorado stopped all the time and it was raining during the night so everyone had their windows closed and no air con!! But arrived in Huanchacho, the beach town near Trujillo and found an adorable family run surf school and hostel called Indigan.. The place was deserted but turns out the night before everyone had a big party. The sons are all professional surfers. It was a great atmosphere and really enjoyed my time there. I visitied the enchanting and rather crazy ruins of Chan Chan myself by collectivo or minivan sort of bus thingy here in SA and was walking back towards the main road where a german guy had hired a taxi to visit all the other sites and asked if i wanted to join! The other sites were a bit disappointing but it was very cool what they had made from literally... sand! Walking to Chan Chan was very strange and I actually felt a little nervous being alone.. it was like being in a weird movie! The next day surfing was okay! The waves were good in the morning but in the afternoon were absolutely mad, so many times I got taken with waves and the amount of work to get out to where you needed to be was insane. It was still good fun and thats all part of surfing right! That evening the group of people I found on facebook were playing ultimate frisbee!! YAYY finally after all my attempts to play it was a success.. however very interesting because they didn´t know the rules... and it was a lot of randoms who just walked by and wanted to play. But still very awesome. The following day I was supposed to meet one of the frisbee guys to go on a hike but I couldn´t get my change back from the hostel owners in time to catch the bus to meet to group, sad! So just had a relaxed day. That afternoon would be my first experience with Peru´s horrendous horrendous bus company nightmares!!! The bus companies all have their own station so you have to head to each one to see how much their tickets are.. unfortunately they are very far apart. Never ever having this problem in all my travels, I arrived at one and wanted a ticket for 8 hours later, they were sold out. Walked to the next one about 1km away, they were sold out but had a ticket from a stopover city there... however they had no tickets to reach the stopover city. Tried to walk to the next one but people told me I shouldn´t walk there... Took a collectivo or a minivan where they stuff tons of people in there for 33 cents.. That turned out to be a bus terminal... but nearly empty.. However I found a ticket to the stopover city, and the company with that ticket available was also there so I could buy both tickets.. I had to then go to that bus terminal and finally was on my way. Ooo minus the bus having a flat tire. That was just an extra 30 minutes chillin in the bus.
Then moments like this that make me love traveling so much happened. The lady I was sitting next to on the bus told me that she lived in the city and didn´t want me to wait alone in the bus terminal so she would take me to her house, make some dinner for me, and then bring me back to the terminal. I met all her family and saw her beautiful house. Had dinner, then she insisted that I use her computer to contact my family and tell them I was okay. I used that time to catch up on emails and did actually send my momma a message. Then they took me back to the bus terminal and waited until the bus departed and waved goodbye like my sweet grandmother would do.. Ahh the kindness of strangers.
 |
| Raymundi Plants |
I arrived in Huaraz early in the morning and it was freezing, especially coming from Trujillo where my shirt was completely drenched in sweat trying to find the bus station. It was still dark out so I decided to hang out in the bus station until I could walk because I knew it was close and taxis always try to rip you off really badly during the night time. Then I ran into a guy I met in Galapagos so we walked together. After I found the hostel I was recommended to stay at, I got some breakfast from a sweet lady on the street for 1$ including a hot quinoa drink. I spend the first day in Huaraz just walking around. The next day I booked a tour for Laguna 69 which is an incredibly beautiful lake from a glacier. the hike was challenging but I had a blast with some Korean girls that I met in the hostel.  |
| Glacier Pastoruri |
From Huaraz I headed into Lima where I stayed in a bit of a hippie commune hostel, sort of similar to the one in Cali, Colombia. Filled with artesians from Argentina who played music and made bracelets to sell on the street or on the beach. There were also landslides in other parts of the country so some people were stuck. The argentinans stayed on mattressed on the floor in the common room so it seemed a little strange but eventually later on that day I had a bed. I wandered around Miraflores, probably the wealthiest district in Lima where all the foreign companies are and all the foreigners live. Back in my nannying days in AZ, a little boy in the neighborhood had a nanny from Peru, and we spent tons of time together in the park watching the little ones and she said if I go to Peru that I have to visit her family! So I had contacted them and that night one of Ericas sisters, Kathy would pick me up to show me around Barranco. A hipster kind of neighborhood. We ate anticuchos for dinner which was cow hearts... hmmm maybe this is hard to say but probably my favorite type of beef. The following day I got to play ultimate frisbee with some peruvians and a few expats. After we played until the sand started to burn our feet, our friends at the American Embassy provided us with some delicious meat to BBQ and we shared snacks and drinks. I was absolutely exhuasted but relished every minute of playing! That evening, with one of the other backpackers who also played frisbee, we met up for ... Papa Johns pizza.. I know I know, but sometimes you just need some home comfort food. And South Americans don´t know how to do pizza. It was so good.
Sunday I went to their ultimate frisbee practice and enjoyed walking along their boardwalk and relaxing. It was absolutely perfect weather and the parks and everything along the board walk are amazing. In a way... it´s kind of like California. That evening, Erica´s other sister, Giannina picked me up to go and meet their family at their home. Her 99 year old grandmother was hilarious and adored me and said I had to come to her 100th birthday party next year. Her parents were sweet as pie and they had huge german shepards in a beautiful house! After that she took me to Larcomar Mall with her mother for some Pardos which is famous for broasted chicken.. Actually kind of blanking on the word in English. But the most delicious chicken, pisco sour, and garlic dipping sauce around. Pisco sour is the drink of peru.. its a type of alcohol distilled from grapes, made with sugar, lime juice, egg whites, and pisco. YUMMMY! Add a maracuya to that, HEAVEN. Its somewhat similar to a margarita to help you guys get a picture.. They dropped me back at my hostel and the next morning I wanted to explore the historic center but had more bus hassles again. Sooo I skipped it and just headed onto Ica, and Huacachina.The main thing to do in Huacachina is enjoy the sand dunes with dune buggy rides and sandboarding. This was such an awesome time, but lots of work to climb back up the hill. I was soo sweaty and remember when booking the tour was so sad it was only two hours but understood why later. The driver drove like crazy but it was some serious fun! After returning I decided to stay there one more day and just enjoy a pool day and relax. The Belgian girl Sarah I was hanging with and I met some guys from Argentina and the group grew and had a seriously awesome pool day! Once again with the bus ticket hassle... because Semana Santa was coming up ticket prices for buses tripled and were nearly sold out. I had to help translate for this travel agency for a chinese guy and get tickets for the following day. What should have been a 13 dollar bus ride was 39. On my way there I visited the Nasca lines which are mysterious lines in the desert sand in all sorts of shapes. There is a little viewing tower. I got dropped off by the bus and was waiting for the next bus to come when a Swiss family who booked a private car asked if I wanted to join them. They had a tour guide and he dropped me right at the bus station so that was really convienent. The bus was delayed because of the traffic leaving Lima for the holiday... Then I did not sleep well at all, because the road was so curvy I kept waking up bonking my head on the window or something crazy like that! Not to mention the roads are very very scary. I just decided not looking out the front window was the best idea. Luckily there are two drivers and an assistant so I could tell that they were switching drivers quite often. Cusco is soooo touristy it is driving me absolutely crazy but I am really excited for tomorrow to visit Pisac mountain. Once again I´m staying at a commune.. two bathrooms, very dirty, minus the lovely bunk beds, filled with musical argentinans. It is 3$ a night... so I can´t really be bothered to move hostels but have been doing things solo because they just hang out at the hostel all day. I did the free walking tour which was mediocre compared to others Ive been on. Then today did a tour of a chocolate museum and bought the most delicious chocolate bar... it is almost gone already. On Monday I will do what they call ¨¨Inka Jungle Trail¨which is the alternative to inka trail, much cheaper, shorter, and less walking. I´m super bummed that there really has been no Semana Santa events here like many people said there would be but maybe I can find some tomorrow for Easter.. Easter is definitely one of my favorites and hate to miss it because my parents are the best and still spoil us with Easter Baskets filled with treats and an egg hunt. Soo happy hunting Cody and Brian, oooo and MOMS amazing cooking.
It had been a while without blog posts soo glad to catch everyone up on things! Have a wonderful and blessed Easter from Cusco, Peru!
xoxo
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