Hello-
We have been hanging out in the mountain town of Huaraz for the past couple days and are about to leave on a 5 day trek in the mountains. And we have finally gotten our Galapagos pictures up! They are under Pictures 2. We are excited about the trek, we are going with a German guy we met at our hostel, a donkey, and a donkey driver. It is the Santa Cruz trek and Laguna 69 in the Cordillera Blanca if anyone is interested in looking it up. Afterwards we are heading to Lima and then off to Macchu Picchu and the Cuzco area. Hope everyone is doing well and enjoy the pictures!
Jess
August 28, 2007
August 24, 2007
The adventure continues
Justin and I have now made it to the second country of our trip, Peru. So far Peru has been good, with nice buses that actually come to a complete stop when you get on, cheaper in general than Ecuador, and the people have seemed more welcoming and outgoing overall.
During our last few days in Ecuador we did a hike close one of their big national parks. The owners of the cabañas that we were staying at also have a reserve with a lodge a day´s hike away from the cabañas. When Justin and I think lodge, we think of THE LOJ, our outdoors club´s exquisite wooden structure in the White Mountains. So we decided to pay $9 a night each (this may sound cheap but it´s not, the cabins at the hostel were $7 a night each) to hike up to this lodge and stay the night instead of bringing up our tent. The hike was very nice and the area that the lodge was in was gorgeous, set on a ridge between two rivers, but the lodge was dark, dirty, and the running water we had been promised was not functioning. So we would have been more comfortable in our tent, and the moral of the story is that South America´s lodges do not measure up to NUHOC´s.
After leaving Vilcabamba we head our first of many border crossing experiences. We took a 9-hour bus that crossed the border and it turned out to be a very lax experience. The "border" consists of a bridge with the Ecuadorian exit office on one side and the Peru entrance on the other. All the foreigners, about 7 of us backpackers total, got off the bus and took an hour or so to get our exit and entrance stamps. No one else got off the bus to do any of this, and while we were going through these formalities the fruit guys were freely walking back and forth across the bridge selling their wares.
In the town we stayed in Peru we befriended a few of the other backpaskers who had been on the bus. Since there was not a lot to do in the town, we decided to buy a couple beers at the grocery store and sit on the rooftop deck and hang out. Buying beer at the grocery store turned out to be more complicated than we had expected. They do not care how old you are when buying alcohol, but they are very protective of their bottles. In much of South and Central America they reuse the glass beer and soda bottles, so there is a large deposit. But at this grocery store it turned out to be very complicated to explain this to us. While checking out we all spoke some spanish, and usually it is enough to get by, but it was not enough to figure out this situtation entirely. When the first of us tried to buy his beer, the lady shook her head at him, said she couldn´t sell him the beer, then said it would cost more, he asked why, and a couple times during this exchange she looked at the security guard with the large gun standing at the back of the store, and he would shake his head. Finally she just rang up the beer plus an extra sol (1 sol=35 cents) to cover the deposit. This might not sound like a lot, but 3 soles buys you a decent lunch. So we tried to ask if we could come back and return the bottles in the morning, but again she looked at the security guard and he shook his head again. So we conceded defeat and left with our beers.
After the first town we ventured to a nice beach town where we again ran into our backpacker friends, before venturing to Huaraz, Peru, which is very close to one of Peru´s nicest mountain ranges. We had our first overnight bus ride last night which was amazing compared to all of the other buses we´ve been on. Reclining seats, a meal, and even a bus stewardess. We are planning a few hikes and will keep everyone posted about how they go!
Again we don´t have pictures up yet from the Galapagos but we are working on finding a fast enough connection to upload them all.
Hope everyone is well!
Jess
During our last few days in Ecuador we did a hike close one of their big national parks. The owners of the cabañas that we were staying at also have a reserve with a lodge a day´s hike away from the cabañas. When Justin and I think lodge, we think of THE LOJ, our outdoors club´s exquisite wooden structure in the White Mountains. So we decided to pay $9 a night each (this may sound cheap but it´s not, the cabins at the hostel were $7 a night each) to hike up to this lodge and stay the night instead of bringing up our tent. The hike was very nice and the area that the lodge was in was gorgeous, set on a ridge between two rivers, but the lodge was dark, dirty, and the running water we had been promised was not functioning. So we would have been more comfortable in our tent, and the moral of the story is that South America´s lodges do not measure up to NUHOC´s.
After leaving Vilcabamba we head our first of many border crossing experiences. We took a 9-hour bus that crossed the border and it turned out to be a very lax experience. The "border" consists of a bridge with the Ecuadorian exit office on one side and the Peru entrance on the other. All the foreigners, about 7 of us backpackers total, got off the bus and took an hour or so to get our exit and entrance stamps. No one else got off the bus to do any of this, and while we were going through these formalities the fruit guys were freely walking back and forth across the bridge selling their wares.
In the town we stayed in Peru we befriended a few of the other backpaskers who had been on the bus. Since there was not a lot to do in the town, we decided to buy a couple beers at the grocery store and sit on the rooftop deck and hang out. Buying beer at the grocery store turned out to be more complicated than we had expected. They do not care how old you are when buying alcohol, but they are very protective of their bottles. In much of South and Central America they reuse the glass beer and soda bottles, so there is a large deposit. But at this grocery store it turned out to be very complicated to explain this to us. While checking out we all spoke some spanish, and usually it is enough to get by, but it was not enough to figure out this situtation entirely. When the first of us tried to buy his beer, the lady shook her head at him, said she couldn´t sell him the beer, then said it would cost more, he asked why, and a couple times during this exchange she looked at the security guard with the large gun standing at the back of the store, and he would shake his head. Finally she just rang up the beer plus an extra sol (1 sol=35 cents) to cover the deposit. This might not sound like a lot, but 3 soles buys you a decent lunch. So we tried to ask if we could come back and return the bottles in the morning, but again she looked at the security guard and he shook his head again. So we conceded defeat and left with our beers.
After the first town we ventured to a nice beach town where we again ran into our backpacker friends, before venturing to Huaraz, Peru, which is very close to one of Peru´s nicest mountain ranges. We had our first overnight bus ride last night which was amazing compared to all of the other buses we´ve been on. Reclining seats, a meal, and even a bus stewardess. We are planning a few hikes and will keep everyone posted about how they go!
Again we don´t have pictures up yet from the Galapagos but we are working on finding a fast enough connection to upload them all.
Hope everyone is well!
Jess
August 16, 2007
Boobies and tortoises and sea lions, oh my!
Vilcabamba, Ecuador
So we got back from the Galapagos Monday and it was great! The boat we stayed on was the newest in the fleet sailing the Galapagos and it was really nice but not up to the luxury standards us budget travelers were expecting. If we had paid full price, like some of the people on our boat did, we would have been rather mad but we didnt so were not. The boat had lots of space and windows everywhere (even in the shower), but the food, service and other aspects of the boat were only ok. The only luxury service we really got was the guide who was superb.
The boat was divided into two groups, the scuba divers and the walkers. Since neither Jess or I had scuba dived we part of the hardcore walking group. There were 16 guest on the boat and 10 crew. Originally the whole boat was booked for diving only but 2 weeks ago the Galapagos national parked restricted 2 dive sites, off the islands of Darwin and Wolfe, to only 3 boats and ares was not one of them. Theses two dive sites are the two most northern islands in the national park and also the best places to see Hammerhead and Whale sharks, which is what the Galapagos is know for. Anyways once the divers heard this 8 of them dropped out leaving spots open on the boat for us. Of the walkers there was a Canadian/Irish couple, a guy from Whales (UK that is), a group of 3 Peruvians from Canada, and a Swiss couple that only really spoke German, Spanish, and French. The 6 divers were all based out of a dive shop in the not so close to the ocean region of Columbus, Ohio. If anyone has the urge to learn go diving in Columbus, ask for Jack and Gordy at Aquatic Adventures!
First off let me state that the Galapagos are a amazing national park, and i doubt you will get so close to so many wild animals and birds anywhere else in the World. The trip started early Monday morning when we left our hostel in Guayaquil to head for the airport. There we were met by our travel agent who helped check us in and more importantly reminded us that the price of the trip was confidential and if anyone asked we paid $1800. We laughed... he didnt. We went through security and then waited in the terminal. The interesting thing about flying to the Galapagos is there is two airports which are on two different islands but they dont decipher between the two. So our tickets said we were flying to San Cristobal but there we ended up going to Baltra. This was very confusing to us but seemed business as usual in Ecuador. The flights to the Galapagos start in Quito then land in Guayaquil and then go to the islands. Once we got to the Galapagos we were met by our guide Ruly who was a Ecuadorian native and the dive master Santiago. On the island of Baltra there is nothing except a airport and harbor so we collect our stuff proceeded to the boat.
The one thing we didnt know about the sailing in the Galapagos is it´s pretty much the open ocean and the seas are rough and the water is pretty cold (mid 60s). Everywhere we went there were sea lions on the beaches and they had no fear of us. There were so many in some spots it was important not to trip over them when you were taking pictures. We also saw blue footed boobies which do dive bombs into the water to catch fish. Usually they fish by themselves but on the last day we saw 100´s that had a trapped a school a fish and dive bombed them all at once (we have an amazing video of this). We also saw crabs, pink flamingoes, and number of other animals (check out the pictures once we post them, probably early next week). The snorkeling, all though cold, was amazing. We saw many of the things the divers did, but not a hammerhead shark. This included sea turtles, white tip reef sharks, marine iguanas, penguins, sea lions, sting rays, and a ton of fish. This was probably the best snorkeling i´ve done, which tops the great barrier reef.
The days were all pretty much the same iternary. Breakfast at 8, first landvisit at 9, then maybe a snorkel, lunch at 1 (while sailing to next spot), 2nd land visit at 3, another snorkel, and dinner at 7. We sailed almost every night and the first night was the worst that even the crew said was unusually rough. That so that meant that we got abosolutly no sleep. As the nights went on we got used to rocking and rolling.
8 days was enough time for us, even though there was a lot more so see. Tomorrow we are leaving for a 3 day trek around Vilcabamba and we should be on our way to Peru Monday.
Hope all is well
Justin
PS we didnt feel the earthquake nor did we even hear about it until we heard about it through email. We are interested in doing any type of engineering diaster relief and we should be in that area in a few weeks. Please email me if you hear of anything or have any contacts. thnxs
August 4, 2007
Cuenca and my new favorite drug
Cuenca, Ecuador
The trip from Guayaquil to Cuenca is not for the faint hearted. The ride is about 4 hours, 2 of the them on a nice paved highways (elev 500ft), and then last 2 were straight from hell (up to 13,300ft then back to 8,200ft). First off i want to let everyone know that neither Jess or i got sick on the bus but we were both very close to the breaking point. Jess claims the ride was very pretty any even has pictures has we ascended past the clouds and into the mountains, but i had my eyes glues to the road so i cant comment on any of the views.
Cuenca is the 3rd largest city in Ecuador but seems to have the most character. There are a lot of shops and restaurants that cater to its wealthier residents. Jess and I haven't been able to experience too much because I've been under the weather. But because of my new favorite drug, ciprofloxacin (or Cipro for short), I'm back on my feet again and ready for the Galapagos this Monday!!!
Jess and I have also realised that we had made a big mistake after shortly after leaving Quito. We had decided not to bring our guide book that her parents had nicely bought for us, because it was too heavy (stupid huh). what a mistake not only have we stayed at a couple of shoddy places but we were probably overcharged too because the going rates vary town to town. Anyways we finally corrected our error and purchased a brand new Lonely Planet book (for the price we paid i think it flew down in the seat next to me). We also have now discovered that the book is almost 4 years old and many things have changed... oh well. We have started a list of things to write to the authors about. At the top of our list is their top ranked hotel in Cuenca, which turned out to be a pay by the hour with boards for beds and windows that could have made inmates feel at home. I believe they described it as a gem but it was far from it.
Tomorrow we are back on the bus to Guayaquil, and will stay there the night before we fly out to the Galapagos Monday. The next time we post we should have some amazing pictures, and there might even be internet on the boat.
Hope all is a well
Justin
Cuenca is the 3rd largest city in Ecuador but seems to have the most character. There are a lot of shops and restaurants that cater to its wealthier residents. Jess and I haven't been able to experience too much because I've been under the weather. But because of my new favorite drug, ciprofloxacin (or Cipro for short), I'm back on my feet again and ready for the Galapagos this Monday!!!
Jess and I have also realised that we had made a big mistake after shortly after leaving Quito. We had decided not to bring our guide book that her parents had nicely bought for us, because it was too heavy (stupid huh). what a mistake not only have we stayed at a couple of shoddy places but we were probably overcharged too because the going rates vary town to town. Anyways we finally corrected our error and purchased a brand new Lonely Planet book (for the price we paid i think it flew down in the seat next to me). We also have now discovered that the book is almost 4 years old and many things have changed... oh well. We have started a list of things to write to the authors about. At the top of our list is their top ranked hotel in Cuenca, which turned out to be a pay by the hour with boards for beds and windows that could have made inmates feel at home. I believe they described it as a gem but it was far from it.
Tomorrow we are back on the bus to Guayaquil, and will stay there the night before we fly out to the Galapagos Monday. The next time we post we should have some amazing pictures, and there might even be internet on the boat.
Hope all is a well
Justin
August 1, 2007
Montañita,Salinas,and Guayaquil....and we´re Galapagos bound!
Hello Everyone-
Justin and I had a good few days in Montañita hanging out with the volunteers that we met at Alandaluz and Cantalapiedra. There was one American, 2 Chileans, 2 Dutch, one Austrian, and a few from Ecuador. We spent the weekend in the party town of Montañita, and then moved on to Salinas on Sunday. We were excited to go to a place that we thought would be a nice hangout, but since we were on the coast in the rainy/cloudy season, it was overcast and there was hardly anyone there. It was a very different place than we had been to before, and it looked a bit like a nice beach in Florida, full of high rise condos and hotels as far as the eye could see. But they were all empty. So we hung out on the beach, which was ok, but the real treat of our two nights in Salinas was the dicovery of a grocery store. Until then we only had convenience stores, and we were not sure where everyone bought there food. We think that in smaller towns people drive around and sell meat and rice on the street. So we generally eat at restaurants, trying to find the best $1-2 meal.
We spent 2 nights and day in Salinas and then came to Guayaquil. It is a big, noisy, somewhat polluted, but affluent city. There is not a lot to do here for tourists, and we only came here to find a last minute deal on a Galapagos trip. Yesterday, after 3 travel agents, and 2 hours at the final agent, we are booked on an 8-day trip on the boat the Queen of the Galapagos: http://www.galasam.com.ec/queenofgalapagos.html# But don´t be alarmed we definitely did not pay the price that is listed. We were looking for a tourist class boat, but they were all booked. I think there are less cancellations on the less expensive boats than on the more expensive ones. So we are headed to the Galapagos on Monday!
Until then we are leaving Guayaquil to go to a nicer and livelier town, Cuenca. It is up in the mountains so we are headed back up to a substantial elevation. From there we may make day trip to the smaller Baños which has many public thermal baths.
Pictures should be loaded soon on Pictures 2!
I hope everyone is doing well.
Jess
Justin and I had a good few days in Montañita hanging out with the volunteers that we met at Alandaluz and Cantalapiedra. There was one American, 2 Chileans, 2 Dutch, one Austrian, and a few from Ecuador. We spent the weekend in the party town of Montañita, and then moved on to Salinas on Sunday. We were excited to go to a place that we thought would be a nice hangout, but since we were on the coast in the rainy/cloudy season, it was overcast and there was hardly anyone there. It was a very different place than we had been to before, and it looked a bit like a nice beach in Florida, full of high rise condos and hotels as far as the eye could see. But they were all empty. So we hung out on the beach, which was ok, but the real treat of our two nights in Salinas was the dicovery of a grocery store. Until then we only had convenience stores, and we were not sure where everyone bought there food. We think that in smaller towns people drive around and sell meat and rice on the street. So we generally eat at restaurants, trying to find the best $1-2 meal.
We spent 2 nights and day in Salinas and then came to Guayaquil. It is a big, noisy, somewhat polluted, but affluent city. There is not a lot to do here for tourists, and we only came here to find a last minute deal on a Galapagos trip. Yesterday, after 3 travel agents, and 2 hours at the final agent, we are booked on an 8-day trip on the boat the Queen of the Galapagos: http://www.galasam.com.ec/queenofgalapagos.html# But don´t be alarmed we definitely did not pay the price that is listed. We were looking for a tourist class boat, but they were all booked. I think there are less cancellations on the less expensive boats than on the more expensive ones. So we are headed to the Galapagos on Monday!
Until then we are leaving Guayaquil to go to a nicer and livelier town, Cuenca. It is up in the mountains so we are headed back up to a substantial elevation. From there we may make day trip to the smaller Baños which has many public thermal baths.
Pictures should be loaded soon on Pictures 2!
I hope everyone is doing well.
Jess
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