Lima, en route to the south...

We arrived in Lima in the evening time from Huaraz.  The bus ride was fairly smooth, and we passed some pretty incredible looking coastline along the way.  Sand dunes for miles, and very desert-like scenario.

We jumped in a cab at the bus station, and headed to Hostal Iquique, which was semi near the center of town.

We were starving, and after checking into the hostal, we walked out, looking for some dinner.  First place we found was just a couple blocks away, and looked nice, cheap, and was full of people, so we decided to give it a try.

I wasn't paying too much attention to the menu they had out front, and the older guy waiting tables told us they had a 'mixed plate' sorta thing, where they would give us a little of everything, which sounded good.  We ordered a beer as well, and while we waited, we kind of discussed what the food would be like.

Turns out, we were both given a huge plate of cow stomach, intestine, and heart.  The heart was the only thing semi edible, as it was shish kabob syle, on a skewer.  I tried eating as muth as I could without getting sick, not to be completely rude, and plus I was starving.  It smelled horrid, and the consistency was like eating slime and leather.  Danica took a couple bites of her beef heart, and didn't touch the rest.

A man entered the restaurant, with a pan flute, and started blowing on it with a vengeance...

He then came around table to table asking for tips...We didn't really have much to give him, and told him sorry, but he quickly eyed Danica's full, hardly touched plate of slop...

He asked if he could have it, and very excitedly, she replied "SI!"

He put it all into a bag, and the waiter hadn't a clue she hadn't touched her meal.  Perfect.  Now, we left disgusted, and of course not full, or satisfied in the least.

Moral:  Check what you order.  Normally I would have, but after traveling all day, wasn't on my toes.

2 nights in Lima, and we spent almost a full day walking around in Barranco district, which was quite beautiful.  Rather ironic it was though, as we spent the time walking around trying to find a micro brewery we saw on the net...Nobody had ever heard of it, but we finally found it, only for it to be closed...We banged on the door, and the owner came out and said they only have 2 beers on tap...Super lame, oh well.

We walked down the road and found a burger joint owned by a British guy, and he sold us a couple of unbelievable IPA's from "Barbarian" brewery, which is another craft brewery in Lima, on the opposite side of town.  We enjoyed them to the fullest, and recommend trying them out if you're in the area!

8% unbelievable IPA!

The second morning, while we were waiting for our bus, there was a 7.0 earthquake centered just off the coast near Nazca.  Several people in Lima felt it, but luckily it was in an area where nothing was, and nobody was hurt.  On to the famed and mysterious Nazca Desert to take it all in!

2 nights in Huaraz

We jumped on a 'micro bus' in downtown Caraz, and it took only about an hour and a half to reach Huaraz.  Beautiful day it was, and the sun was hot as hell.  Upon our arrival, we looked for about a half hour for "Caroline Hostal," which was in our 3 year old Lonely Planet book, and nobody was of any help.  Maybe they shut down...

We found "Hostal Rapido," just off of the main drag, and used it as our home location for 2 nights.  Wifi, hot shower, and a 3rd floor room, was a nice place for our stay.

As many do in Huaraz, we didn't come for any intense climbing or trekking.  Instead, we were winding down from our 2 weeks volunteering in the middle of the Andes, on Eilif's organic farm.

We did, however go for a day hike, which turned out to be quite nice.

We took another micro bus into the hills behind the town, to check out "Wilcahuain," which is a stone structure dating back to pre Inca times, used for funerary purposes.  It was situated on a hillside overlooking the city below, with 3 floors, that were still very much intact, which we went inside each one and looked around.  There was a small museum next to it with info, and we ended up walking up a nice trail across the road, and up the hilltop to a lookout point, with a gorgeous view of Huaraz and the Cordilleras behind it.

Apart from our nice hike, we had some excellent ceviche in Huaraz, and walked around the town quite a bit.  A quick glance at our map would dictate that we needed to head south, and on a direct bus to Lima it was...

"Wilcahuain" ruins near Huaraz

View of the city of Huaraz from up above

Caraz

We left the farm in Aticara on Friday afternoon, and hopped in a cab to Caraz.  Normally we would have taken the bus, especially since it was about a 4 hour drive, but Eilif had taken a cab home from Caraz, and paid for us to continue back, down the road in it.

The drive was unbelievable.  On the way into Aticara, we took the night bus, and missed the incredible scenery, but on the way out, we left at 4:30 PM, and were blessed to be able to witness the sunset over the Canon del Pato, which is NOT to be missed!

The canyon is literally up there with the Grand Canyon back in the states, but in a different way.  It was an all dirt road, and the cabby, Victor was driving it like the grand prix.  We bounded down the mountain, as the sun was setting over the canyon, and could see the gradient volcanic colors of the mountains dipping into the distance.

This road was a nail biter to say the least.  We were both silent, sitting in the Chinese minivan Victor was driving, but there wasn't a need for words...

After a couple near misses with oncoming buses, we were into the sunset, and down the mountain in half the time it would have taken to be on the bus to Caraz.  After the sun went down, and darkness closed in, we were down in the valley below, and starting out ascent into the next high altitude city of Caraz.

We passed through a hydroelectric town of Huancayo, and through several tunnels that were just cut into the rock, with no cement support.

We finally made it to Caraz that night, and checked into the hostel "Chavin," before making our way out to eat at "La Terraza," which turned out to be quite a treat, after eating vegetarian cuisine for the last 2 weeks on the farm.

We headed to a liquor store to pick up a couple beers after dinner, and ended up being invited to sit with a couple locals and chatting for a few hours.  We ended up in the plaza de Armas, with a firework and hot air balloon show for the evening, and talking late into the evening with Daniel, a Peruvian man, who kept insisting we visit him and his family in Lima for dinner, over a small bottle of "Cat's Claw liquer" that was made by one of the locals.

Aticara - Volunteering on an organic farm for 2 weeks!

We left Chiclayo at about 10 AM on a bus to Chimbote, which is further south, and on the coast.  We again had a couple corny movies aboard the bus, and had an unbelievable scenery on the journey.

Out the window were stretching deserts, and jagged coastline in and out.  There were a couple stretches of highway that had signs reading "archeological area, keep out," leaving me wondering if there was some work being done on uncovering some new Peruvian findings...

We reached Chimbote, which is the biggest city in the Ancash region of Peru.  We were warned by the owner of the farm we were to visit, that in Chimbote, we needed to be on our toes, especially with taxi drivers.  We found and old man taxi driver, who was very nice, and took us across town to the tiny bus station heading up and into the mountains where we were to go.

Aticara, where we were headed, was not on our map, or in the book.  Turns out it was the tiniest little town we were to see thus far.  The neighboring town of Corongo wasn't even in our book, and it was quite the sight to see!

We got on the bus to Aticara in Chimbote at about 5:30 PM on a Friday evening.  We arrived in Aticara at almost midnite.  The bus ride was on a very windy mountain road, which we could see nothing outside, of course.  Eilif, the owner of the farm, was there to pick us up in Aticara.

We jumped in his old Subaru station wagon and headed off into the night.  We would spend the next 2 weeks working on his beautiful organic farm, and helping out around the property.

2 weeks seemed like it would be an eternity there, but it went by very quickly.  We awoke the next morning to an incredible view of the farm, at about 10,000 feet (3000 meters) up in the Andes.

Eilif was a really cool guy.  He's Norwegian, and married to a Peruvian woman.  He taught us tons about organic farming.  He is all about doing everything the natural way, and was full of information and insight on everything natural, from planting to animal feed.

Our second week there, we were left alone while he went to Lima with the family, and we were in charge of feeding all of the chickens (about 30 of them), and watering and caring for the crops.

His farm had no electricity, or running water other than a creek, and we were out in the middle of nowhere.  But, it was the experience of a lifetime, of course, and we cooked some great meals, and really got into the feel of being primitive for 2 weeks.  There was a hot spring just down the road, that we visited twice, and during our overall stay there, we had an incredible time.

The house

View from the property

a small view of the farm with a view of some sun chokes and potatoes...

The hotspring just down the road from the farm

Eilif giving us the lowdown on the farm

Danica, with a pitchfork in all her glory

Chiclayo - just passing through...

We had our date set for our next volunteer gig, and after our Peruvian debut, we took a couple buses down the path...

We jumped on a collectivo style van from Mancora to Piura, which was about 2 1/2 hours away, then on a proper bus from Piura to Chiclayo, which took another 4 hours.  Sometimes on these buses, we get a little entertainment in the form of a Hollywood movie, dubbed in Spanish...Sure enough, we got just that this time around, and perfectly placed in our 4 hour ride, were "Rambo," 1 and 2.  Ironically, I'd never seen either of them, and apart from my frequent chuckles in the script and special effects, I enjoyed them nonetheless.

We pulled into Chiclayo, thinking that it was a small(ish) beach town, similar to Mancora in size...It was gigantic!  I believe there's over a million people in Chiclayo, and we were literally the ONLY tourists in town, that sure enough stuck out like a sore thumb.

While walking through the streets, in a part of town called the "Mercado," where it's a permanent, giant flea market, I was tried as a part of a robbery scam.  Quite funny, and sure enough, exactly like I had heard it might be...

A woman walked in front of me on the crowded street, "tripped," and fell in front of me, spilling several Sole coins on the ground...As she was sort of blocking me from walking past, a man, obviously working with her, reached into my pocket, and tried to remove my camera, but, I felt it, and grabbed his arm...He turned and ran, and the woman quickly disappeared.  Lucky for me, I was on my toes, but this just goes as a reminder...ALWAYS be on the lookout, and never be unguarded!

Two nights in Chiclayo was definitely enough for us, and as for our ongoing search for another volunteer opportunity, we were ready for the next job...Just a bit further down the road to spend a couple weeks...

atop our hostel

Peru! Mancora...

Leaving Ecuador:

We left Montanita bus station at 5:00 PM on Saturday, the 31st, and watched a corny movie (as usual) on the ride to Guayaquil terminal.  We entered the terminal, and quickly found the bus company "CIFA," who makes the international journey, and bought our tickets for the night bus, which left at 11:30 PM.  We had a couple hours to kill in the terminal, and had a bite to eat, jumped on the internet for a bit, and then at about 11:40, boarded our bus.  Biggest bus I'd ever been on, it was a double decker, and we were in seats 1 and 2, upstairs, right in the front window, as if we were the drivers.  Finally fell asleep after a couple hours, and woke up at the international border of Peru.  Very, very simple border crossing to be honest, and within about 10 minutes, we were back on the bus, heading for Mancora.  I would imagine that doing this crossing during the day must be a lot busier!

We arrived at about 7 AM, to the MOST annoying introduction of cab drivers begging to take us to our hostel destination...Having not gotten the best sleep, I was not prepared for this.  Either way, we denied the cabs, and began our walk, and search for a cheap hostel, which ended in, possibly one of the shittiest hostels in town...

We stayed the night at "Angeles Del Mar," which had an internet connection, but wide open walls at the top, and we were completely ravaged by dive bombing mosquitoes all night, no thanks to their "mosquito net" over the bed, full of huge holes...Despite a slightly shitty night of sleep, we would spend the next two nights in Mancora, right next door at "Amanecer."

Amanecer was 5 Soles cheaper than the prior, and didn't look much better, that's for sure.  The room was tiny, but had a private bathroom.  Once inside that private bath, there was, for one, no toilet seat, and no shower curtain...You get what you pay for.  The water also didn't work for the first half of the day, but like I said, why complain?

We nonetheless had unbelievable ceviche in Mancora...We had it 3 or 4 times there, and it was to write home about!  The rest of Mancora was bleh...Surf town, no waves, no tourists at that moment, and all of the locals were restless, yelling out "California" whenever we'd walk by, trying to sell us drugs.  Despite the hot sun and beautiful sunset, I'm glad we continued on...We had in fact, found another volunteer gig down the road, in the Andes, to spend a couple weeks working on an organic farm...We had our time frame set, and needed to get there for the gig...

Mancora sunset

Unbelievable ceviche!

Saying goodbye to Ecuador...

Lots of posts from Tagua Lodge...Well, we stayed almost 3 months, and a lot has happened.  We pretty much finished working, and our work can be seen all over the hostel.

Our friends Tristan and Phoebe showed up in Montanita, after their Colombian stint.  They came over to Tagua, and we made some pizzas.  We spent a couple days hanging out, and most likely will be seeing eachother again, down the road.

We met tons of cool people staying at the lodge...Wouldn't even be possible to name all of them, but of course there were the ones already mentioned, such as Mark and Carlie, and Mathew and Poppy, the Argentinian family, Sebastian, Vicky and Alfredo, Jose and Margarita, Kristin and Debbie from Oregon, Tom and Alex from England, as well as their friends who came later, and not to leave out Luis and Caty, who made it all possible...The people we met, and hung out with obviously added to the place, and the time spent.

Big Montanita night

A little bit on Ecuador, after our 3 months stay...

Super friendly people, delicious food, diverse scenery, with Andean peaks, volcanoes, vast beaches, and wildlife.

Some tips for visiting Ecuador:

The country uses US currency, as well as some older Ecuadorean coins, just like Panama.

Nobody EVER has change!  Keep this in mind while making your way around.  Especially in smaller towns, it's often impossible to break a $20 bill, so when you have a chance, get change ahead of time.  Even a $10 bill can sometimes leave you waiting for the cashier to run for change.  Our experience was that liquor stores were the best bet for having change...

Living anywhere for 3 months can really change you.  We were grateful for our opportunity to stay at Tagua Lodge for as long as we did, and hope to return someday.

I think we'll actually miss the sounds that annoyed us so much in the beginning...From the shrimp salesman at 7 am with his loudspeaker, to the produce trucks "Veinticinco Naranja, Un Dolar!," to the trash men coming almost every day, with their trash take-out song "Sacar la basura, cuando viene el carro..."

Ecuador is an amazing country, and we feel honored to have spent so much time there...Hopefully we'll be back!