Lima and Cusco

We only had one night in Lima and our one goal was to eat ceviche. Check! We spent our one day wondering around Miraflores and we went to possibly the fanciest supermarket I've ever been too. I can't wait until I can afford to buy nice cheese again!

Our hostel in Lima - a renovated mansion from the 1900s.

 After our quick stop in Lima it was off to Cusco - a 21 hour bus ride. We decided this was a good reason to splash out on pretty much the fanciest bus company in Peru - Cruz del Sur - to see what the fuss was about. The seats went back far, we had a pillow and a blanket, got served meals and drinks and to top it all off there was an entertainment system and some of the movies were in English!

Cusco was a nice city but man it got cold sometimes and quite touristy. We spent our time wandering around the cobbled streets, soaking in the sun on a cold morning and taking a free walking tour around the city.

Inca Fountain in the middle of Plaza de Armas (the main square)

Traditional Dance in the Streets

View of Cusco - it's amazing the way these cities spread up the mountains when they expand

Jesus watches over Cusco. Spoiler Alert! - This was a little taster of who we're gonna get to see in Rio!

On our walking tour we visited a company who makes turns baby alpaca wool into expensive ponchos. These are a few of the ingredients they use to naturally dye the wool. 

These different colours are made from mixing a squashed bug from a moldy cactus with different minerals. Seriously. 

You pretty much finish every tour in Peru with a Pisco Sour. We were shown how to make our own Pisco Sours, and although we only got a shot of one each, it was probably the tastiest one I've had. Lots of sugar syrup. 

Cuy (guinea pig) is a Peruvian Specialty. I'm still not really sure why. I'd been wanting to try one but a whole one can cost about 60 soles. Luckily our hostel was going to prepare one for lunch and you could eat a quarter of it for 15 soles. This is what he looked like fresh out of the oven. There's not much meat on a cuy and the skin was pretty similar to that of a pigs. With all those little bones it gets a bit fidely and I'm not sure I'd like to eat a whole one but the bit I did try was quite tasty. Except the head. I couldn't eat the head. 

Hello Peru! First Stop, Huaraz

After about a day and a half on buses we finally made it to our first destination, Huaraz, at 5 am. We weren't prepared for this 5 am disembark (we had been told 8 am), so we sleepily got off the bus and took a taxi to our hostel where we sat in the reception for 2 hours until our room was ready. After breakfast and nap we headed out into the town for lunch. Huaraz is not know for it's beauty, but its proximity to amazing natural beauty.  

One of the first things we see in town

Possibly the best statue ever

We turned up during some kind of festival. I think those are nuts on their legs. 

I had decided that after such a long bus ride we should treat ourselves to a nice meal so we headed for an expensive (relative to what local food costs) curry place. We sat down, ordered our curries and suddenly were hit by the altitude. Huaraz is about 3000 m above sea level. Altitude sickness pretty much feels like a hang over but all you did the day before was sit on a bus. Alex went to a near by pharmacy to get some altitude sickness pills and I tried to hold it together. Our curries had come and I gingerly tried to eat mine. Big Mistake. Just as Alex came back I threw up into my curry! After all the initial embarrassment and clean up (the waitress was really nice about it) I sat there and watched Alex finish his curry, the pills had fixed him right up.

After I had purged my stomach I was feeling better so we booked some day treks for the day after, allowing ourselves one more day to adjust.

Our first day tour was to the Pastoruri Glacier (which might not actually be a glacier). This trip involved a lot of bus time and only an hour and a half walking time - perfect to get us acclimatized. Apparently not that many foreign tourists take this tour so the tour guides only spoke Spanish. We stopped at a few places along the way - a restaurant where we bought coca leaves*; a natural mineral water spring where we tasted the water (it tasted funny) and the side of the road so we could look at some special plants (apparently they only grown in a few places).

The Mineral Water Spring with Bonus Snowy Mountains in the Background

All throughout Peru traditionally dressed women and children are carrying lambs around, hoping you'll pay to get a photo with one. I figured I would just get it out of the way early. 

Puya Raimondi

When we finally made it to the glacier we had to walk from the car park up a slight hill to the glacier for about 45 minutes. Sounds easy right? No! Remember though that we were now at an altitude of 5200 m. It was a sloooooow walk up to the glacier. It was a very strange feeling being so out of breathe after so little excursion and watching all the Peru tat clad zombie like tourists having the same problem. It was worth it though, the views were pretty awesome. The glacier was so white I needed sunglasses to look at it directly.

The Glacier

You'll never get thirsty around here

The following day we had a slightly more taxing day trip. We were picked up about 5:30 am and driven into the national park where we stopped to have breakfast a a lake. When we first arrived the lake was a classic creepy misty lake. As we ate breakfast the mist cleared and the lake was revealed along with an impressive valley and the tallest peak in Peru - Huascaran, 6 746 m.

Creepy Lake

Incredibly Scenic Lake

After breakfast we drove a little deeper into the park and the trekking began. It was 7 km to Lake 69 and we had to get there in under 3 hours if we wanted to spend any time actually at the lake. It was a tough 7 km, ranging from an altitude of 3 800 m to 4 600 m. I was pretty proud that we made it to the lake in exactly 2 hours and 45 minutes. Those up hills were tough but the views were pretty amazing.

Saying hello to the local wildlife

Beautiful Flowers and Beautiful Waterfalls

A view of the valley we had just walked through

Hiking can be tough sometimes 

Finally we made it to Lake 69, one of the bluest lakes I've ever seen

So Pretty

Loved seeing the cows and the snowy mountains together

The crazy valley the first lake sat in

The sites around Huaraz are beautiful and we're so glad we made the effort to get there.

* In Peru you can buy coca leaves to help you with altitude. You can either make a tea with them or chew them. They are supposed to get more oxygen into your blood and give you more energy. Honestly though, I never thought I could feel them working and they don't taste very good.

Goodbye Ecuador - Santa Marianita and Cuenca

After the hustle and bustle of Quito we headed to the coast to hang with a friend who was volunteering at a hostel on the beach for a few days. The beach, Santa Marianita, isn't a popular backpacker beach. It's actually a pretty weird place, as was the hostel we stayed at. The main reasons people go there are 1) they are really into wind surfing or 2) they are a retiree from North America. 

There was a set of about 8 "restaurants" along the beach that all look the same and serve the same food. Someone started one and then a few other people thought it was a good idea so they did the exact same thing. Then one in particular became popular with the Gringos and the others were losing out on business. To solve this problem the government declared that each restaurant can only be open 3 days a week to spread the funds around. This is some of the weirdness of Santa Marianita. That and all the retired North Americans hanging around who can't speak Spanish and have a distrust of Ecuadorians. 

The beach was good for chilling though and the waves were strong. There's a lot of development going on so look out for it as an up and coming holiday destination. 

Beach Sunset

The Hostel

After the beach we headed to Cuenca which had been highly recommended. It's another pretty colonial town with museums and churches galore.

The Main Square

Some interesting Graffiti 

We went to one of the weirdest museums I've ever been to - Prohibido Museo de Arte Extremo. It was an old house full of paintings of naked fairies and skeleton sculptures. I think some interesting parties go on there. 

We had a spa day - 2 for 1 Mondays. First time in a steam box - felt a little claustrophobic. 

From Cuenca we got a night bus into Peru (which involved a surprisingly easy border crossing at 2 in the morning). From there it was one day bus and one night bus until we arrived at our first Peruvian destination at 5am. 

Quito, Ecuador's Capital

We ended up spending a decent amount of time in Quito either side of the Amazon. It was a strange city, nestled in a valley in the Andes about 2820 m above sea level but there was lots to do. This was also our first taste of altitude sickness - Alex was really feeling it, he had to fight to stay awake in the super market. 

Quito has one of the coolest parks I've seen; it had a weird abandoned play area, complete with graffiti-ed plane, fun statues, little moat with paddle boats, botanical garden, heaps of different sports fields and a BMX track. 

Walking around the historical center also reveals many treasures.

This is a popular food chain.....

Typical Street in Old Town

This is apparently the site of one of the great Incan Ruler's Palace (because they moved up from Peru into Ecuador and killed a bunch of people)

In the historical center of Quito the Basilica dominates all other churches. It's worth the entrance fee to get up into the towers for great views of Quito.

Stained Glass inside the Basilica

View of Quito from the Towers

Armadillos on the side of the church

These were the "stairs" that you had to climb to get up to one of the other towers. People were climbing up them with a baby in one arm! I was scared going up and down them while still able to use all my limbs. 

The view from the other tower. When you go up those towers you can get right in behind the clocks to see how they work. They were the wrong time on all sides.

Obviously if you're in Ecuador you can't miss Mitad del Mundo (The middle of the world). It's a pretty easy day trip from Quito once you figure out the buses. There are two equators in Ecuador: There's Ciudad Mitad del Mundo (The Middle of the World City) - the famous landmark that sits on the equator as calculated by the French in 1736. At the monument there is a plaque that says the equator is actually about 5 km wide and during the solstice or equinox the equator is actually pretty much on the yellow line based on GPS. And then there's the actual equator that has been calculated by GPS to be about 240 m north of the yellow line. There's a museum here that tries to prove they are the real equator with a few since experiments (which we were pretty sure were bogus, I think you can balance an egg on a nail anywhere).

The Famous Yellow Line

Dancers at Ciudad Mitad del Mundo. There were also llamas for good measure. 

Our first taste of shrunken heads at the equator. Apparently the human head is a young boy's who died before his time and his dad wanted a keep sake to remember him by. It's illegal for tribes in the amazon to continue this practice on human heads so they use animals now so they don't lose the skills. 

The Real Equator

I think the other must do in Quito is a trip up the teleferiqo, a cable car that takes you up the Andes to 4100 m in altitude. From here you can hike further up Pichincha Volcano. Everyone really plays this "walk" down, but I am here to tell you that it is no walk in the park, it's a kind of intense hike. Firstly, you're at 4100 m so altitude is a factor - it's hard work walking around the car park. Then once you get closer to the peak you realise it's got a pit of snow on it and you're only in shorts and thermals. The closer the the peak you get the more the weather changes, it's starts to hail and another hiker tells you you've got another hour and a half to go. About maybe an hour from the top we decide to head back, we're not prepared for this. As we do head back the hail gets worse (it actually kind of hurts) and a big thunder storm comes rolling in, it's about the closest to lightning we've been. We turn and see a few hikers running down from the peak. We made it back to Quito safe and sound but with blood pumping.

The start of the hike when it was all grassy fields and sun

The peak before the storm

It was more ice than snow. But now we can cross having a snow/ice fight on top of a volcano off our bucket list

Hail!

For comparison, check out the difference in the peak, now it's covered in hail and snow.