Machu Picchu

To get to Machu Pichu, we took an hour and a half bus to Ollantaytambo and then bought train tickets to Peru Rail. They wouldn’t let us take our luggage on the train with us. Instead, we had to pack a small bag and then keep our luggage in storage. The train ride through the green mountains were beautiful, and after an hour and a half we arrived in the town of Aguas Calientes. The location of the town is beautiful; it’s a small valley surrounded by tall mountains with a river running through the center of it. The actual town itself was not too lovely. It is now completely a tourist destination for people going to Machu Pichu. The few streets are tightly packed with hostels and restaurants, and every few feet some one is trying to get you to eat at their restaurant. All the restaurants are the same, selling a wide variety of horrible food. We ended up eating at a little Chinese place that was all right. Now one tried to get us to go in and we only saw locals there.

The next morning we woke up at 430 am to catch the first bus to Machu Pichu. It was definitely hard waking up so early. There were no places open for breakfast, so we grabbed a couple of granola bars and a banana. We got to the bus stop at around five, behind a few other people, and quickly a long lined formed behind us. AT 530 we were off, and we made it to the entrance 30 minutes later at opening time. Silently, everyone walked up the steep trail to the hill over looking Machu Pichu, and it was absolutely breath taking. Since we arrived at opening time, there was no one walking through the ruins, so we got a really mesmerizing view. It was a cloudy day, so there were always clouds rolling through the ruins and around the mountains, which made it even more beautiful. At the top of the hill there were a bunch of llamas! Being in Peru has given me a newfound love for llamas and alpacas. We went up to pet them, but I was a little scared of being bitten because they seemed to be giving me the evil eye. We spent the next few hours walking through the majestic ruins. After getting our fill of the ruins, we went on a 20 minute walk through the woods to the Inca bridge. This bridge is now closed because a few years ago a tourist slipped off to their death. Seeing the bridge, I could definitely understand why people were not allowed to walk across it any longer. It was a narrow bridge built along the side of the mountain, leading to an even narrower trail on the other side. The trail was barely visible, and looked just like tuffs of grass growing on the side of the mountain. I can’t believe anyone would walk across it!

That night, it was hard to sleep because everything in our room seemed wet due to the rain and the humidity. We had thick blankets, but they just felt damp. Plus our room lacked windows and had a moldy smell. At least it was cheap and we had cable! I had a hard time falling asleep that night, so I ended up getting only about 5 hours of sleep. No bueno.

Walking up steep, scary steps

Climbing through a narrow passageway

Nate looking into the abyss and scaring me

The next day we woke early again to catch the first bus. This time we arrived at about 515, so we were behind around 50 people in line for the bus. We bought tickets to hike up Waynapichu, the tall mountain visible in the background of the Machu Pichu pictures. They only allow 400 people to do the hike each day, and it had sold out the day before so we had to turn Machu Pichu into a two day excursion, which I think worked out for the best since the hike was pretty tiring. When we arrived at Machu Pichu it was pouring down rain, which made us grateful for the great weather we had the previous day. Luckily by the time we walked to the entrance of the hike the rain had stopped, but Machu Pichu was so packed with clouds that nothing was visible. The hour long hike up the mountain was quite steep, luckily there were hand rails at the steeper areas. There were ruins built right on the top and sides of the steep mountains, and narrow stairways going everywhere, which just seemed terrifying to have to walk along, I can’t even imagine how they were able to build them. Besides building them, I can’t imagine having to walk up and down the mountain all the time. When we got close to the top of the mountain, we could not see Machu Pichu because of all the clouds, which gave an eery feeling of being on the edge of an abyss. To get to the very top, we had to walk through an extremely narrow passageway through a boulder. I used both hands when I walked along the stairs and the ruins when we were up here because we were so high up and I was a little freaked out at some parts. 

 

Finally, the clouds parted and we got an amazing view of Machu Pichu.

After walking up Waynapicchu, we took a second shorter hike up a closer, smaller hill. This gave us more great views of Machu Picchu from a closer viewpoint. On the top of this hill was insect heaven! There were tons of beautiful butterflies, but there were also tons of tiny black bugs flying around. We didn’t stay up there for long. After hiking around mountains for four hours, we were definitely worn out and glad that we had been able to explore the ruins the day before. We headed out in hopes to make our way back to Cusco. 

Angry llama

Cusco

Cusco is a fun, albeit very touristy town. There are lots of locals dressed up in traditional clothes trying to sell their wares or get you to pay to take pictures of them. There are even people walking around with Llamas. No matter what you tip though, they seem to want more. We spent a day walking up cobble stone streets to the San Blas area, where we went window shopping and got a great view of the town. We noticed a little boy squatting next to a fountain to go the bathroom, when he saw us he looked at us, smiled, waved, and said hola! It was an odd sight!

We ended the night by going to a dance recital where they demonstrated several different traditional dances in various brightly colored outfits. I loved the skirts the girls would wear; every time they spun around they would spin up.

The next day we went to Pisoc, in the sacred valley, which is known for a large market they have every Sunday. The market was huge! We spent about three hours walking through all the stalls, shopping, and taking pictures with the local kids. The poor little kids running around definitely tugged on my heart strings, and we gave a few of them money for pictures. I really loved everything being sold in Peru. Lots of stuff was made out of Alpaca fur and was extremely soft. There were lots of stone figurines of llamas, pumas, etc.

Cusco has an elevation of 11,200, and we could definitely feel it. No matter what we were pretty much always short of breath, and any exercise would get me winded and shoot my heart rate up. I walked up the one flight of stairs to our room and my heart rate shot up to 120 bpm! 

Cuenca, Ecuador to Lima, Peru

We stayed a couple days in the little town of Cuenca and explored a couple neighboring towns. The highlight of this area was again the dress of the locals. Instead of felt hats like in Quito, all the ladies wore straw hats, and they also wore brightly colored skirts.

From Cuenca we had four days of extreme travel to get to Cusco, Peru. We started our travels on Wednesday the 27th by taking a bus to Loja and then another bus to the border town. When we got to the border, we noticed a drastic difference in temperature. In the mountains it was cool, but the border was incredibly hot and humid. We had to spend the night here, and we woke up early on Thursday to cross the border, which was definitely our easiest crossing yet. No one trying to haggle us, trying to get us to change money or be a guide or get money from us. From here we took a taxi to Sullana, as there wore no buses. The taxi was a colectivo, meaning it picked up other people as well. There was a man and his teenage son in the front passenger seat, Nate and I wore in the back with a lady and her daughter, and in the hatchback was an older lady and her two kids with our luggage. Definitely crammed full! And the whole time people are driving fast and swerving around other cars.

Pigs!

When we finally got to the bus terminal in Sullana, the taxi driver attempted to charge us double what he originally quoted. He said he meant $15 per person not $15 each; luckily we knew enough Spanish to call him out on the scam. From here we had to walk around for about an hour to find an ATM to get some soles in order to pay for the bus to Piura. The highlight of this bus trip was that in front of the bus were a couple bags of pigs! I’ve never seen anything like it. The negative part was that Nate’s backpack got placed in dead fish slime, and proceeded to smell horrible for the next few days. ick!

When we got to Piura, we decided to walk the few blocks to the Itsa bus terminal. Unfortunately, our map must be outdated because we walked for about 30 minutes with our heavy packs in the heat and didn’t come upon the place. We decided to catch a tuk tuk, which turned out to cost only 3 soles, a little over a dollar. Definitely worth the expense in that heat! After buying our tickets for the 530 pm bus and storing our luggage we decided to head to the mall and get out of the heat. In the food court I had to pull up a chair to the one tiny fan to try to cool off, I felt like I was overheating so badly I was almost panicky. We spent the afternoon watching a crappy movie (My Boyfriend’s a Vampire), but we got to enjoy the air conditioning, which was amazing. Since we still had a little time to kill after this, we walked around the outdoor market of Piura. At 530 Thursday we boarded the bus, and we got into Lima at 10 am the next day – that’s 16 and a half hours on a bus! The seats were luxurious and comfortable though, like a lazy boy that leaned back 160˚. They also played movies, but in Spanish, and they did serve us some food. I spent most of the time reading and trying to sleep.

Nate on travel day, with his 2 hats

In Lima on Friday we had two hours to kill before the longest bus trip of my life – 25 hours! We again had luxurious seats, and they were able to have English sub titles on the movie which helped. We made a couple pit stops for horrible food. The last half of the trip was winding through the Andes mountains, it was nauseating! Two little boys on the bus ended up throwing up all over the floor, but luckily it didn’t smell at all. After getting up to go to the bathroom at one point, I felt so insanely nauseous that I could barely hear Nate talk and I felt like the blood had drained form my face. I fell asleep clutching a plastic baggie that the steward had previously handed out. Also, like much of South America, the bathrooms were bring your own toilet paper. Most restrooms require you to pay and then the attendant will hand you some toilet paper as you’re walking in. Free restrooms, however, are not stocked. Luckily we learned this early on so I was usually lugging toilet paper around with us.

Nate the dog whisperer

Finally, at around 1 pm on Saturday, we arrived in Cusco! We took a cab to our hostel (after making a quick trip back to the bus because I left my glasses on board –oops). Our hostel was super clean, in a school, and run by extremely friendly nuns. I immediately took a nice, long, hot shower. It was amazing, and after almost four whole days of straight traveling, definitely necessary!

Quito

Basilica

We had a great first day in Quito. We started off with breakfast, which consisted of eggs, toast, hot chocolate, and juice for only $1.50 each! We’re finally back in a cheap country and it’s great. After this we walked to the Basilica, a really large gothic church up the hill from our hostel. We were able to climb to the top, which gave amazing views of the city. Climbing to the top required us to walk up ridiculously steep stairs that seemed more like a ladder, definitely got my heart going and reminded me that I’m a little afraid of heights. The view was worth it though!

From here we walked through the city a little bit, we walked through a little market place selling all sorts of nick nacks, shoes, and second hand clothes. I bought this strange mystery fruit from a street vender that was pink with prickly spines coming out of it, which was surprisingly sweat and delicious.

Hats!

We walked through La Ronda, which is a cobble stone street built in the 1800s that is closed off to cars. It was an adorable street, with houses having little balconies with flower pots. Along the street they had traditional kid games set up, including hop scotch, throwing rings around a barrel, and something like jump rope accept it was originally played with llama intestines! Along this street are artesania shops. We stopped at a couple chocolate shops, where the ladies were grinding up chocolate and had all the ingredients out on display. We also went to a hat maker shop. The owner was a sweet old man and is one of the last to make hand made hats in Equador. His grandfather and his father were hat makers, and he is teaching his son the trade. Nate and I both ended up buying hats from the guy, in part for fashion and in part to support the hat making tradition. Lots of the locals here wear felt hats, especially the women, which is different than the other countries we have been in.

Parade

When walking back to our hotel, we stumbled upon a little parade going through the streets. There were only a handful of floats, each being followed by kids in different costumes doing little dances. Definitely a fun and serendipitous finding!

Our second day in Quito was also fun; we spent the day on a bus doing a city tour. We went to the botanical gardens and got lunch downtown. I definitely preferred the historic old town where we were staying to the downtown area. Our last stop on the tour was to the Virgin statue, which is at the top of the hill and visible from most places in town. It was nice to see the view from the city from up there. That night we went back to La Ronda, which was packed! Definitely a difference from the empty streets during the day, and most people seemed local. There were a couple street performers and people selling jewelry. I took a picture of Nate and a local lady, who was about half his size! The idiginous people of Ecuador are very short. The highlight for me was buying a stick of about five delicious chocolate dipped strawberries.

Nate and a tiny local lady

On our third day we went to La Campania church, a beautiful church with gold leaf everywhere. Then we hopped on a bus for ten hours to get to Cuenca. I am definitely tired of long bus trips!

At the top of the Basilica

Colombia to Ecuador

View from the bus

 We spent three nights in Medellin, not doing too much, before heading out to Ipiales in southern Colombia, which was a 22 hour bus ride away. I’ve never been on a bus for so long, and it’s definitely not the best, although we did stop twice. They blasted AC, but we planned ahead and brought a blanket. We passed the time trying to sleep, reading, and trying to understand the couple of Spanish movies they played. The one positive thing about the bus ride was the country side, it was absolutely beautiful. The whole trip was winding through lush green mountains.

In Ipiales, we took a quick taxi ride to a large cathedral in the area. Another beautiful sight and a way to break up the trip, although we had to lug our backpacks around. From here we took a taxi to the border, and then a 6 hour bus to Quito. We ended up getting to Quito at 10 pm, after traveling for 32 hours. Needless to say we were exhausted and starving, having not eaten since Colombia. We took a 30 minute cab ride to our hotel, but unfortunately when we got there all the restaurants were closed so we had to pass the night hungry. It was nice to sleep in a bed, but my body felt so stiff from sitting in buses for so long that it was hard to get comfortable.

Medellin

Statues downtown

Medellin was a beautiful city, and where we were staying felt extremely safe. We were staying in the Poblado neighborhood, which is the wealthiest and safest neighborhood in the city. We passed one morning going down town to look at all the fat statues. A lot of the statues were nude, and you could see where people were touching because it changed the statue to a yellow color. We were planning on eating breakfast downtown, but unfortunately every restaurant only had fried chicken or fried bread, not much variety. Fried chicken has been a staple across central and south America, even for breakfast. Not one of my favorites. Downtown wasn’t as safe feeling as el Poblado; there were some destitute people around and prostitutes, so we didn’t stay for very long. Among the statues were lots of tourists and police officers, but other than that there wasn’t much to see. 

We ended up riding the gandala up the mountain into Arvi, a nature reserve. Medellin has mountains on either side with all brick houses built all over them, it was amazing how expansive the city was and it was really beautiful to see it al from the gandala, the pictures don’t do it justice. We got off the gandala to walk through the town a little bit, which was filled with kids playing, vendors selling food, and each restaurant blasting a different song. This area was much safer than down town, even though it’s a poor neighborhood, and it was fun to walk through it.

Even in a foreign country Nate was able to surprise me with flowers!

Mud Bath at Volcan Totumo

Volcan del Totumo

Getting into the mud!

Mud people!

On our last day in Cartagena, we decided to take a day trip to the Volcan del Totumo, which stands at a staggering 15 m high! We had no idea what to expect when we decided to sign up for this trip to the mud baths, we were just looking for something different to try. We ended up standing at the end of a line on the tiny anthill of a volcano, in the smoldering sun. When we reached the top, we were able to see the fenced in top portion of mud that was filled with people. It seemed a little strange, and we were feeling a little unsure of what we had signed up for and stood in line for. When it was our turn to climb down the ladder into the mud pit, it turned out to be more fun than anticipated! When climbing in, you just have to lean back and a guide helps you in and covers you with mud. You can't feel the bottom at all, and you're unable to swim, the guides end up just pushing you around. We each got a little massage from the guides, which was really relaxing. I enjoyed being able to lay on my back while the guide pressed up on my back for a massage, a bit different from having to lie on your stomach. Being in the mud was super strange and messed with my equilibrium a bit. To move to a different side of the pit, Nate had to push me until I reached the wall where I could grab on and then pull him over. Coordination just wasn't possible. Even just sitting in the mud you would start to tilt over and would struggle to right yourself again. It was very strange to not feel the bottom either. We naturally "floated" around chest level, but if you grabbed onto the side you could try to push yourself under to around neck level, which took some muscle and you still couldn't reach the bottom.

Monkey tied to a tree

After lounging in the mud for a bit we walked down to the lake to wash off. Here some local women came to help us. They grabbed our hands and pulled us into the lake, trying to make some money (it was only $1 for their help and what the hell, it's more money to them than it is to us). The lady sat me down and took a bowl to scoop water over my face and vigorously scrub me everywhere. I felt like a little kid in a bath. The water was shoulder deep and you couldn't see through it, but it was still a little startling when she took me top off to scrub it clean! Throughout the lake other people were getting the same experience, it was definitely unique and entertaining. After this we got on the bus and went to a small little fishing town nearby for lunch, where Nate and I walked through town. We found a tree with some one's pet donkey tied to it, and also their pet monkey! I have never seen a monkey in a harness, but this little guy was harnessed up to a line.

Colonial Cartagena

The rest of our time in Cartagena was spent walking through the streets and exploring the old town, which is surrounded by thick walls that were built in the 16th century, and the little tourist filled area where we were staying. The streets were packed with tourists and locals, and the streets were filled with taxis that were constantly honking at each other. It was definitely a nosy town to stay in. We only stayed here a few days before heading down to Medellin, which was a grueling 13 hour bus ride away! We didn't realize how large Colombia was before we got here.

A lady making delicious fruit salad who posed for a picture

San Blas islands

Beautiful scenery + chocolate + coke = heavenly

Sailing the San Blas islands was a truly amazing experience, it was exactly how I always pictured paradise. The first day did not convince me of this, however. We sailed for a couple hours, then took a break to fuel up and swim, and after this we had an 8 hour stretch of sailing. I ended up clinging to a bucket feeling sick, and worrying about what I had gotten myself into. We traveled with three Australian guys who loved to party, a young Swedish guy who just spent the last two months boxing in Cuba and surviving on just beans and rice. There were two Japanese guys, one guy my age and the other quite older, both speaking very little English. The next day we picked up a nice girl from Finland, and a negative German guy who had only one leg, having lost the other ten years ago after stepping on a land mine.The crew consisted of two really nice, hospitable French guys, Luic and Franc.

Boys catching dinner

We arrived at the first island, Portovenir at night, so it wasn't until the next day we caught the first glimpses of the beautiful setting we found ourselves in. The San Blas islands consist of over 300 small islands, with only a fe being inhabited. They're flat, palm tree filled, and belong to the native Kuna people.
From here we sailed for a few hours to our next destination, another small island that had a little ship wreck just off of it, which was fun to snorkel around and filled with lots of fish. This island was filled with tents and tourists, both from abroad and from Panama. On the way to this island the Australian guys caught a big fish, which was very exciting, bloody, and provided us with a delicious meal later in the evening.
The next day we sailed to some other islands. They're so beautiful to look at because there's nothing on them, maybe a few huts at most. We snorkeled around the boat and swam to one of the islands with the Finish girl. We ended up picking coconuts which we later took back to the boat and used a machete to chop open. On the island we met a native Kuna family and bought some bracelets from them. They live on the island 6 months out of the year and then on the mainland the rest of the time, apparently the Kuna chief is in charge of deciding who lives on which islands. There were currently three families living there, and they later canoed out to our boat to sell us some freshly caught lobsters. The family, a couple with three children, was really nice, and for the most part we could understand each others Spanish.

Sailing through the San Blas islands was an amazing experience. We were able to walk all the way around one of the small islands, which was just filled with shells, palm trees, tons and tons of different types of crabs, and huge starfish right off the shore. Also while sailing we saw dolphins a bunch of times, they'd come right next to the boat and swim with us for a little while.
After enjoying the islands for a couple days, we embarked on a 36 hour sailing trip to Cartagena, Colombia. This was the first time I had been on a boat and been completely surrounded by water, with no land in sight. This time I was more prepared and took some seasickness meds, and I think my body adjusted to being on the boat because it wasn't as bad as the first day. We didn't get much sleep though because of being rocked about so much, and then ocean water splashing through the windows. Our sheet was drenched pretty much from the beginning. We finally made it to Cartagena at night, a beautiful city with tall skyscrapers right on the ocean. We spent one last night on the boat, trying to stay warm with wet sheets, and then ventured to land the next day. We immediately found a hotel room with AC and television. It was nice to finally be able to take a long shower and relax! Unfortunately, and surprisingly, my body adjusted so much to being on the boat that I actually felt land sick. I woke up in the middle of the night and it felt like the whole room was wavering back and forth! Luckily this sensation didn't last to long and we were able to explore Cartagena over the next few days.

Panama

Our last day in Costa Rica we spent hiking through the Monte Verde Cloud forest; it was absolutely beautiful. It was surprising how a short 30 minute bus drive took us to a location that was so completely different than the town we were staying in.

Cloud Forest

Panama City

From here we ventured into Panama, through another painful 2 hour border crossing. We spent a few days in Boquete where Nate’s friend owns a restaurant, Mike’s global grill. It was a cute, quiet town filled with old American retirees. We took a cab to some waterfalls we read about, which turned out being just a waterfall on the side of the road, and then we hiked back an hour to town. We found a dead snake on the side of the road, luckily it was dead because it was a really poisonous coral snake, which apparently are all over Panama. We stayed a little longer in Boquete in order to watch the Superbowl, and then we ventured to Panama city. We went to the impressive canal, strolled through old town, and went to the mall. Panama city is huge and under lots of construction, making it a little difficult to navigate. From here we took a bus to Porto Lindo, a tiny Caribbean town with nothing in it, but this is where we were going to meet up with our boat, the Amande, to sail the San Blas islands to Columbia!

Butterflies, cows, and adrenaline in Monteverde

 The town of Monteverde is in the mountains of Costa Rica, and it is so windy here! No more sunny beaches, instead I'm wearing pants and long sleeves to try to stay warm, although it is still beautiful here, and green! We started the day off yesterday with a tour of a butterfly garden. It was amazing to learn more about these little creatures and I was mesmerized by their beauty. There were so many different kinds to be seen, and so many different colors.
After this, we took a tour of a dairy farm. I don't think they do this tour very often, because the tour guide didn't seem like he knew what to talk about, but it was still a lot of fun! I never milked a cow before, and that was definitely unique! I'm no where as good as the farm boys, but I was able to get the technique down a little bit. I was surprised at how much it tired out my forearms, it must have been quite a work out when they used to do it all by hand! We even got to drink some fresh milk, with a little bit of chocolate mixed in. It was surprisingly delicious! and still warm. After this I got to feed a calf, and these guys were surprisingly strong! The calves don't have teeth, so if you stick your hand out they'll suck on it trying to get milk. It was the weirdest sensation! The roofs of their mouths are pretty rough though, so it wasn't too pleasant. Once they started though they didn't want to stop! They kept coming after us trying to suck on our hands, one of them even tried to ram Nate into compliance. It was definitely a unique experience.

Today was more of an adrenaline filled day. We woke up early and took a repelling tour. Not just regular repelling though, it was more exciting than that! We repelled down 6 waterfalls (Ok, they were all pretty short and they weren't gushing water, but it was still scary for me!). Most were very short, but the longest one was 40m. Even the small ones made me nervous, but the big one was scary. The rocks are a little slippery, and it's sometimes difficult to figure out where to put your feet because it is so uneven. Going down the tall waterfall was definitely a challenge for me, but I'm glad we did it, it was a lot of fun! The water was freezing and we got soaked! When you reach the bottom of the waterfall you have to jump in, and the water was between knee and waist deep usually. We literally repelled down the waterfall though, not on the side of it, so we had water hitting our legs and sometimes even pelting us in the face! On the last waterfall the  repel rope didn't reach all the way down, so we were supposed to jump the few remaining feet into the water. When I went to jump though the guide who was holding a second repel rope (for safety!) didn't let go of his, so I only dropped a few inches and then started swinging back into the rock. Then he decided to let go, plunging me into the water unexpectedly and giving my a shot of water up my nose to the brain! Oh well, still had fun even though freezing and full of water!

After all this, Nate ended the day bungee jumping!! What a crazy guy. The jump was 490 ft (yikes!) I got nervous just watching. That tiny spec on the bottom is Nate!