Touring Northern Peru, it was a good week!

Sunset in Macora, sweeeeet!

Mancora, beach, sun and loads of fun!  We, my traveling partner Julia and I, spent four days on the beach.  I know, the general beach activity is nothing, well not so this time.  We did spend alot of time on the beach, reading and doing nothing, we also walked down the beach 6 km to get a great view of the sunset, took surf lessons (I stood, Julia as well!), checked out a sweet lagoon full of flamingos and ate.  That something right?  The quote of the four days came from Julia when she asked me, while sitting on the beach ¨Hobbit, what altitude do you think we are at?¨ I know, the Swedes!!  In all fairness, we played soccer and she kicked my ass!!  It was a relaxing four days, unlike Montanita in Ecuador.  We did find a great reggae bar and spent most of our evenings there.

Top of the pyramid

But, it was time to move on and we headed south to Chiclayo.  Not the best choice of destinations, but we made the best out of it.  We arrived early morning and slept, then headed to Sipan, a pre-Incian pyramid.  Wasn´t that exciting, so we broke a few rules.  First we didn´t rest in the designated "Area of Rest."  For real, there was a sign that said that, wierd.  The site is continually being excavated, we decided to take a closer look and climbed into one of the ecavations, which was actually pretty cool.  We then proceded to climb up one of the pyramids where the archeologists had opened a hole in the wall and checked that out.  Our final bad deed was to climb to the top of the other pyramid and check out the amazing view!!  Well worth it!

Local woman spinning wool

Back to Chiclayo, one more day and Julia and I were to part ways, what to do?  How about a market and the beach - surprise!!!  So, we get up and goto the market.  The cool thing about this market was that alot of the vendors where super nice and were letting us try crazy fruits that we had never heard of, some good, some interesting.  And then we proceeded to have the worst beach experience of all time.  We get to this beach and there are about a million people on it.  We ate the worst lunch ever and strolled the beach in awe of the humanity!!  All we wanted to do is relax on the beach and read, not gonna happen.  We caught a ride back to town, found a nice bench and watched life pass by, it was great!!

Guinea Pig pen in an ancient house

Fortress wall

Well, it was time to say farwell to the best traveling partner I have had yet, sorry folks, can´t lie. (Ish you will always be a favorite, just remeber who wept and what happened!)  I was off to Chachapoyas and she was off to Cusco, via Lima.  Hopefully our paths will cross again!  I went to Chachapoyas to see Kuelp, a pre-Incian fort, but found much more!!  The first day I went to Kuelp, it is a fortress set on top of a mountain ridge, the Inca had serious issues conquering the Chachapoya.  The fortress is huge and produced breath taking views of the valley and surrounding mountains.  The tour guide spoke english like a recorded message you get when you call the phone company, very robotic and boring. This guy took boring tour to the a whole new level.  It became hilarious after awhile!

Gotca

The next day I visited a waterfall called Gocta.  It is one of the highest waterfalls in the world.  It was a total of a six hour trek.  We went to the top fall first, sweaty and tired, standing next to the falls soaked us and it felt amazing!  We then went to the bottom of the falls and found the valley to be lush and cool.  This is one of my favorite places of all time!!

Cliff dwellings, some sketchy trekking!!

The next day, not as exciting, we visted some tombs on the side of a cliff.  Scary, but not exciting.  Well that was it for Chacapoyas, it was now time to make my way to Cusco.  How to get there, as soon as possible?  Plane, yes, I cheated and bought a plane ticket.  This morning I flew from Trujillo to Cusco.  I did spend a day in Trujillo though.  No, I didn´t go to the famous ruins known as Chan Chan.  Instead I sat on the beach, shocker!  I leave tommorow for Machu Picchu, on a route I have never taken.  I´m very excited about it and can´t wait to see how it turns out!  Time to go, take care!!

Farewell Ecuador!!

I have left Ecuador behind, not without some serious adventure!  I left the beach and headed back to Quito, looking for some adventure after spending 10 days doing, well, nothing.  It was not hard to find someone in the same mindset, even before I left the beach.  Julia, Swedish, and I set out with her Ecuadorian friend Andres to Tena.  Tena is this cool city in the Ecuadorian Amazon, with lots to offer - rafting, jungle treks and kayaking...heaven!! 






Portage spot



Portaged rapid

The first day we went rafting, along with Ryan an Joel, two Canadians.  It was a Class IV-V river, perfect!!  The river itself is cayonized and runs through the Amazon, so the views were incredible.  The river was fast and strong, we were having a blast.  We got to a Class VI and had to portage around.  This involved the guides stringing the raft through the rapid to the other side.  Our job was to watch, I like that!  We then had to hike through the jungle, which included a rappling section, BONUS!!  Our put-in was between the Class VI rapid and a Class V rapid.  This is where it got interesting!  The guide went through the series of moves we were to make to hit the rapid just right, this included "If you fall out or we flip, swim to the right because there is a series of holes through the middle you do not want to be sucked into," easy, right?  Well, it all started out great, we hit our line and we were getting it!  Then disaster!!  It all started when Julia fell out, she was back right, this made the raft go left into a wave.  I was front left, Ryan front right.  When the boat went into the wave, my paddle hit air, turning the raft right into a wave that sent Ryan flying over my head, as I looked up, I realized I was on my way into the drink!  Remember, swim right, right?  Well, while in the middle of a Class V rapid, it is hard to swim period.  The next thing I knew is that I was in the first hole, I got spit out and remembered, swim right.  I looked around and realized I was headed straight for a huge rock, which by the way I took a video of earlier, the irony!!  I went flying over the rock and right into the hole, got spit out after being underwater way to long and caught some air in my lungs long enough to hit the third and final hole of the rapid, yeah me!!  I am finally free of this watery hell, look around and smile, I am ALIVE!!!  I swim to the raft, the guide looks at me and asks "How are you smiling?"  I respond, " That is the first time I have ever fallen out of a raft an it was incrdible!!"  (Not that I want to do that again)  The rest of the river was tamer and I managed to stay in the raft, great day 1 in Tena!

Second day began a two day trek through the jungle, once again we were five.  The plan was for a five hour trek the first day, sleep in a cave and then return to work with an indiginous family on there crafts.  It all started great, as usual.  The treking was mild at first, but the "trails" became steeper as we climbed and decended several peaks on the way to the cave. 



Joel getting some jungle treatment



Funny thing happened on the way to the cave.  Julia was behind the guide, followed by me and the boys.  She got tangled up in some vines, and shock hard to get her self free.  By doing this she alerted the wasps in the bush and trees above that we were available for a good chase.  Julia started yelling "Ouch, something is biting me"  atleast I think because it was in Swedish.  I looked at her and she was covered in wasps, I yelled run and run faster, so we did.  I do not think the boys heard my sense of urgency because all I heard from behind me was Joel yelling "Owe, Help me!!"  This was coming from a big strong Canadian so you know things were going aray quickly!  We got to a clearing and we helped eachother free ourselves of the wasps on our cloths.  I was lucky, only got stung twice, but Julia and Joel took the brunt of the attack, getting stung over ten times each, probably more like twenty times each!  As we moved on, Joel became achy and feverish, and his stings began to swell.  In steps our guide, who happens to be somewhat of an expert in jungle remedies.  He lit a smoke, and grabed some leaves of some sort.  He began by blowing smoke on Joel´s head and brushing him with the leaves, I know wierd, really wierd.  But it seemed to work, because his headache went away and he was feeling a bit better but not 100%. 



Jungle medicine

 

We finally made it to the cave, exhausted and covered in sweat.  Time to clean up, but how?  In a waterfall of course!!  Ice cold water falling from up above cools the body and soul!  It was wonderful, but all great things always come to end, like when one slips on a rock, lands on his ribs on the same rock.  Yes, that would be me, I went to grab my ribs with my right hand and they were okay, but as I looked down at my left hand, I noticed that something was definately out of place.  My pinky and index fingers where at 45 degree angles at the middle knuckle, kind of like the NFL anaylist Brian Baldinger´s finger (google Baldinger´s finger).  I quickly snapped them back into place, and they quickly snapped back out of joint.  I attempted my repair job again and it took.  I was hoping they weren´t broken, but there was no way to tell.  They were sore and moveable, so the signs were good.  After dinner the cook, who was an actual Shaman in his village, took a look at my hand.  He boiled up some Hiawaska leaves, yes the Hiawaska of legend, and used the leaves to numb my hand.  He then massaged my fingers, there was craking noises and I felt alot of pressure.  He said that in a few days the swelling should go down and I´d be fine.  I was a bit skeptic, so I went to the hospital (gotta love free health care!) and had an x-ray taken.  Turns out the Shamen was the man, and any damage done to my finger was healed jungle style!



View from my hammock in the cave



The rest of the jungle trek was uneventful, well sort of.  There was some fishing and chocolate making.  Did I mention we slept in a cave?  How cool was that?  I have never slept in a cave, let alone a cave in the Amazon, but I have to say it is a great experience that all should try!

Due to my dislocated fingers and bruised ribs, my adventure time was over and it was time to head to Peru.  This took me through Riobamba to see the volcano Chimborazo. I then went to Cuenca for a day, which is a beautiful Andean city.  From there it was an overnight bus through mountains to the border, where we slept at the bus station until the sun came up, safety first!  Which brings me here, Mancora, a beach town in Northern Peru.  Love the beach!!

Ecuador was awesome, I will miss her mystery meat soups and hell overnight bus rides.  But mostly I will miss the people, the amazing scenery and the adventure!!  I highly recommend Ecuador to anyone, it offers everything!!  I leave you with some pictures of Ecuador, be safe!!





Trekking El Volcan Cotapaxi





Chicken head soup!  BONUS!!





Vicuna at El Volcan Chimborazo





Fruit market in Cuenca




Parade in Riobamba





Ecuadorian Amazon





The bike crew, beer time!



Ten days that stood still

Christmas Family with our favorite cocktail man - Pasqual

The Point

Ten days on the beach, ten days of beach life, ten days of doing nothing!  I arrived in Montanita on the 23rd with my Christmas family - Nicky, Ish, Ben and Jesse.  Beautiful clean beaches welcomed us and we were happy.  When I first got there I had big plans, one of which was learn to surf.  Well, the days passed, and no surfing!  The days were spent getting up around 10, eating breakfest, heading to the beach, sitting on the beach and waiting for food to walk by, go in the water, sit on the beach, ohh beer time!  and more sitting on the beach waiting for sunset.  Busy, I know!  One day I walked to the point in the morning, big day!

Los Frailles

Blue Fotted Boobies

Five days of Montanita was making us very tired, so we decided to take a break away from the madness.  We ended up in Puerto Lopez, about an hour north up the coast.  Puerto Lopez was a complete change from Montanita.  Montanita is crazy party town full of tourists.  Puerto Lopez is a lazy fishing village with alot to offer, and minimal tourists!  The first day we went to Isla de La Plata, the poor man´s Galapagos.  We had an hour hike across the island and saw lots of  Blue Footed Boobies. Then spent some time snorkeling, I was impressed by the variety of fish and the reef itself.  A good day of actually doing something!!  The second day we went to a preserve located along he coast - Los Frailles - AMAZING!!   Beautiful beaches and nobody there!!  It was a two hour hike and the vistas were amazing.  We gathered on the beach, had a picnic and took a nap, I know tough life!!  After that, a walk on the beach and off to the sulfur mud baths.  My skin is silky smooth, although there is a little smell, no biggie considering!!

New Year´s Sunset

The Sunrise

The next day, back to Montanita for New Year´s.  And was it all that and more!!  It started with a sunset....of course!  Then it was off to Pasqual´s for a cocktail, or three.  Then dinner and off to the beach and a fire.  The New Year´s tradition in Montanita is that the surfers all go surfing at midnight.  They all get together, huddle up and run into the water together.  Then the fireworks start, and the next tradition takes place.  Ecudorians burn paper mache effigies of bad things that happened to them in the past year, to rid them of the evil spirits.  It could be a boat that sank or just a life size figure of their boss!  The beach was ablaze, then the surfers came out and ran around the burning piles with their boards.  The beach was a mass of folks dancing, singing and drinking.  This went on until day break, and then the town slept, and slept some more until it was time for sunset.

So here I sit, after ten days when time stood still waiting for an overnight bus to Quito.  I have left my holiday family, we have all gone our seperate ways.  I will miss all of you!  Nicky go slow and I will catch you, Ish have fun planting trees you will be missed and Ben and Jesse, see you in Peru!!

Merry New Year everyone and stay safe!!