July 27- 29 - Cusco, Peru

We left Sam and the hostel in Lima at around 6am to head to the airport. When we arrived there and went to check in for our flight, we discovered that I had stupidly booked the tickets for August 27th instead of July 27th. We then had to wait in line behind another couple who had done the exact same thing to change our flight. By the time they figured out if there was room on that days flight for Stace and I, it was already 8:15 am and the plane left at 8:45 am. We had to pay full price for the new tickets in cash, so I had to run to the nearest ATM to withdraw. Being in such a rush and a dolt I forgot to grab my credit card back from the ATM. By the time I realized it, it was too late and was already gone and we had to literally run to catch our flight. We just made it.
When we arrived in Cusco, we found a hostel as quickly as possible (although it took some searching because they were all full) and then headed out to find a phone to cancel my card. It was early afternoon when we finally had everything sorted. We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around Cusco to try to find a McDonald's because we were both craving chicken nuggets. We finally succeeded, although they were cold and not overly satisfying. The rest of the evening was spent lying in bed chatting because Stacy didn't feel well (but not from the nuggets).

The next morning we checked out of that hostel because we weren't overly impressed with it and walked around trying to find a new one. Because it was the national holiday and it was a Saturday, almost everything was full. At noon, we met up with my friend Steph who I had travelled with through Columbia and she told us of the hostel she had found. We decided to head to the market, grabbed some food, booked our Machu Picchu tours for the next day and the checked into the same hostel as Steph. We went out for an early dinner that night since all of us had to be up early the next morning for the tours. Steph had decided to do a different longer tour than us and had to be up by 4am. Stacy and I had booked a 4 day and 3 night Inca Jungle Tour to Machu Picchu. We were all very excited that evening for our tours the next day. We headed back to the hostel early and off to bed.

July 26 - Lima, Peru

Lima

Sam, Stacy and I arrived in Lima early in the morning and were able to check into our hostel and take a nap. We woke up around 10am and decided to check out the area which looked quite nice and was not what I was expecting. We also planned to check out a nearby market to buy some souvenirs since Sam had to fly out the next day. We wandered around Lima till we found the market, shopped for a few hours then went for dinner. After dinner we headed back to the hostel to pack our bags and Stace and I got ready to head to Cusco the next morning. Not an overly exciting day to report about but it was nice to actually get some nice things to send home.

July 23-25 - Huaraz and Chavin de Huantar, Peru

Layla, Sam and Stacy on the way to Chavin

After a long night bus to a city called Casma, and another 3 hour collectivo ride we arrived in Huaraz. The city is situated 3000m above sea level in the mountains between the parallel Cordillera Blanca and Cordillera Negro mountain chains of the Andes. To get there we had to come over a pass of the smaller Cordillera Negro to an amazing view of the underlying city with the snow peaked mountains of the Cordillera Blanca looming in the background. It was breathtaking and I was surprised to be happy about seeing snow again.
We found a really basic hostel to stay in that ended up being a little frustrating but was okay. We had naps and then woke up to go get dinner. Layla had decided to come with us, and when we went out for dinner was able to explain what a few of the dishes were since she had spent the last 3 months in Peru. We ordered a common dish of cow heart on a skewer that was delicious. After dinner we found a place to book a tour to a pre-Inca archaeological site called Chavin de Huantar the next morning.

Chavin de Huantar

We left for the site at 9am by shuttle. On the way we stopped at a lake for some pictures before driving through a tunnel to the east side of the Cordillera Blanca. After driving down a steep switchback road down the valley, we finally arrived at the site. It was a site that I had studied while in university and had written a paper comparing it to another site in Peru so I knew a lot about the history of the site and the layout. It was really neat to actually see it in person. The tour guide was also really good and told us a lot about the site. After about 2 hours at the site, we stopped for lunch, passed quickly through the local museum and then headed back to Huaraz. 

The next day was a holiday in Huaraz as it celebrated the anniversary of the creation of the province. There was a huge parade and tons of people in the streets. There was lots of awesome street food, people dressed in traditional garb and music and dancing. We spent the day taking in the festivities, perusing the market and trying a few of the local restaurants in the area. That night Layla had to catch a bus back to Trujillo, while Stacy, Sam and I caught a later night bus to Lima. The Chavin site has always been something that I've wanted to see ever since I've learned about it and it was worth the trip to Huaraz just to see it. To add to that, the festival was really cool and the scenery with the mountains was amazing. It was definitely worth seeing.

Parade in Huaraz

July 18-22 - Mancora, Peru

Loki Hostel

We caught day bus to Guayaquil from Banos expecting to stay the night in Guayaquil. However when we got to the bus station in Guayaquil we found that there was an overnight bus into Mancora, Peru so we decided to take it. It was about 5 hours to the Peruvian border, where after about 7 years of dreaming about it, I finally got a peruvian stamp in my passport! It was about another 4 hours to Mancora and we arrived at about 5am. Luckily we had made a reservation at one of the hostels there that sounded really nice and they let us lock our bags up there and sleep in the beds by the pool till we could check in at 7am.
Shortly after we checked in we met the two other girls staying in our dorm, Layla and Miranda. That day we hung around the pool and had a few drinks, checked out the beach and wandered around town. That evening we met two Irish guys and an American guy travelling together. The next 3 days basically consisted off the 8 of us lounging around by the pool drinking and joking around. It was an amazing 4 days and it was nice to chill out in a fun place with Sam since she only had 2 weeks total for her trip. It was also really nice to chill out at the beach one last time on this trip since after Mancora I will be heading inland and into the mountains.

Stacy, Miranda, Layla and Sam

July 14-17 - Banos, Ecuador

View point at the Spa

We arrived in Banos after a 4 hour bus ride from Quito. It was Saturday night and the downtown area was really busy. Banos is not only a popular tourist destination for international tourists but also for local Ecuadorians. Because we arrived on a long weekend it was packed and we had to check out a couple of different hostels before we found one that wasn't full. We went to a nearby restaurant and then went to bed early.
The girls really wanted to get a massage, so the next morning we went to a nearby spa and got a mudbath, facial and massage package. Before the mudbath started, we were told to go for a walk around the spa grounds. There were a few different stops, one where we were told to scream at the top of our lungs to release anger and build up bad energy, another overlooking a river to reflect on errors we've made. Basically we just joked around and had some laughs since laughter is always the best medicine :)!

Sam and I canyoning

The mudbath consisted of covering ourselfs with warm mud and dancing around like fools for a half an hour to some ridiculous dance videos. The massage was a really good strong massage which was well needed after two months of sleeping on bad mattresses. The facial was really relaxing and was also badly needed.
We ate at a local burger stand that night and had an amazing burger and then went to book a canyoning tour for the next morning. We bought some liquor and had a few drinks in our room before passing out.
In the morning, Sam and I woke up early for the canyoning tour. The tour consisted of repelling down some waterfalls, sliding down natural waterslides and ziplining. It took about two hours and was very exhilarating! Sam and I were both incredible tired and headed back to the room to meet up with Stace and have a nap. We woke up around 4, went and grabbed some dinner at the local market which costs us $2.50 for a huge plate of food and bought our bus tickets to head to Guayaquil the next morning. The rest of the evening consisted of laughing at silly photos we had taken since Quito and having a few drinks.We went to bed and got up early to make our way to Mancora, Peru.

Market meal for $2.50

July 12-14 - Quito, Ecuador

At the equator

I flew from Cali to Quito on the evening of the 12th while still trying to recover from my last night out in Cali. When I arrived at the airport I had to wait for two hours for my two best friends, Sam and Stacy, to arrive from Calgary. I was so happy to see them when they arrived! We took a shuttle to the hostel that we had booked, meet the people in our dorm and went to bed.
The view from the hostel the next morning was spectacular. We were staying in the old part of the city and had a great view from the rooftop terrace. We had a clear view of the nearby basilica, the surrounding colonial style buildings and the view point.

View from hostel

After breakfast we went with one of the guys in our dorm to the equator. We had lunch, then took a tour at the equator and learned about all the weird things that happen there. The water flows straight down on the line of the equator, you lose strength because the force of gravity is less and you lose balance on the line. There were a few other demonstrations and some information about the native tribes there. After the tour we headed back to our hostel, had a few drinks and went to the city center for the evening for more drinks and some food.

The next day we went to a local artisan market, then caught a bus to Banos. Quito was a beautiful city but after seeing so many colonial cities in Colombia I was starting to find them redundant.

July 10-12 - Cali, Colombia

Market

We arrived around 10pm in Cali and headed straight for a nearby hostel and straight to bed. The next morning I decided that instead of rushing out the evening and doing about 20 hours of buses and border crossings that I would slurge a little and booked a flight to Quito from Cali. I had to meet two of my closest friends in Quito the evening of the 12th, which meant with the flight I was able to stay one more evening in Cali. Cali is famous for its salsa dancing scene and was something I definitely wanted to experience.
We spent the day first at a local market grabbing food for the day, then walked over to the old colonial area of town called San Antonio. When we got there we were a little dissapointed. It wasn't anything spectacular and we had seen a lot of much nicer colonial towns in Colombia prior to it. As we were walking through the area it started pouring rain so we ran into the closest cafe to escape it. We order coffees and were delighted to see that they had puzzles there. So for the next 2 and a half hours Steph and I sat on the floor of a cafe and worked on a puzzle.

Steph with the puzzle

After we finished, we headed back to the hostel, made a yummy salad from the veggies that we had bought at the market and got ready to go out to dance. We wandered down the street that was suppose to be the best place in the area for salsa clubs but unfortunately it wasn't very busy. We still managed to find an alright bar and stayed out till 3am trying to learn how to dance. It was an awesome evening!
The next day I had to say goodbye to Steph as she had a little more time in Colombia than I and really wanted to see San Agustin, a really cool looking archaeological site, that I was kinda upset that I had to miss. I had been traveling with Steph along with other mombers of the boat ride from Panana for all of Colombia. I was definitely upset to see her go. But luckily I had the arrival of my friends from Calgary to look forward to!
My flight left at 7pm out of Cali. I was a little upset to be leaving Colombia but excited to get to Quito. Colombia was beatiful, the locals were friendly, there were plenty of fun outdoor activies to do, I tried so many new things I have never experienced before and had the pleasure of travelling with so many awesome people. It was for sure one of my favorite countries in Latin America and I hope one day I get to come back and do the things I unfortunetaly had to miss.

View of Cali