Hi Folks:
Internet has been a little sketchy............... at least that is my excuse and I am stcking to it! After Saraguro, Macara, a little dusty border town was a complete change. Only a near-riot under our window in the middle of the night, and the usual Carnavale hi-jinks to liven the place up. I went looking for a cambio or bank to get some Peruvian Neuevo Soles and asked a bunch of guys at the market using my best Spanish (thanks Nuri) and they pointed to the man with the suitcase in the park across the road. Although I am sure that I got ripped off a little,he was a charmer.He listed of a number of Canadian cities and showed me his US permanent resident card. Said that he was too old to stay there.
At the border we made our obligatory three stops on foot: first getting stamped out at the Ecuadorian side (had to fill out a form and I wonder what would happen if you didn't qualify to get out?).then to immigration in Peru where we had to fill out the same form and I cleverly put in the wrong passport number,then across the road to check in with the police (Joy almost missed this one). Later, quite a few KMs (Canadian miles for Fred and Pat) into Peru the bus got stopped at a police check point and a number of Ecuadorians were rousted for not checking in with police. That left the rest of us in a sweltering bus waiting for the wrangling to get over. Then on to Piura where we planned to stay.When we got there we decided to go further to Chiclaya and settled down with cervaza (get used to it......it's beer) waiting for the bus. Unfortunately, when we got to Chiclaya (about 10pm) all our choice of hostels were full for Carnavale and our taxi guy earned his extra pay driving us all over town to find a hostel. He was eventually successful.
Jim
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Friday, February 17, 2012
Saraguro
Well folks this was the spot for Joy. She is already talking about a one month visit next year. We only found one other tourist and the people all knew that we were strangers. The traditional garb of the Saraguros was worn relatively consistently and gave the entire town (about 5000) an indigenous flavour. The Ecuadorian government seems to be trying to improve the lot of indigenous people and the efforts were apparent here. The women wore a black shawl over a decorative blouse with lots of neck jewellery. They all had a large straight silver pin to hold the shawl in place. A few wore the traditional Saraguro hat which is a wide brimmed white fely hat with a black spotted design on the underside. The men wore black ¨Bermuda length¨shorts. They are the descendants of the Saraguros who were moved to this area from Lake Titicaca by the Incans. They were warm and friendly and Joy loved the whole experience.
One of the unusual things we have seen in Ecuador is the selling of motor bikes (we would call them dirt bikes) in the same store as tvs, refridgerators, vacuums, etc. They are very useful in the hills around Saraguro as the houses are spotted all around the hills above the village.
Today we left Saraguro by grabbing one of the local buses to Loja and then another bus to Macara on the Peru/Ecuador border. What a spectacular bus ride it was. We seemed to ride the spine of the Andes, occasionally diving into valleys. I guess that we were varying between 2500 metres and 4500 metres and the grades here are not the same as in NA. Fortunately our driver was older and experienced and had lots of religious items for protection. The views downhill as he careened around the corners were unbelievable. Some of the drops had to be 1000 metres!
Now we are in a town where ¨Carnivale¨is starting to take hold so there was a parade for us and lots of music and water balloons. Tomorrow Peru!
One of the unusual things we have seen in Ecuador is the selling of motor bikes (we would call them dirt bikes) in the same store as tvs, refridgerators, vacuums, etc. They are very useful in the hills around Saraguro as the houses are spotted all around the hills above the village.
Today we left Saraguro by grabbing one of the local buses to Loja and then another bus to Macara on the Peru/Ecuador border. What a spectacular bus ride it was. We seemed to ride the spine of the Andes, occasionally diving into valleys. I guess that we were varying between 2500 metres and 4500 metres and the grades here are not the same as in NA. Fortunately our driver was older and experienced and had lots of religious items for protection. The views downhill as he careened around the corners were unbelievable. Some of the drops had to be 1000 metres!
Now we are in a town where ¨Carnivale¨is starting to take hold so there was a parade for us and lots of music and water balloons. Tomorrow Peru!
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Saraguro
In an effort to get caught up, I am putting in this entry from Saraguro, itself. We went to the bus depot (terminal terrestre) in Cuenca and found the area where we thought that we might get a bus to Saraguro and were told that the next bus wasn´t until 6pm. We said that we wanted to go now (10am) and were pointed to a bus on the ramp waiting to go. Apparently the bus we approached first was a classy bus and we were now going on the regular bus with the locals. Once again there was great scenery as we went up and down the Andes, through passes and down, down into river valleys. Dropped at Saraguro, we found the hostal in the book (lonely planet and Footprint) and settled in. Not a really high standard but the operators are a friendly family. Joy is feeling a little öff her feed¨so I will save more about this magic place for next time.
Cuenca
Our first stop after Guayaquil (we just went to the bus depot and hopped the first bus) was Cuenca, the thrid largest city in Ecuador and home of 2 universities. The trip was in the evening and with rain and fog there was not too much to see. That was unfortunate as the trip is obviously wonderful climbing from sea level to 2500 metres (and I think that at least one pass had to be 4000 metres). We seemed to be climbing on a 2 lane highway for about 2 hours. It was a good thing the visibility was bad as the driver did not hesitate to pass slower traffic over the solid lines.
Cuenca rivals Quito for the most beautiful city in Ecuador and is a UNESCO site as is Quito. We stayed downtown in the colonial city. We toured the old and new cathedrals. One was built in the 1550´s while the other, a truly spectacular structure, was built over many years starting in the 1800s. Being Valentines Day (or the run up to it) the flower market was very busy and heart shaped balloons were everywhere. We managed to find some nice galleries/museos, as well as one archeological site and walked a lot. It was a lot of fun, but we must head South and this was a chance to visit Saraguro on our way to Peru.
Cuenca rivals Quito for the most beautiful city in Ecuador and is a UNESCO site as is Quito. We stayed downtown in the colonial city. We toured the old and new cathedrals. One was built in the 1550´s while the other, a truly spectacular structure, was built over many years starting in the 1800s. Being Valentines Day (or the run up to it) the flower market was very busy and heart shaped balloons were everywhere. We managed to find some nice galleries/museos, as well as one archeological site and walked a lot. It was a lot of fun, but we must head South and this was a chance to visit Saraguro on our way to Peru.
I´m Sorry
Sorry that this has taken so long to get to. We have been without internet for some of the time, but mostly it is laziness on my part.
After running around Quito looking for cash to fund our last minute Galapagos trip, we took off the next day for Puerto Ayora and spent 2 days there before boarding the Archipell for our cruise. During our time in Puerto Ayora we hiked to a near by beach for a swim with the Iguanos. It was hot (30s) and the hike was tough, but between the lava lizards, birds and the only cactus that grows like a tree (has a trunk) we made it. The first beach was not for swimming, because of the undertow, but the surfers loved it. We proceeded on to the smaller beach which had shade. There were many marine iguanos and they seemed to parade along the beach.
During our stay in PA we shared a number of cervazas with Nat and Megan, new friends from Australia who tend bar and cook in the most remote pub in the UK and travel in the off season. I must confess that they were the ones who put us on to the deal with the Archpell.
The Archipell is a beautiful catamaran (powered) with a crew of 9 serving 16 passengers. I cannot speak too highly of the food, service and the quality of the program. Our guide Dario was passionate about his Islands and the balance to be struck between the value of tourism and preservation of the wildlife. We were kept busy snorkelling and hiking both through unbelievable scenery and wildlife. The passengers were an interesting and agreeable group mixing Aussies, Dutch, Americans, Swiss and Canadians. One engagement was announced during the cruise. Good luck to Julie and Jason from the Pacific NW of the US.
Highlights were many including swimming with the sea lions and sea turtles and the many spectacularly coloured fish. We got to interact with land and sea turtles and land and sea iguanos. The low point for me was when I got into a school of miniscule jelly fish, which is similar to getting into a hive of wasps. I had to force myself to get back into the water.
After hugs all around we headed to Guayaquil on the mainland of Ecuador.
After running around Quito looking for cash to fund our last minute Galapagos trip, we took off the next day for Puerto Ayora and spent 2 days there before boarding the Archipell for our cruise. During our time in Puerto Ayora we hiked to a near by beach for a swim with the Iguanos. It was hot (30s) and the hike was tough, but between the lava lizards, birds and the only cactus that grows like a tree (has a trunk) we made it. The first beach was not for swimming, because of the undertow, but the surfers loved it. We proceeded on to the smaller beach which had shade. There were many marine iguanos and they seemed to parade along the beach.
During our stay in PA we shared a number of cervazas with Nat and Megan, new friends from Australia who tend bar and cook in the most remote pub in the UK and travel in the off season. I must confess that they were the ones who put us on to the deal with the Archpell.
The Archipell is a beautiful catamaran (powered) with a crew of 9 serving 16 passengers. I cannot speak too highly of the food, service and the quality of the program. Our guide Dario was passionate about his Islands and the balance to be struck between the value of tourism and preservation of the wildlife. We were kept busy snorkelling and hiking both through unbelievable scenery and wildlife. The passengers were an interesting and agreeable group mixing Aussies, Dutch, Americans, Swiss and Canadians. One engagement was announced during the cruise. Good luck to Julie and Jason from the Pacific NW of the US.
Highlights were many including swimming with the sea lions and sea turtles and the many spectacularly coloured fish. We got to interact with land and sea turtles and land and sea iguanos. The low point for me was when I got into a school of miniscule jelly fish, which is similar to getting into a hive of wasps. I had to force myself to get back into the water.
After hugs all around we headed to Guayaquil on the mainland of Ecuador.
Monday, February 6, 2012
Tough Day in Quito
Folks:
We saw the inside of the banking system here in Quito. It started with the search for the best tour to the Galapagos. We managed to find it in a nice classy catamaran whose prices were beat down to $850 by an Aussie couple before us. Airfare to the Islands is about $850 for the 2 of us and there is a $200 fee to enter the Galapagos so there now was the issue of raising the $1700 for the tour. We try not to carry too much money around as it is more to lose. After we used our VISA for the air tickets, some idiot decided to ignore the call I made last week to tell them that we would be travelling in Ecuador, and stop any further use of it. My Credit Union debit card did not work and the Presidents Choice one did, but there is a daily limit of $600 and we leave in the early morning. The CIBC one did not (it was their Visa too). We sprinted back to our hostal and gathered our travelling cheques and the other (MC)credit card. We were able to get $500 on the credit card and cashed in our travellers cheques (they seem difficult to use and you are charged a commission on them. Bottom line: we share a cab with the Aussies tomorrow at 5:30 and will likely not have internet again until Feb 13, when we return to Quito and work our way South toward Peru and Bolivia.
BTW Joy has done 4 sketches so far.
Jim
We saw the inside of the banking system here in Quito. It started with the search for the best tour to the Galapagos. We managed to find it in a nice classy catamaran whose prices were beat down to $850 by an Aussie couple before us. Airfare to the Islands is about $850 for the 2 of us and there is a $200 fee to enter the Galapagos so there now was the issue of raising the $1700 for the tour. We try not to carry too much money around as it is more to lose. After we used our VISA for the air tickets, some idiot decided to ignore the call I made last week to tell them that we would be travelling in Ecuador, and stop any further use of it. My Credit Union debit card did not work and the Presidents Choice one did, but there is a daily limit of $600 and we leave in the early morning. The CIBC one did not (it was their Visa too). We sprinted back to our hostal and gathered our travelling cheques and the other (MC)credit card. We were able to get $500 on the credit card and cashed in our travellers cheques (they seem difficult to use and you are charged a commission on them. Bottom line: we share a cab with the Aussies tomorrow at 5:30 and will likely not have internet again until Feb 13, when we return to Quito and work our way South toward Peru and Bolivia.
BTW Joy has done 4 sketches so far.
Jim
Sunday, February 5, 2012
We are here!
Hi All: Sorry for the delay in making this, my first blog entry of this trip to South America. We arrived in Quito, on time, at 9:30 pm on Thursday night and were met at the airport by a driver with the usual SnihurWyatt sign. After a wild (there are no other kinds in SA) we were settled in the Colonial Hostal in colonial Quito. Most of Friday was spent exploring the local surroundings, taking 2 hours of Spanish with Jaquelina, and spending time at the local market.
Our room is beautiful, but a little close (it overlooks) the road. But the windows open and Joy loves the street and doesn´t notice the noise at all hours. Now that I am using earplugs, it doesn´t bother me that much either and Joy finds the street magical and that´s fine by me..
We spent yesterday on a tour to the famed market at Otavalo where Joy bought a giant bean pod and ate from it, as did I after she didn´t develop some terrible disease. Check out her blog for the details. Saw beautiful falls and lots of other stuff.
This morning we and Jaqui went down to the market for lunch and we tried some new foods. I had seco de carne, while Joy and Jaqui had a fish dish. We still don´t have a trip to the Galapagos arranged but that is priority for Monday.
Our room is beautiful, but a little close (it overlooks) the road. But the windows open and Joy loves the street and doesn´t notice the noise at all hours. Now that I am using earplugs, it doesn´t bother me that much either and Joy finds the street magical and that´s fine by me..
We spent yesterday on a tour to the famed market at Otavalo where Joy bought a giant bean pod and ate from it, as did I after she didn´t develop some terrible disease. Check out her blog for the details. Saw beautiful falls and lots of other stuff.
This morning we and Jaqui went down to the market for lunch and we tried some new foods. I had seco de carne, while Joy and Jaqui had a fish dish. We still don´t have a trip to the Galapagos arranged but that is priority for Monday.
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