Doing nothing in Guayaquil, Ecuador

Guayaquil, Ecuador
12-19 April 2010

   I got to Guayaquil a week ago and checked into the most fantastic hostel. I had decided it had to be a good one, because I planned to do nothing, nothing, nothing for 3 days minimum. My toe still hurt and I chose a swimming pool and a place too far from the centre so that I could stay put and do nothing, nothing, nothing for 3 days minimum.Yes, I know, I am repeating myself, it´s had for me to do nothing for one day, let alone 3 or more.
   Tuesday.... nothing.
   Wedneday... nothing.
   Thursday... a friend came to do nothing with me (I´d met her at the bus terminal) and by the evening I had given up on nothing and gone to the city with her and her host.
   Friday I moved to where she was being hosted (couchsurfing).
   And on the weekend, we went with her host, Carlos, to the thermal baths of San Vincente and the beaches of Sallinas and Montañitas. I am now badly surnburnt..... one of those sneaky overcast days that tricks you and a broken watch (so I had no idea of the time) and sunworshipping company. But I had a nice time and walking in the shallows felt good on my sore toe.
   And now, I must admit, the blogging might go a little quiet for a week of 2.... I´m off to the Galapagos, and I don´t expect affordable or fast internet, so you´ll just have to excuse me.

Me, Carlos, and Veronique at the mud baths of San Vincente. The mad baths were interesting... you get into a natural mud hole.... finding other peoples hair in the mud as you plaster it onto yourself. But, I don´t think it greatly improved my skin or hair..... bat poop (Guatemala) did a much better job!

Notes.

Accomodation, Iguanazu Hostel. $15 dorm bed, incl Breakfast. free internet, pool, excercise equipment, ping pong, Kitchen use. It was great *****

Impressions of Peru

Well, it is a week since I left Peru and I think I should leave my impressions.
   Basically, I didn´t like Peru much. And this is mostly because the men were so annoying, especially in Lima. In my first day in Lima, in the morning I decided to count the commentary as it passed. Mostly the commentary is Spanish or English synonyms of Beautiful or Pretty, sometimes its a Hooolaaaa, usually it is just one word. 12 comments between 9.30am and 10am!
   I know it´s compliments, but it gets annoying. Mostly because I feel impolite if I don´t respond, but if I do it´s like they have won a prize and they´ll be coming along to collect it. Remember I got a stalker in Arequipa.
   The food was heavy.... with it and a sore toe, I gained some weight I am sure (no scales in the hostels, so I don´t know).
   So, I have left Peru without going to Cusco or Machu Picchu, and I might go back to them, but I might not too... well, not now anyway.
   I am really happy to be in Ecuador!

Gee I´ve got good eyes!

    Aside from the locals passing comments about my blue eyes (which aren´t so spectacular in comparison to others, but obviously stand out here), people who spend time with me always end up commenting how spectacularly good my eyesight is. In groups, I get nominated as the person to look down the street and read the signs when we are looking for something because I usually see better than everyone else.

   For this I can thank the Laser eye surgery I had 3 years ago. It´s been the best money ever spent! And it is such a relief as a traveller not to have to carry bulk supplies of contact lenses, solutions and spare glasses. It is also nice to know that if I get abducted in the jungle and made to trek for days I won´t be having to ask my captors if I could please have my pack and some time to clean my contact lenses, or be concerned that they smash my glasses like so often happens in the movies!
   People say that you can expect dry eyes after the surgery, but in my experience this has been way less than with contacts. The haloing effect they tell you to expect is minimal and I usually had haloing with my glasses prescription as it got a little old anyway. Three years after my surgery, and I still see fantastically well, and apparently I can expect this to continue. They did tell me when I had it done that my close up eyesight would probably be reduced, but guess what? I can still read the poem on the Australian $10 note, although not quite as easily as before. (For those who don´t realise it the shading in the background on the $10 note is writing, on one side it reads TEN DOLLARS repeatedly, and on the other side is the words to the poem ¨The Man from Snowy River¨).
   It´s also nice to wake up in strange places and be able to see.... a view, or the way to the toilet, or the people in the next bed of the dormitory.
   Prior to getting the surgery I did get some advice from an optometrist friend for a particularly good clinic, and since they were offering me Lasik or Intralase surgery, which she recommended.... she said if you can afford the Intralase, do that, so I did.... I think the eyes are worth spending extra on.
   Some people comment to me that their optometrist doesn´t recommend eye surgery. I believe this is probably true. Optometrist companies make money selling glasses and contact lenses, customers who have eye surgery rarely buy another pair of glasses or contacts, so of course they aren´t likely to recommend it.

Notes
Date of Surgery 16 April 2007
Surgery: Laser Sight (www.lasik.com)
Cost $AUD6400, two eyes.

Into Ecuador

Piura, Peru to Guayaquil, Ecuador
Monday 12 April, 2010

  Eleven hours on a bus without airconditioning, and everyone knows that Ecuador is hot. The word translates to 'equator' in English. But the windows opened and the driver drove like a bat out of hell, and so the breezes flowed fast.
   Passing first Rice fields, then Banana plantations, and then Cocao plantations. I didn´t take a single photo all day so you´ll have to use your imagination.
   The border crossing was the strangest yet. The no-mans land (the area between the borders) was full of activity, there was even a bus stop there where some passengers got off and changed buses. I was worried I was in Ecuador but hadn´t gotten and entry stamp, but all turned out to be good.
   A young American had lost the piece of paper that you are supposed to have to leave the country, some 'helpers' told him to go with them and they would help him him. I said "no, stick in this line, ask the officials", but he went with them. They wanted $20 to help him, he didn´t have $20 and came back to me and said "what´ll I do?" and I said "get back in line and ask the officials behind the counter". So he did. They had no problems that he had lost his paper, and didn´t want money... they just stamped his passport.

Ecuador uses US dollars... this´ll be so much easier!

Notes
Piura to Guayaquil, 11 hours with CIFA $11.

Enough of Peru, keeping pushing on.

Trujillo, Chiclayo and Piura, Peru
9-12 April 2010

   To be honest I was feeling like it was time to get out of Peru. So I left Trujillo for Chiclayo, but found my accomodation so horrible that I left the next day, to Piura where I knew I could take a bus directly to Guayquil in Ecuador.
   Chiclayo is known for having the Museum of Sipan, which is the pride of Northern Peru and houses artifacts from the tombs from in Northern Peru. I enjoyed my visit there, but rarely get too excited about museums. I also visited Chiclayos market, known for selling all manner of herbs. Sellers desparately tried to sell me the hallucinagenic San Pedro Cactus 'stuff'.... but really.... I wouldn´t even consider trying it whilst traveling alone.
   I spent 2 nights in Piura, that is 2 nights more than the town warrants, but I wanted to go to the movies and just wasn´t ready to leave the first day. I saw 'Precious' at the cinema... and was so pleased to be at my first cinema since I left home.

Bad stomach or broken heart... whatever it is they have herbs to fix it.

Taxi´s in Peru, commonly are this type..and I don´t know what type it is, they are so prideless that they seem to be without badges.

Notes
Accom, Chiclayo, Hostel San Jose? Bloody awful. S/15
Accom, Piura, Hostel Aruba, only slightly less awful S/20

Speaking the lingo, or not, whilst travelling

Trujillo, Peru
7-9 April, 2010

   I got off the Cañon de Pato bus trip with an older Australian couple from Darwin. When I say older, I just mean that they where in their 50’s (so older than me, and older than the average independent traveler). We all booked into the same place and I spent quite a bit of the next day and a half in their company.
   The couple had been traveling two and a third years, having started out in Asia. They only spoke English, so it seemed to me they were missing out on a lot, but it was interesting to see just how well they got along without Spanish as well. At times I have felt I just didn´t have the words to express myself, but when Phil was disappointed in the customer service he just told them so, in English. Maybe I should do the same, they seemed to get the point. No attempt was made, by Phil, to speak Spanish. If he wanted a beer, he just kept saying beer, until they realized the man must be thirsty.
   Although I love being able to speak Spanish, I actually don´t feel this (traveling only with English) to be an ignorant style of travel. I think it better than not traveling at all and if you started out in Asia I can see that this might be a natural progression. The languages of Asia are too many, too varied and too difficult for the average traveler to go beyond the very basics of Hello, Thank you, yes, no. And I have always defended the Gold Coast City (Australia) signs in Japanese, saying that if we want to make money from these people, it´s best to be as accommodating as possible. Having spent a little time in Asia, I´m sure many of them feel the same way… if they want to make money from me, they´ll usually know enough English to sell their products to me.

   In Trujillo they had a good value deal to visit the Temple of the Moon and Chan Chan, 2 half day trips, for S/25 (about $9). So that´s what I did. Both are ruins from pre Inca times. Chan Chan was impressive for its’ size (the largest city in the worldbuilt of Adobe), but I was more impressed by the Temple of the Moon, which was temple built upon temple, 5 levels of temples from different times (Chimu culture), each one filled in and built on top of with the next. And the colours still intact!

From the approach, the Temple of the Moon, really doesn´t look like much. But then they started digging and wow!

Here is one of the inner walls of a temple, each temple was filled in with bricks (they have left some in the corner) and built around with bricks too, and then another temple built on top, creating a pyramid effect from the outside.

Here you can see the 5 layers of the different temples. And the original colour still quite good.

I really liked this decoration, it has so much going on in it.

In a musuem they showed what things might have looked like... could you imagine wearing the big nose piece?

Chan Chan, the worlds largest city built of Adobe... was massive.

More of Chan Chan

At the end of the day they took us to the beach at Huanchaco. These are fishing boats... drying when we got there, but if you go earlier in the day you can get a fisherman to take you out for a quick trip in one of these where you surf back in on the wave. I think it cost less than $2, but I was too late in the day.

Notes
Accom; Hotel Colonial **** Haggle the price.... when I got there they saud S/55, then S/45, then I got it for S/30. Private room, cable TV, hot water.
Tours; Chan Chan S/15, Temple of the Moon S/20, together S/25. Lunch at the place they take you too.... well I guess that´s how they get to do the 2 tours so much cheaper. Expensive at C/18. (Lunch usually S/3-9)
Oh, and they are fantastic Pisco Sours at the fancy Hotel by the Plaza.

Hairless dogs

I have seen quite a few of these hairless dogs in Peru. They are endangered and protected, but apparently many people keep them for their rheumatoid arthritis. These dogs maintian a higher body temperature (40degrees I think) and people get them to sleep with them at night to ease the arthritis. The first time I saw one I thought it was completely ugly, but I am getting used to it now.

Duck Canyon, with no ducks

Huaraz to Chimbote and on to Trujillo, via the Cañon de Pato (Canyon of Duck)
Wednesday 7 April 2010

   I didn´t see a single duck all day. But they did seem to have a lot of duck on the menu in those parts.

   To leave Huaraz, I took the scenic route, 8 hours of a very rough road, along the Cañon de Pato. It was a very scenic day. There must have been about 40 tunnels... I lost count about half way down and I was at 17 when I lost count. The tunnels are important to me... I get anxious in some tunnels. I´m not sure why it´s some and not others... maybe I sense their stability! I was exhausted by the end of the day.
  

Cañon de Pato

Cañon de Pato

At the bottom.... back to the coastal desert.

Notes

Scenic Bus Journey S/25

Lunch at bus stop S/9

Touching ice and the biggest Bromeliads in the world.

Huaraz, Peru
5-7 April 2010

Huaraz is all about mountian climbing and serious trekking. So I limped around town on my sore foot and booked a tour to see the Puya Raimondi (or Queen of the Andes) plants. (For those who don't know, I am very interested in plants).
   The plants take 100 years to grown before they shoot up a massive flower spike, giving them a height of 10-15metres, and then they flower and slowly die. Each plant will have more than 3000 flowers, but unfortunately the guide said they had flowered last September and so now many were in the process of dying. It is the largest known Bromeliad and the largest Puya (which is something new to me).
   You couldn't just go see the plants without paying a lot of money, so I was also obliged to keep going up the mountain to touch a glacier. I liked this glacier... more than others I had seen it was easy to comprend the slow moving mass of ice. And it is mighty impressive to think that within 100kms of the coast of Peru, mountains reach a height of 6000m! I went to 5000m, and at the glacier, to save my foot, I hired a horse.

One of the vistas on the tour.

A Puya Raimondi (or Queen of the Andes) plant and me.

A Puya Raimondi up close.

Postouri Glacier

My horse (for a little while), take note of the rope work. Old, but lovely.

Those mounds that looks a bit like haystacks are actually houses. About 2m across at most.

Notes:
Huarmey to Pativilca by collectivo taxi. S/10
Pativilca to Huaraz by bus S/20 (Collective Taxi option S/30)
Accomodation: Hostal Condores, S/30, private bath, cable (BBCNews!) *** (it lacked character)
Day tour S/25

Santa Semana in Peru

Huarmey, Peru
28 March - 5 April 2010

   There are 2 big annual events on the Latin American calendar each year… Carnival and Easter (Semana Santa). Throughout Latin America you will find various big fantastic events for both of these. I have celebrated carnival years ago in San Pedro, Belize (the Isla Bonita that Madonna sings about), and this year in Oruro, Bolivia. But despite all my time spent in Latin American countries, I still haven´t managed to experience one of their fantastic Semana Santa’s.

   This time, I didn´t plan anything on account of my bad sore toe (I would never have thought a toe could be as much bother as it has been). I waited that week in Lima, and I got offered some ‘work’ in Huarmey (4 hours North of Lima on the coast), writing the English language publicity for a new hostel that was opening and wanting to attract more backpackers, rather than Peruvians. And so, with sore toe, I went to Huarmey knowing that working in front of a computer would provide a useful distraction to celebrating Semana Santa.
   I can however be happy to know that I saw I real Peruvian Semana Santa. Huarmey is a place that Peruvians, mostly from Lima, go to for Easter … to be at the beach. Although about 50% of Peru is Catholic, most, in reality, don´t practice their religion. And, just like Australians, many head to the beach for Easter.
   I spent the first couple of days in Huarmey discovering what their was to do in the area. It was interesting, and I enjoyed having a project to work on. My hosts paid for pretty much everything (that was the deal), and really looked after me spectacularly well. I dug pretty deep to find out all their was to do in the area… I think even my hosts was surprised!
   All in all, it was a very enjoyable week. If you want to see my work (I created a website for the hostel) go to http://www.jaimecrazyperu.wordpress.com/ .

My hosts and me... Eusebio, me, Ana.

One of the Tuquillo beaches

Hundreds of these bright crabs were on the beach.. I was lucky to corner one for a photo.

Looking the opposite way from the beach... you see dunes.

My hosts bought fish fresh off the boats.

Princess Beach

I´m still drawn in by the houses made from reed mats.

Huarmey River in Huarmey valley.

Local veggie delivery.

A piggery.

We paid a visit to Ana´s mum at the cemetary. Despite being catholic, they don´t do many cremations.

oh good! Starbucks in Peru.

Oh good!
That´s nice to know, I mean if ever I feel no-one cares.
Especially since Michael Jackson died (he loved me).

(Oh and I know, I´m anti Starbucks, but I needed to sit down (due to my toe) and they have a guard to stop the Limeños hassling you, and a clean toilet).

Starbucks, Miraflores, Lima.

Oh, let me try out torture in the turture museum in Lima, Peru!

Lima, Peru
18-28 March 2010

   My intention was to spend 4 days in Lima, I wanted to finally spend a weekend dancing Salsa and other latin styles, and so I figured, arrive on Thursday, dance all nights possible, see the sights and leave ... because I don´t much like cities.

   But it wasn´t to be. I arrived Thursday, met a local who said he knew where to go dancing, went dancing and it wasn´t much 'chop', went sightseeing the next day, got to the Museum of the Inquisition (the very building and equipment they used to torture people who didn´t seem to be quite on the right track), fell up some stairs, and then couldn´t walk, let alone dance. I had to stay in Lima and rest. Boring! (And you can perhaps see haw this post got it´s title.)
   The damage was to the middle toe of my left foot. Eventually I decided I had better get it X-Rayed, and it wasn´t broken, but seriously damaged (my Spanish and the doctors English may have stopped me getting a good definition here). At least I was staying in a nice area (very like New Farm in Brisbane), had a nice private room, and a big TV, Cable, and DVD player. I am writing this 12 days later, I finally moved on, but walking still hurts and tires me a lot. I never really got to dance, and didn´t see a lot of the sights either.

Prior to falling, I went to a museum with lots of Pre-Columbian Artifacts. At first I wondered about the seeming impracticality of water vessels such as this, but it is actually very clever. As you pour from it, it whistles like a flute.

The museum of Inquisition has a fantastic roof, but I wasn´t even looking at it when I tripped. 

Lima´s main Cathedral.

The view from Larcomar, the very Global shopping centre near where I was accommodated. The shopping centre had everything you´d expect in the western world.

I liked this! At nights in the Parque de la Reserva they have a fantastic fountains and lights show. Ok, it is a very wasteful use of resources, but it´s very well done too. And we´ve seen play fountains for kids, this one is for adults... you try to get to the middle without getting wet as the fountain constantly changes. Being that I was having trouble walking I didn´t try, but if I am ever back there....

My Limeño friend, Juan Carlos, took me sightseeing. He obviously was impressed by the Saints buried in the church, but I liked the tile work and the gardens.

Housing, Lima style.

View of Lima. All that area of white even boxes.. well, that´s the cemetary.

Forget the traffic lights, many street corners have someone in a box (middle of photo, behind the car) guiding traffic.

Saw a baptism in the surf. And they say that the water is unsafe for swimming in Lima.

I had trouble capturing this photo from the bus window, but curved blue buildings like this surround a big round-a-bout, very impressive. 

The Drive North out of Lima, sand dunes right to the pacific ocean.

Another difficult bus window photo. But all these roofs are those of chicken sheds. Each shed apparently held 5000 chickens, most clusters were of 12-18 sheds, there were clusters every 5-15 kms for probably 200 kms. Apparently they have the distance between them to stop the spread of disease. I learnt last year that currently they are maturing chickens in 8 weeks.... that´s a lot of chickens being processed right here.

Notes:

Accommodation in Miraflores, Lima, Friends House, $11 Private Room, shared bath, breakfast included. *****
Bus Pisco to Lima $4 with PeruBus… no rest on this bus, every 15 minutes another person gets on and checks you have a ticket.