Week 2

Incredibly enough, just minutes after you cross the border into Perú, everything changes. The landscape is instantly desert, the transportation is a bunch of motorcycles with seats in the back, the people look more European and less indigenous, and the food has more flavor.





We mistakenly went to Paita, a fishing beach and not a tourist beach. Worse, there was no way to just beach hop north without first going all the way back to Piura, from whence we came. So back we went and then headed to Máncora, a wonderfully beautiful tourist beach. The whole next day we spent on the beach, basking in the intense sun and cooling off in the waves of clean, clear saltwater.


The next morning, because Amy had burned a little bit (despite SPF 50 slathered everywhere), we forewent the beach and headed to la Poza de Barro, a mud pool that was surprisingly small and dirty. Yes, I know, dirt is dirty, but this pool was filled with wads of hair! Nonetheless, we made mud baths and soaked in the bubbling hot water while our motorcar driver waited and probably thought we were nuts.


We then headed for Tumbes, a quickly-growing northern town that has an incredible amount of public art and mosaic statues.










Amy's sunglasses broke so she bought some hot designer ones from local vendors.

We stayed 'til the next afternoon just to eat lunch at this fabulous restaurant again, and then bused all the way across the border to Cuenca, Ecuador in the southern/central mountains.


When we walked into a hostel looking for a room, I saw Roland, my Swiss roomie from the Galápagos tour! He had gone to a heavy metal concert and was hanging out with two of the members of one of the bands! So we checked into a nearby (cheaper) hostel and returned for dinner and drinks, holding many wonderfully confusing conversations and translating between Spanish, English, and German. They then took us out in search for some place to go dancing, and after over an hour of unsuccessfully walking around, we entered a place with live music and latin music. Yeah, the streak continued and the guys couldn't dance at all, but it was fun, nonetheless.

The next day we headed to the Cajas National Park that is 3900 meters above sea level. We planned on spending 4-5 hours walking around a few of the 300+ lakes, but only lasted about 1.5 hours! We were both feeling sick from the altitude and got completely lost on the unmarked trail. The weather is such that it is really hot in the intense sun and super cold if the clouds or the winds come. We took plenty of breaks and I took lots of pictures of the highly-adapted plants, and we soon returned without even making it around the first lake!










The next day we went to a Panama Hat Factory and saw most of the steps in the process from paja toquilla to a beautiful, finely-woven head covering. This poor lady has to pose all day for we tourists who gawk and take photos. These other guys have to work hard all day as they press the fibers into various shapes and moulds.






We ended at the gallery where there were hundreds of different styles of hats, from cowboy hats to Southern Belle hats to modern colorful ones. We tried many on and I had no intention of buying any. Until, that is, I tried on and fell in love one. Instantly I felt like a sophisticated world traveler and felt justified in my $30 purchase because it would cost about $800 in Miami and 1200 Euros.





We left the factory content and headed for the Museum of the History of Medicine where we saw lots of old medical instruments and medicines and such.



We wandered around and found all the old churches and colonial buildings and we walked along the river awhile on our last day in Cuenca. I think this day was another one of the days in which our main goal in the afternoon was to not sleep before 8 p.m. We instituted a mandatory journal time just so we didn't fall asleep too soon. Because sleeping at 8 p.m. has you waking up well before there's anything to do or anything is open!


Our last adventure was on the way out of Cuenca at the Incan Ruins, Ingapirca. Now, I haven't seen Macchu Pichu so I have nothing to compare these to, but they were less than impressive, I must say. Anyway, we took some good photos and I had us do some "sun worship", (i.e. yoga poses) at the elliptical temple built for such purposes before we took the first bus out of there and headed up the spectacular Volcano alley to Baños!