Our last travel stops were interesting and completely different from anywhere else we had been. Sadly, we can't show our own pictures though, as someone in Ecuador pilfered our camera and laptop from our bag...so we are "borrowing" some pics from the wonderful world wide web. (Plus Joe mainly had pictures of rocks, if you look at the architecture of Machu Picchu and Saqsayhuaman you'll understand :) So to review our last legs of travel see below:
In mid-April, after our waylay into Chile, we flew to Lima, Peru and stayed one night in Miraflores on the coast - the nicest part of town we're told
Miraflores was pretty, but the beach is all pebbles, hard to lay out on - we had the BEST ceviche (fresh shrimp, fish, etc. mixed in lime served with popcorn) here at a restaurant called La Red. Mmmmm!
Our flight went the next day to Cusco - the base where everyone comes to head out to Machu Picchu and the ancient Incan hub of activity - almost all major buildings are built on Incan structures. The Plaza de Armas is above. The church is Spanish, but the base is Incan and the Plaza itself is the "heart" of the original Incan city. The elevation in Cusco is nearly 11,000 feet - so elevation sickness is pretty common. And that also means it is chilly at night!
Here is an example of the Incan stonework up close. They were master craftsman - no mortar and to this day no one is 100% certain of how they made these stones so perfect. The joints are so tight you can't even slip a piece of paper between them. The temples are of the nicest cut stones and the agricultural buildings are less "showy" work. For being built in the mid to late 1400's the fact that these have maintained such things as earthquakes, invasions and TOURISTS is amazing!
Here is the money shot of Machu Picchu- and it really looks like this! We hiked to the top of that tall mountain called "Huayna Picchu" early in the morning to get a nice view of the ruins, but it was pretty foggy - still a beautiful hike though as there are more ruins at the top. There is a reason this is one of the wonders of the world...
Saqsayhuaman is the ruins site just above Cusco - the stones are massive and weigh tons and tons.
A panorama of Saqsayhuaman (pronounced "sexy woman":) - the jagged edges are said to look like panthers teeth - a panther being a sacred animal for the Inca.After two weeks of rain and chilly temps, food poisoning and elevation sickness we were ready to get to somewhere warmer and more tropical so we headed off to Ecuador - Guayaquil to be specific - the biggest city in the country, known for its rivers and steamy temps and a good stop on the way to head out to the laid back Ecuadorian beaches
Guayaquil's proudest public works completion - the Malecon 2000 - after years of crime and a lack of something for people visiting the city to do, they cleaned up the city and built this nice riverwalk with shopping, restaurants, sailing and monuments. We took a stroll and the river breezes made the 90+ degree temps (slightly) more bearable...
Officially this is Parque Bolivar (named after Simon Bolivar the liberator) - but everyone calls it "Lizard Park" or "Iguana Park". There are hundreds of them crawling everywhere - which is actually kinda creepy...We then decided to try a beach town named Puerto Lopez, with the intent of exploring the coastline. Traveling by bus had worked well for us before, so we tried it again - and that's when the pilfering happened literally 18 inches above our head. It bummed us out to be sure, but we decided to stick it out and tried to enjoy it regardless. We finally remembered Joe's cell phone had a camera, so these are the shots we took from there (sorry if the quality is not so good!)
This is our little cabin at Hostel Mandela - the best place to stay in Puerto Lopez for sure and the friendliest host - Jill - who made our stay that much better.
This is the beach in front of the Hostel - the little shelters on the beach are to hang your hammock in while you sip a cold drink and relax - nice....
This is one of the 6 dogs - Juliet I think was her name - they were so friendly and loved on all on the guests. Joe was thrilled to have doggie company again.
This is the dirt road that led to the "town" (very loosely applied) of Puerto Lopez. It was mostly low worn out buildings with some stores, internet cafes, and hostels. Not ritzy or especially clean, it met our basic needs. Most of Ecuadors coast is ramshackle little fishing towns - some people like the laid back surfer vibe, while others don't - you can decide :)Warning: for those scared of spiders you may want to scroll past these next pics!
This guy was under the bed our last night in Puerto Lopez - he is dead (thank God!) but nasty looking nonetheless (and where was he when he was alive?). His legs were at least 4 inches if they had been outstretched.
(upside down)After our beach excursion we were really feeling like it was time to decide - home or more travel. We went back to Guayaquil and after talking to more travellers, asking advice about places we thought might be good to see yet, what we'd regret missing, etc, we ended up deciding the time had come to return (ironically a lot of those we talked to were headed eventually to LA).
So we booked a flight, relaxed a few more days in Guayaquil, and then headed back for US soil. Our apartment and bed never looked so good as the night we returned. Since then we have slowly been adjusting back to LA vibe.
We greatly enjoyed our travels and hope you enjoyed sharing them with us.
Cheers!
Rosie and Joe
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