Pisco Sours

Last night we met up with our friends Luis and Ximena from Austin for dinner and drinks.  They are here in Lima at the same time for a wedding and to visit family.  They made great hosts, and we had a fine time out with them. 

I really liked the bar we went to -- a converted enormous old house with huge rooms and 20' ceilings filled with people, noise, and huge, simple art on the walls.

Tired legs, smiles

 We're back from our trek!  Lindsay and I went hiking to Choquequirao this week -- a 4 day demanding hike.  The city is high up in the Andes over the Apurímac River, a river that's 3,000m below the surrounding peaks at times -- twice as deep as the Grand Canyon in the US.  The city hasn't been excavated for long, and is 30% uncovered to date.  The tour was interesting, because lots of questions about origins and uses of the buidings in the city were answered with "we really don't know....".

We had a memorable time, and got a workout in the process. 

Editorial note: The day before the hike, I got a little sick.  I'm fine now, but it worried us for a couple hours.  Let's just say I lost my lunch violently.  I spent that evening in a local clinic having simple tests done to see what I had.  The doctor said I didn't have anything crazy, just a significant bacterial problem, probably from food. He put me on antibiotics to fix things up.  Lindsay and I realized later that it was probably a tomato I ate for breakfast that I failed to wash well enough.  I'm fine.  On to the hike.

Day 1:
Up at 4AM for a 4 hour drive, then a 15 mile hike, with about 1,500' of elevation change, first down to the river, and then back up again.

Day 2:
Up at 6, for a short 3.5 hour hike into the ruins themselves.  We explored the upper ruins before lunch.  The ruins are large and well thought out, with sweeping views of the mountains from every perspective.

After lunch we explored the agricultural terraces below -- about a 45 minute hike down switchbacks from the ruins above.

Day 3:
We headed home.  We were up early, and hiked about 15 miles back.  First flat, then down a long way, then up a long way, then flat again to camp.

 Day 4:
It rained all night the night before.  We slept well, though.  The night before, we were in a bit of a makeshift campsite on the side of the trail.  There were cows and mules walking past our tent all evening.  The mosquitos (which bite HARD by the way, and leave a mark on you for 5 days afterwards) were persistant.  Once we built a tiny fire, the mosquitos and the cows stayed a little farther away. 

The views the night before had been incredible, but it also rained from about 2AM all the way through day 4.  We had been camped at the bottom of a steep slope.  We woke up in the morning with wet beds from all the runoff coming down the slope, under our tents, and into our backs.  It wasn't totally comfortable, but not bad, either.

The hike the last day was simple enough -- just 2.5 hours back into town.

Good-bye Ecuador, Hello Peru

We wrapped up things yesterday in Quito (Ecuador´s capital city) and early this morning, we said farewell (for now) to Ecuador as we departed for Peru.

We are currently staying at an airport hostel

for a brief stay in Lima before departing for Cusco early tomorrow morning (5:45 AM!) for our hike amid the mountains.  (view from our hostal - Hospedaje Inka)

As you may have heard, Machu Picchu is closed due to terrible flooding in January, so we will no longer hike the infamous Inca Trail to Machu Picchu. Instead, we will do an alternate hike in the area. Starting Monday (to Friday) of next week, we will not have access to internet or phones. We look forward to sharing our hiking adventures with you when we next have access to internet!

Papallacta and Thermal Pools

From the humid, hot jungle, we headed to the cool mountainous Papallacta, where you can enjoy over 30 thermal pools, all different temperatures. The chilly air, view of the surrounding mountains and volcano, and rising steam as night falls adds a nice romantic touch too. This environment is similar to what we expect we will enjoy in the jungle thermal pools in Costa Rica for our one-year anniversary in May. The benefit of Ecuador, though, is that here, the entrance fee is only $7/person (Costa Rica runs $20-$45/person). We relaxed, met new friends from various countries (Columbia, France, Ecuador, US), and watched the night fall and the hot steam rise over the pools. An excellent way to say farewell to Ecuador!

Until we are able to post pictures, you can see pictures here.

Monos (Monkeys)

After departing Baños, we decided to go to Misahaullí, which is further into the Amazon than a larger, nearby city (Tena). In Misahuallí, monkeys live alongside humans in the town square. Check out these amazing pics of the town and the monkeys. Also, below are videos of the monkeys in action!
Our hostel room:
View out onto el Río Napo from our hostel room:Looking out from Misahuallí as the two rivers (Río Latas y Río Napo) come together at the Misahuallí point:

View up el Río Latas:

A mural in the town that depicts the rivers, the folks in canoes, and the monkeys:

Monkey walking across one of the electrical wires. (reminds us of squirrels)

Monkeys communicating in tree, with a baby on one of their backs!

This particular monkey (female) had a crush on a dog (male), and she is watching the dog here.

She is still watching the dog, and pays no attention to the fact that Mark is sitting there. (See the monkey at Mark´s feet.)

Still watching the dog...we could get SO close to her. She was mesmerized by the dog!

While in Misahaullí, we learned that the humans share a home with monkeys! When we return to the US, we will upload a video of the monkeys trying to drink a soda.

Another video to be uploaded is of a monkey trying to get into our huge jug of water. Intelligent monkeys!