Wow, we´ve definitely been on the move lately and have sorely neglected our blog. Right now we are in Cusco, Perú and will be leaving tomorrow for Lake Titicaca, the highest (elevation) navigable lake in the world. In attempts to catch you all up on where exactly we´ve been the last three weeks, we´ll do a brief synopsis of our southbound Peruvian travels. It wasn´t really until we got the Perú travel book that we realized how much ground we had to cover. We were at our starting point for long bus rides.
Cuenca, Ecuador --> Máncora, Perú
As we descended into incresingly lower elevations toward the boarder of Ecuador and Perú, we really had no idea what to expect. The boarder crossing was interesting...but not bad. I had a few problems with ID because the brilliant women at the airport in Quito entered my last name as Foitle. Nobody really knows why. The boarder officials were questioning me for 20-30 minutes and took my passport into a back room. It took me a while to explain to them the American custom of dropping your maiden last name and fully changing to a married name. Last names do not function the same in Ecuador. You cannot easily drop your maiden name...you always have it and it´s really expensive to change it. Has a bit to do with social status and indigeneous roots.
Anyway, Dave and I were on the bus for quite some time travelling through the bleak southern part of Ecuador and northern Perú. I never knew how deserty it was and how literally there is not much to see. We disembarked after about 9 hours of bussing in Máncora, Perú where our taximoto driver put our bags on the back of his tuk tuk and took off. The highly unfortunate occurance happened of my waist buckle being shattered inside the taximoto wheel. I was ridiculously frustrated. For all of you who have carried a 40/45-ish pound backpack without a waist buckle know how uncomfortable it is. I don´t really think that I talked for the next 30 or so minutes.
Dave and I tried to walk around and find a hostel but we were having little luck, so went to the local bar and got 3x1 beers. We decided after our 2 nights in Máncora that we were all too entirely spoiled by the amazing beaches in Costa Rica because we didn´t find Máncora very nice at all. Perhaps if we had wetsuits or knew how to kiteboard we´d be stoked. Fried seafood seemed to be the food of choice and we enjoyed a bit of that here and there, but were happy to be on our way out.
Cuenca´s Main Cathedral
Tiny bit of finger in this photo...but it´s Cuenca´s Plaza de Flores. Beautiful!
Cuenca, Ecuador --> Máncora, PerúAs we descended into incresingly lower elevations toward the boarder of Ecuador and Perú, we really had no idea what to expect. The boarder crossing was interesting...but not bad. I had a few problems with ID because the brilliant women at the airport in Quito entered my last name as Foitle. Nobody really knows why. The boarder officials were questioning me for 20-30 minutes and took my passport into a back room. It took me a while to explain to them the American custom of dropping your maiden last name and fully changing to a married name. Last names do not function the same in Ecuador. You cannot easily drop your maiden name...you always have it and it´s really expensive to change it. Has a bit to do with social status and indigeneous roots.
Anyway, Dave and I were on the bus for quite some time travelling through the bleak southern part of Ecuador and northern Perú. I never knew how deserty it was and how literally there is not much to see. We disembarked after about 9 hours of bussing in Máncora, Perú where our taximoto driver put our bags on the back of his tuk tuk and took off. The highly unfortunate occurance happened of my waist buckle being shattered inside the taximoto wheel. I was ridiculously frustrated. For all of you who have carried a 40/45-ish pound backpack without a waist buckle know how uncomfortable it is. I don´t really think that I talked for the next 30 or so minutes.
Dave and I tried to walk around and find a hostel but we were having little luck, so went to the local bar and got 3x1 beers. We decided after our 2 nights in Máncora that we were all too entirely spoiled by the amazing beaches in Costa Rica because we didn´t find Máncora very nice at all. Perhaps if we had wetsuits or knew how to kiteboard we´d be stoked. Fried seafood seemed to be the food of choice and we enjoyed a bit of that here and there, but were happy to be on our way out.Northern Perú Landscape
Classic Typos
Soaking up the Sun
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