Lima, Peru

Hi everyone,

So last I wrote I was on my way to Rio Verde, Ecuador.  That city is a cute little city right off of the mountains.  I haven´t uploaded any pics yet, but I´ll try and do that soon.  There, we stayed for 3 nights and I went canyoning with some people in my group.  We basically had on wetsuits and abseiled and jumped our way through the canyon´s waters.  We had an 8 meter jump which was pretty scary, but so much fun after you jump off.  The next day I went bike riding with 6 other guys.  We biked 40 km, which is approximately 25 miles.  It was hard work but very rewarding.  We saw about 4 waterfalls and rode on this cable car which was an open metal basket taking you across to the other side of the mountains. 

After Rio Verde, we did our first bush camp of the tour.  It wasn´t the nicest bushcamp, but the stars that night were lovely.  We then crossed the border into Peru and our first stop was Punta Sal, which is a little beach area.  We set up our tents right on the sand and were only a few steps away from the water.  We also stayed here 3 nights which was nice.  We just relaxed and hung out with each other.  We didn´t do too much else.  One of the guys on our tour actually got stung by a ray here and the barb was hanging out of his foot.  That was pretty scary and no one else wanted to go back into the water after that. 

We then had another bush camp night in this really nice isolated place.  I´m really starting to enjoy the bush camping.  Oh, bush camping is different from our regular camping in that we just stop off wherever we are and set up camp.  There are no showers or toilets or anything.  After this bushcamp, we headed to another little beach town called Huanchaco.  Here we just walked around the city.  Some people went boogie boarding and others went on these reed canoes (kind of like a banana boat).  I didn´t feel like doing either and just hung around town.  We then had another drive day and bushcamped in another beautiful place.  It had lots of sand dunes everywhere and we saw a beautiful sunset.  We then got to Lima the next day and was there for a couple of nights.  It was one of the girl´s birthday, so we went out for a night in town, danced with some locals, and had fun.  In Lima, I went to the San Franciscan monastery which had a crypt (catacombs).  The building itself was really old and very intricately decorated.  I wasn´t allowed to take pictures, but I wish I could´ve.  They had this amazingly old library and the catacombs had 25,000 people´s worth of bones. 

After Lima we had another 3 nights of bushcamping.  One night we stayed out in the desert, slept directly under the stars.  I saw 5 shooting stars that night.  Also we rode in these really fast sand dune buggies which were so much fun!  They took us sandboarding on 4 different spots and we just slid down the dunes with only our board.  We also saw another awesome sunset.  Now we´re in this little city called Arequipo.  There´s not too much to do here, but today I saw this ¨Ice maiden.¨ It´s basically the perfectly mummified body of a little girl who was once sacrificed to the gods a long long time ago.  I´m bad with details, but she was buried under the snow on the top of the mountain volcano.  That´s how they found her. 

That´s about what I´ve been up to so far.  Lots of driving with beautiful scenery.  And I´m enjoying the people on this tour so it´s great.  I´m running out of time, so I´ll write again soon.  Hope everyone´s well.  Bye!

Tena, Ecuador

Hi everyone.  I am currently in Tena, Ecuador right now.  A little city with not much to do.  Half of my tour group is white water rafting right now, and the other half are basically doing whatever they want.  So far, my tour group has been great.  We met up last Thursday night and had dinner together.  We^re a mix of ages, from 18 to 58, exactly half are guys/girls, and half are couples/singles, so a wide range. 

Our first night camping, I helped to cook cause I am in cook group 1.  It was ok, but it reminded me of the things I don^t like about camping...  :)  Next day we spent at the Otavalo markets, which are the biggest markets in South America.  There were so many streets filled with tons of vendors..  selling crafts, arts, food, and random things.  We first went to an animal market where lots of different kinds of animals were being sold.  There were pigs, big and small, puppies, kittens, guinea pigs (which many people eat here - apparently they are good), cows, chickens, chicks, ducks.  It was so so sad to see all the animals, cause they were stuck in small cages in the sun, or were being held by people in not so humane ways.  It really a really interesting experience, but really sad to see.  The next markets were just all the crafts and foods.  I didn{t buy too much, but mainly just people watched.  It was so interesting.  I took some pics, so I will just upload them when I get the chance.

After Otavalo, we took a long drive day in between mountains, going up to 4000 meters, to get to the Amazon jungle.  We stayed at Arajuno Jungle Lodge, which was so nice, especially cause they have this monkey named Mona.  She loves to play - it was as great playing with her as holding a koala.  I now want a koala and a monkey.  :)  The first day we hiked through the jungle, which was really hot and humid.  I was really sweating my face off.  After, we had a wonderful fish meal, which I didn{t get a picture of, but it was so good.  Then we went tubing down the river, which was so much fun.  Next day we took a long boat ride to Amazoonica, which is this wild animal rescue center.  It was really nice as well, but I must say I enjoyed the first day more.  Oh, I also had a private reading with a Sharman...  not sure about the spelling.  He cleansed my aura and answered any questions I had about the future.  I must say the cleansing was really cool to experience, but I don{t believe in the things he told me about my future.

Today we woke up at 6am, drove to Tena and will be staying here one night.  Our next stop is Banos, where we will go canyoning/horse riding/biking/getting massages/going to the spas.  We will be here for 2 or 3 nights, so I will write more about it next time.  I don{t have much else to say...  I{ve been trying to practice my Spanish by talking to some locals.  I actually understand more than I thought I would.  That{s about it for now...

Bye!

Quito, Ecuador

Hi Everyone!

So I arrived in Quito yesterday and am starting to get used to the altitude.  I was so short of breath yesterday, but my lungs feel much better today.  I even climbed up a whole bunch of stairs to Parque Itchimbia, which is a park here in the Old Town where you can take in a view of the city.  It was very very spectacular. 

The people here have been nice so far.  No one has said anything mean to me yet...  at least I don´t think so.  So I meet my tour group tonight and tomorrow we are off!  I am excited, but nervous about my group... 

I´m outta time, will write again soon, hopefully.

Adios,

April