Lima to Quito

We spent the weekend in Lima after Machu Picchu and were able to have dinner with Laura and Joe. Her parents generously babysitting Tomas. We had dinner at Madam Tusan's restaurant. http://www.madamtusan.pe 

The meal was excellent, the company perfect. Makes me realize how much I miss my old friends.

We spent Sunday buying trinkets from Peru.

Monday arrived and we made our way to the Cruz del Sur bus terminal to embark on our 28 hour trip to Guayaquil (85 U.S. dollars). It was easy to book our tickets online and our seats as well. Unfortunately we were late in purchasing them so we did not get the deluxe seats. The bus has 2 levels with the bottom level being spacious and each seat containing its own screen and movie options. The top provides seats that are a little closer together but still plenty of room to lie down (160 degree recline). The bus was pretty empty so we spread out and actually slept the night. The bus also provides meals during the trip catered by Roky's Chicken http://www.rokys.com and stops enough for extras: water and a real bathroom. It did not feel like a 28 hour journey.

The company stopped at the border and waited for us to exit Peru and enter Ecuador. The process was simple but took about an hour to go through the lines. Several people cut in front of us for unknown reasons while others cut back in lines after refilling out their paperwork. 

It was nice to have both offices under the same roof. One sign says exit Peru while the other says enter Ecuador. When we were done and waiting for the others on the bus to finish we popped into the Information room to use the free Internet with computers opposed to a wifi connection. 

We continued on our way and were dropped off at the bus terminal in Guayaquil. This is a very large terminal that had restaurants, shops, and numerous other bus lines. We asked the info desk where to grab a taxi and the approximate cost. She was very helpful and gave us correct info.

We hopped into a taxi (5 US dollars) and were dropped off at the Palace Hotel, an extremely comfortable hotel. It was perfect after weeks in hostels with limited hot water, hard beds, and bread for breakfast. We used the gym, enjoyed fab breakfasts of pancakes, French toast and omelettes, had room service, and watched season one of Senses 8. Yes we also wandered around the city.

Parque Simon Bolivar was beautiful containing statues and a picturesque church. My primary reason for visiting was the land iguanas which are visible in the park. I went over board on pics, sorry.

They blend well into their environment.

This little guy was speedy! Although you cannot tell.

Just wait if I took this many pics in a park what I will take in the Galapagos!

There is not much else to do here so off to Ayampe. We stayed at a place recommended by a friend from PASB. We went for long walks on the beach, explored the towns of Ayampe and Puerto Lopez, and read a book. We also went to the Isla de la Plata (another post). The sun did not cooperate so off we go to a new location.

I was not ready for another lengthy bus, 10 hours, to Quito so we boarded the TAME plane (100 U.S. dollars) that took 35 minutes. We flew out of Manta about 1.5 hours from Ayampe.

We decided to stay in the historical district and we were rewarded with beautiful views of volcanoes and architecture. 

Observatory in Almeida Parque

Climbed the hill in order to climb the tower of the Basilicia del Voto Nacional, the largest Neo-gothic basilica in the Americas.

The Egyptian Embassy bringing back fond memories.

Numerous designs combined to make a stunning view.

Bright colors.

Tile work.

City views

Graffiti

We explored several markets, neighborhoods and parks. People watching is always fun too.

This guy is balancing the mixings for lunch on a tray with one hand in his pocket. No head beanie thing either.

On Tuesday we went to Otovalo market and saw several other sites along the way. We were 2 out of 4 people on the tour with a very large ride. Tourism has decreased due to several issues, one being the "eruption" of Cotopaxi.

We first stopped at the middle of the world. You can see Mike's phone denoting that we are at 0 degrees. Also 8,950 feet high. 

The site was built by the Quitsato organization.http://www.quitsato.org to educate people on other perspectives.

They believe that we hold the globe incorrectly and that north should not be up but left as the word Norte means in the Sanscrit language. When he explained this and tilted the globe to show the difference it made sense to me!

Our dude was very informative.

Next stop was a small town that specializes in busconces. A salty pastry. We sampled some for breakfast that you dip in Carmel de leche. We saw how they were made with flour,  salt, butter, etc...

We stopped at a stand on the side of the road that sold Panama hats. We heard the story of why they were called Panama hats which basically was that the canal used many Ecuadorian men to help build the canal and they wore their local hats to protect from the sun and rain. Teddy Roosevelt went to check out the process and was given a hat. A photograph took his picture and named it the famous Panama hat. They re still made today in the same 3 towns. We drove through 2 of the 3 towns. They sell anywhere from $US10 - $35,000 dollars. He showed us how you can roll them up, store them in your back pocket and then unfold them and they have no wrinkles and look like new. 

Next stop was the Otovalo market the reason for the trip. We were both disappointed with the size and variety of items to purchase. This is supposed to be the best market, Not only in Ecuador, but South America. It was a town block of stalls a few stalls of jewelry but the rest were textiles. I guess we are spoiled with the Khan Khalili in Egypt and Chatachuck in Bangkok. We still managed to buy a few trinkets.

Took a boat ride around an active crater.

We stopped in Leather Town for lunch and more shopping. I cannot believe how many stores selling the same merchandise and can survive on the same street.

2 hour drive and we were back in Quito. 

Wednesday we are off to Mindo, a cloud forest with 100s of bird varieties.

The Lost Blog of the Arrival at the Secret Inca Citadel

Take 2! I blogged this all before so of course this will not be as good as the original post. I started the blog post on the train to Machu Picchu and finished it in the hostel when we arrived. For some forsaken reason it did not save nor publish.

It is 6 am and the alarm goes of telling us it is time to get ready to catch the train. Mike jumps into the shower first as he still needs to pack. I gain an extra 15 minutes of sleep as I pack the night before. He heads out to the ATM to get our daily allowance. The cost of Cusco is more expensive than any place we have stayed so far. Our daily ATM allowance is small.

I hope he brings breakfast back too.

When Mike gets back I ask if the taxi is here. We preordered one the night before from the nice desk lady, as we were told it takes an hour to get to Poroy, the train station. He said no and the delinquent desk boy was on duty.

Let me back up. 

We arrived in Cusco on Aug 1st at 4:30 pm to the Inka Express Bus terminal. We are met by our Peru Hop VP and ushered into taxis to our hostels. The taxi driver seemed very confused about our address but took off anyways. He stopped in the middle of nowhere and said here you are. We were with another couple who had reservations at a different place. We decided to drop them off first and try to locate our place. 

We pull over and ask the taxi driver to call the hostel. He decides to ask the guy working at Claro instead. Meanwhile I learn that abandoning your taxi on the side of the road causes the police to come and move you along. I am sitting in the taxi protecting our gear while Mike is in the store with the driver. The policeman decides to help and calls the hostel, gets us directions and we are on our way. Again.

We pull up to Hostel Keros and it is down a pitch black alley. Ugh!

The driver gets out and wants to unload our bags. No way!! A lady opens a small gate and he explains that she has guests for the night. She tells us no room, the driver tries to get her to accept us and we are trying to flee. She speaks English and we tell her to tell the driver to bring us back to Peru Hop and hopefully we can get help there. 

He does and we get a room for one night at The Point Hostel. Over priced, loud, and a bathroom with no running water. We have to move the next night which is fine by us. I booked another hostel for the next night. 

We proceed to book our entry tickets to Machu Picchu. We try and fail miserably until I read a Lonely Planet post about buying tickets that states you cannot do it on the English version of the site it must be in Spanish. So finally we get our reservation confirmation. Next step is to pay. Well we cannot seem to do that online either. I feel like an epic failure in the ways of travel. This was SO MUCH easier 20 years ago (in Australia). We find out we have to go to the Ministerio of Cultura. We have no idea where it is and the Internet at this place is non exsistent just like the bathroom water. We find a tourist information center and she provides us with a map and directions. We arrive at said location and it is not the correct place. We get new directions and arrive on the new street. There are 2 travel agents open and nothing else. We ask the travel agent and he has no idea where this place is.

I ask a tour guide looking lady on the street and she informs us it is closed on Sunday. We were assured it was open by both direction givers. Ugh! "Ok. Can you tell us where it is?" She points to the street we have wandered for 30 minutes. she tells us not to worry that the ticket reservation is good for days. We are concerned that the booking might time out. She says on the left up here and we head whence we came to the same street and see nothing, we look back to her and she shooed us on, we look back again and she signs one more door. It is directly across the street from the travel agent who had no idea where it was. There is a teeny sign, ten feet above eye level, with the name and hours of operation Monday - Saturday 7-7. Today is Sunday. Ugh! Still, we are optimistic so we go to Peru Rail and book our train. We head back to the hostel and book our room in Aguas Calientes. 

We need to move to the new hostel now so off we go. We are relieved that all now seems to be in order.

We show up and they say no sorry we are full. Third time is a charm right, another booking. No! They are full too. We ended up wandering around asking places if they had availabilities. We found one place that let us use their wifi and we found a few places with "availabilities". The kind hostel dude called for us and yes they had rooms available. 

Did I mention I love the spontaneous way we travel?

Teatro Inka was welcoming and we were happy to have a place to stay for 2 nights. I am no longer allowed to book our stays.

Off we go to spend the day site seeing. Oh sorry I totally digress.

So Monday we head out to the Ministerio of Cultura to pay for our tickets at 6:50am. It is customary to leave the room key with the desk clerk which Mike does. We walk down about 5 minutes and stood in the long line. Mike asks do you think we need our passports? Um, probably so back he goes to get them while I stand in line. 

He comes back 15 minutes with a frustrated look on his face. In the 10 minutes he was gone the desk clerk lost our room key, delinquent desk boy.

Our turn arrives and the nice man enters our reservation number and a red error appears on screen. He says sorry that our reservation expired. Ugh! It is only good for 3 hours.

He passes us off to the next guy (who speaks some English) who says he will help us with a new reservation. All I can think of is at we will not get the right date as there are only 2500 entry tickets a day and they go fast. We learn that you cannot book in Peru with a credit card from another country. You pay with a U.S. Credit card if you are physically in the U.S. Ugh! I wish Lonely Planet mentioned that in their post.

He quickly and merrily enters our passport info into the system and assures us we can have the same date. Yes! Printed and paid for!! 

We head back to the hostel for breakfast, showers and to begin the day. We ask if they found the key and they had not. We asked to switch rooms and they could not figure out why we wanted to. They did not understand that we did not feel safe with our room key floating round the hostel. They do not seem concerned with finding the missing key, even though they have gazillions of cameras everywhere. Finally they allowed us to move. We go for breakfast and there is no food left at 8am, breakfast runs until 9am and there seems to be no one staying here. Ugh!

Any ways I still digress. We are off to the adventure of a life time. Something Mike has dreamed about since high school.

So we ask delinquent desk boy where our 7am taxi is at 7:05 and he responds 3 more minutes as he calls the taxi company and orders it. Anyone who has traveled with me knows I stress about time deadlines when I need to catch a bus, train, or plane. Our train leaves at 8:30 and it is 7:15 and it takes an hour to get there and you are supposed to be there 30 minutes ahead of departure time. Ugh!

The driver arrives and loads our bags. We tell him the destination, Poroy, train station, and he says we will be there in 20 minutes. What? We were told an hour. Stressing for nothing!! Is that new?

We arrived at 7:45. 

Plenty of time to charge our phones, go to the bathroom, and yes eat the breakfast Mike picked up on his ATM run.

We board the Vistadome train that is all windows so you can see everything. 

The train is not full so I get to switch seats as I am headed the wrong direction.

The countryside is beautiful. We see locals tending their sheep, llamas, and crops. There are majestic mountains and flowing streams. I am at peace.

Anyone know what this is?

They even served a snack- fresh fruit, tea/coffee, and 2 pastries.

We never take pics of food at home. Why do we when we travel?

This hotels can only be reached by a 300 meter climb and left by repelling down. Not staying there.

We arrive in the train station right on time. 

We debark and the ramp leads to a textile market that is somewhat overwhelming. 

We have no idea how to get to our hostel. We ask a policeman and he gestured up the road. We bebop up the hill with our full packs, day packs and 2.5 liters of water each. We were told that the water was expensive here. We paid 4 soles for the 2.5 liter in Cusco. A 625ml bottle is 8 soles here.

We find the number of the hostel but no hostel. I am, definitely not allowed to book our hostels any more. through both our minds ran the thoughts of either it does not exist or they have no rooms. Mike makes a friend who speaks English and decides it is his mission to help us find the Portal Machu Picchu Hostel. He asks all the locals and no one has heard of the place. Ugh! Did I mention this is a small town with 2 major roads? Our guide even says "It is a small town, but we are lost." One lady tells us we are on the wrong street. Question: why, in a town with only two major roads do they feel the need to name them almost identically? Calle Kori Wakanki and Calle Wakanki.  Seriously? We go to the other road and viola there it is. He sees us to the door and says "good bye my new friends." I love the welcoming of the local people in Peru. Through out our time so far they have been very friendly and helpful.

I hold my breath as I enter the reception area. The man is running around cleaning rooms and stops to help us. He says "reservations?" I exhale and say our names and he looks in the book for a minute, I hold my breath again and then I see our name. Yes, we have some place to sleep!!

Our room is ready and we deposit our gear. We head out to find the bus station to buy our tickets to the entrance. We had such high hopes on how to enter Machu Picchu; first the Inka Trail, then a one day hike in, then a 90 minute hike. Now we are bussing! And we are relieved.

Tickets purchased we head to lunch. 

Then a nice leisurely stroll around town. 3 minutes later we are back where we started. Hmm... We need playing cards.

We are excited for tomorrow and off to bed early so we can rise at 4am to be early birds at the site. We plan to stay until sunset. Wish us luck. And no we are not trying to discourage people from traveling with us in the future.