Arequipa

Arrived this morning. Staying at bothy hostel. Bid farewell to my friends kenia and Domenico.

I am not sure how long I will be in Arequipa. Probably 2 nights.
Happy new year.

machu Picchu, floating islands

MP was amazing. Details and photos another time. Stayed in Cusco last night but probably should have left the night before as originally planned as I did not do anything.

Arrived inpuno today. Day trip to floating islands then night bus to arequipe.

machu pichu

Heading there tomorrow morning and won't be back until Saturday night so you won't hear from me for a bit.

The rest if the trip is influxc. I think I will be back in cusco for a couple of nights then off to punk and then arequipe.

The night of the 9th I will be back in Lima at 1900 backpackers.

bass ackwards

So I stayed in a nice area of Lima called Miraflores for 3 nights. One of those nights I went to the parqwue de aguas to see the water fountain and shows, which is in dowenrowen Lima. Nose I am in downtown Lima and went to Miraflores for dinner. Go figure.

Flying to cusco the morning of the 24th

planning the rest of my trip

Now that my return flight is booked I need to have a more structured trip.

Due to the length, comfort and posdibler risks of a bus and cost of airfare it looks like it will be
Lima until Dec 26 then fly to Cusco.
One week in Cusco area then peruhop bus to Lima with stops as long the way including the arequipa area.

Due to the holidays peruhop service will be shut down until Jan 3 which messed up my plans.

I am spending 3 nights in the Miraflores area near Lima and then will probably spend a few nights in downtown Lima.

Saw a water show last night, sort of like bellagio in lv, but in many ways better. Today I did a walking tour of Miraflores and tomorrow a walking tour (self guided) of Lima.

mancora peru huaraz peru and more misc ramblings

I think I posted about the quiet island being noisy and the party city being relatively quiet.

The sad thing was the beach in mancora had hundreds of dead fish wash ashore. The rumor is that it was due to petrol in the water.

Took a night bus to huaraz which I was told was about 4 hours but was 7.5. Slept most of the ride. Arrived around 4:30 and did things all day including a hike, but did not sleep.

I ead told to go to lagoon 69 but I am not going to. It is a strenuous hike of about 3 hours up 2 hours down and 3 hours drive each way.

Tomorrow night I am heading to Lima. As most of you know I return to the good olke u s of a Jan 11.

I have decided in the future if I know where I am going to stay I will ask the hostel taxi rates. When I arrived at 4;30 am I know I was overcharged but did not have many options. I am not sure if he got lost or did not want me to know how close the hostel was. It was about 5 blocks but he drive a lot more.

I have mixed emotions on fast travel. I did do and see a koit but it would be nice to stay somewhere for a few weeks and get to know the people and culture better and volunteer more, that is hard to do unless I see far far fewer places or go away longer.

On my way to isla jambeli the tourist office in machaka I found out is closed on Saturdays??

Then the boat which leave hourly did not leave until 4 when i arrived at 2'45

One of the towns I was in along the way uses hair blowers to keep their BBQ coals hot

More another time...and getting further behind on photos but timne to get ready for bed.

isla jambeli, Ecuador and mancora peru

The island was nice but not what I expected. I was expecting a fairly deserted and quiet island.
There were more people than I expected, though if you walk far enough you can be alone but the weekend is not the time to go.
First the place I was going to stay had a group of 40 arrive so bno room for me...no big deal but what was is that apparently sat night is party night.

That is okay also except....the bars blare loud (not so good) music no matter how busy they are...or are not. I could hear music from two locations simultaneously.

Around midnight I finally went down to ask, they said music until 2 am. Thankfully it was "only" until 1 am.

Sunday morning was nice but when I left on the 10:30 am boat I could see boatloads of people arriving so I am sure it got busy.

Now I am in one of the party (and surf) towns and the hostel is reasonably quiet. There was a party nearby last night from midnight until 8 am!

There is a big party at my hostel, the point, Tuesday night for the full moon but I will not be here. I will leave Monday night or Tuesday morning.

I have more ramblings and am behind on picture posting but this is all for now.

cuenca and isla jambeli Ecuador late birthday celebration and reaching me

So cuenca is a nice place. Good climate and nice people.  More beautiful old buildings and nice churches. BTW it appears since my good friend Ann, who used to be a big blog commenter, has been going to synagogue more frequently than many Jews I know (to work though) but I have been to church a lot more frequently than her this year I think.

I celebrated my birthday Thursday night, on my friend Sheila's birthday, by going out for a nice dinner preceded by a local microbrew. The place restaurant cafeteria todosantos is in a church and has only been serving meals 5 weeks. Some of the proceeds go towards running the church/school. I had a nice salad and a pink trout dish with a nice sauce and other seafood. Also their homemade bread was good and served with a spicy mustard.

The chef at the restaurant who came by to talk with each of us suggested I go to this remote island in southern Ecuador. It sounds good so I head there tomorrow. No internet I imagine.

After that to a coastal party city in Northern peru.

Somebody I met suggested a great party town in coastal ecuador but I would need to backtrack though they say the city is great.

The next day I ended up doing with many others do in Ecuador... Bought a panama hat.

Pictures to come some time as well as other overdue photos.

Lastly I am having email problems. Best to messasgwe me on Facebook or use my alternate email address sfbob@mindspring.com

Love to all

should I stay or should I go?

I was ready to leave the farm as it was a bit too much for me and I did not seem to be getting better quickly.

The challenge was did I want to be on the bus to cuenca  for 6 hours. I decided that the latter was the better option so I took my first cipro and headed out.

Everything went okay but 3 busses and 6 hours later I was told it was still 3 hours by car (and6 by bus) so I am staying in macas at least and probably one night.

Going to dinner soon and hoping I can finish a meal.

Update
I was able to eat again
It looks like after being on the bus most of the day today I atoll have a 7 hour bus ride ahead of me on this "6 hour bus trip"

near talag ecuador

On the farm I had some GI problems since sunday night. Mid day today I started feeling better.

I am going to leave here th (fr, sa or su) and head to Cuenca ecuador.

The place is nice but there are too many events going on...yoga, meditation etc. Which means there is often music playing. Some times I need silence.

No internet unless I go to a nearby city.

tena ecuador

Now that I have a better internet connection I have posted some pictures from banos and salasaka.

I think I still need to upload pictures from Galapagos but I am tired.

Galapagos was amazing. I started Looking at 200 boat. Almost booked a 1400 boat and ended up with a 800 boat. I think I made the right choice but who knows. No seasickness but my 4 day 3 night was more like 2.5 days/3 nights.

Salasada is a small town andit is interesting to see how they do things like the parties I've mentioned in the picture below and also when someone dies they play loud music from the home to let everyone know.

I was trying to get to my next volunteer opportunity by tomorrow morning and had to go most of the way tonight but not end up at my destination.

It was interesting. I ended up being convinced to take 3 buses instead of two to get there more quickly. I think I did but I am not sure.

When I got on the bus they told me to sit in seaT number one. a lady came on with two children and said she had seats 1&2. I said I had seat one. She asked me to come off the bus to clear it up. I did. Apparently she only bought 1 ticket for her and her two children one was about 11 years old. So I was in the right seat and the three of them were in the seat next to me it ended up being OK but it was a little crowded at first.

I am excited about the next volunteering I will be doing wgphich will be for about one week here www.wisdom forest.Org

I think I will do a bit more of ecuador and then some Peru. Probably no Brazil or bolivia. Maybe a bit oif Chile.

I need to book a flight home soon. Probably returning mid January.

banos and salasaka ecuador

I am not sure if this post will publish as I am having technical difficulties. Now it looks like I can publish but not with pictures.,,grrr

Banos is very nice but since they expected rain all week, I have wanted to volunteer somewhere and a friend was volunteering at a school less than an hour bus ride away I decided to leave banos and volunteer at escuela katitawa.

You can volunteer for any length of time but if it less than two weeks long you pay $5 per day for a dorm room, breakfast and lunch, people take turns making dinner.

There is no internet at the dorm or at the school only at the library.

I thought I head my name being called this morning but when I did not respond people thought I left earlier and took off.

Somehow my walking directions were not correct and when I asked along the way I was told they were corrxt.

I ended up at the wrong school and took a $1 taxi to the correct school.

The school and classes are small...3-5 students per class. I am told it is less expensive for students to pay to go here versus free government run schools because they do not need to pay for books.

I will probably volunteer 3 days and then head "somewhere" Saturday.

Back to banos, one day I walked to the Virgin statue and around town,

The next day I went to el refugio banks which was quite interesting. You sit in a personal steam box where you have control of the amount of steam for about 5 minutes. After thast they immediately pour cold water over you! They also give youherrbal tea. They do this four times.

After that I went to the thermal springs and got a massage. A very relaxing day.

 This is a nightclub that was built and supposedly then closed because of seismic/structural challenges

Above all in banos

Below all in salasaka

 Classrooms

 Kitchen

 Christmas play rehearsal

 Soledad, one of the students

 Leann, the volunteer that told me about the opportunity, practicing lines with Adrianna

 Apparently they frequently have these parties at people's houses often. People arrive on horseback In "teams"and have somebody to watch their horses who also is a designated driver. Basically you are supposed to eat or drink whatever is offered to you. This was one of the smaller parties wed night. there was supposed to be a big one Friday night but I wanted to get to my next Volunteer opportunity because they aonre doing some fun things on Saturday morning that I wanted to participate in.

One of the riders on the way to the party.

banos ecuador

Arrived in banos tonight. Staying at the hostal Transylvania.

Galapagos were great. Lots of pictures and a few stories when I have time.

Anybody out there?

Galapagos boat

I am not on it. I had second thoughts as the price of $180 seemed too good to be true and i figured it is probably a small boat that I would not do well on.

I thought I might be out there money but got a refund less $30.

I am no we leaving tomorrow on a much nicer boat and for one extra night/day. I return Sunday and fly to Bogota and then head to banos.

The new cruise is $750 last minute deal. They had am even nicer boat for 8 days for $1400 but that might be overkill and it does not leave until Sunday so I would not return until December 6.

Misc observations
For some reason in some areas such as bocas del toro most grocery stores are owned by Chinese
Train stations have signs indicating the current station AND the next station

I have some others but they will either be written alomgsdide pictures or they have been forgotten since I did not post at the time.

Galapagos islands Ecuador

I just arrived today and only went to the Darwin center and the night boat dock and this place is already amazing.

A fellow traveler found some sort of deal on a 3 day 2 night boat so we leave early tomorrow morning and return Thursday. I am thinking I will leave the Galapagos Saturday but that is subject to change. No flight booked yet.

I have a few Galapagos pictures but no time to download.,, time for bed.

Quito pictures uploaded and I may still need to post popoyan photos.

quito, ecuador

After a couple of long bus rides and two taxi rides two fellow travelers and I arrived in quito.

We arrived around 4 am and when we got to the hostel we were told no space. On hindsight it may have been that they had only 2 beds. After driving around for a bit win a second taxi we eventually found a hostel with space. It was $14 instead of $10 but included a nice breakfast and they let us sleep the first night for a few hours free.

The hostel was in a good but noisy location. Saturday night we changed to a hostel in old town where my good friends Dom and kenia are staying.

Four gals were staying at hostel vibes, which was full. I went to visit them and saw there was a pub crawl Friday night. They invited me to join them.  When I arrived at the hostel the "boss" said I was not allowed even in the lobby because I was not staying there and therefore it was illegal.

I came back for the pub crawl and he said I could not join them on the pub crawl because that was also illegal.

We asked where they were starting and he said the pubs would not let others in , which made no sense. He also lied to me about where they were starting so I never met up with them. Coincidentally the two guys I was traveling with were at the bar where the crawl started.

First day here I walked around old town and stumbled on a city celebration with a live big band and native dancers.

Yesterday we went to the center of the world. There are actually twin. The real one is about 150 meters from the original.  We then went to See pululuhau volcano. It looked just like SF...fogged in. We decided to come back the next morning since the bus ride was cheap, though it was over an hour each way. It was nice but probably not worth the time.

Lots of beautiful buildings.

It is great fun to travel with my friends Domenico and Kenia. We hope to meet again somewhere in Peru.

Heading to the Galapagos, which should be great fun. I am no sure if I am going to do a cruise or just some day trips and self guided things. Galapagos is quite expensive I am told.

I was also told that most people get sick on the 2 hour boat rides between islands. Bring that I am prtone to motion sickness I am probably going to feel the effects.

So far I have only bought a one way ticket there since I am not sure how long I will be there.

I will try to upload some photos but I am on a bus on the way to the airport and don't know what to expect for WiFi on the galapagos.

WS uploading pictures on the bus and we arrived before it finished. I thought it would continue when I had WiFi again but looks like I need to start over.

Very confusing at the airport. Need to buy a Galapagos entry card first but u kept bring told different places to go.

All set now with some snacks and motion sickness pills. Board in 15 minutes.

 Quito celebration I stumbled upon

 Big drinks

 More new friends... the ones I did not go pub crawling with

Narrow sidewalk gets even narrower