The Lines in Nazca

Leaving Lima early morning gave us chance to admire landscape all the way to Nazca... trip took 7 hours J

For us Nazca isn’t only city of the lines but as well city where we found more friends. We met Ruben and his great family and once again we felt at home. Ruben has a great project in his hands...he is building up different, alternative place, which will hopefully make “revolution” in Nazca. We are very curious about the result he gonna get.

We planned to visit Nazca lines, better to say, we wanted to fly over the lines. Unfortunately, lines belong to business type of heritage.  Ticket was too expensive for us. We spoke to many local and nonlocal people and they all agreed that price is made for rich type of tourists. Not for explorers like us, neither for Peruvians.  Sad but truth! And so we went only to view point, from which we could see two figures and many straight lines. After this point we went to second one and because we didn’t want to walk on the highway, we walked some meters inside. From nowhere appeared man on motorbike, shouting on us...”what are we doing, we can’t walk there, it’s place of lines and we should respect it!!” And Nuno argued with him...there was no sign, no fence, nothing at all...  Anyway, we had to walk on Panamericana – highway, which by the way crosses through one of the biggest Nazca lines figure(the Lizard). Isn’t that ridiculous?? Lines belong to UNESCO heritage and they allowed them to built highway through lines...

Back “home” we cooked dinner for our hosts and we had nice talk with parents of Ruben. They tried to teach us some Quechua wards, but only one stayed in Nuno’s mind. Pajaricama – see you tomorrow.

Later on in the evening Ruben’s friends arrived and Victor from Colombia with his guitar warmed the night playing and singing his original and cover music. J

We had planty of plans for time spent in Nazca. But desertic heat surprised us and so we cancelled most of plans and just enjoyed our resting time J

Anyway, we couldn’t stop thinking about next highlight of the trip. Cuzco and Machu Picchu were so near J We took night bus and after 14 hours we would be in Cuzco.

Short passage in Peru's capital : Lima

Very early in the morning we arrive to Lima and quickly decided to rest at bus station. While Janka, Phoebe and Rapha were sleeping Nuno could witnessed robbery in loco. Sort of a scam, a guy looked for people asleep. Found a guy, sat next to him and in few minutes went running with the nearest bag. A Peruvian just been assaulted by another Peruvian… welcome back to city life!!!

Lima is huge city. It has the same number of inhabitants as Portugal and double of Slovakia!!! Well, we decided to spend at least 2 days visiting city. Once again, churches were main touristic attraction what isn´t much of our taste. After accommodating ourselves and having a deserved night of rest in hostel, we went to city center by bus next morning (around 1 h of trip). Sitting in Main Square, we were asked to do interview. We were asked questions by 2 Peruvians who were studying English. :D What a funny experience!!! But the main reason of our presence in the “plaza de armas” was the change of guard in the Presidential building. After some nice music, there was the President of Peru: Ollanta Humala.

In the afternoon we met Phoebe and Raphael again and went for a walk in Barranco and Miraflores, the most quite and nicest part of Lima… it worthy to visit. We also walked along big part of the pretty coastal area of city. After some shops we finished drinking beer in a roundabout near our hostel just being disturbed by a police officer on motorbike J. We had to pack ourselves and move to terrace of the hostel because drinking alcohol on the public is prohibited. Thankfully to the nice officer we didn’t get any fine. :P

And that was it for Lima… early morning we took taxi to our bus and run away from city. We were heading to visit the famous Nazca lines.

Huaraz, again in the hights

Arriving to Huaraz we had time to rest at the “Terminal Terrestre” untill 7am when was time to call Ivan our next host. Ivan is a mountain guide and so he gave us some tips and advises. As well we got to know that weather in Huaraz wasn´t that great this time of the year. All the afternoons was supposed to rain. Despite our tiredness, we both agreed to hike up the mountains to a special lagoon.At first we went to market for breakfast and buy some fruit. At 11am we finally took “colectivo” to our starting point. Walk was pretty difficult but very nice….we hiked up through small village, saw donkeys J(some carrying bags), bulls working on fields, preparing them for sawing and locals washing their cloths in the stream. This time we got the thoughts why we stop the use animals and changed them for tractors and heavy machinery…. The lake and view from the top made all the efforts payed off J what a views…. We could admire beauty of all surroundings plus some snowy peaks on the other side off the valley. Because off the rain and the threat of storm we couldn´t stay long. As so we head downhill as fast as we could. Already inside the colectivo, the threat became a fact and in few minutes made the impression that it was raining for longer time as rivers were formed along the roads. Searching for a nice “Menu del dia” we found Phoebe and Raphael by coincidence and we set together for more than deserved meal. JAs we said, weather isn’t very good this time of year and therefore we couldn’t go for few days of tracking. Instead we booked tour to Pastoruri glazier.After 2 hours of car ride we got to Huarazcan national park. Views… very simply amazing… all the hill, streams and most amazing were the small households with large number of kettle. On the way we stopped to see plant called Puya Raimondi (from pineapple family). These plants can take 100 years to grow but once they flower, they die. It was amazing to see hummingbirds flying around them and feeding.Arriving to final point by car, we reject the offer of some ‘’crazy” guy in the middle of nowhere to charge us for the use of toilet…. ;) Hike up to glacier took around 40 hard mins but… what a big piece of icy rock it is J definitely not fitting into a glass of water :D Unfortunately, it is decreasing on size because of the global warming =/.  Anyway, it was very interesting day, not including the crazy driver… what a jumps… speeding downhill… and Nuno managed to sleep with all that =D … but it was really nice to learn few more things.
We stayed a bit sad that we couldn’t go for few days of tracking but maybe one day we will come back and enjoy walks through Huarazcan national park. Once more, we traveled again in the evening, next destination: Lima. J

Trujillo, first stop in Peru

To Janka´s disappointment, Peru is as dirty and full of garbage as Ecuador is. Really no difference.

Full of bus seats and tired from 20 hours ride, we call to Fernando, our next host. Fernando has 2 rooms ready for hosting and it is great. We got the chance to meet Phoebe and Rapha who arrived to Trujillo few hours after us. Soooo nice people who quickly became our good friends.

Next morning we had a very rich breakfast together and then take bus to Chan Chan. Ruins of old city, build up from sand and mud. Impressive and interesting piece of archaeology  We walked around for a while and admire what was left from this secret palace.

On the way to main road we spotted Phoebe and Rapha ;), all 4 of us heading to seaside village, Huanchaco. We had the chance to visit the most weirdest marine museum we have ever seen. Some fishes are dried and shrinked and others preserved in pots. It´s a case to “see it to believe it” =D

During the second day in Trujillo we had a long walk through city. Nothing really special, we have to say. The main square as some nice buildings and it`s the only part of the city that is without garbage. We watched  a very weird game where kids were having fun breaking glasses on the road and then cleaning the road and set garbage on fire, crazy minds....

Fernando, our host insisted in have the last dinner together, so Nuno and Rapha went to buy Chifa, Chinese meal for him and Janka and Phoebe got burgers for 4 of us. And we ate our dinner, drunk beer and for desert….. J ….. Fernando showed his treasure collection to us, more than 60 pieces “found” in tombs. 2 glass cabinets full of statues and pots from pre-Inca and Inca times. Amazing collection!! After all we had a good time in Trujillo but sure 2 days were enough. We had a good start in Peru and ready to explore more……

From Ecuador to Peru

And here we are, holding our hands, sitting in the bus, ready to leave Ecuador and enter the second country, Peru J

Excited as always we handed out our passports to officials and there was one more stamp to collection. After night ride by bus, we arrived to Piura. Still a little bit sleepy we picked our staff and took taxi to different terminal, what an disorganized crazy traffic!!! Here we looked for buses to Chiclayo and Trujillo. The Chiclayo one was leaving sooner so we hopped on and head south. After arrival we stayed with doubt if we should stay or go further south to Trujillo. We had lunch and talk and eventually we took bus to Trujillo.

It was the longest time spent in bus in our whole life. More less 20 hours with breaks in one day. Truthfully we made great decision! In Trujillo we met Fernando a museum in person and our new friends Wiebke (aka Pheobe) and Raphael, a German couple J

Loja – the best way to say good bye to Ecuador

We decided to leave Cuenca day earlier so we could go to our last destination in Ecuador. Loja, the city with lights in the sky J

We were welcomed by Diego, our last host and his 3 little schnauzers J . The same day he took us  for a beer in a local pub. Nice music and nice chill after 8h bus ride.

On Sunday we accompanied him and his family in search of land for summer holiday house near Vilcabamba. Landscape over there is just simply magnificent. Green hills, rocky mountains…oh..we loved it. As we drove through village Nuno spotted sigh for sale on fence of field. Ladies made call, owner arrived, we all checked field and from first second walking on it we said: “this is it!” And it was the one! Field prepared for house with stream, eucalyptus trees and plenty of fruit trees like banana, papaya and guanabana. So nice. Hope, they will enjoy their holiday time over there J after building the house…

Next national park in our counts was Podocarpus. The entrance to Amazonas rain forest. So we travel to Zamora, one of the entrances of the park. Some plants from park were important for making medicine used by the construction workers of the Panama channel because they suffered from yellow fever.

We hitchhiked till the entrance and saved 2 hours of walk. The park is simply amazing. Right in the beginning we saw big, huge butterfly J At first we walked to a very nice view point and to a bridge you can see in Indiana Jones movies ;) On the way to El Mirador, we heard the strangest bird song, it  sounded just like a robot, but we could find it in the middle of the vast flora. After one hour of up, up, up hill hike we finally reach the top view of all forest. Very much tiring 6 hours walk but a beautiful day.

Next day we head to Vilcabamba, the magical city where ancients live over 100 years. Some say it is because the healthy food and magical water, others say it´s the agriculture work and chamicos (locally produced cigarettes) and there is another tale that says it is because of the energy of Hayauasca and San Pedro Cactus ceremonies.

We spent 3 days in an organic farm which produces yogurt and cheese. We met Leslie, the owner of the farm, Alejandro the Columbian coffee maker(and what a good coffee he makes ;), Carlos and Hitomi, the Argentinian/Japanese couple.  Janka helped Leslie finishing the cheese making and later we could try the delicious product and later we had a delicious meal and chilled conversation. Next day we had an amazing time climbing the nearest mountains which offered us the fool view of the valley. Vilcabamba fulfilled our energy levels and left nice memories.

Back to Loja we met Diego once more and prepare our stuff. Our journey in Ecuador was finishing. We departure in direction of Macara and cross the border with Peru

Peru here we gooooo!!!!!

The nicest city till date - Cuenca

For our disbelieve we found clean city!!!!  

Too much plastic packaging, stray dogs, scavenging birds and people who simply throw garbage to the floor…this is what makes Ecuador look so dirty. And here in Cuenca streets are just so clean. Hard to believe someone cares about cleaning.

All in general we were pleased about the way how city works. Tourist office workers finally spoke English and gave us appropriate tips and directions. And so we took day to visit highlights of Cuenca city. Flower market, food market, Panama hat factory, several museums and outdoor historical sites. In one of the museums Nuno got lesson of history of Canaris and Incas and Spanish conquestors. How Incas wanted to get rid of Canaris so Canaris made pact with Spanish to eliminate Incas. Once Incas were eliminated Spanish killed Canaris. Just as we use to say in Slovakia: “Where 2 fight, 3^rd is the winner.” In Pumamungo historical site we finally saw LAMAS from near distance!!!! Lamas, lamas, lamas :D None of them spit on us but they were spitting on each other :D :D Lamas :D For the end of city tour we hop on bus which took us to view point. And there we could “admire” whole Cuenca from above.

Early morning bus took us to Cajas national park. Arriving at 7.25am to the park we had to wait for workers to arrive just because park opens at 8am. Nevermind. So we sat on cold concrete path and watched birds hopping around. Guard who looked more as prison than park guard was super impolite and kept starring at us as we were some tiffs. Maybe we wanted to still a bit of water from lagoons or capture birds :D  Anyway, workers finally arrived and we could head on our way. With lack of proper markings and broken signs we got lost twice, well only twice. At first in forestry area and second time waterfall capture our attention and we kept walking on the path upstream. After some time we realized there was nowhere to go. We looked and looked and couldn´t see any path. Eventually we spot people walking far away down near lagoon. On the path we took, there were 29 points to see. From 29 we saw only 3 boards and rest were lonely broken sticks. Great way, how to keep visitors save! Park itself is beautiful, hills, mountains, streams, waterfalls and lagoons everywhere you look. It was impressive 5 hours of walk.

On the way back to city we got a ride thank to Argentinean couple, who were hitch hiking. It took 3 cars and bus to get us back to city J exciting day J … nice time in Cuenca.

Galapagos - Nature vs Society

Lending on Galapagos Island is unique sensation. Watching so many programs about it makes you feel you`ve been there already, “The Enchanted Islands.” With smile on our faces we walked towards house of our next hosts – Alejandra and Pauli.

Right on first day we visited Interpretation center which explained the way life rolls on islands. San Cristobal is the only island with fresh water. Others pretty much depend on boats that bring drinking water or desalinization machines. Humans, like always, tried to take over islands for many years…killed thousands of very unique giant tortoises for fresh meat and oil to light up streets of Guayaquil and seriously endangering  many species, by bringing domestic animals such as goat, donkey, dog, cat, pigeon and mosquitoes. All of these animals in some way destroy native creatures, either by hunting them, eat their eggs or simply eat all vegetation.

To our surprise “The Enchanted Islands” didn`t turn to be as enchanted as we thought. Generally, people living on islands are not aware of what they have on islands. For example to some of them, sea lions are too noisy and sleep on beaches and birds still fish from fisherman. What interests them more is the specie “Tourist” AKA “Gringo”, who will give them money in pure dollar paper. But they miss to understand that if there are no sea lions, birds, fishes or turtles, there are no tourists.

If you take a cruise, you pay A LOT and see those lovely, clean a fixed places that make you feel amazing (sometimes they even look artificial). Here you will definitely believe that life in Galapagos is extraordinary. But if you do visit by yourself, just the way we did, you will discover the “other” side of islands. How unenhanced people are. Besides all mountains of garbage, unfinished constructions, we saw dead dog stuffed in plastic bag thrown right next to the sidewalk and no one seemed to bother. Although our frustration was in high levels, there was nothing we could do about it so we simply decided we gonna enjoy this special time in such special place with such a special nature. So we sat on the beach and watched sleeping sea lions. =D

In “La Loberia”, getting into water was brave decision but in the moment there was sea lion swimming next to us, all sensation made us forget how cold we were J They are so agile in water..swim and twist and roll..will never forget it. First time is always first time J

Alejandra landed her snorkeling gear to us so we got better idea of what was swimming with us. Oh man!!! The variety of fishes and sea lions were pretty enough, but when we spot our first sea turtle, ooooh, what a feeling!!!!! J They are so gentle, laid back, peaceful creatures. We swam over top of them and watched them eat algae from rocks, one of them was simply huge around 2 meters length.

One of the days we went walking to only volcano in San Cristobal Island called El Junco. Well, at first we took taxi to nearby village and then walked for 2.5hours. It was a lovely walk till the top of volcano where we saw frigate birds washing themselves in the lagoon on top of volcano. Unfortunately, it was cloudy so we couldn`t see rest of island. On the way back we turned to a view point we thought it was just around the corner. Well, we walked for 1.5 hour through fields and up to the hill and finally we got to a lonely cottage in the middle of nowhere. We got amazing views!!! Here we really felt alone in island. Magnificent and Enchanted!!!

On another day, we set on our feet to walk to hacienda with coffee plantation and opuntia`s garden. You should all see smile on Nuno`s face. So many coffee plants!!! :D At first we wanted to find coffee factory, we walked and walked and found nothing but coffee plants. So we turned back and continued downhill towards Opuntia`s garden and beach. Hundreds of opuntia cactuses – tall, short, fat, slim..amazing!!! They grow only 1cm per 1 year! We had our snack on the empty(human…not sea lion) beach sheltered under the trees. Here we were on another place all alone with peaceful in mind and souls. As we stud up and got ready to leave we spotted pile of tiny turtle shells. I guess, those ones didn`t make it from nests to the ocean. :/ Natural selection. We turn around to say bye to the beach and suddenly saw movement on the rocks. Sea turtle struggling on rocks trying to get back to ocean. Nuno, in full spirit of rescue, even fell into the water while he was carrying turtle back to safety. :D

We extended our stay in Galapagos and so we set on to explore Isabela Island. We took early morning speed boat to Santa Cruz Island. Over there we visited Charles Darwin center. Besides hundreds of giant tortoises there was nothing else to see. After lunch we took second speed boat to Isabela Island. To our surprise we saw dolphins, one of them jumping like mental and albatrosses fishing in open ocean. J During the trip we got to know Camile, a US/French girl and then her friend Fabianna, German, which was waiting for her and so we went all together to stay in hostel called Posada del Caminante. The best value, place and clean hostel so far. Lauro, the owner is very friendly, funny, talkative and helpful person. He gave us tips for free tours, directions and we took amazing boat tour with his friend. We had some walks and many talks with girls and finally great roasted chicken for dinner :D girls, thanks a lot for your time, we enjoyed it a lot. Hope, to see you in Europe one day ;)

After seeing sea lions, marine iguanas, several types of fishes, sea turtles, giant tortoises pelicans, frigates birds, blue footed boobies, albatrosses, dolphins we wouldn´t think there was more to find. And we were standing on wooden path looking at beautiful pink flamingos. WOW!!!! What a gorgeous bird.

We didn´t finish adding species to our list. As we walked down the mole to get ready for boat tour, Janka spotted penguins swimming and fishing in ocean. So, so, so cute little animals!!!

After 40 mins boat ride we arrived to spectacular place called Los Tuneles. The lava that erupted from one of Isabela´s volcanoes, flown to the ocean and created tunnels and lanes which cooled downand create a very special landscape, a really special place. Besides high number of sea turtles, we saw chicks of blue footed boobies. So cute white fluffy birds. Their wings were already bigger than their bodies J After this magical moment we went to snorkel and for very first time in our lifes we had chance to swim with sharks and rays!!! What a feeling!!! Even though those sharks were not dangerous species, swim with them was a bit scary to Janka and an adrenaline experience for Nuno. =D

On our last day in Isabella Island we were very happy to see wild giant tortoises in the National Park. They are so extremely slow :D and that make them very vulnerable. We also visit the impressive “Muro de las lagrimas”(wall of tears) made by prisoners for them to don´t get bored in Island.

On our way back to San Cristobal we stopped again in Santa Cruz and we visit another paradisiac beach, the “Tortuga Bay”, great water colors and loads of iguanas.

Well overall we had a great time, many lovely walks, snorkeled in several spots and sunbathed on different beaches on 3 Galapagos Islands. We definitely bring unforgettable memories from such unique and “enchanted” place, we just wish that sustainability will once arrive and be implemented on all of them, otherwise Charles Darwin will keep rolling in his grave.