South America: Along the Andes, North to South

Ecuador

I left Minnesota on Inaguration Day, just when the temperatures began to drop (-20 F) and arrived, after a couple of delays and airport sleepovers, in Quito, Ecuador, where I found myself surrounded on all sides by the beautiful peaks and slopes of the Andes. I made my way to my hostel and was greeted by Cecilia, my friend from traveling in Southeast Asia. We immediately got to work touching up our itinerary, working out dates, and concluding that we were crazy for trying to do so much in such little time. But, we both wanted the same things out of the trip and were willing to survive some overnight bus trips and fast turnovers.

My friend Trisha had studied in Ecuador for a semester, so among her expert advice on foods and fruits to try was a recommendation to spend some time in the mountains, the rainforest, and on the coast of Ecuador, since all were different in terms of culture. So, after spending the day exploring Quito (basilica pictured on the left) we zipped out the next day on a bus to Tena, sort of a gateway town to the Amazon rainforest, with plans to return to Quito to meet our friends in a few days. The four hour bus ride was beautifully scenic, with long windy mountain roads across valleys and over the slopes.

Tena was a cute little town, much warmer than Quito, and it appeared to be an excellent jumping off point to organize tours and treks into the Amazon. We weren’t planning to stay that long, unfortunately, so instead we took a nice little self guided walk through the ‘Parque Amazonico,’ which gave us a great introduction to the rainforest climate. The trees were beautiful, the birds were cool, and there were plenty of strange bugs. We were satisfied. A treehouse in the park yielded a fantastic view of the surrounding forest.

After Tena, we headed back to Quito and spent the next day visiting the famous Saturday market of Otavalo. Otavalo is a small town up in the Andes, and still retains much of its native culture. We wandered the fruit stalls, the handicrafts market, and of course, tried some local Ecuadorian food. The food was very simple and basic, with a lot of focus on rice, maize (corn), Andean cheese (white, soft, and a little bland), beef, and potatoes. The hills were stunning, and we marveled at how the people there spend their lives, farming and maintaining the land for profit and for sustainability. We were glued to the windows on the way home, passing herds of llamas, cows, and goats grazing in the pastures while trying to catch pictures of the mountains out the window. We did a lot of window picture taking on this trip – the scenery was just too amazing to not try to capture.

When we arrived back to the hostel in Quito, we met up with Jen, who had been traveling with Ceci in Southeast Asia, and Kate, her friend from back home. We were planning to travel through Peru with them, so the next day we set off to get bus tickets to the Peruvian border. Unfortunately, we were held back a day due to Kate’s iPhone getting stolen right out of her hand, in broad daylight, in downtown Quito. We had been warned up and down about pickpocketing and petty theft, but we were still shocked at how fast and abruptly it happened. This led to a visit to the police but unfortunately we weren’t able to get it back. A lesson to be learned.

Although our last day in Ecuador wasn’t ideal, I still loved and was fascinated by this simple little country. A girl we met on the end of our trip raved about Ecuador, saying that even though it’s such a small place, it has everything: the mountains, the Amazon, the coast, the Galapagos, a small city. She was right. The people were warm and friendly, they spoke a very clear, slow, the food was great, and things were very cheap. I learned that the indigenous language of Ecuador, Quechua, is still widely spoken in the mountain towns and villages. This was, and still is, the language of the Incas, as their vast empire stretched all the way north of Peru to Quito and beyond about six centuries ago.

Ecuador was a great start to the trip and an appropriate introduction to the Inca culture, as we crossed the border to Peru on a series of bus rides, getting closer to our ultimate destination of Cuzco, the former Inca capital. Though it was a long stretch of bus rides, we still enjoyed the scenery, did a lot of sleeping, reading, and chatting, and had a chance to improve our Spanish by watching lots of action movies that played nonstop on the bus.

Peru

We walked across the bridge spanning from one country to another to begin our descent through the country, from north to south. After the border we hopped on another bus for the day, and arrived that evening in Piura, a town that I don’t think any of us will ever go back to. We arrived in a not-so-nice area, had a hard time finding a place to stay, and were shocked at how loud and busy it seemed, compared to our expectations for this little town.

The next day turned out much better as we gave Piura a second chance – we had all day to kill until catching a night bus to Lima, so after showering and relaxing in our hotel room we spend the day eating at a very cute local café, walking around the plaza and shopping district, stocking up on snacks for our bus ride, and relaxing until it was time to go. A noneventful day, yet now we can say we’ve experienced Piura. Again, I doubt any of us will ever go there again in our lives. The bus terminal was filled with excitement as literally every single male in the terminal was glued to the TV, watching the soccer game between Peru and Ecuador(?) Peru won.

And after yet another night of sleeping in a bus and waking up in a new city, by the next morning we were in Lima, Perul. Lima was a beautiful city, especially in the old historical district, reminiscent of the once grand Spanish Empire who ruled from this capital city. There was street after street beautiful colonial style buildings, one of the largest cathedrals in South America, and plenty of museums and things to see. Since we only had one night and two days we kept busy with a tour of the old Catacombs basilica (slightly creepy!), eating at sidewalk cafes, and we even celebrated national Pisco Sour Day with, what else? Pisco Sours all around – a yummy, sweet drink featuring pisco, a local alcohol similar to brandy, lemon, and egg whites.

We stayed at a beautiful hostel in the city center, which used to be the home of a rich Spaniard, evidently a very avid art collecter.  The hostel, aside from having an impressively decorated interior, even featured some pets – turtles, parrots, and a magnificent peacock. The next day we spent chasing down a Starbucks, after receiving pretty much every possible direction from every person we asked. At the end we didn't even care about actually having coffee, we just needed to have the satisfaction of finding it. We mixed our hunt with some souvenir shopping, picture taking, and eating local foods, which made it a lovely day. We all wished we had more time in Lima, but since we were traveling at the speed of light, it was sadly time to move on by the next evening. 

Our next bus ride was probably my favorite of the whole trip. We went to sleep after watching the sun set over the Pacific coast of Peru, and woke up in the middle of the Peruvian Andes. The windy, curvy, hold-your-breath roads were totally worth it for the views. Vast farmlands, tiny valley villages, snowy mountain peaks, and forested slopes were everywhere you looked. Though bus rides can be brutal, there really is no better way to see the landscape of a country you are traveling in. And it beats having to drive those terrifying mountain roads yourself. 

About 22 hours later we arrived in Cuzco. The former Incan capital city, built on a series of hills, was our gateway to Machu Picchu. It has a beautiful city center with long standing churches and cathedrals, built on top of former Incan foundations. We arrived at our excellent hostel and quickly got to work figuring out how we were going to get there. We were in luck, as our hostel happened to offer some excellent value tours that ended up equaling or being cheaper than the price we would have had to pay to do it on our own. I’ll tell you about the tour and the experience in another post, but just know that Machu Picchu is everything it’s cracked up to be.

After Machu Picchu, we headed down to Puno, gateway to the famous Lake Titicaca, the largest lake in South America. We were lucky enough to arrive in Puno at the start of the annual Calendaria festival, which celebrates the Virgin Mary. However, Puno and Lake Titicaca are also sacred locations for the Inca people, who believe their gods were born from the lake. As a result, many of the original Inca festivals have been passed off as modern day Christian festivals. Either way, it was a party. We watched the enthusiastic dancing, listened to live music, and enjoyed the festive atmosphere throughout the weekend. Puno is centered around the main town square, with shops and restaurants bordering the edges. Though touristy, we enjoyed the cafes and delicious restaurants, as it was our last weekend together as a group of four.

After Ceci and I made arrangements for our night bus, we said goodbye to Jen and Kate – it was strange not traveling with them after spending nearly three weeks together. They were planning to stay in Peru and travel back up the coast to Ecuador, while Ceci and I were going to bus even farther south to the Chilean border, then cross over to catch a flight to Argentina – flights were cheaper from Chile than from Peru. And that’s where our adventure will continue, just as soon as I tell you about Machu Picchu.

And in closing, if anyone read the previous post where I alluded to waiting on hearing from jobs in two potential places this fall,  I’m happy to announce that I’ve received a job offer in Petrozavodsk, Russia, to begin in August. Yes, Russia sounds much colder compared to Spain, but honestly, as I am writing this from my home kitchen table in Minnesota, while staring at a backyard full of snow, I kinda think I’ll be okay. Yes, snow in the middle of April. What is this world coming to?