PERU (PART II)

 Hello everyone, I am typing up this post in Cuzco, Peru (3,400 meters or 11,200 feet), where less than 36 hours ago I was at sea level (0 ft)... Big change!

My last blog entry was written in Lobitos, where I ended up staying 5 days. The hostal I was staying at called La Casona, was really fun and had a good atmosphere. Most of the staff working there was from Argentina and the hostal has some interesting history. The Lobitos area has lots of off shore oil drilling as can be seen by the oil platforms out at sea. The hostal used to be the oil company’s management staff offices/sleeping quarters. The Peruvian army then bought it along with most of the other beach front property in Lobitos. Now the manager of the hostal rents the place from the Peruvian army.

View from the hostal in Lobitos

Although the surf conditions had deteriorated a bit since my arrival, I still ended up surfing twice a day most days. The afternoons would get really windy so it was fun watching the kite surfers ripping it up out there in the water.

Since Lobitos is such a small town, the restaurant choices were very limited. We ended up going to a restaurant (a couple chairs and tables set up outside a family’s home) called Ola Loa between 2-3 times a day. By my last day most of the menu choices had been bumped up price wise by 1-2 Peruvian Sols ($0.35-$0.70), due to Ola Loa’s restaurant monopoly in Lobitos!

With an English friend from the hostal, we wanted to check out some waves south of Lobitos. A 10 hour night bus got us to a popular beach town called Huanchaco. We stayed at a hostal a 3 min walk to the beach called Hostal My Friend, owned by two Peruvian brothers. Since it was a Sunday, the city was packed with Peruvian tourists spending the day at the beach. I was on a mission that day to try to find somebody interested in buying my surfboard as I planned to leave the coast and travel inlands towards the Andes at the end of the following week. I went to various surf schools / hostals trying to find someone interested. Due to traveling without a board bag (or using taped up grocery bags as my “bag”) it had gotten pretty beat up. Most surf instructors said they would buy it for very little but recommended I put a “Se Vende / For Sale” paper sign taped to the board and set it up on the beach.  That’s what I ended up doing and after a few glances at the board from various surfers, an Italian guy decided he wanted to buy it. I told him I would only be able to sell it at the end of the upcoming week which he was fine with and we exchanged phone numbers.

Huanchaco Pier

Pelicans by day

Pelicans by night

Later that evening the English guy Rossa and I were hanging out near Huanchaco’s main pier and all of a sudden a big double decker party bus with music blasting rolled in near the main square. A bunch of people got off the bus and a bunch of people got on. We talked to a local who told us that it was the first day of spring (Sept 21) and thus the local beer (Pilsen Trujillo) was sponsoring an event to welcome the Primavera (spring). We decided to wait in line while the bus did its 20 minute round around the city with the other passengers. When the bus came back we were first in line and greeted with a free t-shirt and beer before getting on. The music was blasting on the open air bus and the 20 other Peruvians along with us had a great time. 

The Pilsen Trujillo bus

 I got to surf a few times while at the main beach in Huanchaco. The local fishermen here use canoes made out of straw to go fishing. They are really well crafted and onlookers can occasionally see them catching waves with their straw canoes. Since we were well south of Lobitos, the water was colder but it wasn’t as windy. I was happy nevertheless to have a wetsuit. 

Pelicans guarding the straw canoes

One side of the bay

The other side of the bay

The following night Rossa took another night bus into the mountains, while I headed to Chicama the day after he left. Chicama is a surf spot two hours north of Huanchaco and has the reputation as being the longest left handed wave in the world. Being goofy footed, I knew I had to check out this wave. I arrived mid afternoon and stayed at the famous surf hostal in town: El Hombre.  It was right near the cliff and had a great view of the waves. 

Tasty Peruvian breakfast

Sunset in Chicama

 The next morning I got into the cold water and was able to catch some fun 30+ second rides. That week the forecast was not living up to its reputation as the longest wave in the world, but it was still fun getting some long rides in. I was able to surf again that afternoon and the following day, along with two beach runs! There were two vans parked in front of the hostal and I got to talk with the owners of both. One of the vans had some interesting artwork all over it and was nicknamed the Sabor Latina. It was a few Australians that had bought the van and were traveling through Ecuador and Peru with it. The other van was a lot more plain from the outside but had a solar panel setup on its roof, along with a small kitchen and sleeping setup inside. It was a German guy who was touring through South America with it for several months.

Sabor Latina (Latina Flavor)

I was back in Huanchaco at the end of the week since I would be selling my surfboard to the Italian guy there and my flight to Cuzco was leaving from the nearby airport that Friday night. I stayed at Hostal My Friend again since the vibe was great and there was a live band playing that night in the hostal’s bar. Part of Friday morning was spent at the post office mailing my wetsuit to my brother in the US since I wouldn’t use it again on my South America trip. To mail my 2 kg wetsuit back to the States consisted of sticking a total of 40 stamps on the cardboard box, each valued at $1.38 for a grand total of $56 (160 Sols). The post office lady said it would take 3 weeks. Since the wetsuit was still a tad wet from my surf session the afternoon before, my brother is going to be in for a stinky treat (hopefully not moldy!) when he opens that box up in 3 weeks! 

The stamps continued on the other side of the box

That afternoon I was supposed to meet up with the Italian guy since he had confirmed the day before he was still interested in the board. Despite 6 calls to him along with 3 text messages, he never responded, finding myself with no buyer for my board 4 hours before getting on my flight. Before taking a taxi to the airport I decided to walk around town a bit more with my board in hopes of finding a buyer. With no luck, on my way back to the hostal I saw a little boy hanging out with his mom on a street corner. The mom was a street food vendor cooking up some beef skewers on her little BBQ grill. I talked to her for a few minutes and she was saying her son, Dani, was 7 years old, and had recently learned to swim. I asked her if he had ever surfed and she said he’d like to but they couldn’t afford a surfboard. I knew at this point it was too late to find a buyer for the surfboard, so I decided to give the board to Dani as a present. 

The little guy and his new (used) board

 The smile on his face was priceless and I gave him a few tips on how to stand up on the board and how to position himself. Dani’s mom told me next time I was in Huanchaco I could get free beef skewers and grilled veggies as a thank you…Stoked! I walked back to the hostal feeling happy with my decision before making my way to the airport for my flight to Lima and then Cuzco.  

Snow covered Andean peaks

I arrived in Cuzco Saturday morning and made my way to a hostal that had advertised it had a pool table, ping pong table, and a bunch of hammocks / bean bag chairs. I started off the day with a free walking tour of the city organized by the hostal. Since Cuzco is at 3,400 meters, I could feel the high altitude, especially compared to where I was the night before (sea level – 0 meters). 

View of Cuzco during breakfast

The meat market

That afternoon I started feeling dizzy and nauseous and although I won’t go into details, it was a pretty rough afternoon/evening spent shuttling between my bed and the bathroom. 

I’ll be in the Cuzco / Machu Picchu area for a few days since there is lots of history and things to do before heading towards Bolivia. I’ll update you in the next post!

GALAPAGOS ISLANDS & PERU

After finishing my last weekend in Montanita I headed down to Guayaquil with three friends from the Spanish school. We had been told Guayaquil (Ecuador’s largest city) was not very interesting so we got there Sunday evening and left the following morning. We were all more less going in separate directions following Guayaquil so once again I was back on the road solo, headed towards the Galapagos Islands. I was able to leave my surfboard in the hostel’s storage space since it would have been a hassle to bring the board with me on the plane/boats on the Galapagos. I would pick it up a week later upon my return to mainland Ecuador. On the flight were a bunch of tourists, especially alot of families and older travelers. Getting to the Galapagos and seeing everything there is to see requires a pretty hefty budget, thus the reason for the lack of younger/budget travelers.  My justification for deciding to go the Galapagos was mainly based off my proximity already to these islands. Being relatively close to one of the largest ecosystem diversities in the world and why Charles Darwin spent so much time here, justified my detour to these islands.

Tasty airplane snacks

The start of the Galapagos islands

Upon arrival to Baltra Island where the main airport is, the climate was very desert-like and arid. To get to Puerto Ayora, the main city on the Galapagos, I had to take a 10 min bus, followed by a 10 min ferry, followed by a 1 hour taxi. By the time I arrived in Puerto Ayora on Santa Cruz Island, I had gone through a desert climate, a rainy jungle like atmosphere, followed by this seaside port town. A pretty big variety in environments already….

 

The next day I was off to Isla Santa Fe, a 2 hour boat ride from the main island. Most of the morning was spent doing some snorkeling, seeing the infamous blue footed boobies and a bunch of sea lions and seals. 

The sea lion did not seem to like me

He definitely did not like me

The snorkeling was followed by rice and Ceviche for lunch (a mix of chopped up fish, lemon juice, onions, tomatoes and seasoning). We then did a quick hike on a deserted beach and saw a whole colony of marine lizards. Our 2 hour boat ride back to the main island included a little snack of some freshly prepared barracuda sushi by the captain.

Barracuda sushi

  

I had to...

The next day consisted of checking out the Charles Darwin center, a ranch with Giant Tortoises (Tortugas), and Tortuga beach. The tortoises were very impressive to see with weights reaching up to 400 kg (880 lbs) and ages up to 170 years old! That means some were born in the mid 1800s which is pretty amazing if you think about it.  I had lunch right next to Puerto Ayora’s main fish market. As you can see in the photo below, as the ladies were cutting up the fish to sell it to customers, there were about 10 pelicans and a seal ready to snatch the scraps of fish that she would throw out. As soon as one pelican would grab a piece of fish, the other 9 pelicans and seal would get pretty vicious and try to steal it from the first pelican. 

I think the guy was pissed off at the seal stealing all the fish he was going to buy

 

The final two days of my trip were spent on Isla Isabela, the largest island of the Galapagos, situated about 2 hrs by speed boat from Puerto Ayora. Upon arrival in the port on Isla Isabela, a ton of penguins and sea lions were swimming near the dock and flamingoes were hanging out in a nearby lagoon. With a few other people from the hostel we climbed the Cerro Negro volcano at 4500 ft. It was interesting to start the hike in a rainy jungle-like environment, followed by dry, desert conditions, and finishing on a trail consisting of volcanic rocks. A perfect example of the Galapagos Islands’ biodiversity.

The desert near the Cerro Negro Volcan

Isabela Island

As I flew back to mainland Ecuador, I had some time to contemplate on my week in the Galapagos. The variety of flora and fauna I got to see with my own eyes was something I’d likely experience in very few other places in the world. The preservation of this environment/ecosystems on the Galapagos is very impressive, but is one of the upsides to all the fees you have to pay to get on the islands. But I also concluded that after 2+ weeks of always having people to hang out with and talk to at the Spanish school in Montanita, it was strange going back into solo traveling mode on the Galapagos. I have to say although there are benefits to traveling solo such as having your own schedule and being able to make 100% of the decisions, I did miss the social interaction aspect of being in a group setting.

I was back in Guayaquil for an afternoon and night in the same hostel I had stayed in the previous week. I would be meeting up the next day with a friend from the Montanita Spanish school to do the 8 hr bus ride from Guayaquil to Mancora, Peru with. 

An Ecuadorian board bag

Upon checking into the hostel we quickly realized we were in the biggest party area of one of the biggest party towns in Peru, even on a Sunday night. Kiss goodbye trying to get a good night’s sleep after an 8 hr bus ride! The next morning I got my first surf in Peru where it was around 3-4 ft but really shallow so a lot of the rocks were exposed. I squeezed in an afternoon/sunset session as well where there were some really clean 5 footers coming in, ending my surf session in the dark.

The next morning I wanted to avoid the crowds so I was in the water a bit after 6 AM and got a solid 2 hr session in. Although Mancora had some fun waves, after talking with some locals, I decided I could score even better waves in Lobitos, a surf town 2 hrs south of Mancora. I was warned though that the water would be much colder, the winds a lot stronger, and in a much more remote area of Peru.  Lobitos consists of 7 points as can be seen on this map: http://surfinglobitos.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/lobitos-surfspots.jpg

That afternoon I surfed La Punta (see map) where it was around 6 ft but very crowded with everybody fighting for the take-off closest to the rocks. The hostel I stayed at had a perfect view of Generales (see map) and consisted of mostly Argentinean and Chilean surfers/travelers. The next day consisted of a morning and early afternoon session in 5-7 ft conditions.I haven't decided how long I will stay in Lobitos. I guess it depends mostly on the surf conditions, but I am shooting for being in Cuzco, Peru to do Machu Pichu by the end of the September. Stay tuned for the next blog entry!

One of the smaller waves of the day...

Cold barrels for breakfast in Lobitos

ECUADOR

 Hello from Montanita, Ecuador!

The last post I wrote was when I was in Colombia a few miles/KM from crossing the border into Ecuador. The border crossing into Ecuador went much more smoothly than I thought and here is why… I started traveling in Central America with my US passport. Several countries in South America have Visa fees ranging from $100-$135 if you are US citizen. If you are a European/Australian/NZ citizen most of those fees are waived. Since I have a French passport I figured it would save me a few $$$ if I started traveling with that passport instead. But when you start traveling with one passport and get an entry stamp on it, you are required to travel with that passport in that respective country. It’s only at the border, after filling out a few forms that you can change passports and get your next entry stamp on that different passport. Thus to make a long story short, it was pretty easy to transition from traveling with my US passport to my French passport. 

Once I was in Ecuador I converted by Colombian Pesos to US dollars. It was a funny feeling using US dollars in a country outside of the US.  Also, paying for everything in dollars in Ecuador makes me realize even more how cheap food/lodging/etc…is here compared to back home.

My first stop in Ecuador was in a city called Otavalo up in the Equadorean Andes. On the bus ride to Otavalo there were vendors selling food at bus stops along the way. One lady was selling plastic bags containing several chopped up white/yellow cubes. Thinking it was sliced up pineapples I gladly paid the $0.25 for a bag of 15 pieces. Once I tried the first piece, I quickly realized it wasn’t pineapples but sugar cane pieces. It was like eating pieces of candy and it was quite addicting as well. By the time I finished the bag I was having a major sugar rush, almost like having drank a large Red Bull or Monster energy drink. Once I finally arrived to Otavalo 3 hours later the sugar high finally wore down. I had lunch at a restaurant just outside the bus station and almost fell asleep while eating from the “crash and burn” effect of the fading sugar rush. Never again for the sugar cane on a 5 hour bus ride! Going back to Otavalo, it’s a city in the Andes Mountains with a large population of indigenous people in the surrounding areas. Because of the large quantities of indigenous people, it is also well known for its wool clothing markets setup in the main square every day. 

After Otavalo, I was off to Quito, the capital of Ecuador. Perched up at 2800 meters it is one of the highest capitals in the world.  It was easier adjusting to the altitude in Quito compared to Bogota (2300m) since I had already been up in high altitudes for the past 3 weeks. I stayed in a really fun hostel called “Hostal Central” in the historical district of Quito. The hostel was organizing a “food tour” that night and we were able to sample a bunch of different Ecuadorian foods. I really enjoy hostels that have group events like this since it makes it a lot easier to meet other travelers, rather than each traveler doing their own thing.I also got to partake in a walking tour of the old town and do some hiking in the nearby mountains of Quito.

Following my weekend in Quito I arrived in Montanitas. When I first got there, it was rainy, the dirt roads had turned into a mud “slip and slide”, and overall not your ideal beach weather climate. Spanish classes started on Monday morning so I had some time on Sunday afternoon to check out the town, look for a surfboard to buy, and meet the other students that would be taking Spanish classes as well. Montanita Spanish School is where I’d be taking my classes and is the main school in the. Almost all of the students were staying in the nearby Montanita Cabanas which is kind of like a big hostel a few minutes from the school. Most of the students here were other travelers (~18-30 yrs old) that were either just starting or already a few weeks/months into an extended trip through South America.  The majority were from Switzerland (~15 of 30), which seems kind of strange at first since it is such a small country.  The main reason is that Switzerland is broken into the Italian speaking, French speaking, and German speaking areas of the country. Thus, in addition to English, Swiss people are used to speaking several languages, and therefore picking up on another language like Spanish is normal to them. In addition to Swiss people there were several Germans, Australians, Canadian, and Dutch travelers, but the American representation was pretty low.

 I took the placement test Monday morning and since I had already taken classes in Bogota, I was placed in the advanced beginner class (A2). The classes here are structured a little differently than in Bogota. We have two hours of class in the morning, then a three hour break, and then two hours again in the afternoon. The morning classes are focused on grammar while the afternoon classes are more conversation/practical.  In Bogota it was four hour of classes at once. Between my classes I did some board shopping trying to find the best deal. The stores were pretty expensive since they wanted to make some nice profit off the boards they were selling. I ended up talking to the server of a restaurant about boards and he told me he was selling his. I ended up getting a good deal and bought a wetsuit top as well since the wind made it feel a little chilly being in the water for a while. 

The rest of the week was pretty routine but really fun. I would typically have my 4 hours of class per day, followed by a 1.5 hour surf session, and end with dinner/drinks at the cabanas or in town with the other travelers/students. Since August/September is usually the windy months in this part of Ecuador, the surf conditions were alright, but not great.  The Wednesday nightlife in Montanita is usually pretty lively so classes on Thursday morning were a little rough for everyone! I scored some really fun waves Sunday morning at a spot called Ayampe about 40 minutes north of Montanita. It was about 5-6 feet and really glassy between 7:30-9:30 am. Since it was Sunday morning, I saw a bunch of drunken Ecuadorians coming back from the bars as I was leaving to go surf! 

The following week I was placed in the next level Spanish class: B1. They consider this to be intermediate where we go into depth with preterite tenses (regular/ irregular verbs) and prepositions. Since it is low season right now, most of the day is cloudy and overcast. It doesn’t rain and it isn’t cold, but the sun just does not come out much. When the sun finally did come out Wednesday and Thursday, all of a sudden the city and atmosphere was a lot livelier. 

As I finish up my last few days here in Montanita I can gladly say that my time here was very enjoyable. Being able to spend a solid 2 weeks with the same people was a valuable experience. As opposed to only staying in one place for 1-2 days, the interactions between travelers are pretty superficial since you spend so little time together before each traveler heads off to their next destinations. Although I was only here for 2 weeks (some travelers are here for 5-6 weeks) it was well worth “staying put” in one place and getting to know other travelers behind the repetitive “What’s your name, where are you from, and where are you traveling to” conversations that are so frequent in hostels.  

Following my last weekend in Montanitas, next week I’m off to the Galapagos Islands!