Catching Up

Ok, ok, ok, I know it has been almost a month since our last post. We have been constantly on the move and in remote places without email so its been a bit hard to find the time. I know a month is hard to excuse though. So sorry to all of our followers and thanks again for keeping up with us. I am going to try and catch you up by giving an abridged version of most of last month in this post. We will also post some more detailed stories later. But for now here goes, the last month in one post.

After Cuenca we caught a bus and headed over to Puerto Lopez. A little beach town known for its whale watching and the Isla de la Plata, which is the most similar island to the Galapagos (Galapagos for poor people). We saw some amazing whales putting on an acrobatics show for the ladies (what a spectacular mating ritual). I think human men should try and do something equally as impressive. We also saw the famous blue footed boobies and some other interesting birds on Isla de la Plata. Back on the mainland we went to the dry forest and visited the sulfur baths at Aguas Blancas. They covered us with volcanic mud … good for the skin and all. I felt a bit silly and couldn’t help laughing at the thought of rich women paying ridiculous amounts of money to have this done to them in the States. After the baths we met a bunch of guys from Quito, who took us off roading in their truck through the dry forest and later bought us an amazing meal. They were a lot of fun. Oh, I almost forgot, we also camped at this amazing resort and used our hammocks. I love these things!

Our Hammocks

Riding back to our Hostel in a tuk tuk

Our volcanic spa treatments

Stopped off roading for a dance with a crazy Equadorian next to their truck

Hop scotch on the beach with the crazy man... note, laura does not see her flip flops again after this picture 

Fishing boats off the beach at Puerto Lopez

Fisherman coming in with their catch with many frigate birds trying to get an easy lunch

Puerto Lopez

Male Humpback showing off for the ladies

Masked something?? not sure what this bird's name is

Blue footed boobie

Then we were off to Loja and Vilcabamba. It would be our last stop in Ecuador before moving to Peru. Loja was a smaller, somewhat sleepy city. It had great food and friendly people. The yogurt in Ecuador is the best I have ever had. Its made with fresh fruit to order and served with tasty yuca bread. We couch surfed in Loja and we and our host took turns cooking for each other. We made them picadillo, one of our favorite Cuban dishes. Our host made us some typical Ecuadorian food that was really tasty. They made us repe, a traditional soup made from green bananas, potatoes, cheese and cilantro. They also made steak and rice and a salad. It was a great meal. After two days of exploring Loja we left for Vilcabamba. Vilcabamba is a great little town nestled in the mountains. We stayed at this amazing hostel called Ishcayluma. It was like a resort and only cost $15 a night. We spent 4 days there enjoying the hostel and the numerous mountain hikes in the area. We met a great French girl named Delphine and we spent those 4 days plus two more in Loja with her. Hopefully we can visit her in France.

Center of Loja with a Pilsener truck, the Beer of Ecuador

Street art in Loja

Laura riding a fake Llama

Me going down a slide at the city park in Loja. 

The night we cooked for our Couch Surfer and his friends

Hiking in Vilcabamba on the Izchyluma loop

Narrow Ridgline on the Izchyluma Loop

Our amazing Hostel, Izchyluma

Hitching a Ride back to Loja

After Loja and Vilcabamba we jumped on a 7am bus to Puira, Peru. It was an 8 hour bus ride with a border crossing in the middle. The boarder crossing was really easy and kind of a joke actually. We just got our passport stamped and walked across. Once in Piura a nice Peruvian man helped us find a bus to Trujillo. We were very happy for the help since the bus companies all have their own terminal and you have to go all over town from each one trying to find the right bus. After about three cab rides and 5 terminals we found a bus. It was an 11pm bus that arrived in Trujillo at 6am the next morning. We were couch surfing and our host canceled on us last minute. We luckily had a backup couch surfer and amazingly he not only answered his phone at 6:30am he also came straight away and picked us up and took us to his beach apartment in Huanchaco, just outside of Trujillo. We wandered around the town lazily and caught up on some well needed sleep. While we were there we were able to take some cooking classes with a little Peruvian lady. She took us to the market and showed us how to pick out all the ingredients for the two dishes we were going to prepare. Then we went back to her house and she taught us how to prepare and cook a classic Peruvian ceviche, a sudado de pescado and a drink made from purple corn called chicha morado. They both came out amazing and can’t wait to try making them on my own. Huanchaco as a whole was a strange little surf town full of strange people. We were ready to leave and head on our way to Huaraz.

Laura and David(our couch surfer) enjoying fresh juice from a plastic bag

Surfers on Huanchaco Beach

Native boats made out of straw, they still use them to fish

Hope this caught you up a bit. We will try and write more regularly from now on but I am not promising anything.