Into Peru and beyond....warning graphic photo included

Cusco in Plaza de Armas

Trail mix shop in San Pedro market

One of the perks of taking a 30 hour ride from Guayaquil, Ecuador to Lima, Peru is that you get to see the diverse country side. As we took the bus to Lima the landscaped changed from a green country side to a barren dessert. By barren I mean no cacti just rolling sand dunes that go down to the ocean, it felt like we were on the moon. It was eerie as we drove south towards Lima, the sun was setting and there was a haze over the ocean so you could not see where the ocean started or the sky began, just a red haze with a red fiery sun burning through. As we entered the periphery of Lima shanty housing communes started to show up out of the sand. Lima had a very different feel than the other cities we had visited, with 8 million plus people living here it felt huge, poor, unsafe and took 2 hours to drive through. Instead of taking another long 25 hour bus ride to Cusco we opted for a 1 hour flight to Cusco.

Arriving in Cusco felt like we were in a different country than Lima. We flew into green mountains with no sight of sand dunes or ocean. Wow this country is diverse in terrain. Cusco felt safe, lots of tourists and many tourist police. We can even walk around after dark without needing to take a taxi (taking a taxi is safer than walking in the evening, we are all over decreasing the chances of being mugged). Cusco would be the equivalent to Banff back home. People have their SLR cameras slung around their neck as they walk around town. It's a good place to be, especially while both of us recover from different bouts of sickness. The architecture in Cusco is beautiful, visited San Pedro market for fruit and homemade chicken noodle soup for just less than $2 for a large flavorful bowl. Yummy especially when feeling sick and the weather is a bit rainy. There are lots of other foods and products sold at this market from a man selling llama fat, to the butchers, bakers and chocolate. We visited a chocolate museum here, I have had my best ever hot chocolate here in Cusco. After about 5 days of feeling the altitude lethargy and being sick we kicked back into adventuring again.

Looks like they sell donkey meat here

Cuy the house pet that doubles as dinner

Cusco area and Peru in general are known for Inca ruins (maybe you have heard of this little place called Machu Picchu? ) so we decide to explore parts of the Sacred Valley. Our first stop in the Sacred Valley was the Pisac ruins, its supposedly good training for the Inca trail and we found this to be true. We hiked straight up the mountain, up many steep small stairs through terraces on the side of the mountain which was used for growing crops. The top of the mountain had many spectacular ruins. Being our first ruins to have explored, we were very impressed. We ate at a local restaurant which also was a bakery. Next to the wood burning oven was a cage of guinea pigs, little did the guinea pigs know that they were living 4 feet away from their final resting point. Cuy or guinea pig is a traditional Peruvian food which we have yet to "enjoy".

Next on the sacred valley tour we stopped off at Moray which is a archeological Inca sight with terraces inset into the ground. The story goes that the Incas grew different crops on different levels of the terraces as each terrace was a slightly different temperature. We also explored salinas or salt ponds where a salty stream flows out of the mountain into these pools that eventually dry up in the heat. Families in the area own 4 to 6 pools and harvest the salt which is supposed to have medicinal properties, they fail to mention hypertension as a possible side effect of this miracle salt.

Climbing up to Pisac ruins

Some of the Pisac ruins

Moray farming terraces

Andes mountains

Salinas salt pools

Going to the city of baths, Banos

Team Kroeker is ready to rock

Banos = Bathroom?

After returning from the Quilatoa loop (yes the last Galapagos blog is out of place) we went south to a city called Banos. It is very touristy but we quite enjoyed it! This is the capital for outdoor adventure sports in Ecuador from whitewater rafting, rapelling down waterfalls, bungee jumping, zip lining and more, this city has it all. We whitewater rafted one day down class 3 rapids which was fun, our guide heightened the experience by yelling at us to jump in and float down some rapids. The waves are way larger when your eyeball is level with the rapids.

About 1 werk prior to our arrival in Banos a near by volcano errupted, no one seemed concerned even though we could hear some erruptions and see the plumes of smoke arising from the volcano.  I guess if the locals aren't concerned then I shouldn't be??

The hot springs here are a little more rustic than the Banff hot springs. It seems that they piped in hot water straight from the natural hot springs, brown water and all. We all looked cute wearing our highly regulated shower caps which double as a water scooper for the children to get cold water from the cold pools to pour onto their parents head.

Andrea is down!

Wish we had more time in this city. Next on the agenda is a 8 hour bus to Guayaquil, Ecuador then to catch a 30 hour bus ride to Lima, Peru! After 5 weeks in Ecuador we are finally onto our second country in our South America tour.

Travelers notes: We stayed at Hostel D'Mathias, the cheapest hostel yet (7 soles per person) on our trip with a private room and bathroom and full use of the kitchen, good choice! Banos is a great place for adventure sports.

Tungurahua erupting in the background

Tungurahua erupting

More Galapagos pictures

After sorting through over 2000 Galapagos photos, here are some of the favorites!

Exploring the islands

Lava rocks on the beach

Panga boat landing

Lava rock landing

Marine iguanas, they are everywhere. They pile on top of each other
to stay warm

Sally lightfoot crabs

Cacti, the plant leaves grow vertically instead of
horizontally to minimize evaporation from the leaves
in the hot sun

Giant tortoise, he's smiling like a old man without his dentures in

First time seeing wild flamingos

Whitetip reefsharks, glad we didn't see
them snorkeling

Sharp thistles on the tree

Galapagos Christmas tree decorations?

Blue footed boobies

Next time use sunscreen

Volcano

Pelican

Panamic cushion sea star

Galapagos penguin

Galapagos hawk

Chocolate chip star

Fishermans market with the catch of the day -
Puerto Ayora

Supper prepared by the fishermans wives
in the evening, yummy!!

Las Tijeretas - Isla San Cristobal

La Loberia beach -
Isla San Cristobal

Lava cacti

Happy camper

There's so many lizards that they have
signs to direct lizard traffic during rush hour

Sally Lightfoot Crab

Sea lion

This little fella is over 100 years old!

Quilatoa Loop

View of the mountains from Sigchos

Hiking The Quilatoa Loop

Road to Insinlivi

Quilatoa is a volcanic crater lake in Ecuador just south of Quito. To get there you can bus it to nearby Latacunga which is the starring point of the loop. From there you can hire a truck or hire a taxi, some people catch a bus to a nearby town and hike from one to four days. Many people take bit of a loop going through Quilatoa and other towns, ending back in Latacunga.

We decided to hike the majority of he loop as the country side was supposed to be beautiful. It didn't disappoint. We went with a guy we met at the airport, Jonas. The plan was to catch a bus in Quito, and go to Latacunga, about 3 hours south. From there we would go to hostel Tiana, drop off our big bags and take our day packs to the first stop on the hike.

Andrea overlooking the Andes

We hit a snag right away! When we got to Latacunga we realized the bus to our first stop on the loop left in 30 minutes! No time! We busted a move to Hostel Tiana, dropped our bags off, busted a move to the bus station and literally chased our bus! The unfortunate part? We missed the information part of things about the hiking paths... Guess we were on our own.

First stop: Sigchos

We decided to start by busing to Sigchos, north of Quilatoa. By the way the buses don't stop for bathrooms. Ever pee in a bottle before? Neither had I. And seriously, what are the odds a group of school children would search the garbage find said bottle and start throwing it around? Andrea, stop laughing! I must clarify the children came onto the bus AFTER the duty was done.

Beautiful views of the Andes are shared with the donkeys

Once there, there wasn't much to do so we chatted up the locals found our route, got the grand tour of town by a school teacher, and settled into our 8 dollar room for the night.

From Sigchos we took a secondary road through the mountains to Insinlivi. The mountains were pretty cool but the road was not an exhilarating hiking trail. I think we missed out on the actual trail. Guess we could have used some more info on day one.

Insinlivi

Mike reads the directions to Chugchilan

Once in Insinlivi, we decided to stay at a really cool hostel called Llullu Llama. It was real cool. Little expensive at 21 dollars pp for a private room but we got breakfast and dinner with that so it was ok. And Andrea and I both thought it may have been the best hostel we've stayed at. We were served coffee in the afternoon in front of the wood burning fire place as it poured rain outside and the beds were warm and comfy. From here we got the actual information for the hiking path to the next town Chugchilan. (Pictures of forks in the road included!)

Hostel Llullu LLama directs traffic from Insinlivi to Chugilan
 with arrows

The hike to Chugchilan was amazing. Steep, tall, pointy, lush green mountains surrounded us as we hiked down to the river and back up the other side through a pass, past a school and into Chugchilan. For a bit of a hiking break Jonas and I joined the school kids in a game of soccer. I love that kind of stuff. Andrea loved all the farms that dotted the steep mountain sides. Including the cows just chilling on the cliff sides. This hike would have been great as a stand alone activity even if you weren't going to Quilatoa. Beautiful.

Chugchilan

Andrea crosses the fence on the way to Chugchilan

Once in Chugchilan, we were running low on energy and high on blisters. Change of plan. Instead of a 6 hour hike up hill to Quilatoa, we decided to catch a 6AM bus there, and spend our day hiking the crater.

Crossing the valley, and up the other side

Taking a break

Quilatoa

Quilatoa was the pot of gold at the end our rainbow. Our rainbow was our hike... It was worth the journey! We spent the morning hiking down the crater to the lake and back. Mules for 8 bucks would have been worth it as the hike back up was exhausting, the altitude here is 3800m.

From here, we bused it back to Latacunga, completing our loop, and said goodbye to Jonas. Next stop: Banos.

Travelers notes:

The bus to Sigchos from Latacunga was supposed to leave at 1PM, but it left at 12:15. Get there early, you just never know.

You can store bags at Hostel Tiana in Latacunga, and they can supply you with some detailed hiking routes. These are a need.

In Sigchos we stayed at Hostel Miguel. Definitely nothing special. 8 bucks per person. This wasn't our favourite stop. Maybe if we had better hiking instructions the hike would be better. Instead we walked a road. (Still really nice though!)

At Insinlivi there are 2 options for Hostels. Llullu llama at 18 bucks pp (21 per private room) was really cool. I recommend it. It includes dinner and breakfast. A cheaper and very nice alternative is down the street and costs 12 pp. (Also includes dinner and breakfast) Lots of day hikes here. We could have spent a couple of days here.

In Chugchilan there are also 2 hostels. Cloud Forest and Mama Hilda's. Mama Hilda will lower their price to the 12 pp that Cloud Forrest charges. We liked Mama Hilda's. Both include dinner and breakfast. The next leg is apparently pretty tough. 5-6 hours uphill. A bus is another alternative.

Give yourself another good day for the crater, as its the reward from your hike and you want to have some energy to enjoy it!

Most importantly is this: Hike in the morning! It rained every afternoon we were on the loop!

Almost to Chugchilan. We have climbed up the other side.

Hostel in Chugchilan

Chugchilan sunrise

Quilatoa Crater Lake. Breathtaking.