See ya next year Ecuador.

Trying to recall what we have done since our last post is a little bit exhausting....there have been many bus, car, and plane rides as well as numerous days walking around and spending some quality time with our adopted family. We have already decided that we want to return to Quito sometime within a year after our travels to learn spanish (and to visit OUR family, who we are sure will miss our blank stares and howling laughs dearly...well, maybe not but we will miss them and their fast talking spanish).

We arrived in Ibarra 3 long hours after boarding our bus in Quito friday night. Of course there was a 4 course meal waiting for us at 10pm courtesy of Silvanna and her mother...and some entertainment courtesty of Grandpa, whose English is limited strictly to "blop blap blop blap bleeee blue." Needless to say, there was lots of confusion and by the end of the night I think Jess unknowingly agreed to kiss a stray dog that frequents their house for bread. We love grandpa. The next morning our chauffer (Ruth, Silvanna's sister in law) arrived to drive us to the nearby markets in Octalvo. There we discovered just how tough Silvanna is, as she would not let us buy anything until it was a price that she felt satisfactory. We got a ton of Christmas gifts for all you folks at home and then some for ourselves. After hours of bargaining we headed to a nearby lake to take a boatride. Although a bit cold and windy, the sight was beautiful. The rest of the day was filled with food, playing on old school playgrounds next to another lake, and live music. The whole day was like a marathon and we were the clear losers as Silvanna was still ready to get down and dirty at midnight and we were falling asleep in our chairs. Here is a picture of Jess and Silvanna at the market.

On Sunday we took a drive to the nearby town of San Miguel where our grandparents own a "hosteria"-a small resort-type place with swimming, tons of fruit trees, a sauna, and, of course, great food. To accomany the great food was even better company, led by grandpa, who told us of his recent talks with "el diablo" (the devil). I understand a little bit more spanish than he thinks. Afterwards Uncle Ramiro drove us back to Quito where we were dropped off at Uncle Lenin's house. Thankfully, both of his sons speak fluent English and accompanided us on a drive around the city to see the sights at night. We went to the high point where a statue of the Virgin Mary overlooks and protects the city...to say the least, the view was beautiful. The next morning we went to the equator with Lenin and played around on the two hemispheres. Lenin treated us to ice cream and dropped us at the airport, where we bid farewell to Ecuador.

After arrving late into Buenos Aires I got really sick. Since I am a princess (and it was my birthday) Jess and I checked into a hotel (rather than a hostel) and spent the day watching TV. We all know I am never going to live it down that when Jess got sick she hiked for 4 days and when I got sick we laid around on comforable beds. Thankfully, it was only a 24 hour bug and today we walked around the city all day and got a taste for what we have to look forward to for the next week or so.

As soon as we find a computer that can upload our pictures we will do so!

Hot Baths, Mountain Biking, and Turkey Day!

How much did everyone miss us for Thanksgiving? Don´t lie, we know that you all sat around and cried when we weren´t there to pass the mashed potatoes.

For our first holiday away, I think we did quite well. We went to an expensive restaurant and paid a whopping 8 bucks for a steak and turkey lunch. We tried to go to an American held thanksgiving dinner at a clubhouse of some sort, but our fellow countrymen rejected us and we were left on the streets to celebrate on our own. After our lunch we walked around Old Town in Quito for hours, stopping in various churches and monastaries hoping that we wouldn´t burst into flames the second we walked in. Two were particularly memorable...one church was lined with over 7 tons of gold and the other was a monastary where 25 nuns live in captivity...no talking for 23 hours a day! Jess and I definiely wouldn´t be able to do that.

Since we last wrote we have been on the move quite a bit. The last morning in Baños we woke up really early to head over to the hot baths so we could go before the crowds. It is an odd experience. There were lots of older people loundging around in the hot water (taken from the springs heated by the volcano) who appeared to come on regular basis. They bathed in the freezing cold showers with the water from the waterfall immediately next to us and then hopped into the water to either sit around or do their morning workouts. We spoke to two older guys who came to Ecuador 30 years ago for 3 months...and never left. Here is a picture of how crowded the baths can get in the afternoon:

That same day we went jumped on a bus to Riobamba. The buses here are really interesting. The whole country´s transporation system revolves around a vast network of buses that stop just about everywhere. Even if the bus is said to be ¨direct,¨ it stops about 30 times before it get to it´s ¨direct¨ location. The passengers range from indigenous women (with baby tied to back and corn in hand) to business men looking to get to work to...2 tall white gringos. Anyhow, we got to Riobambo only to find out that the train was in fact broken by an earthquake last week and we wouldn´t be able to take the ride. In order to make up for it we signed up to hike/bike Volcano Chimborozo. The sight was pretty amazing and the bike ride was...fast. We learned quickly why they put us in heavy raingear and bulky pads as 10 minutes after starting downhill I wiped out and flew 10 feet from my bike and immediately after it started to pour rain. The ride was made all the more interesting when we were attacked by some angry dogs...and even more interesting when we had to stop for a woman who appeared to be taking her sheep for a walk. That night we returned to Ambato, where we went to Marcelo´s bar and Jess learned some spanish from a bunch of his friends...and how to drive a manual car. Here is Jess, cheerleading in front of the volcano. Why so much snow on a volcano?

That brings us to now, in Quito. Tonight we are going to Ibarra with Lorena´s mom and will be touring around tomorrow to...who knows, really. They say ¨let´s go¨ and we go.

More pictures soon.

Let's go!

Since our last post Jess and I have sat in various airports enduring numerous delays, only to arrive here in Ecuador a couple short days after finishing the Inca Trail. To those of you concerned with Jess's health, you should be happy to know that she is a lot better...back to her loud, talkative self. Apparently it was not the altitude that got to her, but a nasty parasite...cured by a weeks worth of antibiotics.

Before heading out of Cusco back to Lima, we celebrated the completion of our trek with some members of our "familyyy." We had tons of fun, making it really difficult to bid goodbye. With just 1 short day in Lima we walked around the city, looked through some markets, and got ready for our travels to where we are now....Ecuador.

Thanks to the generosity of my cousin, Lorena, and her family, we have been getting on quite well since we arrived. Immediately after arriving in Quito, Lorena's uncle put us on a bus to Ambato, where Marcelo (her brother) picked us up. Our main problem is our inability to grasp spanish and understand most things happening around us. We knew we were going to Ambato, but we didn´t know where to get off of the bus or who was picking us up. Lorena's uncle told us all of these things and we nodded in agreement...but had absolutely no idea what was going on. What we have come to realize is that if someone says "let's go!" that's our cue to get up and go...don´t ask questions, just do it (not that we could ask questions if we wanted to). Although initially experiencing some confusion, we have seen some great stuff in the past couple days. We went leather shopping at some outlets, took a long journey in the back of a pick up truck to visit and get soaked by the "Pailón del Diablo" waterfall, walked through the touristy but beautiful touristy town of Baños, and explored the nightlife of Ambatto with Marcelo and his friends sporting bright yellow Ecuador soccer shirts. Here is a picture of Lorena´s mom about to walk onto a crazy unsafe bridge...if you don´t know spanish...the sign basically says you will die a horrible death if more than 5 people go at once.

And here we are at the waterfall...we were like two giddy little kids running through a really big sprinkler.

We liked Baños so much that we decided to return on our own today and will be spending the night. Tomorrow we head to Riobamba in order to take a train early Wednesday morning...the Nariz del Diablo. Apparently we get to sit on top of the train in order to see some great views of the mountains. Can´t wait!

"Action Women"

For the past four days we have been out hiking in the wilderness of Peru on the Inca Trail. Although we are happy to be back to civilization, complete with hot showers and bathrooms with toilet paper (and toilets, for that matter), we had an amazing time. Unfortunately, immediately after our last post Jess started to get altitude sickness (or a parasite from the water) and could not eat anything the day prior to leaving for the trek and the 4 days hiking through the mountains. As you can imagine, it was quite a feat for Jess to complete the hike as it is a difficult trek regardless.

The first day we were picked up at our hostel and taken by bus to the start of the Inca Trail (about 2 hours from Cusco). We met our tour guide, Puma, and the rest of our group (termed our "family" by Puma), both of which turned out to be great company and a lot of laughs throughout the 4 days. The first day was the least demanding on the body, but it gave us an idea of what the following days would be like. We got our first glimpse of Inca ruins, which seemed pretty cool at the time, but was nothing compared to the sights we saw on the following days. The second day was really difficult (12km straight up a steep mountain) and a couple of times I thought that I would have to throw Jess on my back and carry her decrepit body up the hill. On this day our tour guide gave us our signature names, Jess being "Baby" and mine being "Amandita." It was also confirmed that we were "action women," whatever that means. Once we reached the highest point for the day (about 4,250m), Puma led us in this sort of ceremony to make wishes and sacrifices to mother earth and things of that sort. Although it was hard to be "spiritual" after climbing all day, it was interesting to take part in something that Puma clearly believed in with such vigor. We then descended for about 2 hours down the same steep hill in the opposite direction until we made it to camp for the night.

Amongst many other things, one of the craziest parts of the whole hike was watching the porters work. They literally carry everything that we would have needed throughout the 4 days and then some...tents, food, our clothes, pots, pans, a refrigerator (!), etc. Seeing that we moved as slow as molasses with only about 10lbs on our backs, it was truly amazing to see these 5 foot nothing guys sprint past you with about 40lbs worth of stuff on their backs. They always arrived at our lunch and camping spots hours before us. That meant that when we got there we were always greeted with a roaring applause and a gourmet meal (literally all 3 meals and our afternoon tea was probably some of the best food I have had since we left home...sorry Jess). One of the porters was 65 years old! Here is a picture of some of the guys running past us.

We were told the third day would be the most enjoyable and the fourth the most rewarding (the day we would descend on Machu Picchu). This was a pretty accurate description, as the terrain on the third day was a bit easier to hike and really beautiful. We ran through the jungle, stood on tops of mountains, walked through clouds...all things that cannot be described with words or captured fully with pictures. Luckily, that night we were able to pay 5 soles for a shower and felt somewhat clean for the first time since we left. This all became pointless the following day when we woke up at 3:45am to be the first ones at the gate of the trail to begin our final 2 hour hike to Machu Picchu. We were the second group to be allowed in and literally ran all the way there in order to be some of the first to get a glimpse of the site. The fog covered the view for most of the hike, but about a half hour before we were to arrive, the clouds cleared and, as corny as it sounds, we were all pretty stunned with the view. After walking around Machu Picchu for awhile, we had the option of hiking up yet another mountain to get a better view of the site from above. Reluctantly, I joined some others in this quest and dragged myself up the mountain (Jess was too sick). Forty-five minutes later we made it to the top and the view was crazy. Unlike the rest of the hiking we had done, I actually thought at some points that I was going to tumble off of a rock to my death (funny in retrospect, I suppose). If you check out our pictures, you can see that the top of the mountain consisted of a bunch of rocks on which we had to balance ourselves to get some pictures of Machu Picchu (the pictures don't do the place justice). It was so cool to sit high above the site and look at the mountains in the distance that we just spent 4 days climbing. It definitely made all the hard work worth it. In the picture below you can see the hill (or mountain, whatever..) that I climbed to get a better view. More pictures are in the "Our Photos" link.


As of right now we are back in Cusco and we are headed to Lima, yet again, tomorrow morning. We are spending a couple days there until we fly to Quito, Ecuador on friday. Hopefully Jess's illness can be accounted to the altitude and it will clear up once we get to lower ground in Lima....she is withering away to nothing!

Pictures should be up soon so check 'em out! Thanks for reading!

Our first couple days away...

After 3 days in Lima we have just arrived in Cusco, where we are gearing up to head out on a 4 day hike of the Inca trail to Macchu Picchu. From the taxi ride alone, I can see that there is huge difference between the two cities and I look forward to checking out this place a bit more while we are getting used to the altitude. Considering the fact that we did not follow anyone's advice to drink lots of water and shy away from alcohol, we are both feeling pretty good and think we are hot stuff with our rock hard stomachs. In both Lima and Cusco we are staying at the point hostels, which we are quite pleased with. The actual buildings are really unique and the atmosphere is friendly and welcoming. We can say the same of Peruvians and other travelers, as we have already made some friends that we plan on meeting up with again later on in our travels.

As far as exploring, on Sunday we walked around Miraflores, the more upscale part of town. We walked there along the water line from our hostel in Barranco and saw some great views of the city from afar and the beaches below (too bad it is too cold to actually go swimming!). Yesterday we took a taxi to Central Lima (about a 20 minute taxi ride from our hostel--costing 10 soles or about $3.25) and went to some museums and saw the changing of the guard in front of Peru's White House. We also went into the Francisican Monastary dating back to the 1600's and saw the catacombs--bones and all. Apparenlty about 25,000 bodies were buried there. Afterwards we stumbled upon some friends from the hostel (the world is smaller than we thought) and went to have our frist Pisco Sour, a drink famous in Peru. We won't tell you what's in it...you will have to try it yourself! Although we listened to the guidebook and saw some sites around the city, there really wasn't too many touristy things to see and we are content just walking around and looking at anything. We were told that Lima isn't good for much other than partying, so we did our far share of that--but not too much.

We will try and upload some pictures soon and the next post will be after our hike!

We made it!

It´s Jess speaking... finally. After a weekend of holiday extravaganza, lots of shopping in boston via my brother´s car (thanks matty), a few tearful goodbyes, We´re here... in Peru. We realized we had plans to get here... the plane ticket, the cab to the hostel... but now what? I feel like we should be ambitious, but we´re kind of tired. Our goal for the day is to find a place to put our ¨sticker seen ´round the world¨ and for Amanda to test out her spanish skills, (or lack thereof, if the flight was any indication). It´s a wierd adjustment... our daily goals have changed from clearing tables and changing diapers to... well nothing (besides putting up stickers and talking to strangers- advice given by my mommy).

Ok, now it´s me, the smarter, more beautiful traveller, Amanda. Jess is right (a rare occasion) that it might take us a little while to get adjusted to this sort of lifestyle after hussling tables for so long to save up cash money. The plane ride was not bad and the 40 minute taxi ride to our hostel was interesting (our driver used the horn as often as say, we breathe). Fun times.

Off to see Lima.