sudamerica 2009: sunset for peru, forgotten valuables, and sunny beaches, poor man's galapagos (part ii), merry easter
12th-apr-2009 - posted by dtra
it's been almost two weeks since the last post, what can i say, not too much has been done, and also i haven't been particularly interested in posting. anyway, after leaving huaraz the first time, you should all know about what happened, four straight nights on the bus between huaraz, trujillo, and mancora. i spent a day in huanchaco, the beach town near trujillo, before going back to huaraz to pick up my camera, spending that day in huaraz, getting the night bus back to trujillo, spending the day there, then getting the night bus to mancora, the place i actually wanted to go to, finally, back to the beach properly, it was a pretty nice beach, sunny, warm, and with pretty clean water, and at a very refreshing temperature. i spent a few days there doing not much (got sick from the hostel bbq on the last night, so spent the last day really doing nothing), before heading over the border in ecuador.
the first place i went to in ecuador was montanita, a beach town, spent my only day there recovering from the stomach bug that i had contracted in mancora, it was a nice town though, cheap drinks and nice, big breakfasts. some really good juice smoothies, that's for sure. missed the big drink session that night though, as i pretty much could only drinks smoothies to keep myself sustained. i headed for puerto lopez the next day, basically, it's ecuador's poor man's galapagos. they have blue footed boobies, frigates, masked boobies, vultures, red footed boobies (which we saw, but not their feet), and a bunch of other animals that no one knows of (mostly lizards and snakes i guess). it was pretty good, but for $50 usd, it wasn't the greatest thing, i think i'll probably wait a few years before giving the real galapagos a go (and make sure i research what there actually is to see there). we definitely saw lots of blue footed boobies from very close range, as well as other types of boobies, and magnificent frigates, some vultures, and other assorted animals, which i'll be posting in the gallery naturally. i actually thought their feet were going to be more of a blue blue than the aqua-ry blue they are, but anyway, very funny birds nonetheless. oh, and i left my passport (with bank cards), and hard drive at the hostel in montanita, lucky i had some friends going to quito that could bring it with them (hence the title of the post).
i've spent easter in quito, and will do so for the rest of the easter weekend, good friday was pretty boring, the easter parade wasn't anything special, well nothing like carnaval as i thought it might have been.
went to the otavalo market yesterday, bought some alpaca scarves, but nothing else, they have really good pork dishes there, but the masses of photo opportunities never really presented themselves. the weather was also quite miserable, so that was a bit of a downer, and we left to go the two hours back to quito about three in the afternoon. went out last night, and danced the night away, though it was quite weird, with the lights coming on frequently, and the music stopping a lot, it was fun, if a little weird. anyway, the plan is to climb the basilica (very nice looking church) tomorrow, and then hit the equator for the obligatory equator photos. that's about it for quito, there are some nice looking places, but it hasn't quite been as cool as i had hoped before. i'm heading for cotopaxi, banos, and cuenca next, before coming back to quito, and then colombia. so probably another post before i get to colombia i think.
picture of a mancora sunset, i'm not sure if i've ever seen the sun set over the sea before, very picturesque, even if it is pretty much the same as any other you've ever seen.
transport and accommodation
linea was the bus company i used between huaraz and trujillo, pretty good service, though i had to watch yes man (the jim carrey film) for four straight nights as i headed between huaraz and trujillo and mancora. from trujillo, i got el dorado to mancora, the only company that has direct services to there, it was ok, though people seemed to lounge everywhere. the ecuadorian buses have been pretty ordinary so far, stopping at every turn for bizaaro world reasons, and to pick and drop people off in the middle of nowhere.
in mancora, i stayed at the point hostel ($24 soles), it was a bit far away from town, but from what i saw, not as hard core as loki, so i was pleased about that. stayed in papaya hostel in montanita, it was pretty nice for $6usd a night. in puerto lopez, stayed at the sol inn, it was nice enough, for $5 usd, it was very basic, but the other people that stayed there were pretty cool. i've been staying at the secret garden here in the old town of quito so far, it's pretty pricey, at $8usd a night, plus tax, but it seems like a really cool place so far, the dorm has reading lights and lockers, so that's good.
#33 dtra (david tran)
Last edited at 11:42 16th-apr-2009
tags/bookmarks
notes
You still in South America. WOnt you fuck off home Dave. Everyone is getting sick of you at this stage. Well mainly me when im reading your posts between applying for jobs. Actually maybe hang around for Colombia. The food is rubbish there tho, in my opinion. Corn soup. WOWWOWOW. Give me a plate of your spag bol any day.
Phil -
15:33 13th-apr-2009
yeah, still have colombia to go, shitty food, nice tip, maybe i'll have to renew my love affair with the kitchen, good luck with the job hunting.
dtra
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11:39 16th-apr-2009