Trujillo, Peru, South America Today didn’t quite go as planned, but it was alright in the end. I wanted to do my laundry, but I found out that the washing machine at my hostel was broken. She gave me the name of a lavendaria that I could go to, so I carried my dirty clothes over there, only to find that they were closed, at about 8:30am. I went back at 9:30am to try again, and they were still closed,…
Trujillo, Peru, South America I got my bus to Trujillo this morning, and it was pretty nice. The extra $2 was well worth it because the seat was really comfortable. It had a foot rest and the chair reclined almost all the way, so the time flew by pretty quickly. I was really surprised to see how dry the north of Peru is. It is completely desert. Whenever I think of Peru I think of Machu Picchu, which is very…
Piura, Peru, South America I got up early this morning, packed up my stuff and headed to the bus station. I had a 7am bus from here to Piura, Peru, and everything went smoothly. I was given a seat assignment when I bought my ticket, and strangely enough, the guy who was put next to me was an irish guy named Chris, who obviously spoke english as well. I’m not sure if they did that on purpose to keep the…
Loja, Ecuador, South America I took a trip to Vilcabamba today, and was totally disappointed. I got up early, had breakfast, dropped off my laundry at a lavanderia, and got the 8:30am bus to Vilcabamba. It was an hour ride and only cost $1.30, so at least the disappointment didn’t cost me too much. I don’t know what I expected, but it wasn’t this. Vilcabamba is a town known for people that live to be over 100 years old. This…
Loja, Ecuador, South America I got up this morning, packed up my stuff, and checked out of La Querencia. It’s been a really nice place to stay for the last six nights and I can only hope my next place is as nice. I got a van from Cuenca down to Loja that took three hours and cost $12. It was a pretty easy ride, no surprises, so that was good enough for me. We got to the van company’s…
Cuenca, Ecuador, South America I did nothing today except watch NFL football, which was great! I thought about heading down to Loja this morning, but I figured that since it’s Sunday and I have good wifi here, I might as well take advantage and watch football while I can. I only left the hostel to go to Subway to get lunch, and I spent the rest of the day watching football. I got to see the Pats beat the Raiders…
Cuenca, Ecuador, South America I had a nice day hanging out with Andrea, her mom and her sister today. They picked me up from my hostel at 11am and we drove about an hour to a town called Gaulaceo. It is a nice quiet little town with a little river running through it. We walked around for a while and saw a lot of locals called Cholas, cleaning their clothes in the river. Saturday must be the day they all…
Cuenca, Ecuador, South America I had an awesome day hiking around Parque Nacional Cajas today. I got a local bus over to the south bus terminal in Cuenca, and then took the Occidental bus out to Cajas. I got off the bus at Toreadora which is one of the main places to start a hike in Cajas. It was a bit unclear where to start when I got there, but luckily the guy working in the cafe was able to…
Cuenca, Ecuador, South America I didn’t do much today, but had a nice relaxing day again. I went into the center and went up the tower in the “New” cathedral. It was not a very good view. It felt like there should be another level that you can climb because the view from the main viewing platform is blocked by the domes on the church and the towers on each side. Oh well, it was still a nice day to…
Cuenca, Ecuador, South America I really enjoyed my day in Cuenca today. It was pretty relaxed, but it was great. I had a good night’s sleep at my hostel, had a great breakfast that was included with the room, and then went out to explore. I had a short walk around the historical center and then went for a bite to eat. I met a nice american couple from Arizona who are living here for a year to learn spanish….