After a nasty shock with the departure tax at Quito airport (US$40 each!) We made it to Lima. We’ve been here in Peru before and had an amazing time on the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu and then the Amazon Jungle at the Manu national park. This time it’s quite different and we’re rushing through, bussing right down from Lima to Arequipa in one big bus ride.
We’re actually staying in Lima, something we shyed away from last time. A quick search of hostelworld.com back home turned up a place called Backpackers Family House in the Miraflores area of Lima. A great place and the Miraflores area is brilliant. And Lima has a beach and pier! I never knew that! It shows how little attention we paid to it last time.
This hostel deserves a mention for sure. These guys literally went out of their way to make us feel at home, show us around, give us info and call us cabs. It’s small, so not a place to remain anonymous by any means. Although you could certainly be left alone if you wanted we were welcomed into the place with introductions and beer and info/maps galore. We missed the Pisco Sours unfortunately but the next day everyone was invited out to a local restaurant by the hostel owner for Cervicha (Raw fish marinaded in lime juice which has the effect of cooking it – see Hugh Farnley Whittingstall for more!). I think it said a lot that almost everyone staying there went out to this. Of course we had to pay our bill but apparently this was a common thing about once a week.
I guess Miraflores is the posh residential area of Lima. It’s got loads of good restaurants and an amazing supermarket. It seems completely save and I think that’s for a good reason, there are police and security guards everywhere for the wealthy residents as much as for tourists I’d say.
Miraflores is a great base to use in Lima and a good place to relax and get supplies from food to electronics and outdoor gear.
There are even some ruins, right in the middle of the city but I can’t the pics right now!
Back to Ecuador and back to Quito after our Jungle experience. We tried to get a room in the Secret Garden but it was fully booked so went for another high ranking hostelworld.com place. El Centro Mundo. Cheep and cheerful and maybe a little tatty around the edges but a huge array of breakfasts (have to pay for them though). Right in the middle of the area affectionately called “Gringoland”. Jam packed with fancy bars, clubs and restaurants and all the things a tourist might be missing. Again, Ecuador and the people of Ecuador really left a smile on my face, people just seem more natural and honest than some of the places we have been to so far. No one hastling you at the airport, taxis fair and cheap and everyone’s happy!
I finally ditched my old stinky walking shoes and sandals and we stocked up on outdoor gear in one of the many outdoor shops (and weren’t fleesed at all!) And at last we found the holy grail… a second hand English language bookshop! One thing you do need on a trip like this is lots of books! We checked out Renegade Books which kept us busy for over an hour probably! The center of Gringoland reminded us of Brighton as we sipped coffee, which is no bad thing.
Tomorrow we’re off to Peru, flying Quito to Lima and actually staying there for once!
Fresh back from the Cuyabeno National Park in Ecuador’s part of the Amazon Jungle. We’re Pretty darn stinky all ’round. The first casualties of the trip have been notched up and now (as anyone who comes within a few meters will tell you) my walking boots are beyond salvage. I think I well and truely stinked out the various transports we used to get the 13 hours back from the jungle to Quito yesterday. The first big expensive fataility too. While trying to take a picture of a catapilar that looked exactly like Dougal the dog from The Magic Roundabout (although I have to say it looks nothing like him now!) I dropped my brilliant little LX3 camera. Now it’s busted and the only thing I can do is buy a new one.
This was a brilliant trip though. We went for the 5 day trip rather than the normal 4 days it seems that people do. Four days would be enough but the extra day we had just added to the relaxation. It was just the two of us and the guide on the last day so we got a really personal experience on the last treck. We could go slow and stop and look at everything. Not so much ran away either with only two pairs of clod hopping feet to scare them!
We’ve been to the Amazon jungle before, in Peru last year but this was different, this time it was to an area that is almost permantently flooded and using one lodge as a base rather than moving from between lodges. Most of the trips out from the lodge were in motor canoe. Sometimes we had to paddle ourselves though which was great. Every day ended in a canoe to the middle of the lake to swim (in the pirahna and caymen infested waters I might add!) and watch the sunset in the lake that surrounds the island the lodge is on.
Like Galapapos I’ll let the pictures do the talking on this one now!
These little fellows hung out by the lodge everyday
another cheeky monkey. This one makes a horrible noise in the middle of the night (not quite like the howler monkeys we saw last year though that just sound like 14ft monsters!)
Very rare to see this Pocket Monkey so we were pretty lucky. 11cm long, how the guide spotted this I have no idea!
Now my favourite bit, we went on a hike through the jugle at night with only torches for company, so many creatures to see…
and the one that killed my camera…
more [link to jungle pics]
