Christian May 11th, 2008
We took the early flight that left Quito at 7 AM, which meant we had to be at the airport by 5:30. We paid our $40 each to leave the airport and were on our way. Panama City was tough to find cheap accommodation. We narrowed it down to a few budget hotels and one hostel. We ended up trying the hostel (Zuly’s) first and ended up staying there. It was definitely not the nicest or cleanest place that we had ever stayed in. They only offered dorm beds for $6.60 each if we shared one. It was pretty grungy looking, but we decided it would be okay for a couple of nights. **We later found out from a couple we met in Bocas, that they had stayed there and found worms in the mattresses of the hostel** As soon as we checked in we headed out to the city to explore.
Continue Reading »
Christian May 4th, 2008
It was a long trip to get to Canoa to say the least. We had to leave our hostel at 5:30 to catch the 5:40 bus to Quito. The bus took four hours, when we got to Quito we had to find the office for Reina del Camino to buy our tickets to Bahia de Caraquez. Luckily there was a bus at 10:30 leaving, so we got our tickets and hopped on the very shady bus. The ride was only supposed to take 8 hours but ended up taking 9 and a half. If ever taking the bus to Bahia from Quito, pay the extra 1.50 for the executive service (we didn’t and regretted it the whole way). Once we finally got to Bahia we had to walk about a half mile to the docks where we could catch a ride on a boat across the bay to San Vincente. It wasn’t a bad deal at .70. Finally we were getting close…. since it was so late the regular bus service from San Vincente to Canoa had stopped, so we shared a cab with 2 Canadian girls for $4. Luckily, they were staying at the same place we had wanted to stay at. The only room that they had was a private Bungalow with a shared bathroom for $16.70 a night. Tired, exhausted, and ready for bed we took it. The Hotel Bambu was located right on the beach and had a on site restaurant and bar, with good prices, so it wasn’t a bad deal at all. It was so hot our first night there, but at least they had mosquito nets to minimize the bug bites. Although, it turns out since they left it up all day that a couple of bugs were trapped in our bed when we put the net down. In the middle of the night I felt something slowly crawling down my leg. Being half asleep I swat it away without thinking. A little later we turn on the lights for something, only to find a bug that is two or three inches long in the bed (maybe some sort of beetle). We push it out of the net and go back to sleep with plesant dreams of bugs crawling all over us.
We awoke in the morning to the sound of rain pitter pattering on the thached roof. Great. It rained until about 1 in the afternoon and then cleared up a bit. When it finally cleared up we had a couple of hours to walk on the beach, and for me to rent a surfboard. This town is a surfer’s haven. Everyday the 20 or so local resident surfers walk out to the beach to check the waves and go grab their board and surf until lunch. After lunch they walk out to the beach and check the waves and go grab their boards again. It must be a tough life. We noticed this routine everyday we were there. I was terrible on my rental, only getting up a couple of times. After about an hour, I gave up and decided to spend more time surfing elsewhere. We walked along the beach to the cliffs at the one end. Canoa does have a pretty beach setting, empty beach with cliffs on the one end.
It was so nice to enjoy the sun for the little time we could. After eating a great dinner at the restaurant for under $10 at sunset, we headed to bed. This time it was much cooler in our room because of the rain.
For the second day in the row we awoke to the sound of rain. This was getting old, since Canoa has very little to due when it is raining. While it was raining we decided to get some things done like laundry and using the internet (overpriced and slow). The rain did not clear up until after 2 pm or so. We decided to be productive and go for a run on the beach. It was a nice run with great views. After our run, we showered and hung out at our hotel’s outdoor restaurant on the beach and tried to make plans. We decided the next day we were going to head to Montanita. We met some people and played some pool with them. We weren’t too fond of the two Ecuadorian guys who were lingering around the pool table. They ended up hustling the other people we were hanging out with for 6 rum and cokes on pool games. We then went to a bar on the one street Canoa has. Casey and I didn’t drink since we had to be up early for the next day. However, after being there we decided that our plans were going to change. There were a lot of very creepy people hanging around. It was not our scene, and the weather did not look like it was going to get better. Apparently Montanita is like this 10x, so we decided to bag Montanita and head back to Quito and fly to Panama on Monday. They have a Carribean beach named Bocas Del Toro that is supposed to be amazing. So after a 10.5 hour bus ride on the executive bus that doesn’t pick up people every 10 mins and has air conditioning, we made it back to Quito and bought our tickets for Panama to start another leg of our adventure.
Christian May 3rd, 2008
We wanted to get to Banos early enough to find a place to stay and get to walk the city a bit, so we woke up at 6am to catch the 5 hour bus ride to Banos from Tena. We were excited for Banos, since we had heard nothing but nice things about the town. We were not disappointed. We arrived around noon. You could tell it was a town based in tourism right from the start. As soon as we were off the bus we were offered tours. We bypassed the touts and checked in at our hostel which was very nice. At $13 a night, we felt like we struck a deal. It had free internet and a great rooftop terrace. The weather was sunny and we promptly headed out to explore the city and the local market. Continue Reading »
Christian April 27th, 2008
The bus ride from Quito to Tena was five and a half hours long. The closer we got to the jungle, the better the scenery was. It was great to look out the bus window and look over the rainforest from the dirt mountain roads. We arrived in Tena around 4:30 or so in the afternoon. We hired a taxi for a $1 to take us and our bags up the hill to our hostel. We were pleasantly surprised by the place (Limonchoca). For $10 a night we got a great view, cable TV, a kitchen, and complmentary hammocks to use on the balcony. It was a steal. The first night we talked to the owner about scheduling a white water rafting trip. Continue Reading »
Christian April 20th, 2008
Our time in the Galapagos was amazing. We spent 8 days on a 75 foot yacht exploring the islands. We had close encounters with all kinds of wildlife, and saw some of the most beautiful beaches. This is a longer post, but is filled with our adventures in the Galapagos. There will be three sets of Galapagos photos in our photo section, as well as hopefully a video at some point. Enjoy! Continue Reading »
Christian April 19th, 2008
Before our journey to the Galapagos, we thought we would do a touristy thing or two in Quito. One of the mini trips we did was to the Mitad del Mundo or “Middle of the World”. We got made our way to the blue line bus that would take us to a mini bus station an hour away or so. The bus was jammed with people, with more people getting on at each stop. We got off at the wrong stop to switch buses (thanks Lonely Planet). If you are using public transportation to get to the Mitad del Mundo, take the bus all the way to the end. We caught the next bus to the correct stop where we switched buses. At one point this kid jumped on the bus and started giving a comedy routine for money. After almost 1.5 hours in jammed standing room only buses the driver let us know we were at the mitad del mundo. We got off the bus on the side of the street and walked in.
The place was creepy. Continue Reading »
Christian April 5th, 2008
We scrambled around Cuzco getting all that we needed to go to Machu Picchu. We ran to the train station to get the tickets and to the INC office to get our entrance tickets. Surprisingly all of the backpacker train tickets were sold out for the days we wanted, so we had to splurge and spend an extra 20 dollars for the Vistadome train. It was not that big of a deal since we were able to get our entrance tickets for Machu Picchu half off since we had our ISIC student cards. The only thing that we did not have was a place to stay. However, this is the last month of the slow season there, and with the multitude of hotels it was not should not be a problem finding one when we arrived. Continue Reading »
Christian April 3rd, 2008
After our five hour bus ride from Puno we arrived in Arequipa, Peru’s second largest city. We were impressed by our room at the Casa de Avila. It had nice hardwood floors and a nice bathroom. We were starving so we made our way to the main square, the Plaza de Armas. We ate at a restaurant called Johnny Coyote. It was a complete rip off of Johnny Rocket’s in the states. The burgers were great. Arequipa is a nice city. The main square is pretty. Many of the buildings are made from white stone, which is why it is sometimes refered to as the white city. The next day we got our tour for the Colca Canyon figured out. We ended up going with a company named Land Adventures. Continue Reading »
Christian March 28th, 2008
We were in La Paz stuck with a dilemma. It was Wednesday and we were told that it was going to be impossible to find accommodation in Copacabana during the holy week. Apparently thousands of Bolivians flock to Lake Titicaca to ask for repentance each year during holy week. Do we fly to Rurrenabaque and explore the Amazon for a three day tour and come back after holy week to Copacabana, or do we book an expensive tour to Copacabana that would drop us off on the Peruvian side of the lake? After talking to the tour agent about the rainforest, we realized we had one option, to take the tour of Copacabana during holy week since the planes to the rainforest were sold out. We booked our tour to Copacabana with Zig Zag tours in La Paz. It was very nice, our guide Jose met us at our hostel early in the morning before boarding a tourist bus to Copacabana.
Continue Reading »
Christian March 22nd, 2008
We decided to take the plunge and mountain bike down the World´s Most Dangerous Road (also known as the Road of Death). This trip would start at 15,400 feet above sea level and continue down to 3600 feet over 40 miles. This is called the world´s most dangerous road due to the number of deaths that have occurred on the road. It is a winding dirt/gravel road that is narrow, has waterfalls pouring onto it, and one side of the road is a cliff that drops off more that 1000 ft. This is definetly a risky ride that we were to emark on. Continue Reading »
