Robin and Hopper's grand south american adventure!: ...and onward to Peru!

So last time we had left off, we were working on a farm in Vilcabamba,
drinking tons of smoothies and devouring novels left and right. After
having been mostly around town for two weeks, we parted ways with Emil
and decided to go on an overnight trip to the Podocarpus National Park, located just west of Vilcabamba. The park stretches several hundred miles and goes from
rainforest up to high desert paramo. The night before the hike we
stayed at Cabanas Rio Yambla, a nice hostel outside of the main
city and owned by Charlie (don´t know his last name), who had moved
down here way back in the 70s. We had a lifely discussion about world
politics before going to bed in our cute little cabin on the hillside
overlooking Vilcabamba valley.
The next day we hiked out to a refuge located in the park. And what a
hike it was! Up and down valleys, through rivers, plunging into
bushes to pave the way...a real adventure at that. When we finally
arrived at our campsite, we were pretty exhausted but it was well
worth the effort with high crags behind us and a wonderful view of the
valley in front. We had to get some water, which just turned into an
excuse for us to descent into a ravine and swim in freezing cold
water. The night consisted of going to sleep early and waking up at 3
AM to see thousands of stars painting the sky. So much twinkling and
sparkling...really let you know how small you are. The hike out was
very easy, with tons of sun and plenty of cows guiding us along their
trails back to Charlie´s Cabanas. By the way, cows are everywhere in
the countryside of Ecuador, as many people farm right up to the next
boundary. So all the trails are left with wonderful, big bombs to
watch with your boots.

The next day we bought food and other supplies we would need for our journey over the boarder into Peru. We said goodbye to Nori and Richard and got up early the next morning to catch the first of many rides (the first leg was by bus) towards the border of Peru. The first bus was to Zumba, a small town about 2 hours from the Peruvian boarder. The bus took about 7 hours, 2 hours longer than we were told, because of road construction and the fact that many of the roads had been washed out from heavy rains in the pervious weeks. It was a twisty, turny, scary ride with parts of the ride where you could look over the edge of the road (with no guardrail) into gorges that were over 100 feet deep. When we finally got to Zumba, we boarded another ¨bus¨ which, was actually an open sided truck that took us to the boarder. This was a bumpy, butt bruising ride, but it was through the cloud forest of souther ecuador, and absolutely spectacular. The boarder crossing we chose was super remote and very safe...we cleared the boarder in less than 20 minutes and then man who checked our passports granted us a 120 day visa soley because we asked politely and he saw that Lilli´s birthday was in 2 days!

The next 24 hours is kind of a blur, but it involved taking a mototaxi (a motorcycle attached to a carrige that you ride in) to the nearest Peruvian boarder town. Hopping in a ¨taxi¨, a basic car with as many people as can be crammed inside (in our case, 8, including the driver) and a woman´s entire kitchen (pots, pans, stove, etc) strapped on the roof. We stayed a night in San Ignasio, and started early again the next day, taking a total of 4 more taxis to Chacapoyas. During these taxi rides, we got a little feel for just how different Peru is from Ecuador. First of all, the roads are alot worse. Second of all, the drivers are a lot more crazy
( one driver took his hands off the wheel while driving around 60 miles per hour on a rutted dirt road and asked dave if he wanted to drive as a joke) and 3rd, we´ve found, thus far, that the people are a lot more friendly. We talked with many people during the long taxi rides to Chacapoyas, all of whom were eager to help us with our spanish and who wanted to hear all about our jobs and where we live in the US. Upon getting to the next station (where we had to change cars) others were eager to help us carry our bags to our next taxi and talk with us about where we were headed and what fun things we could do when we got there.

After about 2 days of total travel time,we finally arrived in Chachapoyas.
Chachapoyas is a wonderful city located in Northern Peru and known for
the wealth of archeological sites located nearby. While the
Chachapoyans stole the name for the city, tons of other Pre-Incan
cultures existed in the area as well, which can be seen from towns
located in steep cliffs, sarcofogi appearing out of nowhere on a
mountain, and tons of other newly discovered towns.
Lil and I were really stoked to be able to get our archelogical fix on
as well as possibly meet up with our friend Emil, who had headed down
a few days earlier. We didn´t know if he was still in Chacha (as the
locals call it) but we had sent some messages to check. Of course, we
run into him before even checking our emails. Small World! We
decided to stay in the same hostal as he and his new friend Marloes of
Holland, who he had met on his way into Peru. The first night was
just hanging out in town and getting reacquainted.
Day two in Chacha was Lil´s birthday (yeah 25!) so we knew we had to
make it something special. We started the day of with coffee (they
only serve instant coffee here....literally, they give you a packet of
instant with hot water) and then Lil and I went to a tiny museum
consisting of some of the artifacts from the area. We had our Spanish
tested with all the different sites and one of the workers there was
nice enough to help us with our attempts as well as explain a bit
about the artifacts. We saw a few mummies as well, which was super
interesting to see how they preserved their antiguas (ancients) in
textiles wrapped around their bodies. We also tried going for a bit
of a run but realized we were a bit out of shape as well as terrified
of the dogs around here. (Sidenote: there are tons of dogs in South
America that just roam the streets. They sometimes give chase but are
so used to being poorly treated from people, that if you raise your
hand, they run. The really bad dogs are ones owned by people who,
apparently, don´t realize how scary it is to be running and then have
a dog chase you).
That night we all went out to a great vegetarian dinner at a local
restaurant and then split a pitcher of Pisco Sours (soooo goood) at a
bar. We were contemplating of going to a discotecqua but decided that
listening to Rumba and Reggaeton was not our cup of tea.
After having been in Chacha for a few days, we decided to head off to
see one of the ruins in the area. Kuelap is a fortress located just
outside of the town of Tingo. The fortress was originally thought to
be a place of military planning and storage for arms but, after a bit
more discovery, was actually to be revealed to be a place of religious
worship. Shamans´ tools and mummies have been found scattered all
over the area. (The dead were actually buried inside of the different
homes of the villagers, a way for them to still be connected to their
ancestors after they left this world).
In order to get to Kuelap, we took a bus to Tingo and then commenced
to hike 9km (around 6.5 miles) up to the site on the following day. The hike was
amazing, contouring up a valley to the top of a 3000m hill with a 360
degree overlook. Walking around and into the town was absolutely
incredible, feeling the energy of the place. Over 15 million tons of
rock were used to construct the site, well over the amount used to
build the Great Pyramid in Egypt. Amazing to think that the site was
constructed over a period of a 1000 years. We were all spell bound by
the site and what these people had accomplished so long ago. (check
out more info here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuelap)
Now, when we returned to the town, we were supposed to have a
traditional dinner with a local family but that fell through. I´ll
explain.
The day we arrived in Tingo, we went walking around to get our
bearings. We were told about this type of drink called guarapo, a
fermented type of cane juice, that the locals consumed. We went to
find some and along the way ran into a woman who told us to follow her
into her yard. Once inside, we saw two massive vats filled with cane
juice and tons of people drinking that as well as the guarapo. The
family offered us both types of drink as well as joked with us. Now,
here is where the offer comes: one of the men there asked if we had
cuy, the traditional meat of the area. (Cuy is guinea pig; no, not
like the ones in the States. More like a small pig). We hadn´t so he
told us his cousin would prepare us a traditional meal upon our return
from Kuelap. We were overjoyed and decided we would bring guacamole
so that we would have a sort of potluck.
Unfortunately, when we went to their house, no cuy and no dinner. We
walked around town for about an hour, asking for Mariebella and got 3
different answers before giving up. So we went back to the hostel for
rice and beans and our farewell (for sure this time) to Emil, as he
was rushing down to Huaraz.
Currently, Lil, Marloes and I are in the town of Leymebamba and are
going to visit another archeological site called La Congona tomorrow.
I kind of feel like those scientists from Jurrasic Park when we going
hiking to the different sites; finding new discoveries. Til next
time, CHAO!!!
...the hopper

Pictures from Kuelap below!