Ancient Ruins and New Friends

Hot off my adventures in Mancora, I headed south down the pacific coast to Trujillo, a decent sized city located just off the coast. While I had heard that Trujillo was a nice city in its own right, the real draw for me was its location next to a number of ancient ruins dating as far back as 100BC.

I arrived in Trujillo at 6:00am following an 8 hour overnight bus ride from Mancora, in which the movie selection consisted of any Patrick Swazye movie from the 80's (can you say yes!). Upon arriving in Trujillo, I soon realized that apart from a pretty nice central plaza, the city left a lot to be desired. Thus, I decided to trek out to a small neighboring fishing village, Huanchaco (pronounced Juan-Cha-Ko), to find a place to stay. I figured if nothing else I could go for a dip in the ocean and eat some good local seafood. I managed to find a hostel for $3.00/night and was then ready to rock and roll!

Beach at Huanchaco; those weird looking objects are the reed boats the local fisherman use

To see all of my pictures from Trujillo / Huanchaco click here!

The next day after stuffing myself full of seafood, I decided to put on my archeologist hat and go take a look at some of the ancient ruins located around Huanchaco and Trujillo. My first stop was the ancient city of Chan Chan. This ancient city was built by the Chimor people around 850AD and was absolutely huge. Everything is completely made from adobe brick and the picture below shows the outside of about only 1/10 of the city.

The outer walls of Chan Chan

After paying the admissions fee, I got a glimpse of the inside of the city and it was very impressive. Between the burial tombs and the human sacrifice areas there was a lot to see and learn. Therefore, I decided to ever so slyly join a tour group that had a guide who knew what she was talking about (doing this legitimately would have cost $2.00, but come on I'm on budget). That worked for a while until the guide started giving me questioning looks, I think it might of had something to do with the group being an elementary school class.

In the room where they used to do human sacrifices

As I took my leave, I ran into 3 Chileans who were wondering around aimlessly much like me. We struck up a conversation and attempted to follow the self guided tour around the ruins. As we were wondering around we ran into a rather odd couple: a Peruvian named Alex and his Swedish girlfriend Anna. We got to talking and it turned out that Alex was actually a Peruvian tourist guide on vacation. He loved everything Peruvian and took it upon himself to give all of us a little tour of Chan Chan!

From left: Carmela, Daniela, Juan-Carlos, Anna, and Alex, our pseudo tour-guide

Alex was also something of a self proclaimed comedian. Unfortunately for me, it was February 14th (guys if your confused, just ask any girl why that date's important) and there was only one other single person in our little impromptu crew, Carmela. Thus for the rest of day I had to bear the brunt of jokes aimed at why I was not asking out the ever so beautiful Carmela seeing as how it was Valentines Day. It was all in good fun though, although at some points I thought they might be serious..

The next day we all got together again and went to visit another set of ruins, these being two huge Pyramids called the Sun Pyramid and Moon Pyramid which were built by the Moche culture (100BC-650AD). These were incredibly impressive and were built even before the city of Chan-Chan. Once again led by our impromptu tour guide Alex we got the inside scoop on everything Ancient Peru.

The pyramid of the Moon

Everyone with the pyramid in the background

It turns out both of these pyramids are still active archeological sites and we even got a behind the scenes glimpse of the current excavations that are currently being done. Alex explained to us though that the excavations are completely funded by the meager entrance fee ($5.00) charged to tourists that visit the sights. The government provides no funding as it is evidently political suicide to allocate funds to ancient ruins when there is rampant poverty that could use that same money. If you ask me though, that's a relatively short sighted perspective as investing in these attractions would help bring in more tourists whose money could help create jobs and in doing so reduce the poverty (Two birds with one stone anyone?). But I digress..

In other news, that night while I was eating my delicious dinner I heard a CRUNCH that I didn't think came from rice and shrimp I was eating. I spit out what I was eating sure enough there was a nice little pebble in my food. Unfortunately for me, that little pebble took a pretty decent chunk of one my teeth with it! Thankfully though you can't see the chip as it's in one of my back teeth, but if anyone knows a good South American dentist let me know!

That night after saying goodbye to a part of my tooth and my new found friends, I took a bus from Trujillo up into the Andes Mountains to Huaraz, Peru. For as the bumper sticker on my Uncle Karl's ski rack said, "Life's a Mountain, Not a Beach." More to come from Huaraz soon!

Oh, the People You'll Meet!

After a sad goodbye to my host-stay family last Saturday, I departed from Ecuador and set out on my own. Traveling on your own can be extremely daunting at times, but I've found that it also comes with a number of benefits, provided you have the right attitude. One of those benefits is the number of awesomely interesting people that you meet throughout your travels. While there is always a fine line between meeting new people and staying safe, I always err on the side of the former and that made for a very interesting past week.

Saying goodbye to my host-mom at the bus station

My first destination after Ecuador was Mancora, Peru, a small but very popular beach town on the northern coast of Peru. To get to Mancora from Guayaquil, I took a 9 hour bus ride that cost $11.00, ohh how I love South America. Apart from a few issues at the Ecuador/Peru border (evidently I was supposed to keep that slip of paper they gave me when I got into Ecuador, who knew?) the bus ride went very smoothly.

Mancora, Peru

To see all my photos from Mancora Click Here!

I finally arrived in Mancora at about 10:30pm that Saturday night. Usually when I arrive at a place, I have absolutely no idea where I'm going to stay, which can make for some interesting situations. Not only was that the case in Mancora, but additionally it was a busy Saturday night so I knew that finding a room at a hostel would be near impossible. Due to this, when I saw three lovely young ladies who seemed to know what they were doing getting off my bus, I thought maybe I should introduce myself and see if we could join forces to find a hostel. Now you have appreciate the slight awkwardness of this situation, they have absolutely no idea who I am and I'm trying to break the ice in a foreign language. Seeing as I had nothing to lose though, I decided what the heck, let's give it a shot. Thankfully we hit it off and before I knew it the four of us were searching for hostels! It turned out the the girls were from Santiago, Chile and were on vacation (two were teachers and one a nutritionist) doing a similar trip as I.

My three new Chilean friends (from left: Daniela, Karmela, and Maca) and I!

We ultimately found a hostel and next thing I know I'm being invited out to do a little dancing. It definitely beat sitting in the hostel by myself so off we went! Now I've been known to cut some rug in my day, but I don't hold a candle to the dancing abilities of 99.9% of the population of South America, alas I think the ability to salsa dance will forever elude me. For that reason, I was a little apprehensive as we walked along the beach to the bars (all of the bars are located right on the beach, not to shabby of a location). Thankfully, though I managed to hold my own and it turned out to be a great night; I even got some, delicately stated, dancing pointers.

The next day the girls decided to go shopping, obviously not quite my thing, so I decided to head to the beach. While enjoying the gorgeous water, and failing miserably at body surfing, I managed to meet some more amigos. This time two Argentinians on vacation, Mariano and Tomas. Over some beers on the beach the three of us talked about everything ranging from the US-Argentinian politics to which country has the cutest girls (they of course said Argentina). Also, I was told to tell everyone that if they're even in Buenos Aires they should go to Tomas's Pizza Place, Facio's Pizza!

Mariano, Tomas, and I

I then thought it would be fun to get everyone together, a nice little mixture of Chileans, Argentinians, and one lone american. We had an absolute blast and it was a great way to wind down my time in Mancora.

Later on, after promises that I visit everyone in Santiago and Buenos Aires when I ultimately make my way there, I packed up and headed out. So the next day after watching my final sunset in Mancora, I departed for my next destination: Trujillo, Peru.

Final Sunset in Mancora

More to come soon!

Here we go!

Well the adventure has officially begun; I arrived safe and sound on Tuesday in Guayaquil, Ecuador! While I had to scramble (in my usual fashion) to pack everything the day before the trip, everything else was smooth sailing. No delays or issues with any flights and upon arrival I was greeted with a huge hug from my Ecuadorian host mom! While here I’m staying with the host-stay family I lived with when I studied abroad 2 years ago. It’s great to be back and see them again, and judging by the hug my host stay mom gave me, they feel the same way. We celebrated my arrival with a bottle of wine and before I knew it was as if I had never left (my host-mom even caught me up on the latest drama in the Ecuadorian soap operas…can you honestly believe Daniela is cheating on Pedro!?!)

My Ecuadorian Family!                

So just to give you a brief introduction to Guayaquil; Guayaquil is a very industrial city and the largest city in Ecuador. I like to say that Guayaquil is analogous to Detroit (minus the awesome superbowl commercial), industrial and pretty big, but not too much in the way of tourist attractions. While it may not be the most glamorous city, I grew to really love it while I was studying abroad and it's great to be back. In terms of climate, right now is the hot/rainy season with temperatures in the mid to upper 80’s and shirt drenching humidity. Nothing says welcome to South America like instant sweat when you step off the plane!

When I studied abroad in Guayaquil I worked at a medical clinic named "Luchadores de Norte". Luchadores del Norte is a small clinic and provides free medical services to the people living in the surrounding shantytown. Working with the patients and doctors at Luchadores del Norte was an incredible experience, so on Wednesday I went back to say hello.

The neighborhood where the Luchadores del Norte is located.

Luchadores del Norte

While I was very excited to see the clinic, I hadn't forewarned anyone of my arrival so I was slightly anxious as to how I would be received (would I even be remembered?). However, my trepidation was immediately alleviated as I was walking to the clinic and an old patient came out of nowhere and gave me a huge hug! Needless to say I was incredibly flattered that she still remembered me after 2 years! What’s more, I received an identical reception when I finally got to the clinic. Not only did everyone remember me, but everyone was incredibly eager to chat and catch up. In fact, after learning that I would only be in Ecuador for a few days, they insisted that I come back on Friday to see them again and properly celebrate!

Some of the great staff of Luchadores del Norte!

Overall, it’s great to see people and places again that had such a profound impact on me two years ago. As I was being nearly squished to death by the mass of people on the bus back from the clinic, I couldn't help but smile as the familiar sights and sounds of Guayaquil were rushing past me. It’s good to be back, and I can’t think of a better place to start my South America adventure.

Tomorrow morning I leave for Mancora, Peru...more stories to come!