Sorry it has taken so long to write guys, as I said before it is never a dull moment with Brendan and I. For starters we are both sick, very sick. It has been a rough few days, every time I feel as if I am getting better, the sickness strikes again and I am back to square one, but nothing is as bad as night number 1, but I won’t go into detail about that, two guys sharing one bathroom is enough detail.
Anyway, I picked Brendan up at the airport on the 16th with a very hospitable couch surfing family I found on couchsurfing.com. If you are not familiar with couchsurfing.com you should check it out. It is a great way to travel on a budget and meet great people at the same time.
Brendan’s first night in town we went to a couch surfing gathering in the old part of Guayaquil called Las Palmas. We had to hike up 270 stairs to get to the place we were going. There was another 500 to go all to get all the way to the top. The gathering was in a small local bar with a great view of the river running around the city. It was a great introduction for Brendan.
We spent a few days in Guayaquil seeing all the cool spots, Malecon 2000 a huge garden next to the river in city, Parque de los Iguanas, a park with a ton of Iguanas, fat Iguanas. It was very nice of Erika to show us around, I think she just loved to drive that’s why she did it and because she enjoyed it as well but mainly because she liked to drive. Erika and her family invited us to spend a couple nights of Carnival in Salinas, Ecuador with them so we agreed, but first we wanted to head to Puerto Lopez where we could hike around a national park for a while. So we headed up the coast and found a nice beach to camp on until the following day. We hike all down around big rocks, through tunnels, found amazing beaches and Miradors (look outs) with outstanding views. You have to see the pictures because there is no way I am able to describe the beauty and tranquility of such a place. After an exhausting and hot day of swimming, cooking, and hanging out on deserted beaches we headed to Salinas to let the party start.
The next day was another full day at the beach prepping for the night to come. I rested, Brendan drank, and walked around. We left the beach only to go to another beach where there were 10 foot waves, at least. We played and got tossed around by the water until the sun went down. On the way back Brendan and I bought a bottle of Zhumir which brought back instantly memories of my ride with Aisha to Lima four years ago. We had the same Zhumir and the same orange juice and the same thing happened. The seal on the orange juice was broken so we drank bad orange juice with crappy Zhumir. Zhumir is sugar cane liquor. The night was crazy once we hit the streets, we hitch hiked into the center hooped into the back of a big truck, foaming was going on everywhere. I ended up spending $20 just on foam because I was having so much fun. We walked, foamed, got foamed, and laughed like we were little kids in preschool. It feels good to let loose like that once in a while. We finished the night off dancing until the early morning and as soon as I got home I crashed until late afternoon the next day.
After our eventful Carnival in Salinas Brendan and I made our way to Aisha’s host family. They live in Pasaje, Ecuador. It was very nice to see them again. They took us in and took us out to dinner, they are amazing people, I already miss them and I wish I could have spent more time with them. While we were there we went to Machala, and to Jameli, a small Island off the coast of Ecuador. It was crazy we waited in line for about a half hour to get on the boat for a half hour. There were so many people. The beaches are packed during Carnival. Once we got to the Island there was hardly any room to move, loud music, people dancing, drinking, smiling, it was a great vibe and we fit right in. It is hard not to with all the excitement. We spent a while, swimming and picking coconuts from trees and drinking the juice before we made our way to the line for getting off the island. The line got intense people were getting angry yelling pushing, at one point we were getting crammed at the entrance, not very safe, but we were just laughing and cheering. Everyone thought we were crazy, and we were.
After an eventful Carnival experience in Ecuador it was time to finally get to Peru, where we wanted to spend the majority of our trip. We are trying to head to the mountains and still are trying to head into the mountains but it just seems like it’s taking forever. Like I said we have been sick for the last 3 nights and 4 days, so it has put a big stall in getting anywhere. Well we crossed into Peru making our first stop in Mancora, a lively beach town, a lot livelier then from the last time I was there. We spent a night there and made our way to couchsurf in Chiclayo, Peru. Once we arrived in Chiclayo that’s when all the fun started. We hadn’t eaten anything but two pieces of bread so while we waited for Yuli, our couch host we ate some Tamalies from the street on an empty stomach. 3 hours later, I was rolling around on the floor telling Brendan how sick I was feeling. Brendan being Brendan, ignored my pleading and moaning, and brushed it off by later telling me he thought if I just went to bed I would be fine in the morning. Well later that night he came crawling into the living room from outside moaning himself. We spent the whole night sharing the bathroom trying to filter water with fevers, mixing up chlorine water because it was quicker and thinking it might kill whatever is in the stomach. Well it all just ended up coming back up anyway. Yesterday was the first day in about 4 days I felt good enough to do anything, after two days of bathroom running I took the window and we hit the road for a three hour ride to Trujillo. I just want to thank Yuli and her family very much for taking care of us the way they did. They gave us medicine, juice; whatever we needed it was there. If it hadn’t been for them Brendan and I would be praying to the porcelain god still, probably completely helpless.
Once in Trujillo I was getting tired and sick of the traffic, and Brendan was feeling sick again. I was trying to find a place to put us up for the night but no luck. So we tiffed it a bit and sat in the park until a guy on a bike came over to us and offered us a place to stay. He takes in bikers from around the world and competes in Tour de Peru. His name is Luis and the name of his place is Casa de Cycletas. This guys is a serious bicyclist with tons of information for any traveler, this is a must stop for anyone traveling this way by bike, moto, or even backpack. We loaded my bike in his house; I tuned it up and took a rest. Later that night he invited us out to go dancing we agreed but then Brendan felt sick again, so I went alone. It was a lot of fun, I got to see my first live Salsa band, the music was loud and a lot of fun.
We are leaving Trujillo in a few hours to finally make our way into the mountains for a week or so. I hope all is well and I hope everyone enjoys the photos!
