REFLECTION! Our Trip through Salar de Uyuni

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After traveling for three months there are many little things that begin to annoy you. Bad wifi at my hostel (especially during a Tar Heel game), backpackers who want money for performing a VERY marginal talent, and fucking selfie sticks are some of the more common things that began to burn my ass as we went further and further down South America. What I did not expect to drive me up the wall was how everyone has to document everything with a camera. I felt like I could not throw a stick without having to pose for a picture 7 different ways (one more jump photo and I am killing a tour guide), or get pushed out of the way as tourists clamor for their ninth photo in front of some monument. Whatever happened to gazing out at Machu Picchu and letting your mind wonder? If someone takes a picture at Angkor Wat and does not put it on social media, were they even there? But to my surprise, seeing a place like Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia turned me into one picture snapping and posing son of a bitch. And it was glorious.

Salar de Uyuni is an area in the southwest part of Bolivia. It is the world’s largest salt flat at 10,582 km2 which is a few meters deep salt crust that consists of 50-70% of the world’s lithium reserve. There are quite a few ways to take in this area, ranging from a 1 day trip, to a 4 day trip. There seems to be a hundred tour companies to choose from, but after some online hunting we chose Quechua Connection. Wanting to see a lot of this region and its never-ending changing landscapes, we decided on a 3 day trip. This consisted leaving Uyuni on day one, traveling south west through the salt flats and staying in a hotel. The second day we would head south to the Reserva Nacional de Fauna Andina. We would stay inside the park on our second night, heading back to Uyuni after taking in a few more landscapes on the last day. With that plan, we piled into a car (late 90’s, very prevalent, Toyota Land Cruiser) with our packs, an English speaking guide, and our food/gas for the next three days. For others who want to do a similar tour, be prepared to do some riding in the car, as you are covering quite a large area of Bolivia.

At around 11:00 AM on day one we met our tour guide Lucho, the three other tourists in our group, our two drivers, and headed out to our first stop, the train graveyard right outside of Uyuni. Bolivia is rich with minerals and thus has a long mining history. Trains used to be the optimal way of transporting these minerals, but in the 1940s, the business went dry, and the trains were left to rot. I groaned to myself as we approached the site, as I saw tourists climbing all over old trains, snapping photo after photo. Luckily Michelle and our other traveling companions had a great attitude about it, so we snapped a few pics and moved on to the main attraction, the salt flats.

 

 

If you are unfamiliar with the salt flats of Bolivia, you are probably asking yourself what the hell is so exciting about salt flats. One word. REFLECTION! During the rainy season, December-March, it rains a lot in these salt flats and since it is so flat, vast, and still, it creates an almost perfect mirror of the sky above. It was without a doubt, one of the most amazing things I have ever seen. Driving through the shallow water, I could not tell where the sky started or ended. I had my window rolled down every five minutes, snapping a photo as the landscape seemed to change with the sky. I had become the thing that annoyed me most, but I gave 0 fucks. There was a large rain storm the night before so we were able to see a much larger portion of the salt flats covered in water.

 

Where’s the horizon?

 

After snapping photos from outside and inside the car, we had reached the end of the aquatic portion of our journey, and soon were surrounded by salt as far as the eye could see. Now it was time for the other cliché tourist part of the trip, the perspective photos. Because the landscape is so uniform and large, you are able to stagger people and objects to create the appearance of size difference. You can get pretty creative with these and our guide Lucho knew all the tricks and poses. I couldn’t help but smile at some of his creations. After this last photo session we headed to our accommodations for the night.

 

This is our friend, Heeeellen feeding Michelle some Bolivian wine

Although we had hit the larger attractions on the first day, what seemed like endless landscapes and natural wonders awaited us on the second day. Not 5 minutes into the car ride we pulled over next to the biggest cacti I have ever seen. They were thousands of years old and seemed to fill an entire side of a mountain. Next was miles of coral that was once completely underwater, now standing out in the dry desert landscape. It is hard to put into words how quickly the scenery changes on this trip. One minute it is a brown and yellow mountain view, the next minute the sand is so red and rocky you think you are on Mars. You really have to see it to believe it. There was even some wild life in this barren space, as we spotted a few scrabbits (squirrel/rabbits) and gave them some crackers. We covered a lot of ground in the morning, eventually bringing us to the Reserva Nacional in the afternoon.

 

 

 

A quick stop in the office to pay the entrance fee and a passport stamp and we were in. You enter the park next to a red lagoon, named for the algae that turns the surface a shade of burgundy when the sun is shining down. This lagoon was filled with pink flamingos, which unknowing to me, live in the cold, high elevation climate of Bolivia. We soon came upon some geysers as nighttime drew near. We were given free range to walk around, but were told a few horror stories of people falling in and losing quite a bit of skin. 20 minutes down the road and were at our home for the night.

 

 

We knew the second night’s accommodations were a little more rustic than the first. The lights were running on a generator and it was going to be a dorm style room. This was no big deal as we had no need to charge a cell phone and dorms are part of the backpacking world. What they did not tell us is that our floor would be gravel and that our beds (we did have mattresses) were made out of stone. Although comfy and warm, you did get the feeling you were sleeping in a garage. There were also the Ploques hot springs a 5 minute walk down the hill, which our visiting friend Ellen took advantage of. Someone stole her sneakers while she was taking a dip, but a long investigation from our guide wielded no suspects, but lots of jokes.

The last day was spent mostly in the car returning to Uyuni driving past llamas, but we visited a few more sights on the way back to town. The first was a desert that looked just like the Salvatore Dalí painting, the Dalí Desert, sans the melting clock. The most astonishing thing was, as we walked closely to take a closer look, our guide explained it was over an hour walk to get there, and it just appeared to be so close. After lunch we hit our last stop, a 40 km2 valley of rocks created by lava, thousands of years ago. Another different, gorgeous, and massive area, we happily climbed over the hardened lava and took our last set of pictures. Michelle has had a knack for small injuries and falls this trip, and she almost escaped this excursion without a blunder. As we made our way back to the car she slipped on the wet grass, smearing llama poop over her pants, unhurt except her ego, and getting many laughs from our group. Now, our trip was truly complete.

 

The crew’s last band photo

We had covered a lot of area on this three day trip, about 1/4 of Bolivia. There were many hours spent riding in the car, but all of those pictures finally made sense.

 

 

 

Damnit.

 

 

The Dalí Desert

 

Bolivia’s Death Road – or Bruise Road

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I grew up with “fun” family vacations, sometimes including bike trips. Nothing too crazy, just an afternoon riding around Mackinac Island or Beaver Island, but my memories are primarily of me walking beside my bike with big band aids on my knees because trees/fences/rocks/people would often jump in my way causing me to fall. This has been the root of a long held dislike for biking – I’m not very good at it. 

Unfortunately for me, one of the things you read about the most when vising Bolivia is the infamous Death Road. Death Road, or Old Road (a new one has been built), was christened the most dangerous road in the world in 1995 due to the large amount of deaths that occurred annually. A new road has been built, and the old road connecting the Yungas Region of Bolivia to La Paz is now rarely used by cars, other than those following the tourists crazy enough to bike it. Which Will was determined to be.

 

 

Despite the name, it is now a big tourist attraction and the companies that take you out take great care of your safety and well being. We read a bunch of reviews and ended up choosing to ride with Barracuda Biking. Our friend, Ellen, was in the country travelling around with us, and it was not originally on her list of things to do. We assured her “No! It’ll be great!” until we were at the tour agency and the woman assured us it was 4 hours biking downhill. I then joined her side of “what the hell are we doing?” Too late though, all of a sudden we were already in the van on the way to the starting point.

The tours all ask you to be prepared with layers of clothing as the 4 hours downhill bit results in quite a bit of an altitude change, from about 15,400ft to 3,608ft (4700m to 1100m) – so from freezing to jungle. When we got to the starting point, the good luck for the day was beginning and it was snowing heavily – nice big, wet snow flakes. Our guides (we had 3 for a group of 11) asked multiple times if we still wanted to do the beginning stretch of road. We had 2 crazy guys on our trip who kept saying “OF COURSE!” over everyone else’s silence. So we all went for it. The first stretch of road is paved and primarily for you to get a good feel of the bike. We made it approximately 5 minutes before pulling off with a big “fuck this.” Going downhill in that kind of snow and wind resulted in being wet and feeling like someone is throwing ice blades at your face. Not fun.

 

 

Everyone on the tour ended up giving up at some point like us other than the original 2 crazy guys. I would recommend if you do this trip to pass on the first stretch of road if it is cold and snowy. We spent the next hour wet and freezing, which wasn’t really worth it. The beginning of Death Road is much lower in altitude so on our way in the van, the snow turned to rain then stopped, leaving warm sun. I much would have preferred to just start there. 

The relief in the change of weather did a pretty decent job of distracting me from what was to come next – biking down a road called Death Road. Sorry Mom and Papá, but I went for it. The safety instructions, however, didn’t really help ease my nerves – don’t go too fast, but don’t go too slow; stay towards the left (aka the edge) to see any cars (!); if a car does come (!), stay to the left (aka the edge). Then we were off!

Knowing my distaste of biking (and still wondering how I agreed to do a biking tour on a mountain), I chose to stay towards the back. Will took off immediately for the front of the pack. The road is a rocky, dirt road where you bike through waterfalls and around big bends. The tour is set up so you stop every 10-15 minutes as a group to take photos and relax your joints from the bumpy ride. I was pretty impressed with the ride, because the road is quite wide for biking comfortably and there weren’t cars coming the opposite direction. I was starting to get more and more comfortable as the ride went on, Will was blissed out and ready to sign up for the next day, and Ellen wanted to answer the “how’s it going” question when the tour was over. 

 

 

The views you get to see when you stop (during the ride I was staring 3 feet in front of my bike, no where else), are truly amazing. You see the jungle and waterfalls coming down from the steep cliffs on every side. I was starting to see why people loved this tour. There is the feeling of danger, but you are really quite safe, with stunning views and really good brakes. These were the thoughts passing through my head right before I flew over my handlebars. In all the times I fell on bikes growing up, never have I flipped over handle bars. I made sure to never be close enough to an edge to have falling off be an issue (I respect my biking history), but it’s still pretty freaky. I ended up with a pretty nasty bruise on my thigh from the bike and on my left hand from catching myself. So be careful! It is rocky and bumpy, and it is easy to lose control.

From then on out, I was fairly grumpy and ready to give up. I just have an issue with “giving up” so kept going and eventually it ended. The end of the trip went in a bit of a slow-blur. I was now the last one riding right in front of our van, but I could appreciate that the road got flatter, smoother, and wider. Finally we ended the tour in a small town. We went to a place with a swimming pool, a buffet, and showers. All in all, this was a fun, safe, gorgeous tour. Will loved it and its his favorite thing ever. Ellen and I enjoyed that we did it and pushed our limits. Will I ever do it again? Nope. Am I glad I did it once? Yep.

The Lares Trek and Machu Picchu

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Machu Picchu. Who hasn’t seen the photos of the idyllic Inca mountain town  and talked about it in 8th grade Social Studies? It’s one of those places you learn about and seems so far away. I spent a summer in Ecuador and almost booked a flight to Cusco because I wasn’t sure if I’d ever have the chance again. Lucky for me, I was wrong.

 

Remember that place? Photo: Mario Marval

 

After missing out on going when I was in the neighborhood, I started talking to my brother, Mario, a lot about going and what treks we would take if we ever had a chance. When it became clear Will and I were going to take this journey through South America, it became serious for us all to revisit those old conversations. And luckily, one more person jumped in, my mom, as visiting Machu Picchu has always been one of her dreams. We planned our trip so our paths would cross in Cusco in the end of February.

We always knew we wanted to do some sort of trek in, but reading about visiting the area in February is a bit disheartening. It’s the rainy season, so the internet is littered with stories of rainy, wet days. My family had about 6 days in Cusco, so we started looking at 4 day treks. The Inca Trail is closed due to the rain, and it being the low season, also for repairs. We never planned on doing the Inca Trail, but since it was automatically out, it helped narrow down our options to the Lares and Salkantay.

The Lares Trail is known as the Last Trail of the Incas. When the Spanish took over Cusco, it was the escape route many of the Incas took. Currently it is home to many villages between Lares and Ollantaytambo. The Salkantay is traditionally a 5 day trek, but the tour company we were looking into, Tierras Vivas, offered a 4 day option as well. My understanding is that it is more mountainous, a bit more difficult, but breathtakingly beautiful. We decided we wanted to learn more about the Quechua culture along with the views so we chose the Lares Trek – 3 days hiking and camping, then a hotel in Machu Picchu Pueblo, and Machu Picchu on day 4. We were ready.

 

The beautiful Lares Trail. Photo: Mario Marval

Will and I, seeing as we have nothing but time, arrived in Cusco early to allow about 4 days to acclimate for the trek. Mario and Mom, with jobs like normal people, were only able to arrive the day before we set off. That left us all an afternoon to pack, grab some food, and aim for a good night of sleep in our last night in beds for a bit.

 

Day 1: Transport and Hot Springs

Since we were on a private tour we were able to delay the usual start time to be picked up at 6:45am with time to grab a bit of our hotel’s breakfast. The drive from Cusco to Lares is about 3-4 hours with a few stops throughout for photos of the Sacred Valley, market adventuring if you need some trail snacks, and other photo points. We got to Lares and went immediately to the hot springs. The hot springs are S/. 10 a person and there are quite a few pools. After about 20 minutes soaking, we were all bright red and decided to get ready for lunch.  This was our first meal of many with our esteemed chef, Porfirio (Teacher). It was amazing, I can’t even remember what all the platters he cooked us were.

 

After a long drive, we were getting antsy to start the hike

 

After the long drive and the hot springs, we were all ready to get going on the hike we had for that day – about 2.5 hours. The morning was also nice and bright with blue skies, and as we were eating lunch the grey clouds started rolling in, we were ready to go to try to beat any rain that was coming. The first day’s hike was a nice introduction to get our legs moving. The sun was out every once in a while and the trail was not too tough. There were some ups and downs and river crossings, but overall a great way to get started.

When we reached our campsite, it was already set up for us with buckets of hot water to wash up. We took our wet wipe showers and then all met up in the tent with our guide for hot drinks (coca tea, hot chocolate, and coffee), popcorn and crackers. This also began the tradition of my mom and I eliciting numerous eye rolls from Will and Mario due to our detailed (and very interesting, if I might add) questioning of our guide, Adner, about the Inca civilization. This discussion continued through dinner (which I can’t remember what the meal all included, but I assure you, it was massive and delicious). With our bellies full of food and hot liquids, our brains full of new information to ponder, it was bed time.

 

 

Lots of beautiful children to give candies to! Photo: Mario Marval

Day 2: Hiking to the Top

The rainy season struck in the middle of the night. I remember waking up multiple times to the sound of pouring rain on the tent roof and hoping it would stop by morning. It didn’t. And my mom’s tent leaked over all her clothes. Yay Rainy Season! We got our wake up call at 5:30am, which was Teacher wishing us “Buenos Dias!” with steaming hot cups of coffee right to our tent for us to drink while we packed and got ready. Now that’s camping. We all met for breakfast (again, massive, delicious and hot) which was a big omelet and bread with of course, coca tea or more coffee. 

 

 

Luckily for us, the rain ended up stopping in time for us to start the most difficult hiking day of the trek. Before we get to our lunch spot, we were to hike about 4 hours, most of it being uphill, to our highest point on the trek – about 15,000 ft (4,500m). The uphill was usually very gradual until you finally near the top of the mountain. The most difficult part of the hike is definitely the altitude. It’s definitely a good place to go slow and take deep breaths. But we all made it in good time to the freezing top of the mountain. As mountains are sacred to the Quechua culture and the Incas, when we got to the top Adner gave us some info about the religion and beliefs. Or you know, to torture us in the cold.

 

15,000 ft high and we still look good

If you do this trek, and make it to the peak, it is quite literally all down hill from there. We walked about an hour or so more and stopped for lunch. Teacher had for us like 5 different giant platters of veggies, quinoa, and meat. After lunch we walked down to our final campsite which is in a larger town than we stayed the first night. Both of our campsites were courtesy of our horseman, Ignacio. Night 1 was at his house, and Night 2 was a friend of his. I cannot rave enough about the staff on the Tierras Vivas trek.

This definitely ended up being my favorite day of the hike. It was beautiful with cool temperatures and there were so, SO MANY llamas and alpacas to watch. Will has already promised me that one day we will own a plot of mountain side for an alpaca farm for Mario’s future alpaca lawn cutting service (the grass was very well groomed the whole trek). Also being in a larger town, a few of us decided to kick back with a beer and we all hung out and played cards for the night. After another delicious dinner, we went to bed. This time, to a fairly dry night.

 

 

Day 3: Hiking Down

“Buenos Dias!” More coffee in the tent. More great way to start the day. After our final delicious meal from Teacher, which was pancakes and banana/cheese stuffed pastry things, we took off on what was, to me, the day toughest on my poor knees. Downhill all day on stones. I hate downhill. It was technically fairly easy though, as it was down the road that takes you to Ollantaytambo, where the train takes you into Machu Picchu Pueblo. The day went really smoothly and we even got blue skies and sun. When we made it down for our 12:30pm train, we were all ready to sit down and relax for awhile.

 

Really ready for a break

In Machu Picchu Puebla (which was Aguas Calientes until recently), we went to our hotel, took deliciously hot showers, and went to check out town and get some dinner. We were ready for the main event on the next day, Machu Picchu.

 

Day 4: Machu Picchu

It was a little rainy right when we got up, so the original plan of rushing up to see the sunrise was not as vital. We did however take off before the sun came up to beat the heat for the steps up. It was about 2 hours to go from our hotel to the entrance of Machu Picchu on a shit ton of steps. And when I say a shit ton, I mean way more than I expected. Our guide warned us to bring a spare shirt for the top, and he was absolutely right. Compared to hiking around the mountains, it almost felt tropical going up in the humidity and sun so we were all pretty drenched on the top. Not good for photos.

Finally all dried and changed, we made our way in. It was unreal. Most of us have seen the photos, but being there is truly an unbeatable experience that no picture can truly capture. You realize when you finally make it to the top, that all the nice stone steps we raced up were not there when they built this city that housed hundreds of people on the strip of mountain top. Walking through the city you learn about all the brilliant ways these people lived, from building around a fault line to designing terraces to grow crops but not disrupt the mountain by causing any erosion or instability.

 

Photos or it didn’t happen. Photo: Mario Marval

We spent a few hours up there walking around, being pestered by llamas, learning about the culture (eliciting more eye rolls from the boys after the questions), and just enjoying the scenery.

While the rainy season may seem scary, the day was sunny with blue skies, the grass was green, and the breeze was cool. It was the perfect day to end our trek and experience the wonders of the ancients.

 

What We Packed – We each had our day packs and were given duffel bags for the horse

  • Hiking Pants (Or Shorts or Jeans)
  • 3-4 Shirts – Will is a firm believer in 1 shirt while hiking, the rest of us brought a few spares. It’s up to your comfort level. We all had a couple extra for when we were clean in Machu Picchu Pueblo and for when we got to Machu Picchu.
  • Sneakers/Hiking Boots
  • Socks and Underwear for all days
  • Rain Jacket – The company gave us all ponchos, but I liked having my raincoat too.
  • Hat
  • Gloves
  • Day Pack Rain Cover – The poncho was large enough to cover our day packs, but it was drizzly a lot the 2nd day so I liked having the additional cover.
  • Sweat Shirt/Flannel/Warm Jacket – Sleeping outside at 3,200m can get pretty chilly. It’s also nice to have dry warm clothes at the camp site for the evenings.
  • Warm clothes to sleep in
  • Walking Stick
  • Shampoo/Conditioner/toiletries you need
  • Toilet Paper for the 3 Days of the Trek
  • Camera
  • Hand Sanitizer
  • Wet Wipes
  • Sunglasses
  • Sunscreen
  • Bug Spray – Not really an issue on the trek, but I got bit a bunch at Machu Picchu. No one else did. But hey, there are some bugs up there.
  • Money – Be sure to have enough to tip the guide, horseman, and cook. We tipped the recommended amounts as a group. Also there are people selling souvenirs throughout the trek and Machu Picchu Pueblo has a bunch of restaurants, shops, etc. We were also on own for lunch after Machu Picchu and the entrance fee to the hot springs in Lares.
  • Snacks – We each had a few granola bars we bought in Cusco. However the meals fed to you throughout are massive
  • Candy – Throughout the trek you see indigenous children in the towns you pass through. We had little hard candies to hand to each of the children. However, we were asked to give the candy and not the wrapper to help prevent any littering, so it may be easier to find a candy without a wrapper to hand out.

 

We did it!!

 

Dune Buggies and Boozing in Ica

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After spending just a few days and a large part of our food budget in Lima, it was time to get back to the more adventurous part of backpacking. We took the quick 5 hour bus ride down to the desert town of Ica, known for its surrounding wineries and the neighboring oasis town of Huacachina.

Ica does not seem to have many hostel options but IcaAdventures 2 was quite a find. Located above a grocery store it featured air conditioned rooms, free breakfast, huge bathrooms, a bar, ping pong table, and many great places to just sit and chill.

Most people travel to Ica as a jumping off point to go to Huacachina, which is just 5 minutes outside of the city. Although one can stay at this location, we don’t recommend it. The town is small and the hotels/hostels seemed pretty rundown and shabby. You can go swimming in the lagoon, but the main attraction is the dune buggies and the huge sand dunes. Not only do you get to go zooming up and down these huge dunes in a massive ride, but you also get to ride a snowboard down some of the larger dunes.

 

 

We booked our trip to Huacachina through our hostel. For about $20 USD a person we got a ride to and from the oasis, 2 hours at a hotel pool, and our dune buggy ride booked. We probably would have skipped the two hours at the pool and just done the dunes if we were doing it again. Our time on the dunes ended up beginning around 4:30pm, and we would definitely recommend going late in the day like we did. That way you maximize your time on the dunes, and don’t get torched by the sun.

When I picture dune buggies I think of the coast of North Carolina, with rednecks cruising up and down beaches or the street in small, jerry-rigged pieces of shit. These Peruvian bad boys looked like something out of Mad Max, not Carolina Beach. Seating about 11 people including the driver, these were monsters compared to the dune buggies I had seen before.

 

 

At around 4:30 PM we headed out into the desert for some fun. And holy shit, was it fun! The driver would gun it up tall dunes, and then let off the gas as we would go flying down the other side, at what would seem an impossible downhill slope. This was Michelle’s and my first time in a desert like this and words do not do it justice. Who knew a big fucking pile of sand could be so beautiful?

 

 

After about half an hour of pure joy and a little terror we stopped at our first sandboarding place. Everyone grabbed a board and quickly applied wax to the bottom. While most of us went down on our stomachs, a few tried to ride down the dunes like they were shredding some mountain in Colorado. These people almost always got a mouthful of sand. After a series of dunes we hoped back in the buggie for more cruising. Soon, we came to another set of dunes for boarding, bigger than the last. After this set it was back to the lagoon for the sunset. Overall this was one of the most unique and fun things we had done. 

 

 

The next day was Valentines Day, so we decided what better way to spend it than to go boozing together. We were a little suspect of Peruvian wine because who the hell has heard of Peruvian wine? There are many tours taking you around to multiple wineries, we however just chose to hire a taxi (for S/.20 an hour) to visit the largest in Peru, Tacama (with the dubious claim of being the oldest winery in the America’s) which is on the outskirts of Ica. This winery was absolutely gorgeous and offered many different tours. Since we decided we wanted to save our money for alcohol, we chose the free one. The guide spoke English and was very informative. We toured the grounds, watched a short movie on the history of the winery, and even had a free sampling in the end. The wine was pretty sweet as suspected, but not bad.

 

 

Tacama also specializes in the making of pisco, which is a brandy like liquor made from grapes. We were even given a few samplings of pisco at the end of the tour as well. Pisco is everywhere in Peru, most notably featured in Pisco Sours, which every bar offers at happy hour as a 2 for 1 special. Not really impressed with the wine or in love with pisco, we decided on a sparkling wine after the tour. It was delicious and we quickly downed the bottle. We happily climbed into our taxi, our heads tingling with bubbles, and headed back to our hostel to continue the party. 

Ica was one of the most pleasant surprises of our trip this far. Get in, ride a buggie, and then get drunk. 

 

 

Michelle and Will Eat Lima

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Without a doubt one of the best parts of traveling is eating. Munching spicy, crispy chicken feet while shit faced on Soju in South Korea, slurping a mystery bowl of noodles in SE Asia, and chomping on shrimp burritos (Michelle and I daydream about these) while in Belize are some of my favorite traveling memories. As cheesy as it sounds, when I think of these meals I am instantly transported back. Not to just the food but to who I was with, what my life was like then, and all of the other memories associated with these trips.

While eating our way through the first part of the trip, I did not find too much culinary excitement but was still more than satisfied. While Colombia seems to rely on sheer volume and a deep fryer, and Ecuador’s coast provides more than decent seafood, there seemed to be something lacking in both cuisines that kept me wanting a little more. I love empanadas as much as the next guy, but variety is the spice of life.

Luckily, the shining beacon that is Lima, Peru is filled with enough great eats of all sizes, shapes, and prices to satisfy any traveler. With a little research, Michelle and I ate probably the best food we have ever eaten over a course of 2 ½ days. While the marathon of wine and beef in Argentina still awaits, I have a feeling I will happily trade that in for a few more days in Lima.

Lima is a giant city, and not all parts of it are safe for tourists, so we decided to stay and eat all of our meals in the Miraflores district. With its new high rise apartments and laid back attitude, it seemed quite different than the hustle and bustle of the other large cities we had visited. Lima seems to have a booming economy and an emerging middle class, who is more than happy to spend its extra income on exceptional food and drink.

Breakfast in Peru does not seem to vary much from just some bread and juice, so we decided that the free breakfast at the hotel would suffice and leave us more money (and room in our bellies) for our other meals. That left just 3 dinners and 2 lunches for our quick visit. With that, I poured through blogs and websites to get us a good mix and representation of the things that Peru does best. Needless to say, my homework paid off.  

One of my favorite surprises is that Peru has a strong sandwich culture. After several less than stellar sandwich offerings in other countries (hastily grabbed at bus stations), this had me salivating. So after a 9 hour bus ride I thought a large sandwich for dinner and then off to great night’s sleep was just what we needed. The internet kept pointing me to a sandwich chain called El Chinito. Started in Lima over 50 years ago with just one location, they have opened more stores with their huge popularity. These sandwiches feature Chinese style roasted pork on a hard roll, with fried sweet potatoes and pickled red onion. Although simple, the roasted pork was reason enough to eat here. While the sandwiches were delicious, Michelle and I both agreed that a large portion of the sliced pork was all we really needed, and the bread provided nothing more than a hand held delivery system for those on the go.

 

 

One cannot talk about the cuisine of Peru without mentioning ceviche. It is the national dish, seems to be on most menus, and is usually eaten for lunch. After the super limey and soupy ceviche of Ecuador (by no means bad, just different), we were ready to experience Peru’s version for our first lunch in Lima. There were a million options but I narrowed it down to the seafood oriented restaurant La Red. Holy shit did we hit the jackpot! For one, the quality of the seafood was second to none. While previous fish wilted under the large presence of citrus, this fish was firm and you could actually taste the flavor of the fish, not just lime. There was also squid, octopus, shrimp, and what we believe was conch in these delicious bowls of goodness. One of the most noticeable differences was the use of just a little heat in these ceviche’s, which really brought out the flavor. They also came with a large hunk of sweet potato, which helped contrast the acid with their natural sweetness. These ceviches were a measly $10 US each. Michelle and I have payed twice as much for ceviche in America that was not half as good, and just a fraction of the portion size.

 

 

Chef Pedro Miguel Schiaffino’s restaurant ámaZ was our dinner choice. With its focus on Amazonian ingredients, our love for strange foods (we did eat dog together) we thought we would be in store for some unusual treats. Motherfucking snails!

 

 

Look at these humongous guys! These huge shells are filled with delicious hunks of snail, swimming in a sea of caviar. These were one of the most delicious things we have ever eaten. We even got a second order of them after our entrées. Other great dishes were the Amazonian charcuterrie board filled with various sausages, a banana leaf wrapped tamale of sorts filled with smoked pork, and a huge chunk of the Amazonian fish also wrapped in a banana leaf. Add in a couple of cocktails and a dessert and our bill came out to $100 USD. But hey, if Michelle keeps booking us on all these crazy hikes, I am going to make us eat an expensive meal or two.

 

 

As great as our dinner was, we wanted to hit the Peruvian honey hole of seafood at least one more time while in Lima. With our bellies finally receding from the previous night’s gluttony, it looked like La Picanteria was a great way to get back on the train. As we walked in only 30 minutes after opening we discovered that the place was packed, filled with full grown men in bibs, with an hour wait in the dining room. Luckily our waitress took us over to two open stools at the small bar and told us we could eat in there. This restaurant had a bit of a different set up and required some explaining from our waitress. Luckily, Michelle’s Spanish has been getting stronger and stronger, or else who the hell knows what we would have ended up eating. We choose one whole fish, they make a ceviche with part of it, a fish head soup, and then we choose one of many preparations for the main entrée. All of this is served in large dishes, family style. We chose the fish chita (a Peruvian white fish) and selected the traditional preparation of Jalea Norteña. We ordered a large beer as we watched the bar to continue to fill up and wondered exactly what we had ordered. BEST.LUNCH.EVER. The ceviche came out first and was even better than the previous days. Also featuring the same sweet potato as yesterday, what really set it over the top was the fried shoe string fish parts (we really have no idea what it was) on the sides. We also discovered that our favorite part of any ceviche is the fish, and not the accompanying seafood.

 

 

After devouring our ceviche, our soup and entrée came out next. The soup was solid but required some work to get to the delicious parts of the fish head. Our entrée was the rest of the fish perfectly fried with a great sauce, pickled onion, on a bed of yucca and sweet potatoes. Simply unreal. The total cost of this feast was about 50$ USD. Worth every penny.

 

 

Michelle and I spent the afternoon drinking beers and playing cards, awaiting the next culinary delight. After our expensive meals, I opted for more of a street food approach for dinner. Grilled beef hearts. The restaurant Anticuchos Grimanesa was on about every Lima food article I read. Originally just a food cart, its huge popularity forced it into a brick and mortar establishment. Its owner, Tia Grimanesa is somewhat of a national hero. The place has a pretty basic set up. You order as soon as you walk in, two or three skewers, and wait for some seats to open up. This place is insanely popular and there is almost always a wait. You sit on a stool in the smoky restaurant and then are served. Although we have eaten our fair share of guts, we had never eaten heart before and were not sure what to expect. The hearts were absolutely phenomenal. They tasted like a perfectly cooked steak on the grill. And at about $5 a meal, the best deal on beef ever.

 

 

 

Lima’s reputation as a foodie destination is well deserved. We did not even begin to scratch the surface of its thousands of restaurants and ate like kings for a few days. So next time someone is planning an eating vacation, Lima should be at the top of the list.

 

Hiking in Huaraz

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Before beginning this trip, I saw some photos of this bright blue lake that was high in the Andes and decided “we are going there.” This blue lake happens to be a glacial lake located near Huaraz, Peru – Lake 69. We crossed into Peru about 2 weeks ago and have been steadily making our way south to the mountain range Cordillera Blanca. We started out in Peru with a few adventures on the coast beginning in Mancora. Here we tried to nap on the beach only to find a tide that came in so fast we almost started floating out to sea and spent our nights in bungalows that leaked, with a ginormous spider in the corner. From Mancora we had a couple of days in the hot, sticky city of Trujillo visiting the huge Chimu adobe pre-Columbian city, Chan Chan.

Once we had enough sweat on the Peruvian coast, we grabbed the 9hour bus into the mountains to Huaraz. Huaraz sits at 3,100m (10,100ft) so before any hiking was to take place we wanted to spend a couple of days acclimating and exploring the city. We stayed in an awesome hostel, Hatun Wasi, where the breakfast and chill room was on the roof with a 360° view of the surrounding mountain ranges. There are so many gorgeous snow-capped peaks surrounding the city, “acclimating” was a good excuse to just grab a book and coffee and enjoy. Our couple days of acclimating, however, quickly turned into a couple more because Will came down with a rather nasty case of food poisoning – we think the culprit was some fish from our bus stop lunch on the way. He was bed ridden for a couple of days so it was a good thing we had some nice views.

 

 

When he was finally feeling better, we decided we wanted to do 2 hikes – this was after all an outdoors-man’s paradise and there is no shortage of things to do. There is anything from a quick half day hike from town to a 10 day trek through the mountains. We knew we wanted to go to Lake 69 but were not sure what else, so we went to a tour agency to see what they recommended. The recommendation for our first hike was Mateo Peak – a 5100m (16,700ft) high mountain that you would trek through the glacier and reach the summit all before lunch and be home by 2pm. Neither of us have hiked through a glacier but were assured, “very easy, beginner!” so we signed on immediately. We got fit into our jackets, boots, and crampons and were giddy for our next day hike.

4am rolls around and our guide, Gustav, was early to pick us up at our hostel. Our ride, however was not. Maybe 20 minutes later, the driver shows up and we headed off for our 2 hour drive to the starting point. We got there and quickly got our gear on and packed our crampons and harnesses in our packs. The boots reminded me quite a bit of ski boots, and were very not fun to walk around in. When we took off, we immediately started climbing over rocks and through river beds to get to the glacier. To say I was struggling in the boots is a rather large an understatement – I was terrified to come back down. While Will and I were not so gracefully clomping up the mountain, Gustav bounded in front of us yawning and looked quite bored.

 

 

Unfortunately being in Peru in February lands you smack in the middle of the rainy season. We got a bit of snow, sleet, and fog during our climb, and Gustav told us if we were here in July, we would have been able to see for miles. After two hours of climbing up the mountain during which Will and I had many, MANY conversations about what the hell beginner means in Peru, we finally made it to the beginning of the glacier and began to put on the rest of our gear. We got on our harnesses Gustav took the lead, me in the middle, and Will in the rear and we took off. Gustav worked quite well to make good foot holdings for me in the snow and going up was rather enjoyable and challenging. Unfortunately, I loosened said footholds, and Will frequently slid down the mountain after us and had to scramble back up. I do not think his ascent was as enjoyable as mine. Nevertheless, 1.5 hours later we were at the summit! We couldn’t see much; it was a snowy, windy, blizzardy, tundra in which I’ve never been. It was gorgeous. Gustav even pulled out a flute and played us a song about mountains.

 

 

After a few photos and deep breaths, back down we went. This time we flipped the order and Will took the lead. Going down was a blast. We tried to stay upright, but basically slid down the snow on our butts for a few hundred meters until we reached the rock again. We removed the crampons but our guide told us to leave our harnesses on – which seemed practical to me. Why waste time and energy taking this off? It doesn’t bother me one bit. And we began our climb down. This was where my terror from earlier was leading up to, trying to walk down wet slippery rocks with hard plastic, inflexible boots for a couple of hours. It was actually not so bad. Slow and steady wins the race after all. After methodically working my way down, I finally catch up to Will and he looks at me and says “um, are we repelling down?” Sure enough, Gustav was tying up the rope to a rock and testing its length. The command to leave the harness on is beginning to make a lot more sense, despite another miscommunication with the tour operator. Though to be fair, I think Gustav was just bored and decided to do this on his own. Will and I have a special talent of getting the best guides – so it made sense to us he would be giving us a tour that may not be the most typical.

 

 

My nerves were pretty frayed, but Will was ready to go, so he jumped right in and repelled down the steep, mountainside river bed without hesitation. I was next and didn’t want to be a wuss so just went for it. I’ve gotta admit, it was really fun and a million times better than trying to work my way down the old fashioned, walking way. We got to the bottom, to the car, and were back Huaraz by 2pm as promised. We had no idea what we were signing up for, but it turned out to push our limits in more ways than one and was an amazing hike/climb/repel/thing.

 

 

We had one more day in Huaraz to get in the Lake 69 hike. This experience could not be more different than the one we had the day before. It is a very common acclimatization hike that is not overly difficult, so most tourists in Huaraz do it. We filed into a full van and followed 2 full buses to breakfast and then the trail head. The hike was one of the most enjoyable hikes I have ever done. You begin in a lush green valley with an impossibly bright blue river flowing through grazing cows with mountains and snow-capped peaks rising along the sides. After about a half hour we began rising to get to the lake and 2 hours later we found ourselves at 4,600m (14,900ft) and the bluest lake I’ve ever seen. The sun was out and there were plenty of rocks to sit on and enjoy some lunch (other people made sandwiches, Will and I opted to buy chips) so we spent some time just taking in the breathtaking view. I do realize every hiking post I say “this was the most beautiful/gorgeous/different hike/view I’ve ever seen!” It’s all true though. These countries are amazing.

 

 

It began to sprinkle a bit so we headed back down. 90% of our group was just getting to the lake after we had eaten so we took our time going down, figuring we had quite a while until the bus would head back to Huaraz. The rain quickly let up and we got a really clear view of the top of a peak nearby. We made it back to the van and hung out until the rest of our group got back. Turns out, 3 girls got lost so we had to wait awhile to leave – don’t worry, they were found. We finally got back to Huaraz at 7:30pm, ate a ginormous pizza and a calzone the size of a car then got ready to head to Lima the next day. While we didn’t do the long treks, I can only imagine at their beauty and difficulty. Maybe one day! Though when faced with Mateo Peak – Will says “never again” – we’ll see!

 

 

Cuenca – Our Future Home

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Will and I left Cuenca with plans to return in roughly 30 years to live out retirement in this beautiful city. It is the 3rd largest city in Ecuador and has quite a large population of ex patriots as it is. But who can blame them (or future us) -the city sits at 8,200 ft (2,500m) so has a delightful climate with a gorgeous national park nearby, a variety of restaurants, beautiful historic buildings resulting in a UNESCO city center, and so many other wonderful things we learned in our 4 days there.  

 

 

We got in after a long, not so great bus day from the coast. While we had just spent a lovely few days getting some sun and sand, we were ready (well I was, I think Will would have been content to stay in Canoa for another month), to get back to some city exploration and hiking. As I mentioned earlier, there are a fair amount of foreigners who reside in Cuenca (who appeared to be retired), so there are plenty of restaurants when we were looking for some comfort food – giant burgers, Mexican food, and Belgian sandwiches and frites – all of which we happily indulged in during our days here. There are also a ton of great 2/$5 cocktail deals around town and a Belgian style brewery that had a cherry sour (Will bought 4). All great things for days of long buses, hikes, or really anything else.

We wanted to spend the first day acquainting ourselves with the town. We walked to the city center, snapped some photos around town, and wandered into the New Cathedral and Old Cathedral (Iglesia de Sagrario). The Old Cathedral was built in the 1500’s and is no longer used as such (hence the New Cathedral), but it has been turned into an entertaining little museum which showcases some beautiful art from the original construction, paintings, old timey wardrobes, Spanish correspondences and ledgers from colonial days, and oddly, butterfly chairs. We were also really excited to visit Museo Pumapungo, an anthropology museum that happened to be right across the street from our hostel. It has a few sections – art gallery, history of Ecuadorian money, and anthropological history of the region including shrunken heads. Sadly for us, the whole anthropology section (which made up about 80% of the museum) was closed while we visited, so we didn’t get to see the shrunken heads – some of the few on display in the world. Our visit to the museum was roughly 20 minutes during which we looked at some old money and were quite thankful admission was free. 

 

 

The next morning at breakfast trying to decide how we wanted to proceed, we learned about the zoo (though more animal refuge), Amaru Zoológico Bioparque. A $5USD cab ride from the city center and a $6USD entrance fee, and we were in for 3 hours of wonder and fun. The biopark is situated on the side of a mountain overlooking Cuenca. While getting beautiful vistas of the city, we walked around learning about all kinds of creatures from the Andes and surrounding areas. This is more of an animal refuge than a zoo, so while the animals are in enclosures, it often takes you awhile to spot what you seek – one of Will’s special talents – as there is ample room for the animal to roam. Walking through we quickly learned that the animals present were primarily rescued – from a rare condor whose species is being hunted to extinction to a Galápagos tortoise whose shell was distorted as if someone carelessly felled a tree on top of it. Throughout the park there are also exhibits educating you on the dangers of deforestation, poaching, hunting, exotic pets, and pollution. We had so much fun finding these gorgeous creatures and learning about animals we had never seen or heard of. A few of our personal favorites included the tapir, ocelot, Spectacled (Andean) bear and Galápagos tortoises.

 

 

Riding our high from Amaru, we wanted to keep exploring so the next day we visited El Cajas National Park. This has been one of my personal highlights of our whole trip thus far. This is an excursion that costs next to nothing (my favorite) and was a landscape like I have never seen – a high grassland (páramo). The bus ride from Cuenca takes about an hour and is $2USD/person. They drop you right at the entrance where you pop in, choose a route (they have many that range from 2 hours to 8 hours), provide your passport information and head off. There is no entrance fee. We took our time hiking around as this is another high altitude hike, from 12,500ft-13,00ft (3800m-3955m) and we wanted to make sure we were enjoying ourselves the whole time without any of that pesky high altitude sickness- also because every 5 steps one of us had to stop to take another picture. We chose Route 1, a 3-4hour hike around a few lakes and through some ridges that can either take you out to a highway or loop back to the starting point. After setting out from the entrance, we saw no people on our trek other than a tent on the other side of one of the lakes. This is by far the most amazing hike I have ever been on, and if you find yourself in the region, I could not recommend it enough.

 

 

After our few days it was time to continue moving forward so we bought a night bus ticket to Peru for the next night. This left us one more day to explore the town. We came across a large market selling all ranges of fruits and meats, bought some nice art for our future home, and drank some coffee and a beer or 2. A pretty perfect Ecuador send off.

If you couldn’t tell for my incessant gushing – we are serious about retiring here. There was the museum we never finished seeing, restaurants we never got to eat at, hot springs we didn’t get to soak in, and hikes we missed. So much to return for!

 

 

Beach Time in Ecuador

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Choosing what beach town you want to visit in Ecuador can be overwhelming. It seems you could spend a full year going from the top of the country to the bottom, riding buses along the Pacific coast, never going inland, stopping at every little beach town, and still would not hit them all. So before choosing one, it is best to decide what exactly you want from your trip. There are small fishing villages, backpacker party spots, beaches for the locals, and everything in between. While many backpackers choose the party spot of Montañita, we decided to avoid this place altogether. Dread-locked juggling Argentinians begging for money and competing bars blasting music til 4 in the morning was not sounding very relaxing. 

After spending about a week in Ecuador at high elevations, we were ready to hit the towns on the smaller side, where we could just relax and do nothing. For this we chose the small town of Mompiche, located on the northern coast of Ecuador. To get there from the capital city of Quito, we took a 6 hour bus ride to Esmaraldas then another 1.5hr bus ride to Atacames. Atacames is the beach that most Ecuadorians go to (we were about the only gringos in the large coastal town) and was pretty deserted. We ended up with a nice hotel and took advantage of the pool before hitting the sack. 

 

 

The next morning we hopped on a bus for the short 2 1/2 hr ride into Mompiche. If you spend time here, make sure to bring plenty of cash because there are no ATM’s in Mompiche. We quickly checked into our hotel, the eco-friendly Mudhouse Hostel. This place was one of the first hostels on the dirt road into town, was only a 5 minute walk to the beach, and we had our own hut with a private bathroom for about $30 USD a night. There are plenty of other options in Mompiche for travelers on all types of budgets as well, from setting up your tent at a hostel to air conditioned rooms poolside. Mompiche was not as cool or breezy as we thought and although we were not miserable, we definitely were pretty hot at night with no air conditioning. There are also plenty of bugs so bug spray is a must.

So what did we do in Mompiche? Pretty much nothing. Put a towel down on the beach and read a book. There were people surfing but the waves were very small. There is a main beach in Mompiche plus two other options near by. One is a island that takes a little effort to get to (a quick taxi and boat ride) or there is Playa Negra, a black sand beach just a 15 minute walk from the main beach in town. Although many beaches in Ecuador feature cabanas you can rent for the day ($5.00), these beaches are void of those, so don’t expect to much luxury with your beach visits. The ocean was not too rough, and provided a calm swim to cool off from the hot sun.

 

 

One of the highlights of visiting the coast of Ecuador is all of the seafood. Although Mompiche is small, there are plenty of Ecuadorian restaurants along the main drag, plus some gringo options along the last road that runs perpendicular with the beach. We ate delicious ceviche and whole fried fish almost every night for about $10 USD a person. Lunches featured a soup followed by a main dish of rice, a salad, and usually some sort of seafood and a juice for about $3.00 a person. 

 

 

As far as nightlife there is very little. There are a few restaurants, bars, and hostels that offer 2x$5 drink specials and live music but they are few and far between. We did have one rainy day (Inauguration Day) but we just bought a bottle of rum, drank at our hostel, and cursed our new orange skinned, tiny handed, petulant, shithead of a president. 

 

 

We loved our time in Mompiche, but were ready for a little more comfort after 4 days and headed to Canoa. This was a little bit of an adventure with 3 bus changes plus a hour stop to use the one ATM between the cities, in Pedernales, that had a line about 20 deep. Canoa and the surrounding area was hit by a massive earthquake about a year ago but seemed to be quick on the recovery. The only real evidence of any damage were some empty lots and new construction projects. 

 

 

We found a great hotel with a balcony beach view and air conditioning for about $35 a night. It was welcome after sweating through our sheets the previous few nights. Canoa has a ton of beach cabanas available to rent for $5 USD and many restaurants along the beach to eat more delicious seafood. During the day there are vendors who walk by selling food, sunglasses, etc. None of them were pushy and it was not a distracting at all. On our last night, Michelle opted for this seafood spaghetti, which we are pretty sure is intended for a family of four.  

 

 

The coast of Ecuador was everything we wanted it to be. If you want relaxation and delicious seafood, Mompiche and Canoa are great spots to do nothing. 

 

 

Cotopaxi Volcano Adventures

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Will and I both reached our highest elevations hiking when we hiked up Cotopaxi, the highest active volcano in the world which stands at 5,897m (19,347ft). I should clarify, we hiked to about two thirds up the highest active volcano in the world – but that’s still pretty high. Cotopaxi is in a national park located just south of Quito and can often be seen from quite a distance on a clear day – though we did not have many clear days so didn’t see it until we were there. It is pretty unique in that it has an almost a complete conical shape, basically how you want volcanoes and mountains to look in elementary school. The park was reopened a year ago after being closed due to increased volcanic activity, though when we were visiting you still couldn’t hike to the very top due to gas emissions from the crater. I believe our guide said by the end of January 2017 it would be opened again for treks. 

 

You can kinda see the peak up there!

I volunteered in Ecuador back in 2010 and visiting Cotopaxi volcano is something that always stuck with me – hiking up to a glacier when you are basically straddling the equator is not easily forgotten. I decided I needed to bring Will on our trip here. We spent a night in the town near the national park, Latacunga, and booked a tour through our hostel. Along on our trip were 3 others hiking to glacier with us and 2 who were getting horseback rides around the base for a couple of hours (and our luck with equine family continues – but more on that later). We set off on a foggy morning at 8:30am for about a 20 min drive to the park entrance and were planning to climb on the north side, where our guide assured us it was very clear. 

 

 

Pro tip if you do this trip – try to avoid a tour with people riding horses. The ranch we needed to take them was about an extra hour each way from where we were to climb. This made it so our day was primarily spent riding around the national park in the car instead of enjoying the volcano. This caused us to begin hiking quite late in the morning, and I was nervous we would be stuck in the clouds all day, but we did get lucky and got some great views of the peak while we were hiking. 

 

 

The hike begins at around 4,500m (14,700ft) and you only hike up to 4864m (15,953ft) to a refuge on the glacier. Fun fact from our guide – this is higher than the highest mountain in Europe, Mont Blanc, which stands at 4,809m (15,778ft). He was very, very good with remembering altitudes of every mountain he had ever heard of. It doesn’t sound very far, and didn’t take very long, but it is a very high altitude so it is definitely a different type of hiking. While I’ve only been hiking at those altitudes once before, I spent a lot of time at high altitudes as a kid, but this was one of Will’s first experience with it and it can be difficult on your body. Since the air is so thin and there is quite a bit less oxygen than at sea level, it is very easy to run out of breath and get dehydrated which causes other effects – like headaches. He was kinda grumpy. Once we got to the top though and we were able to sit, catch our breath, drink lots of water and hot chocolate, all was better and after a few photos we headed back down. 

 

Even if it’s really pretty, altitude sickness is no fun 🙁

Afterwards we went to look at a lake and had a delicious potato soup lunch. We headed back to town and on the way, we ran out of gas (see, beware of horses!). It was okay though, we got an ice cream break while our guide ran and filled up a water bottle to get us back to town.

 

 

White Water Rafting in Tena

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Last time I went white water rafting I was crying. I was about 8 years old and in the mountains of North Carolina. Never one for roller coasters, rides, or thrills of any kind I was freaking out. We were on the last run of what was probably a class 1 rapid and it had a big (2 ft) drop at the very end. I did not want to go and was hugging on to my mom’s waist in protest. There was an option to skip the drop and walk to the finish line, but my mom was having none of it as she was always big on making us do stuff we did not want to do. She gave me a look and told me tough cookies, and to hop on the raft. 26 years later I decided to finally give rafting another shot, and luckily did not cry while clutching onto my wife. But, I would be lying if I did not admit I was still a little nervous. Once a wuss, always a wuss. 

 

 

There are many options in Ecuador for white water rafting. Tena and Baños are two main cities where backpackers flock to for all kinds of water sports and adventure. We chose Tena because my wife was lightly stalked by a rafting guide about six years ago in Baños while volunteering in Ecuador, so it was a no brainer. Tena is small city in the middle of the country, on the Amazonian eastern side. It has been a popular tourist destination with its proximity to the jungle and all of the extreme sports that entails. At this point I also feel it is important to add that if you don’t have a waterproof camera, this is as good a reason as any to buy one. 

We arrived in Tena on a Thursday after a hellish 6 hour bus ride from the capital of Ecuador, Quito. Although we read it usually takes 4-5 hours, when you stop every 100 yards to pick up or drop of a passenger, the estimated time of arrival quickly grows. We checked into our hostel and asked about a rafting trip for the next day, since a few of my emails went unanswered from some of the tour companies. She quickly called AquaXtreme who sent someone over to our hostel within 5 minutes to tell us about their tour. Although there are many options, we wanted to do a one day trip down the Jatunyacu (meaning “Big River” in Quichua). It is a class 3 with plenty of fun rapids, scenic views, and was a good difficulty for people of any level. He explained that for $63 USD a person we got an English speaking guide in our boat, a safety kayak (he also took pics), a great lunch, all of our gear, transportation, and around 4 hours on the river. We were the only ones on our trip (yay private trip and front seats the whole time!), but it should be noted that if you do have a full boat, the price drops. We paid a small deposit and were told we would be picked up around 8:30 the next morning and would be done around 3 or 4 in the afternoon. Items to bring would be sunscreen, a small amount of cash, a waterproof camera, and a towel or change of clothes for after the trip. 

The following day we were picked up in a truck along with our guides, right on time. After a quick stop at the office to pay off our balance, we were off! It was a quick 30 minute ride into the jungle and we were at the drop off point. We were quickly fitted with our gear and given a thorough safety lesson. It was immediately apparent that we were in for a great time. Although all of the companies use the same drop off point, all the guides seem to free lance. They all know each other, seem to all be having a blast, and do tours for different companies. Our guide’s father was manning another companies raft, while his brother manned another. A small walk down the hill to the river and we were off, with the other rafts not far behind. 

 

Our guide asked what kind of trip we wanted as soon as we got in the river. Did we want a rough ride, an easier ride, a little of both, etc. Since it has been raining and the river was high with great wake, we decided for a rough/fun ride. As our guide quickly went over the paddle commands he gently pushed me off the boat, and into the river. Although cold, my fear of rafting quickly dissipated as I was easily pulled on board after a quick swim.  

Although it made the paddling a little harder, having our own boat was amazing. Being in the front has the best views and we even made a small pit stop that the other boats did not. After early rapids our guide quickly pulled of on the side of the river under a waterfall so our safety kayak could take some pics of us. Our guide also pointed out indigenous communities and many of the plants and there uses along the way. I cannot say enough about what an amazing job he did. He clearly had been doing this a long time and knew his shit. 

 

 

After an hour of scenic river views and roller coaster rapids we pulled off on a bank where another river joined the Jatuncaya. Our guide cut down some fruit for us to try and showed us some other plants and there medicinal uses to the indigenous people of the region. Here we met some of the other passengers on the other boats who seemed to be having as much fun as us. 

We had another hour on the river and then lunch. This hour featured Michelle riding the front of the boat through the rapids like it was a bunking bronco while I paddled and laughed my ass off. After my quick push in at the beginning of our trip, Michelle quickly passed me as she fell out twice in the rapids. We soon stopped for lunch at an indigenous community who works with the companies to provide a place for the tours to stop. The indigenous are very welcoming and sell a variety of jewelry and other goods. Our lunch was a do it yourself burrito bar, banana bread (homemade by our safety kayaker’s grandma), and tea/water. After all the paddling it really hit the spot. Then we had some more plant life learning time with our guide, and hopped back in the raft. 

 

 

The last two hours of the trip featured more of the same. This time I got to sit on the front of the boat through rapids while Michelle paddled. I fared better and was not thrown into the river. More swells and rapids followed, as did Michelle’s many plunges into the river from our raft. Final count Will-2, Michelle-5. We also got to try and get our raft vertical with our guide pulling a rope attached to the front. As you might guess, this is fun as shit. Not only did we tumble into the river, but our guide did as well. We soon pulled up to our final destination tired, and with huge grins on our faces. 

 

 

From there it was a quick 10 minute ride into town. We cannot recommend this trip enough. Obviously we loved using AquaXtreme, but there seems to be quite a few other reliable companies such as River People Rafting or Rios Ecuador. All of the companies offer many different trips (kayak, rafting, treks) so you should have no problem finding one that fits your taste.