Well Lynz wrote the last blog and I will try to pick up where she left off which I believe was on our final day in Mantinita, the hippie beach town in Ecuador...
We took an overnight bus to Mantinita from Cotapaxi where we had spent the previous three days and arrived at 530 in the morning. We found a nice little hostel on the beach and passed out for half the day. When we woke up we were STOKED to be able to change into shorts and tee shirts and not be freezing for once! Some of us accessorised more then others.
The next morning we finally committed to going to Isla De La Plata, which is an island about 30 or so miles off shore and is marketed as the ¨poor mans Galapagos¨. We had gone back and forth on weather we wanted to go out there because there were not really suppose to be any animals, just birds. We decided when else would we have a chance to do something like that, and if we took decent enough pictures maybe we could pass them off as the real Galapagos haha. So we boarded our boat at about 9 in the morning for the two hour ride out there. The way there was pretty cool, the humpback whales hang out off the coast of Ecuador this time of year and because there are no rules or regulations, the boats come up with in feet of the whales, which is quite breath taking.
When we arrived on the island it was kind of like arriving in Waianie...HOT and DRY, there were no trees or rocks or anything, just dirt and bushes. Our guide did not speak any English, so even if he did have some interesting facts about dirt or heat, we didn´t get them. We were pretty much ready to get back on the boat after about 5 mins on this island. He broke our tour up into two groups and we started walking in opposite directions. Most of the group went the opposite direction as us and we soon figured out why. Our group was walking around the whole island while the other group was just going to a lookout point. Two and a half hours later, drenched in sweat and covered in dust we met back up with the rest of group where we found Puffins, Blue and Red footed boobies all over the backside of the island which was pretty cool except we walked for two and a half hours to get there and the other group only had to walk for like 20 mins to get there!!
The boat ride back was also pretty cool, the boat let us snorkel off the backside of the island, and there was quite a bit too see down there. It wasn´t like any snorkel tour I had been on before, where they brief you, tell you where to swim and get in with you to make sure you can swim and all that. Nope, they just hand you a mask (no fins) tell you to jump overboard and hope for the best! I was a little worried that I was going to spend my snorkel time rescuing drowning Ecuadorians, but fortunatly they have more swimming abilities then Mexicans and more common sense - not one of them went swimming with their blue jeans on!
That night we took another overnight bus across the boarder into Peru, you could instantly see the difference between the two countries. Peru is much less developed then Ecuador and its a dust bowl! There are seriously hardly any trees or plants, theres no farming or livestock like there was in Ecuador, if they can figure out a way to sell dust, they will be the richest country in the world hands down! Our destination was a hostel in the town of Mancora called Loki. We had heard really nice things about it and it was suppose to be on the beach and sunny all the time. We walked up to the front gate and into what seemed like club med or something! This place was amazing! It had a huge pool, it was on the sand, there was some surf right outside, everyone was laying out in the 85 degree weather, and because we were now in Peru everything was even cheaper!
We stayed at Loki for two and a half days, just laying out sleeping in, staying up late and relaxing, pretty much a perfect weekend. But then on Monday night we had to pack it up and prepare for our 20 something hour bus ride down the coast of Peru to Lima, where we would switch buses for another 20 something hour bus ride inland to Cuzco where we are now. The first bus we were not able to get first class, so it was pretty much the equivalent of coach on an airplane but a little more comfortable because our seats went back like an eighth of an inch farther then on an airplane. But our second bus we did manage to score first class which was pretty amazing. We each had our own lazy boy recliner type chairs that layed down almost flat, and huge Windows to look outside at all the Peruvian dirt until the sunset.
So tomorrow we are getting picked up by our tour group at 600am and heading off to hike the Inca trail to Machu Picchu for the next four days. We elected to stay at the base of the mountain an additional night so that we can go to Machu Picchu two days in a row in case the weather isn´t cooperating the first day. Its forcasted to be pouring rain for the next seven days which would be hell hiking soaking wet for 72 hours then looking at a cloud instead of Machu Picchu for all of our hard work. So please wish us some good weather, and we will have five days worth of stories and pictures for you upon our return!
Sean-Lynz-Jono
Good thinkin' staying at Aguas Calientes. When you get to MP after the trail you will probably be too tired to care much for it and it was super cloudy until about 11am that morning...and you get there at sunrise.
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