Of all the places in Peru that we’d been so far to get stranded, we lucked out with Trujillo. It is another town in the desert with about a quarter of a million residents. It was founded by Francisco Pizarro. It has a “spit shiny” central park. And most important, the guy at the desk […]
Yes, that is a Peruvian hairless dog in the picture above. We saw it at one of the pyramids we visited. Near Chiclayo is a world-class museum called the Museo Tumbas Reales de Sipán, or Royal Tombs of Sipán Museum. This royal Moche tomb was discovered in the late 1900’s. The excavation found a treasure […]
We got up early and shared a cab to Loja with Canadian biologist Duane and his retire teacher wife Susan. By 7:30 we were on the bus to Piura, Peru. It is about an 8 hour ride, including an hour at the border. Obviously, we were riding in style – When we reached the border, […]
Now that we have left Ecuador, I thought it might be interesting to put together a (potentially exhausting) list of random things we’ve seen. Dollars Ecuador uses the U.S. dollar as its currency. This can be a problem when the dollar is strong, as it makes Ecuador expensive for other countries. There is a massive […]
Susan, a Canadian friend from Izhcayluma, invited me to go on a bike tour with her. Ellen was delighted to have me gone, and was signed up for a massage, writing, and e-mailing. The ride was promised to be downhill all the way, with a taxi (in these parts they are all pickup trucks) hauling […]
Perhaps it’s because Izhcayluma is not on VRBO, Airbnb, or Booking.com, and that we found it through word of mouth, (Regina, our Swedish travel buddy). It seems like most of the people we met here found it the same way. In any event, it is a fantastic hotel/hostel, and we recommend it to all. We […]
One hears much about Vilcabamba when one is in Ecuador. It has a reputation of being a special place with extreme longevity of its inhabitants. I won’t get into this, but rather refer you to wikipedia for a full discussion: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vilcabamba,_Ecuador. This reputation has brought a slew of gringos here to visit and live, particularly of […]
We left the enjoyable town of Tena headed for Baños. The weather wasn’t great, it was cloudy and rainy. When you say cloudy here, it very well may mean that you are actually in the clouds – cloud forests, etc. Things didn’t work out like we’d expected, as we missed our stop. One of the […]
We went to the Mindo Mariposario, or butterfly farm. It is a butterfly research center that studies and breeds butterflies. At least half are released into the wild, but some stay back to help support the organization. It is extremely well run, and a beautiful facility. On the way in, we were able to see […]
There were moments in Mindo if I wondered if the “Cloud Forest” moniker was a PR gambit to try to put a good face on “Rain Forest.” In hindsight, it’s probably closer to the truth, even though we had more rain in our several days in Mindo, than in the rest of our two+ months […]
Love seeing these in my Inbox in the morning! Keep it up, (...)
You two continue to inspire us with your adventures! Thanks (...)
How fun to hear about all of your travel buddies! It (...)
Do you have any door photos for my
Gorgeous! Thanks for sharing the