We arrived in Quito on the 26th of February. We checked in at our hostel, L’Auberge Inn. The hostel was pretty nice and had hot water! Halleluiah! The one down side was that our room was freezing cold, as was everything else in the city. Quito is a really beautiful city, although it was about 50-60 degrees the whole time we were there, and usually rainy in the afternoons. Quite a change from the 80’s we’ve been accustomed to. In Ecuador they use the US dollar, which was odd but a nice remembrance of home. Plus, we didn’t have to worry about the conversion rate.
We woke up early on the 27th and took a cab to El Panicello aka The Little Loaf. At the top was a really beautiful statue of the Virgin made of some silvery material. She was holding a dragon with a chain. We also got some really nice views of the city and the surrounding mountains. Afterwards, our cab driver dropped us off in the Old Town. There we wandered around Plaza Grande and got something to eat. After lunch we went to the Monastery of Santa Catalina. A guide showed us around and to our surprise took us to the roof of the building. We had to climb up some teeny tiny stairs, manoeuvre under the church bell and then finally hop up onto the roof, where we had some good views of Old Town. According to our Lonely Planet, the roof of the monastery has the strangest view in Quito. It was strange and scary, because there was no kind of security or fencing on the roof, so we could have easily slipped off. After a shaky walk down we wandered to Santo Domingo, and stayed there for a bit. Next we made our way back to our hostel. Along the way we stopped at the Basilica del Voto Nacional, which is known for having the deadliest view in Quito. The church had three towers, two of which you could climb. We went to the shortest one first, and had to cross a rickety old plank to get to it. We climbed some steep ladders and finally made it to the top, where we had to catch our breath. It was pretty scary, although not as scary as we expected. We went to the other tower thinking it wouldn’t be too bad, but boy were we wrong! This second tower was much higher, so it took longer to get to the top. We kept thinking we had reached the top, but there was still more to go. When we were unable to climb anymore, the floor was just some small support beams and thick chicken wire. We noticed that we were able to go out onto the ledge, which is about a 2 by 2 foot area on the very edge of the church. We carefully made our way onto it, and we were sufficiently freaked out! After taking a few pictures, we hurried back inside and made our way back down to firm ground. That night we decided to go to the local cinema and see a movie, 27 Bodas. A cab to and from the theatre, and two movie tickets only cost us $13. You can barely buy one ticket for that price back home!
On the 28th we got up somewhat early and took a bus into Old Town, where we then caught another bus to Mitad del Mundo, otherwise known as the equator. It’s located about an hour outside of the city of Quito. Other than the equator line and a monument, there was also several stores and restaurants. After taking pictures of us straddling the northern and southern hemispheres, we had lunch and a few beers. That was about all there was to see there, so we took a bus back to the city. That night we went to Quito’s Finn McCool’s! We had found a flyer for it the previous day, so we had to make sure we stopped in and have a few pints. The place was alright, but a few too many gringos for our tastes so we went to a nearby club, Matrioshka. We paid $10 each for cover, which got us unlimited drinks for the whole night! The place was pretty dead, but we met a really nice Ecuadorian, Cesar who we talked to all night. They had no tequila, so we kept taking whiskey shots all night. Oh god, why?! We loved the DJ, because he would play anything we wanted. We danced until closing around 2amish. As the bar was closing us, Cesar and the bartender all ended up going to this after hours place. We hopped in Cesar’s car and drove a few minutes to the club. At this point the night got a little fuzzy. We’re pretty sure we were the life of the party; dancing, drinking and talking to everyone! We are so cool!
We woke up the following morning, confused as to exactly how we got home. We may have taken a cab, or possibly Cesar gave us a ride. After two months of being in South America, this is the most drunk we’ve gotten thus far; which is quite a feat for us. This day we were definitely paying for the night before. We donned our hoodies and sunglasses and ate at the restaurant below our hostel. The rest of the day we pretty much lounged around the hostel, trying to get well enough for that night. We got ready and left the hostel around 11pm. We first went to a place called No Bar, which was described to us as a college bar with beer bonging and dancing on the tables. Well, it was a bar. But all we saw were old people dancing to 80s and 90s music. The music was good, but the people weren’t our cup of tea, so we left. We went to another club that had techno and salsa music and stayed there until close. For after hours we went to some place that had taco in its name. We got there and not too many people had arrived yet, but the music was good so we danced. We stayed for about an hour and then got home around 330am.
Saturday morning we were a little hungover again, but not as bad the night before. We checked out at 12pm and made our way to the hotel where our Galapagos Islands tour was to start. Our hotel was the nicest thing we’d seen in months! We each had our own double sized bed, a fridge, a flat screen TV with cable, a 180 view of the city, and hot showers. We were in heaven! We refused to leave our room, so we ordered room service. Twice. At 6pm we had a quick welcome meeting with our group. Afterwards we went right back to our room for some more quality time with the TV.
We woke up early on Sunday morning, as we had to leave our beloved hotel at 7am to get to the airport to catch our flight to the Galapagos!
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Iquitos, Peru
We arrived in Iquitos, Peru in the afternoon. Iquitos is the largest city in the world that can not be reached by road. At the dock we met a guy who offered to take us to a hostel. We got in the back of his taxi, which was just a motorbike with a carriage like thing attached in the back; it kinda resembled a motorized Chinese rickshaw. The hostel we stayed at wasn’t the best, but it had a pool and only cost us $20 for 2 nights! After checking in we headed toward the main square, Plaza de Armas. We found an internet café and food, life’s two main essentials. We ate at Ari’s Burgers, which was an American 50’s style restaurant. There was tons of different kinds of food, even milkshakes! As we were finishing our meal an old man and his son were trying to ask if they could have the rest of our food. They were motioning at us from the street, but we tried to ignore them. Finally the kid came in as we were leaving and asked for the leftovers. We said sure, and he put Katie’s pasta in a plastic bag. After dinner Leif made us get ice cream, and we saw the two eating our food from their plastic bag. We feel really sad about their situation, but we have become somewhat callous to beggars everywhere because we see them so much. We walked around the square and saw a pretty purple fountain, and then returned to our hostel.
The next day was pretty much the same as the first. There wasn’t a whole lot to do in the town. In the afternoon we took advantage of the pool and went swimming for a bit. We went to bed early that night, as we had to wake up at 4:30am to catch our 7am flight to Quito, Ecuador.
The next day was pretty much the same as the first. There wasn’t a whole lot to do in the town. In the afternoon we took advantage of the pool and went swimming for a bit. We went to bed early that night, as we had to wake up at 4:30am to catch our 7am flight to Quito, Ecuador.
Leticia, Colombia
Our river boat docked in Tabatinga, Brazil. From there we took a 5 minute taxi to Leticia, Colombia. Our taxi was a car, but the majority of taxis here are motorbikes, which is funny! We checked in at our hotel, which had a TV..with more than one channel..and in English! We were happy! The first thing we did after dropping our bags off was find an Internet café. We were desperate to check our e-mail after a week long boat trip; we felt reconnected to the world! At the Internet café a guy approached us and asked where we were staying, because he owned a guesthouse. We said we already had a place, but he still offered to help us with anything else we needed. We asked about getting boat tickets from Leticia to Iquitos, Peru. He explained it, and it was more complicated than we had anticipated. So, we set up a time to meet him the next day, so that he could help us buy the boat tickets. That night we ate at a nearby restaurant with a cute waiter, and then we just watched TV the rest of the night.
The next morning we got up early to go meet our friend. When we arrived to his guesthouse we discovered he only had room to take one of us, as we would be traveling on a motor bike. Leif stayed behind and was put in charge in case anyone needed anything, and Katie hopped on the back of his red motor bike. They crossed the border back into Brazil and went to a Peruvian restaurant to buy the boat tickets. They made it safely back and found Leif still in tact. He had talked to an old hippie guy at the guesthouse, who said Tabatinga had six shootings in the last week, but Leticia was much safer. Thankfully we had decided to stay on the Colombian side! After getting our tickets we went to a restaurant and got some banana pancakes and all you can drink juice..yum! After lunch, we still needed to get our Brazilian exit stamp in our passports. Since it was a nice day, we figured we could get some exercise and walk back to the Brazilian side. After about 10 minutes we were sweating like whores in church! We crossed the border into Brazil, where there is absolutely no border control at all! We got to Policia Federal only to find out that they have lunch from 12pm-2pm. We got there at 12:15pm. So we kept on walking and found a place to have a few cervazas and watch some Brazilian soap operas. Two hours later we returned to the place, got our stamp in about 2 minutes and then walked back to Colombia! That night we had planned to go out, but it was absolutely pouring and we were tired, so we decided to stay in.
The next day we slept in and had a late breakfast/early lunch. We got BBQ chicken wings for an appetizer, and then even gave us plastic gloves to eat them with. How considerate! We walked around the town and saw what little sights Leticia had to offer. For dinner we found a buffet like place. We had steak, a plateful of food and unlimited juice for $5 total! Amazing!
We got up at 3am the next day and were picked up by a cab at 3:15. He took us to the dock in Tabatinga, where we caught a water taxi to the Peruvian island of Santa Rosa. From Santa Rosa we caught our fast boat to Iquitos, Peru. The ¨fast¨boat took about 10 hours, but we did get a pretty tasty meal on the trip. Our luggage was stored on top of the boat which made us quite nervous, but thankfully it was still there when we arrived at our destination.
The next morning we got up early to go meet our friend. When we arrived to his guesthouse we discovered he only had room to take one of us, as we would be traveling on a motor bike. Leif stayed behind and was put in charge in case anyone needed anything, and Katie hopped on the back of his red motor bike. They crossed the border back into Brazil and went to a Peruvian restaurant to buy the boat tickets. They made it safely back and found Leif still in tact. He had talked to an old hippie guy at the guesthouse, who said Tabatinga had six shootings in the last week, but Leticia was much safer. Thankfully we had decided to stay on the Colombian side! After getting our tickets we went to a restaurant and got some banana pancakes and all you can drink juice..yum! After lunch, we still needed to get our Brazilian exit stamp in our passports. Since it was a nice day, we figured we could get some exercise and walk back to the Brazilian side. After about 10 minutes we were sweating like whores in church! We crossed the border into Brazil, where there is absolutely no border control at all! We got to Policia Federal only to find out that they have lunch from 12pm-2pm. We got there at 12:15pm. So we kept on walking and found a place to have a few cervazas and watch some Brazilian soap operas. Two hours later we returned to the place, got our stamp in about 2 minutes and then walked back to Colombia! That night we had planned to go out, but it was absolutely pouring and we were tired, so we decided to stay in.
The next day we slept in and had a late breakfast/early lunch. We got BBQ chicken wings for an appetizer, and then even gave us plastic gloves to eat them with. How considerate! We walked around the town and saw what little sights Leticia had to offer. For dinner we found a buffet like place. We had steak, a plateful of food and unlimited juice for $5 total! Amazing!
We got up at 3am the next day and were picked up by a cab at 3:15. He took us to the dock in Tabatinga, where we caught a water taxi to the Peruvian island of Santa Rosa. From Santa Rosa we caught our fast boat to Iquitos, Peru. The ¨fast¨boat took about 10 hours, but we did get a pretty tasty meal on the trip. Our luggage was stored on top of the boat which made us quite nervous, but thankfully it was still there when we arrived at our destination.
River Boat up the Amazon
Our hotel in Manaus drove us to the dock to catch our riverboat up the Amazon River around noon. At the dock we took a water taxi in order to get to the actual boat. On the lower level of the boat it’s all cargo stuff and on the upper level it’s filled with people in hammocks. There were so many, they were practically on top of one another. Thank god we got a cabin! Our cabin was way nicer than expected; it was pretty roomy, with a double bed, dresser, our own bathroom with shower (even though the sink and shower water was basically brown, river water), AC, and a TV. The TV only had one channel all in Portuguese, but without it we would have gone insane! At least we got a chance to get up to date on all the Brazilian soap operas and talk shows. We were also able to watch one bad American film dubbed in Portuguese a day. There was a dining room where we had our meals, but to get there we had to crawl over, under and between people in hammocks and their luggage. On the top level there was an open area, which had a little store where we could buy some food, drinks and toiletries. Everyone else on the boat was a native, we were the only gringos there. So everyone stared at us, especially the little kids! They were probably wondering what the heck we were doing there, because it definitely was not on the regular tourist circuit.
We were on the boat for 5 nights and 6 days. Our days consisted of breakfast at 6am, lunch at 10am, and dinner at 5pm. We had to make sure to get in line at least 20 minutes early, because all the ¨hammock people¨would get there super early. They would only let twelve people at a time in, so we had to wait until each group finished their meal. The food was mostly cold spaghetti, rice and some sort of meat. Between meals we would sleep a lot, watch TV and try to sunbath (weather permitting). At night we’d have a few drinks of rum. We bought a fifth of rum in Manaus for only $2.50!! It was amazing how cheap it was. Since we had to entertain ourselves, after our cocktail hours we would have makeovers, photo shoots and dance parties. We were pretty bored, but the week actually went by fairly fast. We finally arrived in the Triple Frontier (the triborder of Brazil, Peru and Colombia) where we had to go onto another boat just to get to land. It was definitely an interesting and different experience to have, but probably our last time on an Amazonian river boat for a week.
We were on the boat for 5 nights and 6 days. Our days consisted of breakfast at 6am, lunch at 10am, and dinner at 5pm. We had to make sure to get in line at least 20 minutes early, because all the ¨hammock people¨would get there super early. They would only let twelve people at a time in, so we had to wait until each group finished their meal. The food was mostly cold spaghetti, rice and some sort of meat. Between meals we would sleep a lot, watch TV and try to sunbath (weather permitting). At night we’d have a few drinks of rum. We bought a fifth of rum in Manaus for only $2.50!! It was amazing how cheap it was. Since we had to entertain ourselves, after our cocktail hours we would have makeovers, photo shoots and dance parties. We were pretty bored, but the week actually went by fairly fast. We finally arrived in the Triple Frontier (the triborder of Brazil, Peru and Colombia) where we had to go onto another boat just to get to land. It was definitely an interesting and different experience to have, but probably our last time on an Amazonian river boat for a week.
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