mancora and good-bye peru!

there is something about the beach that turns time into molasses.  we spent four wonderfully chill days in mancora, which is a little surf town in northern peru (about an hour or so from the border).  mancora is known for the best beaches in peru but is also known as a bit of a party town.  as i said before we hadn't intended to stop here, but with a few days to spare we decided the beach would be a great place to spend our last days in peru.

we found this little place at the far end of the beach....away from the beach bars and party scene (todd has already been offered cocaine several times despite our efforts to stay away from all the crazy!).  it was a very chill place with nice rooms and hammocks.....and just steps from the beach so the waves lulled us to sleep every night

a simple breakfast was provided in the mornings...

the owners also had a puppy....one of those weird hairless dogs! they feel so bizarre!

....being in a surf town we did rent a couple boards and the kids spent an afternoon learning how to surf.

 todd hardly surfed himself he just mostly helped push the kids on the boards.....for hours (what a good dad!).

lucy managed to ride several waves in on her knees...

riley stood up a couple times for just a few seconds.....but it counts as standing!

they all had so much fun and were also pretty darn sore the next day from all the paddling and boarding!

we also spent a couple afternoons just playing in the waves sans boards, which was really fun.  the water was just warm enough that you could get in all the way sans wetsuits and the weather was hot enough that it felt great!

we enjoyed our last night in peru on the beach watching a gorgeous sunset!

we left peru yesterday morning.....a long eleven hour bus day.   it seems ironic that we spent our last four days in peru on the beach because peru has been mountains mountains mountains for us.  i always feel a little sad leaving a country and we had such a wonderful adventure in peru.  machu picchu the highlight of course but so many other unexpected gems as well including the amazing cordillera blanca mountains and even mancora.  we had a fantastic volunteer stay at arcadio's farm and another at the casa lena school (it all seems forever ago!)  riley is already missing his all-time favorite street food papas rellanas and todd is already missing the ceviche.  we will remember it all fondly!

but alas we have crossed the border!

we are now in vilcabamba in southern ecuador at a resort that caters to backpackers.  we plan to be here for a few days before heading north to cuenca.
hasta luego!

a swing and a miss....

we had our first big miss.  our intention was to volunteer at a wwoof (world wide opportunities on organic farms) site in the northern highlands of peru for a week.  we took a bus to cajamarca...which was a little 'meh' as cities go.....and we thought we were going to be at a farm about 40min outside of cajamarca.  we met our host humberto in cajamarca, who guided us to the combi's (mini-buses) that would take us to the site. certainly we may have missed something with our sub-par spanish but we didn't realize until we were on the combi that were not going 40min away but in fact we ended up traveling about 3 hrs....most of it on rustic dirt roads!  from a parent perspective this was far far too remote to take the kids and we never would've agreed to this particular site had we known.

we ended up in a small town called sorochuco which given how remote it was actually had an impressive amount of infrastructure....paved roads within the small town, street lights, a bank.

the second surprise was that instead of the the "eight rooms and five bathroom" accommodation for volunteers promised on the wwoof site, we would instead be sleeping on the floor in one big room with humberto's whole family.....including his parents (both in their 70's), his brother and his brother's two kids and then us.  apparently there was a farm 40 min outside of cajamarca and there was a big house with lots of rooms, but the woman who owned the house died and her kids divided up the property. so humberto still being the contact from the wwoof site just started to take the volunteers to his home village and farm....failing to update what is on the website.  once this all sunk in we were not happy.

let me be clear for our potentially worried families.....we never felt that we were in danger and nothing ever felt sketchy at all.  we were safe, but we were just not where we thought we would be when we agreed to this volunteer gig.

that said we would've left the next day but the icing on the cake of this whole thing was that the only combi out of this town back to cajamarca leaves once a day.....at 4am!

humberto and his family were quite friendly...humberto himself was very enthusiastic about having volunteers. the family generally loved having foreigners....and enjoyed parading us around to friends and family in town.  the grandpa delighted in calling lucy 'gringita' which basically means 'little white girl'.  grandma spent all of her time cooking over a fire and the food was simple but good.

the four of us were in one big bed together.  they had pushed together a couple mattresses or actually one twin mattress and one pallet with blankets (boy was i dreaming of the massage i will be getting when i get home!).  grandma and grandpa were on a bed in the corner, the brother and his kids (who were visiting from cajamarca) were on a bed in another corner, and humberto was on a twin bed on the floor as well.  there was also an alter in a corner of the room complete with old incan skulls, dead eagle and skunk bodies, a pile of coca leaves and random dolls and action figures.  i really don't mind a 'home stay' but the kicker was being all in one room together....no privacy to change clothes so we all slept in what we were wearing.   the second night was a special treat in that grandpa got drunk and then tried to get it on with grandma in the middle of the night.  the kids were fast asleep and i sleep with earplugs (travel tip: always travel with earplugs!) but todd was fortunate enough to listen to the entire encounter.

our bed

the alter

 it was actually quite beautiful back up in these peruvian mountains....

we helped with one day of work.  it took two hours to climb up the mountain first to where the horses are kept and then to the field.

grandpa and the horses

then there was a couple hours of just hanging out while everyone socialized and drank (this was very reminiscent of the peace corps especially for todd in thailand....lots of hanging out and waiting, nothing happening very quickly.  you have to shed the american notion of productivity)

eventually we helped in the harvesting of some grain....

it was interesting to watch the process.....they use the horses to separate the grain from the husk

as a random aside, one the the boys would blow this shell.....i think this was a novelty and not really something of cultural significance but he did it so often during our stay that i had to include a picture.

and of course the hat picture.....these hats might be my favorite so far!

she is spinning wool into thread

so we were only there for less than 48hrs.  these folks are very poor and leaving after just a day could easily be seen as a reflection on their living conditions.  we tried to be as gentle and diplomatic as possible, and i hope they understood.
one of the goals of this trip was for the kids to see how others in the world live, especially those in poverty.  i think this was achieved here.  i also think that i might be too old to show them anymore details in this regard on this trip and future poverty experiences will have to wait until they can do it on their own.

we are now back at the beach.  we are in mancora a town in very northern peru close to the ecuador border.  it is sunny here and the water is warmer.  we weren't actually going to come here at all but when we bailed we needed a place to land for a few days and this seemed a good choice.  we will enjoy our last days in peru here and then head into ecuador.
hasta luego!

huanchaco

huanchaco is a what used to be a small fishing village on the coast of northern peru, and is now it is a surf town, though it retains its fishing roots.  we spent five days here relaxing and it really felt delightful to do nothing!

we stayed at a hostel called 'frog's chillhouse' which was not in the slightest bit peruvian and we felt like we could be in a surf-town anywhere......though in it's favor it was very 'chill'.

the kids did a fair bit of this....

the adults did a fair bit of this...

todd and i also managed to have a cocktail together which made it feel all the more beachy!

we spent our days playing games of family soccer on the beach,  taking walks, and wandering down to watch the fisherman come in on their traditional reed boats....

we enjoyed the marine wildlife and views off the pier...

i don't think the pelicans are quite this big in the northwest!!

we ate our favorite lunch of papas rellanos which we bought from the beach stand lady every day.

and we watched the beautiful sunsets every evening........

we did not end up learning to surf in this surf town.  the shore was fairly rocky and the water was pretty cold, such that one needed a wet suit.  we decided that if the kids wanted to try surfing we'd wait until ecuador where the beaches are a bit nicer and the water warmer (or so we've been told).

very close to huanchaco are these pre-inca ruins called 'chan chan' so we did a day trip to check them out.  these ruins are sooooo interesting and like nothing we've seen so far.  built by the chimu people, eventually conquered by the incas and ultimately pillaged by the colonials......however mostly destroyed by erosion and the elements.  amazing to walk around ruins that date to 1000 yrs ago.

on our last day in the area we stayed in trujillo, which is actually a decent sized city about 20min inland from huanchaco.  the colonial buildings of trujillo are very colorful and worth a stop.... though i am glad that we spent most of our days in the beach town of huanchaco.

in trujillo we stayed at the hotel colonial which is an old mansion turned hotel.  it was beautiful.  i am a sucker for the old colonial manses.  part of me wishes i was a richie rich back in the day and could have lived in one of these places........minus the lack of women's rights and increased mortality due to poor healthcare of course.

tomorrow we head a bit more north and back into the mountains for another volunteer stay just outside a city called cajamarca.  this will be another farm where we will help out doing a little of this and a little of that.
hasta luego!

cordillera blanca and a birthday!

we left lima on a bus and arrived in huaraz which sits in a valley dominated by the peaks of the cordillera blanca mountains.  these mountains are a mecca for those interested in outdoor adventure, specifically trekking and climbing.  you may have seen the climbing film 'touching the void' (and if you haven't you should check it out, its a good one) which is a true story that took place in the cordillera blanca mountains.

huaraz is the city from which most adventures into the mountains begin, so not surprisingly there are numerous mountaineering and trekking outfits.  as in any town that attracts people with a passion, many of them stay.  because of this there are also several good restaurants and even a micro-brewery!

i know one person in all of peru (her dad is one of the docs i work with) and she lives just 15 min outside of huaraz (she is a peace corps volunteer....a girl after my own heart).  unfortunately due to timing she was going to be gone on vacation when we finally made it to huaraz.  but on the first morning we arrived in town i was at a cafe getting a cup of coffee and who walks in the door but stephanie! if that isn't serendipity i don't know what is!  turns out she was on a trek in the mountains as part of her vacation and was only in huaraz for the day.  she was with a friend from home as well, and so we all had lunch together.  who would've thought that six people from hood river, oregon would be sitting down for a meal together in the middle of peru! super fun!

todd celebrated his 45th birthday while we were in huaraz.  i think all in all he had a great day.  we had breakfast at the 'california cafe' where one can order an american style breakfast that includes home fries. then we went for a little hike. our goal was to end up at these hot springs.  we took a taxi up the valley and did a couple hour hike back down to the hot springs (you can actually take a taxi directly to the hot springs but where is the fun in that?). it was nice to slowly wind our way through the villages.

the hot springs themselves were a bit strange in that there was no communal pool but rather a series of private baths that they would fill for you.  more interesting perhaps were the natural saunas that were built into a series of caves.  we were the only tourists there and there were very long lines for all the baths and saunas. todd stayed for a cave sauna but the kids aren't fans of saunas (too hot!) so we skipped it.

one of the restaurants in town is a place called 'chili heaven'. anyone who knows todd knows he loves him some spicy food, so that is exactly where we had his birthday dinner.   and it was plenty spicy....we were all sweating by the end of the meal!

we, like everyone who comes to huaraz, wanted to get up into those mountains. the problem being that many of the treks were pretty strenuous over multiple days, which we weren't so sure would fly with the kids.  we stumbled upon a happy compromise and found a lodge up in the mountains.  these mountain lodges are called 'refugios' (which i believe is an italian word) and so by walkie-talkie we booked a night there. todd and i carried the packs and off we headed into the mountains. i gotta say our kids were amazing. it was 5 hrs of steady uphill at 14,500+ft elevation and neither one of them complained once!!

the ishinca refugio was tucked into the mountains. most use it as a base camp for climbing. it's quite a deal. for $30 per person you get a nights sleep, dinner and breakfast.  there are four of these refugios in peru, but they are not connected, in that you can't trek from one to another.  they were built by the italians and there are apparently more in italy.....sure enough the one we stayed at was hosted by an italian couple.  we were blissfully happy to be sleeping in the mountains.......so amazing!!

in the morning we hiked an hour up to this lovely laguna...

then we hiked out and headed back to huaraz.  all in all a perfect little mountain adventure!

oh and let's not forget the requisite hat photo...........the hats here are quite excellent!!!

we are now in huanchaco which is a little surf-town on the northern peruvian coast. after two months of elevation and mountains we are all ready for a little beach time.  we plan to spend the next several days playing in the sand and wriggling our toes in the pacific ocean....the kids might even try learning to surf!
hasta luego!