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defrag4
Senior Nomad
Posts: 536
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We hit the highway once again from San Agustin. Looking at the map we are so close to Ecuador we could taste it.
There are 2 routes from San Agustin towards the border. One involves a bit of back-tracking north to catch another highway back south again. I hate
going backwards. The other route led us straight down to Ecuador but our friends at fromAtoB.org warned us of poor road conditions. Apparently the route between Mocoa and Pasto was very rough, rugged, and dangerous with lots of
wash-outs, large trucks, and little clearance between you and a sheer cliff drop-off.
Being the kind of people who usually hear good advice and then completely disregard it, we of course chose to take the hard route.
It started off easy enough from San Agustin. We were on smooth well-maintained highway. After about an hour I started to wonder what the hell AtoB was
talking about...
We were in some pretty remote country, apparently popular with Colombian FARC and guerrillas. The military presence was strong along the highway. We
passed a few of these bad-ass truck TANKS.
We hit the town of Mocoa and the pavement ran out. We were driving on a very poor rubble road. I checked the maps and GPS a few times to confirm we
were on the right track. Guess this must be the rough part they were talking about?
The poor road started to wind up into the side of the mountain. This road is the most direct route between the border and the interior of Colombia's
Amazon jungle. It is primarily used by hardcore semi-trucks hauling logs/goods and the occasional lost gringo.
The road was chopped out of the side of the mountain. You could see many wash-outs where it completely had fallen away and road crews dug deeper into
the side of the mountain to keep on truckin. The drive was actually quite beautiful. We were inside a mix of cloudforest and rugged mountains. We had
to drive through tons of waterfalls and rivers which were slowly eroding into a muddy soup which made traction diffucult.
Eroding Cliff roads+No traction+No guardrails=Sketchy
In many parts you would have to stop before a blind corner and listen for a giant truck coming and sounding his horn. If you hear the horn you better
back up and get the hell out of the way before you get run off the cliffs.
We plied this unpaved mountain route for most of the day. I think in total the route was less than 100 miles but it took us around 7 hours or so to
cross. When we finally reached pavement I got out and kissed it.
Sweet sweet tarmac!
We pushed on spent a night at a hostel in Pasto near the Ecuador border. Next morning we were up and headed to the border.
One last stop before we cross though. Ever since I first saw a picture of the Las Lajas church I knew we had to visit it. The pictures made it same
like a surreal castle nestled in a magnificent valley, the whole place looks unreal.
The inspiration for the church's creation was a result of a miraculous event in 1754 when an Amerindian named Maria Mueces and her deaf-mute daughter
Rosa were caught in a very strong storm. The two sought refuge between the gigantic Lajas (Stone walls), when to Maria Mueces's surprise, her mute
daughter, Rosa exclaimed "the mestiza is calling me..." and pointed to the lightning-illuminated silhouette over the laja. This apparition of the
Virgin Mary caused pilgrimage to this location, with occasional miraculous cases of healing reported. The image on the stone is still visible today.
Ever since then the area has been blessed, the church was built between 1915 and 1949 with donations from the local churchgoers.
The intricate patterns and level of detail on the church is quite impressive.
In the parking lot, We saw our first BBQ'd Cuy (Guinea Pig) on a stick! Looks delicious!
5 minutes down the road, we hit the border for Ecuador. Stood in line for about 15 minutes to get stamped out of Colombia and into Ecuador. Then
walked down the street to get our car permit. All in all it was less than 20 minutes and best of all COMPLETELY free! I am loving South America
borders.
WELCOME TO ECUADOR!
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Skipjack Joe
Elite Nomad
Posts: 8084
Registered: 7-12-2004
Location: Bahia Asuncion
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Beware of lurking vegans with pictures like that.
Brings back memories of Vlad the Impaler.
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defrag4
Senior Nomad
Posts: 536
Registered: 2-5-2011
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After completing the worlds easiest border crossing we headed on down the highway into Ecuador.
We had technically been traveling in the Andes mountains for about a month now, but we never seem to get tired of the views.
Our first Llamas! Or Alpacas? I dont know the difference yet.
I had heard about the cheap gas in Ecuador. But man I was shocked when I finally saw it on the board. $1.45 USD/gallon. Insane! I pulled over giddy
with delight and gave the man a $20. Fill her up!
The man gave me a confused look, gave me $10 change back immediatly and started pumping our gas.
Apparently within 50 miles or so of the border all the gas stations are limited at $10 per car to keep Colombians/Peruvians from coming across the
borders and filling up. The gas station attendants are equipped with radios and are supposed to report to other stations in the area who has filled up
already.
We got our $10, headed to the next town, and topped off the tank. No one bothered with the radio.
Our first stop in Ecuador is a popular town by the name of Otavalo. Otavalo is home to the biggest craft market in Ecuador. Locals travel from the
surrounding areas to sell their goods here in the large open-air market.
Lauren tracked down a pair of Alpaca gloves, a Alpaca hat, and a kick-ass pair of ninja slippers. All for $7 USD. Crazy.
We camped for the night nearby and checked out some of the beautiful mountains surrounding Otavalo.
Cruising down the PanAm I knew we were supposed to eventually cross the equator (Protip: the word ECUADOR is spanish for EQUATOR) but I did not know
exactly when. We ended up driving right by the damn thing without realizing it. Luckily we doubled-back trying to find a campsite and saw the GIGANTIC
YELLOW TOWER LABELED EQUATOR. Not sure how we missed it the first time....
The lines in the concrete line up with the shadow of the tower to create a giant sundial.
It has always been a dream of mine to drink a beer on the equator. Well not really, but we had some in the truck so what the hell. Equator beers!
We ended up making friends with the tour-guy there who gave us a cool lesson on the equator itself and explained the many ancient monuments that
surround the area. Pre-Columbian ancient civilizations have been using this particular area to accurately tell time, forecast future seasons/weather,
and observe the cosmos for thousands of years. None of that water drains backwards, balance an egg, hoaky fake equator B.S. here. Sorry to disappoint
guys.
Our new Equator/Ecuador friend said he was getting off in 30 minutes and asked if we would like to camp on his fathers farm just up the street for
free? Why yes we would! We spent a wonderful night hanging out with our new friend, his father, and some amazing stars. The father even hooked up the
water in his cabin for us if we were interested in taking freezing cold showers. We passed but appreciated the gesture! This was the first of many
encounters with Ecuadorian locals, we found them all to be friendly and accommodating.
Check out Laurens new hat. 2 Happy campers.
Read the rest of the story and more pics on the blog at http://homeonthehighway.com/home-on-the-highway-crosses-the-...
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Sweetwater
Senior Nomad
Posts: 915
Registered: 11-26-2010
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Mood: chilly today hot tomale
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Nice, but I was hoping she would model the ninja slippers....
Everbody\'s preachin\' at me that we all wanna git to heaven, trouble is, nobody wants to die to git there.-BB King
Reality is what does not go away when you stop believing in it. -Philip K Dick
Nothing is worse than active ignorance. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe(1749-1832, German writer, artist and politician)
When choosing between two evils, I always like to try the one I\'ve never tried before. - Mae West
Experience is what keeps a man who makes the same mistake twice from admitting it the third time around.
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Ken Cooke
Elite Nomad
Posts: 8946
Registered: 2-9-2004
Location: Riverside, CA
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Mood: Pole Line Road postponed due to injury
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Journalism still runs in my veins
| Quote: | Originally posted by defrag4
thanks guys, my dream would be to get paid to write and take photos... Ive submitted some of my articles and posts to various magazines but never
really heard anything back.
If anyone happens to have any connections.... |
Throughout the 90s, I reviewed Industrial, House, Trance and Techno music for different Fanzine's, Club Promotion magazines, Trade magazines and Music
magazines - some with International distribution. That was in the 90s when a majority of people got their information about music releases from
print. Now, this has shifted to virtual magazines and the 'web. You have so much original material, it's too bad that these magazines have not
contacted you. Just keep trying...
My last couple of articles consisted of these two Monster Models at a Rosarito Beach 4WD event, and my Jeep posing on the sand at Cantamar - near
Puerto Nuevo, B.C. - also near Rosarito Beach.
An article I authored for In Gear Magazine in 2004
Monster Models at Reto 4x4, 2008
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defrag4
Senior Nomad
Posts: 536
Registered: 2-5-2011
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Getting out to the deep amazon jungle on your own is a bit difficult. The primary form of travel in the Amazon is via the millions of rivers and water
ways that wind through the jungle. There are very few roads and access via automobile is rare. We always regret not installing deploy-able Pontoons on
the 4runner in situations like this...
I looked at our map of Ecuador and found the Cuyabeno National Park which appeared to be the most remote Amazon jungle area that we could actually
drive to. Well you could not really drive INTO the park but you could get damn close. At the end of the road we would have to hitch a ride in a
motorized canoe to actually make inside the parks boundary.
We hooked up with a cheap jungle lodge company in Quito that would agree to let us drive to the jungle ourselves. We had less than 24 hours to make it
all the way across Ecuador to a random bridge in the jungle where there would (hopefully) be a canoe waiting to pick us up.
No big deal.
We hauled ass from Quito that afternoon. We crossed up and over the Andes mountains into a thick fog. We broke through the fog to see the low-lying
Amazon jungle below us as far as the eye could see.
We dropped down from the mountains into the hot misty jungle. By this time night was falling, we found a spot to post up the night in front of an old
clapboard house on stilts. This construction was typical of the area, reminded us of the homes seen along the Caribbean coasts of Central America.
Up in the morning and back on the road. We were zooming past miles and miles of oil pipelines and drilling rigs.
<RANT>
I usually try keep my personal politics off the blog but feel this needs to be shared. Ecuador is home to one of the largest oil reserves in the
Americas. For over 25 years Texaco/Chevron and PetroEcuador have been pumping the hell out of the rainforest to the tune of 1.5+ billion barrels.
Great for gas prices but absolutely devastating to the environment. The oil companies have been leaving behind their drilling waste products in large
open pits in the rainforest. These pits overflow in the rainy season causing widespread contamination to the water table, soil, and farms of the local
communities. There has been ongoing litigation in Ecuador between the 30,000+ locals effected in the rainforest and the oil companies who have
exploited it. There is a great documentary called "CRUDE" which goes into much more detail on this situation. The movie is available streaming on
Netflix. You can watch the trailer HERE on youtube. HERE is a short 60-minutes piece on the issue as well. I encourage readers to watch these segments and learn about the exploitation taking place,
this kind of crap would absolutely not fly in the U.S.A.
</RANT>
Eventually we arrive at a lonely bridge in the middle of the jungle. We see no one. Crap! Did we miss the boat? We park and start looking around. We
go underneath the bridge where we discover a toothless old man snoozing in a canoe. We gently nudge him awake. He sits up and I see he is wearing a
Cuyabeno River Lodge t-shirt. Score! This was our guy.
We stash the truck at the old mans shack, load our stuff into the canoe, and hit the river. The small 5 horsepower motor slowly idled our canoe
through the thick forest canopy. The morning was full of jungle sounds, frogs, monkeys, birds, insects. The sound of the jungle in the morning is
something you must experience to believe.
We travel for around an hour or so via canoe seeing nothing but dense rainforest. We come around a bend and rising up out of the jungle is the
"Cuyabeno River Lodge". The lodge consists of one large primary building and about 10 separate open-air cabanas.
We unloaded our stuff and were directed to our open-air cabin. Complete with hardcore bug net (very necessary out here in the jungle)
Home Sweet Home.
After a quick 30-min rest up the main bell sounded. We headed back up the clubhouse and met, Diego, our jungle guide. We also met a great group of
ladies who have been volunteering with a street children education program in Quito for the past few months. They would be part of our group for the
next few days.
First order of business. Suit up! We were all given a pair of knee-high rubber boats AKA Wellies to hike through the jungle with. Our guide tells us,
"It's pretty wet out". (This would prove to be an understatement...)
Geared up we headed out into the jungle.
Read the rest of the jungle book and lots more pics on the blog at http://homeonthehighway.com/welcome-to-the-jungle-cuyabeno-r...
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vandenberg
Elite Nomad
Posts: 5118
Registered: 6-21-2005
Location: Nopolo
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Mood: mellow
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envious!! 
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David K
Honored Nomad
Posts: 64854
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: San Diego County
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Mood: Have Baja Fever
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Stellar trip report and I think you have the makings of a feature film or dramatic movie!
As for the petroleum mess... there is a minimum duty government should do to insist they are as clean there in Ecuador as they are when drilling in
the U.S. or Canada. If they leave a mess behind, it is only because they are allowed to do so by locals... yes that is shameful, but when-ever that
was done or who ever did that (could have been a non-American oil company?) has a responsibility to leave a site as close to original as possible.
Thank you for sharing the good, the bad, and the ugly!
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Skipjack Joe
Elite Nomad
Posts: 8084
Registered: 7-12-2004
Location: Bahia Asuncion
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About 3/4 of this episode is not here on nomads but can be accessed through the link. It's worth the effort.
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defrag4
Senior Nomad
Posts: 536
Registered: 2-5-2011
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While we were camped out in the jungle, our guide Diego was reveling us with stories of Ecuador's coast. Hearing tales of the Ruta Del Sol (Route of
the Sun), Galapagos Islands, and fresh ceviche was enough to have us change our destination from mountains back to the coastline.
Headed out of the jungle we picked up a flat-tire, we easily tracked down a vulcanizadora in a nearby town. A 14-year old boy and his 8-year old
brother came out to greet us. As they were removing the tire I realized it was a Tuesday and asked the kids if they should be in school. They both
looked at me confused and said "This is our school". I felt guilty as I spent most of my 14-year old childhood doing my best to make my teachers lives
a living hell. I think they should send little jerks like me to fix tires out in the jungle for a few months. I would be begging to come home and
study. Perspective.
15 minutes and $2 later the tire was patched, filled, and we were back on the road.
We made a pitstop near the touristy town of Banos to relax for a few days at the wonderful Pequeno Paraiso, a highly recommended hostel/campground run
by a friendly couple whom primarily cater to large "overlanding tour groups". These tour companies rig up giant buses with kitchens, camping
equipment, and other overlanding gear, load 30 people on the bus and drive all over the place for months. A concept I had never heard of but is
apparently very popular in South America, Europe, and Africa. Personally I don't think I could be stuck on a bus with 30 strangers for 6-months but
some people must enjoy it. Luckily no group was there and we had full run of the joint. Its a great spot to hang for a few days.
We explored the areas waterfalls and recharged our batteries for a few days enjoying the cool mountain air.
From Banos we hit the highway, passing up and over the Andes, waving hello to Mount Cotopaxi on our way.
Pick your cut!
Eventually we were cruising closer to the coastline through some interesting dry tropical forest like landscape, it was full of these giant "bottle
trees" which looked more like something out of Africa than South America. I later learned these are called "Ceibos" and actually are related to the
famed Boabab trees of Africa.
Lauren, ever the queen of wildlife, picked up a new friend along the way, somehow this guy ended up landing on Lauren's hand while we were cruising at
55MPH. Amazing colors.
Soon we met up with the coastline itself, ah the Pacific, nice to see you again!
We discovered the "Route of the Sun" was more akin to the "Route of Grey". It is common knowledge (to us now as well...) that this time of year in
Ecuador the coastline is primarily clouded over with grey clouds. Undeterred, We trekked on down to Puerto Lopez, our next destination.
Arriving in Puerto Lopez we quickly tracked down a little campground with wifi, hot showers, and a bar. Check, Check, and Check.
We made arrangements to head out to the "Isla de la Plata" the next morning. We had read that Isla de la Plata was the "poor mans Galapagos". Home to
blue-footed boobies, frigate birds, and other forms of rare wildlife usually seen on the famed Galapagos islands. The difference was, a trip to the
Isla de la Plata is $40 whereas a trip to Galapagos can range from $1000-$5000 depending. One day we would like to return and explore the real
Galapagos. For now, the $40 Isla is more in our budget range.
Next morning we were out to beach where we were mingling with the fisherman hauling in the days catch. Seemed like 1/2 of the damn ocean was being
hauled in to the shore.
We saw giant squids, tuna, dolphin, shrimp, you name it, being loaded by the crate into refrigerated trucks.
We weren't here for the food today, I doubt my stomach could handle eating a giant squid at 7:00AM anyway.
We met our boat captain, suited up, and walked out into the ocean to board our vessel. No fancy docks here, you gotta get wet to get onboard.
We were soon tooling along across the Pacific, the weather had cleared up and it was a gorgeous morning. My eagle-eyes caught many whales breaching
the water off on the horizon. We also passed a few trawlers out hunting for shrimps or squid.
After a 2-hour ride we spotted a small island in the distance. From afar the island island appeared to have strange white patches all over it, as we
approached I could see why, surrounding the island were thousands upon thousands of birds flying to and fro. The white patches? Awww ya thats doo-doo
baby.
On the boat ride over we made friends with some fellow english-speakers, Aaron and Bri from Canada. We teamed up and got ready to hit the trails.
However, once we actually made it onto shore we learned we were not allowed to just freely roam the island, we needed to go with a tour guide. Pretty
lame, especially lame since we ended up standing around waiting for an hour for a late boat to arrive with more touristas. Oh well, We made the best
of it practicing our best boobie jokes in preparation.
What kind of bees make milk? Boobies!
Finally our hike started and within 15 minutes we came across our first booby-sighting!
Read the rest of the story and loads more pics at http://homeonthehighway.com/ecuadorian-coast-isla-de-la-plat...
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David K
Honored Nomad
Posts: 64854
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: San Diego County
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Mood: Have Baja Fever
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You are living the dream! Thank you for updating us here on Baja Nomad... we really dig it!
[Edited on 11-20-2012 by David K]
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bacquito
Super Nomad
Posts: 1615
Registered: 3-6-2007
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Mood: jubilado
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Great!!
bacquito
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desertcpl
Super Nomad
Posts: 2396
Registered: 10-26-2008
Location: yuma,az
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Must say you really have talent,, I have been following this from the beginning, have so much enjoyed
Salute
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Sweetwater
Senior Nomad
Posts: 915
Registered: 11-26-2010
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Mood: chilly today hot tomale
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This is great stuff. Following on the blog and fb. Thanks and continue to enjoy
Everbody\'s preachin\' at me that we all wanna git to heaven, trouble is, nobody wants to die to git there.-BB King
Reality is what does not go away when you stop believing in it. -Philip K Dick
Nothing is worse than active ignorance. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe(1749-1832, German writer, artist and politician)
When choosing between two evils, I always like to try the one I\'ve never tried before. - Mae West
Experience is what keeps a man who makes the same mistake twice from admitting it the third time around.
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Marc
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 2802
Registered: 5-15-2010
Location: San Francisco & Palm Springs
Member Is Offline
Mood: Waiting
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This is great. Also the "Nacho" blog.
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defrag4
Senior Nomad
Posts: 536
Registered: 2-5-2011
Member Is Offline
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Hey guys! If you havent added us on facebook, please do!
http://facebook.com/homeonthehighway
Up and on the road the next morning we quickly approached the Ecuadorian side of the border, turned in our paperwork, got our passports stamped out
and jumped back in the truck. A few miles further the large Peruvian tourism logo greeted us. Welcome to PERU! Country #12.
It took us an about an hour to clear through the entry paperwork. We encountered the standard hiccups which we are used to by now. Note to future
overlanders, If your car title has your license plate number listed, make sure it actually matches the tag on your truck.... Our original plates were
stolen back in Baja, we were issued new ones and have the proper registration paperwork but it always causes a snag when they see the title and the
registration don't match up. Just a tip!
Paperwork completed, we were free and clear for 90-days of fun in Peru!
We scooted on down through the sketchy border town of Tumbes and were soon cruising some of the best blacktop we have seen the entire trip.
Suprisingly, the landscape also quickly changed from the low-lying coastal jungle of Ecuador to straight Peruvian desert. I soon learned the entire
coastline of Peru is actually a giant desert, appropriately nicknamed "The Egypt of South America". The dunes rose up out of the earth towering
everything in sight. Bundle in the lower range of the Andes directly behind them and you get jaw-dropping scenery unlike anything we had ever seen
before.
As we cruised along the coastline, we checked in with our friends SprinterLife for some Peruvian travel tips. SprinterLife gave us the downlow that
the mountains are actually the perfect place to be right now. We cut up from the desert coast and started heading into the Andes. Closer towards the
low-range of the Andes we saw the desert transform from a lifeless sandbox to lush green fields and rivers.
Climbing further up the mountain we soon discovered the source of the greenery below. A giant dam has been constructed here to collect water from the
mountain snows/rains and slowly disperse it to the farms in the valleys below.
It's a dam lake
We crept further and further into the mountains until eventually arriving at a small city named Cajamarca. Cajamarca sits around 9000FT. The city has
a very rich history dating back thousands of years to pre-Chavin culture. The Incas took up residence here for a while as well, before being conquered
by the bloody Spainards. It has a lovely colonial style town-square, we found a cheap hostel and setup shop.
We strolled around the town taking in the beautiful colonial churches, hospitals and various other historical sites. SprinterLife had been right, the
weather was perfect up here the mountains.
Located just outside of Cajamarca are the "Banos del Inca" (Inca Baths). Here there are naturally occuring hot springs that the Inca elite used for
bathing and ceremonial purposes. Nowadays even regular Joe's can swim or bathe in the waters. The Peruvians have constructed a large complex of
various showers, pools, and baths. You can get even get a massage on site. The baths are cheap, around $2. An hour long massage only running $10 or
so.
Steaming thermal pool
Lauren testing the water in one of the ancient Inca bath houses. Yep, its hot!
We paid our soles and got our own private bathroom where they pipe in the thermal waters. The water was insanely hot straight from the tap, luckily
you could regulate the temp with a series of valves. Even so, after 20 minutes of being in there we felt pretty light headed. Lauren actually had to
quickly step outside and sit on a bench before she fainted.
Ladies, Try your best not to swoon.
We explored the hills around Cajamarca, passing through many small Andean villages, seeing people go about their daily lives.
Cruising these backroads you often come across locals trudging up the mountain towards their homes. One guy flagged us down and jumped on the sliders.
He let me wear his sweet ass hat so it wouldnt blow off in the wind. I was pretty excited as you can see.
Currently Cajamarca and the surrounding villages are in a huge battle against large foreign gold-mining interests who have been destroying their land,
rivers, and food sources. There are daily protests, roadblocks, and there have even have been some attacks on the miners by locals. Read more about the situation here.
Unfortunately, we managed to get mixed up in a roadblock where the villagers mistook our large Toyota truck as being a "Mining truck". Things got a
little intense as we approached about 20 villagers including grandmas, children, and pregnant ladies all armed to the teeth with various implements of
destruction. Rakes, hoes, pickaxes, and other farming tools take the place of guns here. As we approached the roadblock they started screaming and
banging on the sides of the truck. I yelled out the windows that we were "solo touristas!" and pointed to the innocent looking Lauren as proof that we
were in fact NOT greasy miners. Once they realized we were just a bunch of dumb gringos, they yelled at us to get the hell outta the way so they could
finish their roadblock! Whew, that was a close one! Sorry no pics.
We eventually made it to our destination "Ventanillas de Otuzco"(Little Windows). The ancient Cajamarca cultures dug these small crypts out of the
side of the mountain. Inside they would place the bones of deceased leaders along with tools, gold, and other important items much needed in the
afterlife. Pretty cool, unfortunately looters had pillaged most everything before scientists ever got a chance to get in there.
[url=http://homeonthehighway.com/peru-land-of-the-incas/]
Rest of the story, tons more pics, and SOME BIGS NEWS on the blog
http://homeonthehighway.com/peru-land-of-the-incas/
[/url]
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captkw
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3850
Registered: 10-19-2010
Location: el charro b.c.s.
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Mood: new dog/missing the old 1
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Great pics and trip !!
the first pic right after the peru sign is a dead ringer for hwy 1 south of san quentin !! been following you folks on the blog !! some how lost it
in my "favs"... so now I can redo it !! what happend to your friend with the broken vanagon ?? and are you seeing/meeting many other folks doing
sorta the same traveling ??? and lastly...are you checking into countrys or going in "transito" ?? have fun !!! K&T 
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defrag4
Senior Nomad
Posts: 536
Registered: 2-5-2011
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He got it fixed up, they passed us up a while back you can check out his blog at www.drivenachodrive.com
Ya we randomly meet up with other travelers who I am following online, occasionally we will spot some foreign plates and strike up a convo. We have
meet people driving from all over the world. Canada, US, Argentina, France, Germany, Switzerland, Britain, etc etc
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defrag4
Senior Nomad
Posts: 536
Registered: 2-5-2011
Member Is Offline
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If you are interested in more check out: http://homeonthehighway.com
Also if you have a facebook, please add us at http://facebook.com/homeonthehighway
We settled into to life at our apartment. It was nice to have some routine after being on the move for so long. We would wake up in the morning, make
some coffee, and hang out on the roof of our apartment watching the waves, the sun, and life waking up in our little town of Huanchaco.
It didn't take long for word to trickle out on the streets that "Home on the Highway" had a sweet beach pad and the visitors soon started rolling in.
Our first friends who came were our Canadian buds we had recently met in Ecuador. We spent lots of time strolling the town together, drinking Trujillo
beers, and sitting on the beach. Standard Hunachaco life.
We paid a visit to Trujillo's largest ruin, the infamous CHAN-CHAN... ChanChan is a massive ruin covering over 20KM of land. It is actually the
largest Pre-Columbian ruin in all of South America. The main complex is surrounded by giant adobe walls and divided up into various sections inside
for ceremony, farming, and everyday life. At its peak over 30,000 people lived in this city. It was the capital of the Chimu empire.
The adobe walls are full of intricate patterns occasionally depicting animals as well.
Squirrels?
Pelicans?
ChanChan was kind of cool at first, however, after strolling along through the mud hallways eventually it gets pretty damn boring. We usually shy away
from guides and prefer to discover a place by ourselves, I feel ChanChan needs a guide to do it justice.
We are headed out of the mud fortress when we come across a Peruvian family who has drug its 2-year old little boy out to see the mud. Surprisingly,
the boy is not at all interested in staring at brown walls for hours at a time and its throwing a straight up tantrum as his clearly annoyed parents
continue to drag him through the ruins.
At one point the crying kid walks in front of me and plops down directly in front of my feet as I am walking, not thinking much of it and not wanting
to punt the kid, I just step over him and keep on strolling.
Looking back... perhaps that wasn't the best move.
A few seconds later I hear loud shouting behind me, I turn around and find a red-faced 5ft tall Peruvian man holding his kid in his arms screaming his
ass off at me. His overweight equally red-faced wife behind him also yelling. Surprisingly, for the first time all day, the baby is silent...
I glean from the screaming that he is mad that I walked over his kid, I apologize but the man won't let us alone. He starts cursing at me, screaming
about how Americans come to their country and disrespect them. Lo Siento Senor, No queiro problemas. At this point his loud shouting had gathered
quite a crowd all standing around to watch the show. I stand there a while more getting threatened by this little red-faced man until a security guard
comes over and tells us our group of 4 gringos we should probably leave. As I eyeballed 20 Peruvian males all around us itching to let out some
pent-up aggression, I agreed.
We all hauled ass outta ChanChan laughing at the absurdity of the situation. Hey, at least we got some excitement out of the place!
Our Canadian friends hit the road and our next set of visitors arrived, the infamous Team LifeRemotely.
We had not seen each other since Costa Rica, and had lots of catching up to do. We quickly fell back into our routine of gluttony and excessive
libations.
Jared went crazy finally having access to a real full sized kitchen and cooked up all kinds of deliciousness. Kobus busted out his world-famous
empanadas, while Lauren and Jessica provided moral-support from the sidelines, their enthusiasm fueled by the finest of boxed red wine ("Gato" is the
finest if you were wondering...)
It was during Life Remotely's visit that we first discovered our downstairs neighbor had recently acquired a new kitten.
Unfortunately my neighbor is not home much and the very young kitten was left on the backpatio alone for most of the day and night. He spent most of
his time meowing and crying for some attention. I would sling down some tunafish from the second-story window from time to time to shut him up, but
inevitably he would start back up again. Eventually the cat would cry himself hoarse and start doing this weird squeaking noise. Hence we named this
random cat whom we had never actually met, Squeakers.
It was a combination of being tired of listening to Squeakers whine all damn day, a lot of rum, and Jared's comment of "If you don't rescue that cat
soon he is going to have permanent severe mental problems" that sprung us into action.
Unable to access the first floor patio, we had to somehow catch him from the 2nd story. We rigged up a wicker basket, some rope, and a can of tuna
fish trying to create a sort of trap for the cat. Hoping he would jump into the basket and we could pull him up.
We were able to get him into the basket but he would bonzai jump out as we were trying to bring him up to the second story. Not wanting to be a part
of a kitty suicide we shelved the plan. Oh well, back to the drawing board.
The next day we waved goodbye to Life Remotely and waved hello to our pals from DriveNachoDrive
Brad and Sheena were onboard instantly with the cat rescue operation. We upgraded from our crappy wicker basket to a high-sided bin and soon enough.
We had him!
As luck would have it our neighbor came home just as we are stealing the cat. As Lauren and Sheena pull the cat up into our apartment. I run
downstairs to explain to our confused neighbor why she sees her cat being carted away to the 2nd floor in some old plastic bin....
I don't think she really understood my horrible spanish but she got that jist that we had just stole her cat and she didn't seem to mind too much. OK?
He was one dirty and peeed off cat, the girls, of course, instantly fell in love.
We put a shine on him and he cleaned up pretty good, I usually HATE cats, but even I had to admit he was pretty damn cute.
We burned through the days playing cards, taking advantage of having an oven, and playing with the cat.
Rooftop Card Sesh. Sheena is the worlds fastest card player. Brad, antsy to throw down his last card and call Rummy.
Brad is a master Nacho chef. He loves them so much his blog is named after them. Well not really, but the man does love some nachos.
We said goodbye to Brad and Sheena and prepared for our next adventure. Lauren's friend is flying into Lima in just a few days. We will meet her there
and then drive to Machu Picchu.
First leg of the trip... the 9 hour drive from Huanchaco to Lima.
We hit the road south and soon were cruising through giant sand dunes and the beautiful desolate shoreline of the Peruvian coast.
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David K
Honored Nomad
Posts: 64854
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: San Diego County
Member Is Offline
Mood: Have Baja Fever
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Wow... what an adventure... a book (at least) must be written!
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