Banos... A Relaxing Time

A few days in Lima, Peru were enough with the Plaza De Armas and the changing of the guards being our highlights.

The bus ride to Huanchaco started out eventfully as Matt coughed once and received a slap on the shoulder from the lady behind him before she presented him with a SARS style mask. Fear of the swine flu is rampant here! Of course Matt wore the mask with pride. Other than a handful of beautiful coastline scenes the ride was otherwise boring.

Alisa once again used her strength in the Spanish language to call a local lady fat.

Huanchaco was a treat for us. A very relaxed surf town enabled us to dip our feet in the Pacific for the first time since leaving home. Not only did we dip our feet but we took the opportunity to try our hand at surfing (thanks Jenna and Scott). Matt was able to get up on the board reasonably quickly but Alisa spent most of her time using the board as a flotation device and drinking a lot of salt water. She did get up a few time allowing for some spectacular falls.

The bus driver on our drive from Huanchaco to the Peru-Ecuador border was a maniac. This 12 hour ride through the night included both cornering and taking speed bumps without a hint of braking. The wild ride and a suspect hamburger were too much for Matt and he got sick twice on the bus. Luckily we had bags on hand. The hamburger and Matt´s pride were both left on the bus.

Arriving at the border often refered to as ´one of South Americas sketchiest´ at 5am is never good. However, we were lucky enough to get through smoothly once we shook the taxi driver who offered to drive us to Cuenca, Ecuador for $200 (a ride that actually costed $15).

Once in Ecuador we relaxed for a couple of days in the pretty town of Cuenca. It was here that Alisa once again used her strength in the Spanish language to call a local lady fat. Oops. Next on the checklist was riding the train down the Nariz del Diablo, a famous train ride down the face of mountain. Unfortunately, as a result of an accident involving a tourist a few months ago we were not alowed to sit on the roof of the train, which drastically reduced the experience as we travelled down the steep switchbacks.

Alisa made a last minute decision to travel to a town known for its bathhouses, Banos. Set in the shadow of a volcano this Banos sits amongst picturesque waterfalls. Originally we were to spent two nights here but we ended up spending four. We rented a go-cart and travelled down the valley towards to Amazon (Thanks again Jenna and Scott). Alisa only nearly killed us twice (once stopping in a panic inside a tunnel with no lights!). During the drive we stopped to take a gondola ride (more like a metal basket attaching eight helpless people to a cable) 100 meters above the river valley and directly over a powerful waterfall. Very cool.

Back to town Alisa decided she would get Matt back for making her do many activities she would not normally do (see insect pictures) so she signed us up for a steam bath spa. These baths consisted of being stuck in a small wooden box with your head sticking out the top (much like a gilatine) and later being hosed down with cold water like an elephant.

Now we are in Quito, with likely only three more blogs left for this trip. It is amazing how quickly the year has passed and within two days we will be in Colombia, our last South American country.