Well, actually it was 3 weeks in Peru and 2 weeks in Ecuador, but that makes for a bit of a long title.

I wanted to do very little pre-planning on this trip and just see how things flowed. I had some general plans like seeing Machu Picchu and the Galapagos Islands, but didn’t want to figure out everything in advance and micro-manage my days. So really the only thing I did was have the ticket for my flight in and out of Lima.

Here is a little graphic that shows the general layout of my travels on this trip. As you can see, the majority of my time was spent in Cusco, Peru and in the Galapagos Islands of Ecuador.

When I arrived in Lima I grabbed a cab waiting right outside the terminal (this is an expensive thing to do in many countries, because the airports charge a hefty vehicle fee to the cabs, they pass this on to you naturally) instead of going out to the street and grabbing one. He drove me all of 2 miles and charged me about $20 which obviously was a huge rip-off… I was too tired to argue, and my mind wasn’t converting the currency right away, so I just gave in. After a few days in country I quickly learned to find out what the approximate normal fare was for a destination and then make sure to bargain before getting into the cab.

* Tip: It might be much much cheaper to walk out to the street like the locals and grab a taxi, where you should set the price before getting into the cab.

I stayed that night in a hostel close to the airport called PayPurix and then in the morning headed out to the Miraflores district where almost all of the hostels are and is the upscale area of Lima. To get there I had a choice of taking another taxi for maybe $10-15, or taking the combi buses for $1. I love traveling low key, and since all I have to carry is a small backpack, I chose the combi. With the friendly help of a hostel employee at PayPurix who directed me to the correct street and informed me how to identify the correct mini-van… I found a bus I was looking for and jumped on. It was an interesting ride of squeezing more and more people onto a tiny mini-van with a conductor of sorts who handled the money and called out the destinations and actively called for new riders.

I arrived in Miraflores without too much trouble other than missing my stop by a few blocks. Miraflores feels immensely different than most of the other areas of Lima I went through. It had plenty of foreigners, business people, and was well taken care of. For the next couple of days I spent my time wandering the area, trying out new foods, and meeting people at the hostel.

* Tip: Use comparison sites to find a great place to stay. Hostelworld.com has some great comparison options when searching for a hostel. The little extra money to find a place that has what you’re looking for or is near to where you want to be is well worth it.

One very cool spot in Miraflores is the park overlooking the ocean. Not only a beautiful spot to view the ocean and relax or take a walk, but there is para-gliding right off the edge! They use the winds blowing up the cliff and just step off the edge, soaring over the buildings and city on a windy day. Then when the ride is done, right back down to the same spot they took off from. It costs about $50 for a ride.

It so happened that the third day I was there was Halloween, and although it’s not a traditional holiday… people love a reason to party! Many others in the hostel were getting dressed up for a costume party, so I went with Rutger (a co-owner of the Kokopelli hostel where I was staying) to a costume shop and found a bull fighters costume. An excellent find!

Halloween was a very fun evening playing up on my costume, that started at 8pm and I don’t think I finally crashed out until about 4am. At the end of the evening I met an awesome Peruvian girl who I spent the next few days with going to see various parts of Lima and trying a few cool restaurants. I also made friends with a few fellow travelers including a great guy named Ewan who lives in Oz (Australia).

I booked my flight to Cusco online a few days in, after figuring out through other travelers that the bus trips weren’t all that fun of an experience. Ewan was thinking he’d be up that way soon too, so we figured out a cool hostel to meet at. Off to the heart of the Incan empire!

* Tip: Last minute flights are very likely to cost you much more than knowing in advance and planning ahead, but then there is always the risk of missing adventures because you’ve planned yourself right out of them.

Here is my post about my stay in Cusco

From Cusco I flew directly to Guayaquil Ecuador to couch surf a few days with Ana who I met in Thailand at a Couchsurfing function. She had guests already, so her sister and brother-in-law put me up for a few days at their very nice Manso Botique Hostal while I tried to find a last minute Galapagos cruise and flight. One pretty cool thing to see in Guayaquil is the Cerro Santa Ana. A fun little climb, interesting looking bars, a pirate museum and lighthouse at the top.

* Tip: The flights to the Galapagos Islands only fly from Quito or Guayaquil, so if you’re looking for last minute deals, then these are the cities to find them in. I found a half-price deal without much trouble including airfare, and was on my way the next day.

Here is my post about my Galapagos Island tour

The flight from the Galapagos Islands back to Guayaquil arrived mid-day, so I though it would be a good adventure and save some money to jump on a bus down to Lima instead of flying. While it certainly was an adventure and cheap (the whole 700 mile journey only cost around $45)… but… it took two long days and wasn’t a very fun way to travel.

Here are some of the misadventures I had on the bus: I missed my first bus because I forgot to set the time back after coming from the Islands which are an hour behind; but they graciously gave me a transfer on another bus to take me to catch the first bus; when I did meet the right bus, I had to stand in standing room only for an hour or two on the bus… and at first was actually hanging onto a rail and had my butt hanging out the bus door!; met a Holland traveler when we both had to go through all the border checkpoints and we both got scammed by some locals who we thought were part of the checkpoint; got dropped off in Tumbes Peru in the middle of the night with no way to continue the journey until 3pm the next day; hung out with the guy from Holland for the next day while waiting for the bus to Lima; Tumbes had no electricity the whole time we were there!; had a motorbike taxi, which goes a top speed of maybe 25mph, take us to the ‘nice’ beach… which wasn’t nice at all; finally get on the bus to Lima and the ticket agents try to kick us out of the seats we had purchased specifically, but we stood our ground and they let us stay; watched 5 movies on the bus all in Spanish, until they finally stopped playing movies and let us sleep; watched out the window as this double decker bus flew around tight corners and passes other cars; finally arrived in Lima the following afternoon. Whew! An exciting journey and I’m glad I tried the bus, but I think next time I’ll pay the extra money to fly in one hour instead.

Back in Lima, I only had a day and a half until my flight, so hung out with the awesome girl I met the first week I was here when she wasn’t working and tried to find things to do when she was.

Finally the five weeks had slipped by, and it was time to go home. After five weeks gone I thought I would be homesick, and I did miss my daughters a lot, but I really wasn’t ready to go back home and wanted to stay for a while longer. Ciao Peru!

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