From Banos it was on to Montinita which is a great surf spot on the coast of Ecuador. You get great diving up at the Isla de Plata which is off of Puerto Lopez an hour north. I went one day and saw two manta rays, which was amazing. I'd never seen a manta ray before and they are truly breath taking.
From Montinita it was time to say good-bye to Ecuador and onto Peru. I went straight to mancora for about 6 days where I spent most of the day laying out on the beach and taking surf lessons. Private lessons are about $13 for an hour, so I highly recommend them. I went early in the morning (around 8ish) to get easier waves and avoid the crowd.
From Mancora it was straight down to Lima to meet up with Jenny! Jenny and I used to live together in SF, so it was great to see a familiar face. Unfornately, I caught some sort of bug on the bus on the way down to Lima, so I wasn't much fun for a few days. We did check out the waterfountain park at night, which I definitely recommend.
From Lima we flew to Cusco for two days of acclimation and then a 5 day trek on the Salkantay trail to Manchu Pichu. Do not listen to anyone who tells you otherwise, trekking Salkantay is really really hard. I highly recommend taking the mule up the mountain on the second day. It is worth every soles.
Manchu Picchu was spectacular and we got their early enough to get tickets to climb Wayna Picchu which is also really hard, but totally worth it. If you have the time, I'd also recommend spending a day in Aguas Calientes. We didn't have much time there but it seemed super cute and I would have like to look around more.
From Manchu Picchu is was back to Cusco for a couple of days. I would recommend checking out the Temple of the Sun museum and eating at Fire Angel. Be sure to bundle up at night, it gets very chilly in Cusco!
From Cusco it was on to Arequipa, which was my favorite in all of Peru. Jenny and I loved Bothy hostel, which had dinners most nights of the week and happy hour specials at the bar. White water rafting is a must! The water is freezing (I fell in - yikes!), but so thrilling. We did the afternoon which was nice because at least it was sunny. And even though I had just sworn off trekking for life, Jenny talked me into a three day trek of the Colca Canyon which was worth it. We went through Land Adventures who are supposed to do more sustainable trekking and give back to the community.
In Arequipa Jenny and I parted ways - she was headed up the coast to get in some surf before going back to the states. I had a bit more time and wanted to see some of the north of Bolivia.
I went straight from Arequipa to La Paz in Bolivia. Bolivia has two capitals - Sucre which is the political capital and La Paz which is the more commercial capital. La Paz is also the highest capital in the world. I tried to go from La Paz to Rurre to do a pampas tour, but due to inclimate weather the plane didn't take off and I was too close to the end of trip to have extra time.
From La Paz I headed over to Copacabana on Lake Titicaca which was just lovely. It was a few days before Bolivia's Independence day, which is a big deal there. I watched many parades of school children dressed up and many bands go through the town. I also took the ferry over and spent a night on Isla del Sol and did some hiking around there.
From Copacabana it was back to Peru. I stopped in Puno which is the Peruvian side of Lake Titicaca. Puno gets a bad rep in all of the guide books but I don't understand why as I found it adorable. There is a really nice pedestrian walkway and plenty of restaurants and bars. I would recommend not signing up for a tour and just walking down to the pier and buying a ticket for a tour of the floating islands. Your tour will be in Spanish, but you still get the jist and to see the islands.
From Puno I headed over to Nazca to meet up with my friend Sali, whom I had met in Banos. She was feeling a bit iffy the first day, so we decided to do the flight to see the Nazca lines the next morning. We got pretty lucky and our van came at 8 and we only waited about 45 minutes at the airport before we took off. It takes a few of the pictures before it's easy to see the lines, but it's pretty incredible once you can see them.
From Nazca it was a short trip to Huacachina where I spent the next day Pisco tasting and sandboarding. It was a beautiful second to last night in South America.
Then it was a sad but true moment and I was back in Lima for one final night before heading home.
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