Tuesday, February 28, 2006
Lima
Well, I'm now in Peru. I was meant to be here a day earlier (Sunday), but I got to the airport too late to take my flight! Luckily I was able to take the flight at the same time on Monday, for no extra cost.
So, about...hmmm...2 weeks ago I was in Cuenca, a city in the south of Ecuador. I really liked the city and enjoyed staying there. I had a walk along the river on the first morning and the thing that immediately struck me was the vivid green colour of the grass - it looked like it could be a European city. The streets are all narrow and cobbled and there's lots of nice colonial architecture. I spent 4 full days there - Thursday to Sunday - 2 faffing and 2 doing excursions.
One excursion was to 'Incapirca', the best preserved Inca ruins in Ecuador. They weren't that amazing to be honest: it was mainly just the very bottoms of walls that were left. I think people came and stole all the bricks, before it got protected status. There was a cool temple in the middle, though, which was well preserved. While I was looking at that, a photographer asked to take some photos of me. He wanted me to pose with my camera, pretending to take a picture of the temple. He said the pictures were for 'El Comercio', the main national newspaper, and would be in the paper on Monday. That's what I understood from the Spanish, anyway. On the Monday, infuriatingly, I didn't get a chance to buy the paper! But I think someone said they checked it and didn't see me. The other excursion was to a national park in the highlands west of the city, where we did a bit of walking around. It was a pretty beautiful place, in a barren, desolate kind of way.
Other points of note: I saw a hummingbird in one of the Plazas in the city! And one day I managed to get breakfast for 18c and lunch for 19c! (it wassn't that impressive though, they were just bread roll type things). I've been desperately trying to keep to a budget of $20 per day but have rarely managed it. Another good thing about Cuenca was that people I knew kept turning up at my hostel! On my first day I bumped into a Danish guy called Hans who had been volunteering at Jatun Sacha at the same time as me. On the second day I met up with another friend from Jatun Sacha, Suzannah, who was there with her friend, so I went out with them on 2 nights. On one of the nights I ate cheese in a restaurant, a blissful experience. It was only about the strength of mild cheddar, but tasted so good because I'd got used to the white rubbery shit you get here. Then, on the 4th night, Catherine, who I knew through i-to-i, turned up! (i-to-i is the company I arranged the volunteering with).
I'm falling asleep now, so I'll try to get up to date next time.
Well, I'm now in Peru. I was meant to be here a day earlier (Sunday), but I got to the airport too late to take my flight! Luckily I was able to take the flight at the same time on Monday, for no extra cost.
So, about...hmmm...2 weeks ago I was in Cuenca, a city in the south of Ecuador. I really liked the city and enjoyed staying there. I had a walk along the river on the first morning and the thing that immediately struck me was the vivid green colour of the grass - it looked like it could be a European city. The streets are all narrow and cobbled and there's lots of nice colonial architecture. I spent 4 full days there - Thursday to Sunday - 2 faffing and 2 doing excursions.
One excursion was to 'Incapirca', the best preserved Inca ruins in Ecuador. They weren't that amazing to be honest: it was mainly just the very bottoms of walls that were left. I think people came and stole all the bricks, before it got protected status. There was a cool temple in the middle, though, which was well preserved. While I was looking at that, a photographer asked to take some photos of me. He wanted me to pose with my camera, pretending to take a picture of the temple. He said the pictures were for 'El Comercio', the main national newspaper, and would be in the paper on Monday. That's what I understood from the Spanish, anyway. On the Monday, infuriatingly, I didn't get a chance to buy the paper! But I think someone said they checked it and didn't see me. The other excursion was to a national park in the highlands west of the city, where we did a bit of walking around. It was a pretty beautiful place, in a barren, desolate kind of way.
Other points of note: I saw a hummingbird in one of the Plazas in the city! And one day I managed to get breakfast for 18c and lunch for 19c! (it wassn't that impressive though, they were just bread roll type things). I've been desperately trying to keep to a budget of $20 per day but have rarely managed it. Another good thing about Cuenca was that people I knew kept turning up at my hostel! On my first day I bumped into a Danish guy called Hans who had been volunteering at Jatun Sacha at the same time as me. On the second day I met up with another friend from Jatun Sacha, Suzannah, who was there with her friend, so I went out with them on 2 nights. On one of the nights I ate cheese in a restaurant, a blissful experience. It was only about the strength of mild cheddar, but tasted so good because I'd got used to the white rubbery shit you get here. Then, on the 4th night, Catherine, who I knew through i-to-i, turned up! (i-to-i is the company I arranged the volunteering with).
I'm falling asleep now, so I'll try to get up to date next time.
# posted by Alex @ 8:23 PM 
