Trip from Quito (Ecuador) to Huancayo (Peru)

Day 1:
After visiting Yanapuma and giving them a donation it was time to leave Quito. We gave Yanapuma the contact information for FCSF, since both organizations are working in the same area.
Our first stop was Ecuador´s most popular highland resort named Baños (a 4 hour bus ride), but we didn´t have big plans here. The Manto de la Virgin waterfall in the corner of town is a symbol of Baños. It´s called Baños because of all of the hot baths, some of which are natural. Unfortunately for Paulien, there was no time for us to visit the baths. We went on a volcano night tour that we thought would go up to the volcano, but it was just to a lookout of Baños. It was also cloudy and raining, but at least we could see Baños. We didn´t think too much of the tour and that might explain why Brian didn´t do that tour when he was here 2 years ago for almost a week.

Day 2:
After checking out Baños some more we took a 2 hour bus ride to Riobamba (with a bit of backtracking) and after a short taxi ride we ended up at our hostel beside the train station. We spent most of our time finding food, a bank machine that worked, arranging things (train ticket), internet and walking around town.

Day 3:
Started a bit early, since at 7am we needed to be at the station for the Devil´s Nose (La Nariz del Diablo) train ride. Our guidebook said that riding on the roof was prohibited following a fatal accident in 2007, but luckily that was changed. The train was filled with gringos (foreigners) and started out pretty chilly with some rain and after an hour or so it broke down. When the train departed most of the roof passengers moved into the train cars. We stayed on the roof to get the full experience. Lots of people waved to all the prople on the train, mainly children hoping for candy. It was a bit like a parade with all the candy throwing and children chasing candy. There were people selling things like drinks, food and candy on the rooftop, even when the train was in motion. We stopped at a couple of small towns on the way. Paulien bought some knitted socks and we ate empañada con queso (fried cheese turnover) and fried banana in batter. The train picked up more passengers in Alausi and started it´s journey towards Devil´s Nose hill. The hill itself was quite steep and had switchbacks on it where the train would switch direction and zig-zag down or up the hill. The whole trip was very beautiful and a great experience even though the beginning was cold, and afterwards it was very dusty and overall it was uncomfortable. We arrived back in Alausi a bit off schedule and went to the bus that we bought tickets for on the train. The bus left a bit late and stopped after 5 minutes to let us off to get on another bus, which never came. After waiting for half an hour we plus many other tourists took a different bus. It was totally full and luggage had to go on the roof. On top of that our bus driver was almost suicidal and sitting on the floor at the front gave a nice view of his driving skills. Here are 3 examples of what he did:
1. passing another bus that wasn´t going slow, while going uphill on an s-curve with double solid lines on the road.
2. passing a truck going uphill while it was foggy and the visibility was less than 50 meters.
3. passing a big truck with a flammable load that was passing another vehicle on the crest of a hill.
The road was curvy and part was not paved, even though it was the Pan-American Highway. We were relieved to get off the bus uninjured after 2 hours in El Tambo. After a 20 minute taxi ride we arrived in Ingapirca, we could see the ruins from town. We didn´t book a room, so we were hoping there would be something available. There was room at the first hostel we went to - we were the only people staying there.

Day 4:
We had various communication problems at this hostel, since we couldn´t understand each other. Even though with some people we can have normal conversations in spanish. After finding out that there wasn´t hot water it took some time to get a bucket of hot water for a shower. In this sleepy town of Ingapirca lies Ecuador´s most important Inca site. We arrived at the ruins and were at first surprised how few people there were around. We had the sun temple all to ourselves. The tourists all started arriving later or as we were leaving. It was a sunny day with beautiful views, so we decided to walk an additional path to see the Cara del Inca (face of the Inca) and some other Inca things. An old lady was trying to sell a rock axe and other amulets that she claimed were Inca treasure that she uncovered herself. Then it was time for some punishment on the bus. We took a 1pm bus from Ingapirca to Cuenca (> 2 hours) followed by a 4:30 pm bus to Loja (> 5 hours) and topped of with another bus at 11pm to Piura, Peru (8 hours). On the bus ride to Loja we gave an English lesson to our neighbouring passenger, who was very eager to learn (and already knew a lot) and at the same time we practised our Spanish. However, this was quite tiring and we missed some good views of the mountains and beautiful sunset because of it.

Day 5:
We woke up at 4:30 am on the Ecuador/Peru border. We were happy to get off the bus to get through customs (which took really long), because the bus was hot and smelly and the guy beside us kept spitting into the aisle. The north of Peru looks very different from what we have seen in Ecuador so far: very dry, barren and poorer looking buildings. At 7am we arrived in Piura and walked with all our luggage to the next bus (we should have taken a taxi because the 3 blocks were a lot bigger than we thought and we were probably very lucky to not have gotten robbed). We caught an 8:30 am bus to Chiclayo (3 hours) and were moved into first class! We stayed where our taxi driver made a recommendation, and once again no hot water. We booked our first tour for the next day and went to bed early, since we didn´t sleep much on the bus rides.

Day 6:
On the way to our tour there was a huge police procession. There is a lot of sugarcane grown and processed in this area. The first stop on our tour was Huaca Rajada where excavations have been ongoing since 1987 in one of 3 crumbling pyramids. The pyramids are from the Moche culture (AD 1-750). In these pyramids they have found 12 royal tombs with offerings (only replicas are shown). The main two people were the lord of Sipan and the old lord of Sipan, who are probably related and separated by 200 years. When a lord dies some people are sacrificed and buried together with him, for instance, wife and sometimes children, warriors, guardians (without feet) and llamas (without heads). Also found were jewelery, armour and lots of pottery (pots represent people). The tombs had many layers when a new lord died a new layer was built on top. After lunch we went to Tucume, a big city built over 1000 years ago. We climbed up "El Purgatorio", which offers a panoramic view of 26 major pyramids, platform mounds, walled citadels, etc. Huaca Larga, one of the pyramids, is the longest adobe structure in the world (700m long). The pyramids were occupied by different cultures - Sican, Chimu and Inca. They are still excavating Huaca Larga and are supposed to be opening the inside to the public soon. Then we went to Museo de los Tumbas Reales de Sipan. This museum contains the original stuff excavated from Huaca Rajada (our first stop). We only had an hour in the museum since we were late, but it was still amazing. It was 3 floors done from top down, mirroring the archeologists discoveries. The old lord of Sipan´s remains were surprisingly intact (more than the lord of Sipan´s), because they were further underground and were protected by more gold. There were lots of copper and gold things as well as huge neclaces made from cotton or sea shells. After getting back to Chiclayo we had to rush to catch our bus to Trujillo. We made it in time, but the bus left an hour late because of drunk people. We arrived at the hostel late and there was no answer, so the taxi driver took us to the sister´s house nearby.

Day 7:
We had our first hot shower since we arrived in Peru, despite only staying at places that offer hot water. In town for breakfast, checking out the main plaza and arranging things again (money, bus tickets (took a long time)). Both in Ecuador and Peru you can get fresh fruit juices anywhere with normally a big selection of fruits. In the afternoon we went to Huanchaco, which is a surfing and fishing town with a big beach. This time we were by far not the only tourists. The boats the fisherman use are made of reeds and are narrow pointed fishing rafts called "caballitos", which means little horses. Checked out town, church and ate a seafood dinner on the beach while watching surfers and the sunset.

Day 8:
Our second tour started with the pyramids of the sun and moon. Also from the Moche culture and taken over by the Chimu culture afterwards. The pyramids are made from millions of mud bricks. These cultures covered up previous temples by adding floors, which meant filling in the entire parts underneath - covering up walls and walls of mural paintings. We mainly saw the mural paintings, but many other things are found there including tombs and a whole urban area. They are still excavating and restoring. Then we went to the Dragon or Rainbow temple, which is located in the middle of a city. It´s part of Chimu culture and was probably used for food storage. There are many similiar temples in the area. Our last stop was Chan Chan, the most important center of the Chimu culture (9-15 century BC). It is considered to be the largest pre-Colombian mud brick city in the world (area of 14 km²) with remains of palaces, cemeteries, cultivated fields, suburbs, subterranean aquaducts, irrigation canals, pyramid temples and enormous walls decorated with relieves of geometric figures and mythological beings. Big parts of Chan Chan were destroyed by erosion (it´s right on the ocean) and earthquakes, but it´s partially restored. That night we thought it would be fun to take a bus for a change :) We left at 10:30 pm to go to Lima.

Day 9:
Arrived at 8:30 am and took a taxi to city center. We checked out some interesting buildings, for instance, the San Francisco Monastery museum, which is really big and contains catacombs with 25,000 people. There were multiple groups of high school students who where saying English phrases to us and taking pictures of us. After our 4 hours of speed tourism was over we took a bus to Huancayo (7 hours). Some of the buses here have multiple levels of comfort and service. We picked a middle class of service that provided food, movies (like most buses) and bingo. The total time on bus and train to get from Quito to Huancayo was about 51 hours! We were very tired when we arrived. Fortuntely, we got picked up and the house was a very short taxi ride away.