Peru - Lima, Paracas (Pisco) and Nasca

Lunch in Lima

 On Thursday March 29 we said goodbye to Ecuador and took a 2.5 hr flight to Lima, Peru. We arrived to our hotel in Lime, the Britania Miraflores, at 10:30 am. Once we were settled we walked down to the Larcomall to have lunch on the Oceanside. After lunch we met up with Dave, Debbie, Wendy and Richard at Starbucks and enjoyed a coffee in the sunshine

Lima, Peru

Pisco sour

We spent the afternoon exploring the Miraflores neighbourhood of Lima, including some churches and the city square full of cats and then we relaxed of some Pisco Sours. Yum! That night we met the rest of the group that we are going to be travelling with for the next three weeks and then spent the evening at a local park that is filled with 15 water fountains and a dancing
water laser show.

Dancing Water Show, Lima

Paracas Sunset

The next day was essentially a travel day.  We left after lunch for a 4 hr bus ride to Paracus, which is a small port town near Pisco, Peru. The trip started out eventful for Simon who was in a cab where the drive asked him to steer while he messed around with the electrical panel in the car that proceeded to start on fire! Luckily he made it to the hotel safely! We stayed at a hotel just a block from the beach, so after watching the sunset we headed to a beachside restaurant for our first group dinner where we had grilled shrimp and got to know each other over a few beers.

Paracas, Peru

On Saturday Morning we had breakfast overlooking the ocean where we saw dolphins playing in the harbour and then we set out for a full day of activities. We started out with a trip to Pisco factory where we learned how Pisco was made and we got to taste Peruvian wines and Pisco Sours. The factory also had a fabulous little chocolate shop that we indulged in.

Desert & Dune Buggies

Oasis

Our next stop was a town called Huacachina, which is actually an Oasis in the middle of the dessert between Pisco and Nasca. This is where we had an awesome afternoon of Dune buggy rides and sand boarding. It was so much fun! We took the dune buggies into the middle of the dessert, down some crazy steep dunes and finally we got to get out on three different dunes and basically toboggan down the sand dunes. It was so fast, but so much fun!

Sand Boarding

Dune Buggies

Nazca Lines

After a tasty lunch back in town we continued our journey to Nasca. The drive to Nasca was spectacular, going from being surrounded by hills and sand to lush green valleys appearing out of no where near every water source. On the way to our hotel we stopped at a Nasca Line viewing platform and got to see the tree and the frog.  The Nasca Lines our crazy, they are so big and perfectly drawn, it’s a complete mystery as to how they were created. That night we stayed in a Hacienda in Nasca with a great pool and courtyards and spent the evening relaxing in the warm evening air.

Click here for Pisco/Paracas Pics

Click Here for Lima Pics

Galapagos!

Baby Sea Lion

 For the second leg of our trip Mike and I went on a boat tour in the Galapagos Islands in Ecuador.  They are absolutely amazing!  The 4 days we spent there were not nearly enough and I will definitely head back there one day!

Circle of Life

On Sunday, March 25 with met up with our group from G Adventures and headed to the airport for our flight to the Galapagos.  We arrived on San Cristobal Island at 10:30 am where we were picked up by our guide, Hanzel and transported to the closest dock 5 min. away.












  The adventure started right away as we had to step over the sea lions that were sleeping on the dock and climb into a zodiak to be transferred to our boat, the G4.Once we arrived at the boat we met the rest of the group (7 people were already on the boat when we arrived) and were assigned our room. We lucked out with an upper deck berth which was awesome we had great views and were further away from the engine noise.  One we settled in we had some lunch in the dining area of the boat headed out for our first excursion. 

San Cristobal

The first excursion was to Isla Lobo which is covered in Sea Lions. We went ashore and were instantly greeted by 5 baby sealions basking in the sun. After a short walk across the island we saw millions of brilliantly coloured red and black crabs on the jet black rocks, lots and lots of sea lions and black Marine Iguanas, which live on land but eat in the ocean.  We also encountered our first set of blue footed boobies; they are crazy looking birds! It was such a cool experience to get within a few feet of all these animals and have them not care at all. 

Eagle Ray

Shark!

After our walk we went for our first snorkel trip. We took the zodiaks to the rocks around Isla Lobo and jumped in. The water was so warm and clear, around 25c.  We got to swim with a whole group of sea lion pups. They were crazy, swimming all around us and biting and pulling on our flippers. There were even a couple of the pups playing with a stick; so cute! We also saw tonnes of multi coloured tropical fish and a sea turtle that swam right under us. It was awesome! We ended the night with drinks and dinner on the boat and watching the sun set from the boat deck loungers.  

Male Frigate Bird

On Monday, March 26 we started the day with a quick breakfast and a zodiac ride out to North Seymour Island. North Seymour was covered in birds, we saw lots of Blue Footed Boobies and Frigate birds of all ages from babies in the nests to the mature adults with their red chest pouches inflated. After our hike we went for a snorkel and this time we saw a white tip shark and eagle ray along with fish and more sea lions.

Isla Lobos Sea Lions

After our snorkel we headed back to the boat for lunch and while we were relaxing on the deck we saw some huge Galapagos sharks in the water. So cool! After lunch we headed to Mosquera Island, which was quite small but covered in beautiful white sand beaches and hundreds of sea lions. This time we saw a huge 500lb male bull sea lion. He was massive; no messing with him!

Land Iguana

That night after dinner the crew put a spot light on the water off the back of the boat; it was the coolest things I’ve ever seen. We spent about an hour watching the light attract fish and then sea lions who were eating the fish (including the really cool pencil fish) and then 6 sharks showed up and continuously circled around chasing the flying fish. It was so awesome!

Blue footed Boobies

On Tuesday March 27 we spent the morning on Isla Santiago where we hiked along a huge lava flow. The black lave stretched on forever until we reached the hills where it turned into bright red lava due to the iron in the soil. We discovered a lava tube along the way and made Mike crawl inside for some photos.

Zodiak fun

After the hike we took the zodiaks and hunted out some Galapagos Penguins to  take photos of and promptly after that we went for another snorkel, this time with penguins, sea turtles, sharks, sea lions and lots of fish and sea cucumbers.  After lunch we hiked to the top of a volcano for great views of the surrounding ocean and islands.

Lava Tubes

Group shot; Volcano Hike

 On our last day we said goodbye to the part of group that was staying and headed to Santa Cruz Island to visit the Charles Darwin Research Facility. At the Facility we got to see the Giant Galapagos Tortoise breading program. We saw eggs, little baby tortoises and giant 120 year old Tortoises. We even say Lonesome George who is the last of his tortoise sub-species.  After the tour we headed to the airport for our trek back to Quito, Ecuador where we enjoyed one last Ecuadorian dinner before jetting down to Peru in the morning!

Click Here for Galapagos Pics

Penguin

Giant Tortoise

Baby Giant Tortoise

Ecuador - Part II

To continue on with our adventures in Quito, Ecuador:

On Thursday March 22 we had a free day to explore the City of Quito.  It turned out that it was also the same day that all of the indigenous Ecuadorians from the South decided that it would be a good time to stage a demonstration at the presidential buildings (3 blocks from our hotel) to protest the opening of new mines Ecuador. It made for a very exciting day in town! Luckily it was a peaceful protest, so other than traffic issues and insane crowds it was no big deal and we could still go explore the city.

  We took a cab to the “old town” section of the city with the intent of doing a self-guided walking tour of the colonial churches and buildings.  Unfortunately, due to the protest we could access some areas of the town, but we still got a good view of the area. We ended up at the Basilica del Voto, which was absolutely amazing.  It was of gothic architecture and instead of gargoyles they had aardvarks, pelicans and iguanas surrounding the building. We paid the $2 entrance fee and agreed it was the best $2 we’ve ever spent. .

 After seeing the sanctuary you get to climb up to the top of the watch tower spire as well as to the top of the clock/bell town.  And it’s not just a bunch of stairs that you climb, there are full on catwalks, spiral stair cases and crazy ladders to get you to the top. The views from the top are incredible! After the Basilica we walked back to through the old town and back to our hotel and that afternoon we went to a museum, “Casa de la Cultura Ecuatoriana” to learn a bit about Ecuador’s history and culture  

On Friday March 23, we went to Cotopaxi National park to explore the Cotopaxi Volcano.  The trip started with a drive along the Pan-American Highway through an area called the “Avenue of Volcanoes”.  Unfortunately it was cloudy, so you couldn’t fully see all the volcanoes, but there were 5 or 6 that we drove past on the way to Cotopaxi.  Once we got to the park we drove for about 25km up a 4x4 road until we reached a high plateau.

 We stopped at a visitor center where we drank some cocoa tea which is supposed to help with dealing with the elevation.  Our next stop was the top parking lot at 4500m EL. From there our hike began; we hiked up a loose scree trail to a refugio at the edge of the glacier. It was only a 900m long hike with 300m of elevation, but it felt super hard with being at such a high elevation.  It took us about 25min to get to the Refuge, the last 5 min through a hail storm.  

Once we got there, at 4810m EL., the highest elevation I’ve ever been to, we enjoyed some snacks and hot chocolate before heading back down.  The hike down was great, it only took 10min due to awesome scree surfing! We lucked out and had a break in the clouds once we reached the bottom and had some great views of the spectacular glacier covered volcano before heading out of the park and to our 400 year old hacienda, “Hosteria la Cienega” to spend the night. 

The Hacienda was beautiful with flowers and humming birds everywhere and great, old buildings to check out. Our room even had a wood burning fire place! We spent the evening enjoying a nice dinner and relaxing in the gardens by our room. 

The next morning we had a sleep in (after a not so great night where a rain storm sent buckets of water down the inside walls of our room!) and a great breakfast at the Hacienda.  Fredy picked us up after breakfast, dropped us off back in Quito and we spent the day meeting the people we are going travel with for the next few days and preparing for next adventure in the Galapagos!

Click Here for Cotopaxi Pics

Click Here for Quito Pics

Ecuador!

Mt Rainier from the Plane

Hello from Quito, Ecuador! Mike and I have been in Ecuador for 6 days now and have been having a great time. We left Vancouver on Monday March 19 and after 14 hrs of travelling, arrived in Quito, Ecuador.  The airport was fast and efficient and our tour guide from G Adventures, Fredy, picked us up at the airport and checked us into the Hilton Colon Hotel  in the Mariscal area of Quito (also known as “Gringolandia”).

On our first full day in Ecuador we went on a tour with Fredy to the Papallacta Hot Springs. It took about 2 hours of driving to the North of Quito to get there and on the way we got to explore some of the smaller towns near Quito. On the way to the hot springs we had to pass through the highlands at an elevation of 4200m EL.

Hot Springs

The hot springs were located in the town of Papallacta in the highlands of Ecuador at 3300m EL. We spent a couple hours relaxing and swimming in the numerous pools in the area, all with different temperatures. Some of the pool had small waterfalls and the area was surrounded by jungles and wild flowers. The craziest pools were the cold plunge pools that we were supposed to jump in between the hot pools. So Cold! After the hot springs we enjoyed a lunch of grilled trout and carne asade at a small Ecuadorian restaurant  in Papallacta before making our way back to Quito. 

That night we tried some Shrimp Ceviche for dinner and then had to spend some time sorting out our apparently non-existent reservation at the hotel. But luckily after getting in touch with GAP our hotel and itinerary was all sorted out.

Equartor

The next day we found a great little bakery for breakfast and then Fredy took us to the equator line where we got to straddle the line, take some pics and learn about the Equator and about how the indigenous people of Ecuador discovered it hundreds of years ago.  We also learned about how the Ecuadorian volcanoes line up with the Equator. Very cool!

Equator Line

After the Equator we headed to the town of Otavalo where we explored the market and went for lunch.  After we left the market we drove through the country side of Otavalo where we ended up trapped in a traffic jam due to the President being in town! It was insane! Once the traffic started moving we joined up with the Pan-American highway (which goes all the way to Alaska!) and headed back to Quito.

Otavalo Market

Stay tuned for stories of our  next few days in Ecuador….

Click here for Equator Pics

Click here for Hot Spring Pics

Otavalo Countyside

Wrapping up Winter

The last few weeks have found me out enjoying the winter weather, both rain and snow, in the mountains and getting the most out of the season before heading to South America in 3 weeks.

Digging Pits

I've been taking part in a Mountain Madness Trail running clinic every saturday morning to build up to the Dirty Duo 25km trail race which is taking place on March 10 (Our 2nd Anniversary!). Mike has also been joining Lara and I in the clinic so we can run the race together in two weeks.    This past weekend we completed our longest run of the clinic with a 4hr, 23km lap of the woods that covered a majority of the race course. The weather was dry ( a nice change from the past few weeks), but the recent rain made for an exciting muddy, snowy adventure run.  We're now into tapering mode and enjoying a couple weeks of casual running until race day. In other running news, I threw my name in for the Knee Knacker lottery; fingers crossed for lotto day on March 5!

Rutsch Block Tests

On the skiing front, I've been taking advantage of the training opportunities that the Alpine Club of Canada has recently been providing to its members. Two weeks ago I took part in a very informative 2-day avalanche awareness course where we spent one full day in a class room learning about avalanche safety and a second day out in the Paul's Ridge area of Garibaldi park digging pits, analyzing snow and choosing safe travel routes through avalanche terrain. I have also been taking back-country ski technique lessons on a weekly basis that are proving to be incredibly useful.

All in all, I've been making the most of the winter season before leaving it behind for some South American Sun!

Table Mountain Circuit Ski Tour

View of  Mt. Shuksan from Herman Saddle

  Last weekend Mike and I joined an ACC trip out to Table Mountain in Mt Baker National Park, WA, USA. The day was beautiful, clear and warm and the avalanche rating was at moderate (or level 2), providing good stability for the trip.  We started out our day meeting in Maple Falls and then headed over to the upper parking lot at Mt Baker Ski area.

Table Mountain

We were on our way all geared up at about 9:30 am. Our biggest concern for the day was crossing below the South Face of Table Mountain as it tends to become unstable as it is heated by the sun throughout the day.
In order to cross under this face as early as possible we circumnavigated the mountain in a clockwise direction.

Mt Baker

 When we reached the South face of Table mountain, after a long climb and short run off of a shoulder, we noticed evidence of previous slides in the area, so we spaced out moved quickly and watched out for one another as we crossed the “danger zone”.

Danger Zone: South Face of Table Mt.

 Once we got through this area we found a high point to take a break for lunch where we could enjoy views of both Mount Baker and Mt Shuksan. The lunch break was quite relaxing and enjoyable with temperatures reaching a balmy +10c.

After lunch we enjoyed another short run down to Iceberg lake which we crossed and then skinned up for our final climb of the day up to Herman Saddle.  On the way to Herman Saddle we were entertained by some ice climbers on “Death Picnic (WI6)”.

Death Picnic (WI6) on North face of Table Mt.

From Herman Saddle we enjoyed a great, long run all the way back to the parking lot followed by some well deserved cold beers at “Chair 9”.  

The complete circuit was about 10km in length with 600m of elevation gain and took about 6 hours travelling at a moderate pace, including a lunch break.

Click Here for a route map

Click here for Photo Album