Visas in My Name

We are nearly two weeks into our Peruvian experience. Thus far we have done the following...

Not brave enough to go "Australian Style" like Rich, I went butt first. 

• Rappelled waterfalls and made some new old friends (Rich and Cherith Chapman) while Brigitte collected some "goods" to deliver to Reb who will mule them to Annie. We really appreciated spending time with Rich and Cherith and seeing what they are doing with the Peace Corps. They are helping develop tourism in Bucay, Ecuador. Now go rappel a waterfall!



Ever the dutiful wife, Brigitte followed my lead.


• Watched a Wolverine movie on a bus (during which our camera may have been stolen...or we just lost it in our move) that even had English subtitles!
• Overstayed visas only resulted in an Ecuadorian "tsking" and a 9 month 'no return' ban...but thankfully not $400. (This was during our night bus border crossing from Ecuador to Peru. The night bus is something that I hate...yet cannot escape. We ended up arriving at Mancora, Peru at close to 4:30 in the morning. The bus stopped. Lights flashed on. "MANCORA MANCORA MANCORA" was shouted at us as Brigitte popped up from a dead sleep and proceeded to headphone whip all of our immediate bus neighbors with her earbuds. I was jamming shoes on my feet, forgetting my kindle and stumbling my way behind her. We left the bus to be surrounded by pitch black power outage and "greeted" by a million taxistas struggling to obtain our business, advertise hostels, and generally just agitate the hell out of us. Brigitte shouted "ESPACIO" which means "space"...and they backed up a centimeter. We ended up waiting for the power to come back on in the lightless police station surrounded by all of our belongings. We spend the time trying to sleep, haggling over a taxi, and sharing peanuts and raisins with officer friendly until around 8 in the morning, when finally the ATM worked and we could take "Soles" (the Peruvian currency) from our ATM. Que bueno!



Brigitte stunned at the sunset and the seeming suicidal birds.




Mancora Sunset

• That said, we loved Mancora, Peru. On the beach, we saw late whales try to catch up with their long departed friends heading south to Chile and Antarctica. We watched birds seem to commit suicide as they dive-bombed beak first into the salty sea, only to resurrect themselves moments later full of fish. And we watched "Argo" the movie on a projector with the sound of the waves crashing on the shore in the background.
• We took buses 9 hours which was actually 11 hours south to Trujillo, Peru, where we saw incredible pre Colombian ruins. Even though our hostel was owned by a justice seeking table turning lawyer, we still were on the wrong end of a fake 10 sole bill (3.63 American dollars, not the end of the world). 



Listening to our guide coach us through the litany of accents in the world in both English and Spanish. (Oh, and there were ruins too.)




Me sitting beneath a very very very loud speaker.

• We took a night bus to Huaraz, Peru and I finally successfully slept on a night bus, after the snacks, drinks, and movie had ended. We are in Huaraz right now and are thoroughly enjoying the Peruvian Andes. We have enjoyed water of all forms...aqua-marine lakes, hot springs (really a bath tub that three of us shared), glaciers, water-falls, and lots and lots of rain...and even hail, ya?



Good Work Anna!



Listening to glaciers snap, crackle, and pop...and moan.



Chasing waterfalls



This is what hot springs look like in other countries. Which would you prefer, shower or tub?

• One more very important note about Peru thus far. The food is really tasty. We have eaten the following so far...duck, goat, fried potatoes filled with onions and meat, trout (Brigitte of course), mashed potatoes meets shrimp, fried pork sandwiches, and lots of different spicy sauces of which may or may not be affecting my very stomach at this very minute!

  

  Got Goat?